The History of GBC
And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. ~ Colossians 1:18
For many years Dr. Charles Cobb had a vision to start a Southern Baptist Church in Tiffin, OH. He shared that vision with Daniel Duffy, who at the time was the pastor of First Baptist Church of Sheffield Lake. Dan contacted the state for resumes of pastors willing to come to Ohio. Pastor Jerry Boylan was the very first one he called. In January of 1999, after much prayer, God called Pastor Jerry & his wife, Debbie, to plant a church in Tiffin. They began a Bible study in their home in April of 1999, & the first church service was held on June 20, 1999. They met in a doublewide trailer with 21 in attendance that first Sunday. The Southern Baptist Convention purchased the trailer along with 3.65 acres on the outskirts of Tiffin. The congregation continued to grow, & they began to meet in Lincoln Elementary School in February of 2000. God directed them to begin a building program, & they believed God wanted them to build debt free, so they started a building fund. God was gracious to their obedience to be good stewards of what He provided, & they were able to move into their new building completely debt free on Easter Sunday in 2005. Many individuals contributed to the building of Grace with money, labor, & materials. It was one miracle after another, & God proved His sovereignty & faithfulness over & over again.
Grace continued to grow throughout the years, & in July of 2013 they called Pastor Zach as their first Associate/Youth Pastor. Through this GBC also began their first college ministry. The youth ministry continued to be active in Bible Quiz, & they began going to youth camps, D-Now, & a night called Merge, where they would join with a fellow youth ministry once a month for a service, food, & games.
Pastor Jerry continued to faithfully serve the Lord at Grace until he retired in March of 2016.
Pastor Zach also served as the Interim Pastor for 11 months after Pastor Jerry's retirement. This period is also when we began our annual Fall Fest.
In February of 2017, Grace called Pastor Eddie to be their lead pastor. Pastor Eddie resigned in November 2018.
Pastor Zach served faithfully at Grace until he was called to another ministry in May of 2018.
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On June 2, 2019, Grace called Pastor Patrick Bottoms to be their lead pastor. Him and his family moved to Ohio from GA, and his first Sunday as Lead Pastor was June 30, 2019.
The prayer from the beginning of Grace Baptist Church is that we keep Jesus Christ at the center of all we do, "so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything (Colossians 1:18)."