Pastor Jim Burnham

"The Lord saved me in 1977 at Grace Baptist Church, I was 26.  A few years later, I was called upon to teach a young married couple’s Sunday School class.  That was the beginning of my in-depth study of the Bible as a passionate pursuit.  I was about 30 at the time.  Some years later, at the death of one of the original deacons, the church called upon me to take on the role of deacon, later to teach the adult Sunday School class, and with increasing frequency Pastor Pierce began asking me to preach for him while he was away.

Though God had provided me a business of my own with which to support my family and elderly parents, somewhere along the line in my late 30’s, I began to feel a call to pastoral ministry.  “Don’t do it if you can help it,” was the wise advice I received from my pastor.  But the tug of war between that sound advice and the nudging of the Lord went on for several years, until, in the middle of a memorable and tear-filled night in 1998, I surrendered to the Lord’s call upon my life.   I was ordained in December of that same year and called by the church to become the assistant pastor shortly thereafter and began preaching one service every Sunday.  In 2003 the church honored the request of her ageing pastor to reverse our roles at which time I was installed as senior Pastor.

Over these many years at Grace Baptist countless rich memories have been made serving the Lord and His people: Baptisms, weddings, funerals, Bible Camps, Conferences, Revivals, Nursing home services, counseling, mission trips to Peru and Africa, and even a trip to Israel.  My children and grandchildren have all come to know Christ as their Savior right here at Grace Baptist Church.  God has blessed us richly, and we are thankful."