October 14, 2018 Grace Baptist Fellowship of Salina, KS celebrated its 70thanniversary. Matt Parnell, senior pastor, states, “I am humbled to have a small part in the history of this great church.” October 12, 1948 was the first entry in their official church book where the church voted to accept the name Grace Baptist Temple. The church was birthed out of a tent revival held by BBFI founder Art Wilson. Other pastors of the church include Lloyd Wilson, founding pastor, Bill Anderson, long-time BBFI missionary to the Philippines, Harold Jayne, Charles Hill, Chris Davis and John Kirkland, missionary to Kenya.
The celebration service consisted of showing a recap video, hearing testimonies from long-time members, a report and challenge from BBFI missionary, Roger Akers, and a report and congratulatory presentation from BBFI Communication Director, Randy Harp. Parnell concluded the service with a challenging sermon to not only celebrate the past but to also anticipate what God has in store for the future.
From Matt Parnell, senior pastor …
In Philippians 1, Paul thanks God for all those in Philippi who had partnered with him in the gospel and in Romans 16 he names several people whom he sends his greeting to. Paul knew that he couldn’t do what God had called him to do by himself. He was showing his love and appreciation to those who had partnered with him in the gospel. Grace Baptist has been around for 70 years this year and like Paul we want to thank all those who have partnered with us in building the Kingdom. Untold number of people have come through the doors of Grace and we have no idea how God has used you to further the gospel to the ends of the earth. We look forward to spending eternity together hearing the stories of how God used you in the most incredible journey ever. Thank you for being part of our story of 70 years of Gospel proclamation. May there be many more years to come.