About Us

Thank you for your interest in Grace Baptist Church!

At the heart of our church is a community rooted in faith, fellowship, and a shared commitment to living out God’s Word.

On this page, you’ll find an introduction to the people who serve and lead our congregation, the covenant that binds us together in Christ, and the core beliefs that guide everything we do. Whether you’re new to our church or have been part of our family for years, we invite you to explore and see how God is working in and through us.

A smiling man and woman standing close together outdoors with a church and blue sky in the background.

John Turner, Pastor

Pastor Turner grew up in Virginia Beach, VA and studied biology at Winthrop University in SC for his undergrad. He also has a Master of Divinity from Bob Jones Seminary.

Ania Turner grew up as a pastor's daughter in Poland. She came to know Christ as her Savior at an early age and began sharing her faith with her friends. They have one son, Daniel.

Pastor John and Ania both have a heart for evangelism and discipleship. They have seen many people come to Christ and grow into committed disciples.

  • Having been led, as we believe, by the Spirit of God to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, and on the profession of our faith, having been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, we do now in the presence of God, angels, and this assembly, most solemnly and joyfully enter into the covenant with one another, as one body in Christ.

    We engage, therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, to walk together in Christian love; to strive for the advancement of this Church in knowledge, holiness, and comfort; to promote its prosperity and spirituality; to sustain its worship, ordinances, disciplines, and doctrines; to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of its ministry, the expenses of the Church and the relief of the poor, and the spread of the Gospel through all nations.

    We also engage to maintain family and secret devotions; to religiously educate our children; to seek the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances; to walk circumspectly in the world; to be just in our dealings, faithful in our engagements, and exemplary in our deportment; to avoid all tattling, backbiting, and excessive anger; to abstain from the sale and use of intoxicating drinks as a beverage; and to be zealous in our efforts to advance the kingdom of our Savior.

    We further engage to watch over one another in brotherly love; to remember each other in prayer; to aid each other in sickness and distress; to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy of speech; to be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation, and mindful of the rules of our Savior to secure it without delay.

    We moreover engage that when we remove from this place, we will, as soon as possible, unite with some other church, where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and the principles of God's word.

  • We believe in the Holy Scripture: accepting fully the writings of the Old and New Testaments as the very Word of God, verbally inspired in all parts, our infallible and authoritative rule of faith and practice.

    We believe there is one God eternally existent in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

    We believe in the Deity of Christ; His virgin birth; his shed blood for atonement; His bodily resurrection; His ascension into Heaven there to be our intercessor.

    We believe that the Holy Spirit convicts of sin, makes believers children of God through the new birth, assuring them of Heaven, and by His indwelling enables Christians to live a godly life.

    We believe that all men are by nature and choice sinful and lost, and have within themselves no possible means of salvation.

    We believe in salvation by grace through faith, that the salvation is the free gift of God, not by any virtue or works of man, but received only by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; that all true believers possess the gift of eternal life, a perfect righteousness, sonship in the family of God, and the divine guarantee that they shall never perish.

    We believe in the existence of Satan, the deceiver and god [of] this present world; that he was defeated and judged at the cross, and therefore his final doom is certain.

    We believe in the second coming of Christ; that His return from Heaven will be personal, visible, and glorious, the time being unrevealed but always imminent; that when He comes, He will first by resurrection of the dead and the translation of the living, remove from the earth His waiting Church; then pour out the righteous judgments of God upon the unbelieving world, afterwards descend with His Church and establish His glorious and literal kingdom over all nations for a thousand years.

    We believe that the spirits of the saved at death, go immediately to be with Christ in Heaven; that at His second coming, their works will be judged and rewards determined; that the spirits of the unsaved at death descend immediately into Hades until the final day of judgment, at which their bodies shall be raised from the grave, judged, and cast into Hell, the place of final and everlasting punishment.

    We believe in the priesthood of all believers, that Christ is our Great High Priest, and through Him, every born again person has direct access into God’s presence without the need of a human priest; that the believer has the right and responsibility to personally study and interpret the scriptures, guided by the Holy Spirit.

    We believe that a New Testament Church is an organized body of born again believers practicing scriptural ordinances given to the local church which are baptism by immersion of believers only, and the Lord’s Supper, to be partaken of by obedient Christians.

    We believe that the present Tongue Movement is not of God, nor in accordance to the Word of God, and stand irrevocably opposed to the movement. We will not permit its teaching either directly or by inference in the Church, Sunday School, Training Union, or any meeting sponsored by this Church.