Our History
A Brief History of GraceCommunityChurch
GraceCommunityChurch, started in August of 1958 as a mission named “North Central Baptist Chapel.” North Central Baptist Chapel was born out of prayer. Early in 1958, Christians of the NorwoodBaptistChurch in St. Petersburg, under the leadership of Rev. James Brown, sought prayerfully the Holy Spirit’s guidance in starting a mission in the Meadowlawn area of St. Petersburg. Prayers were answered. On September 28, 1958, North Central Baptist Chapel met for the first time, using the 54th Avenue Elementary School building. The two congregations worked hard seeking God’s leadership for a permanent site, and late in 1961 about 5 ½ acres of land was purchased at 7700 16th Street North. Soon a building was going up, a pastorium was secured, and both fellowships were praising God for his blessings.
In 1965 the Norwood Church saw that they could not continue to adequately sponsor the mission, so the withdrew their mother church status and the First Baptist Church of St. Petersburg under Dr. Earl B. Edington’s leadership became the mother church. They began at once to pay off the land mortgage, and the two congregations worked together to secure a new and larger pastorium and furnish and carpet the auditorium.
God sent several well qualified men to serve as pastors: the first was Randall Cook; then, Robert Kates, Harold Harllee, J. Fenton Moorehead, Harry Lee Wainscott; and finally Nolan C. Tobias.
North Central Baptist Chapel sought to do its best in carrying out its part of the Great Commission. There are hundreds of persons who owe their happiness and their salvation as a direct result of the chapel’s ministry. The chapel had a worldwide vision also, having given regularly to the Cooperative Program, associational missions, and other Southern Baptist Mission efforts.
The Chapel experienced rapid growth, closing it’s final year as “North Central Baptist Chapel” with 19 Baptisms and 71 coming by letter to make the total membership 389 members. Total receipts were $31,735, with $3420 going for Southern Baptist mission work. Organizationally, Sunday school had 235 enrolled with an average attendance of 116; Woman’s Missionary Union had 98 enrolled, Church Brotherhood 32, and Church Music 42.
On November 21, 1971, the members of North Central Baptist Chapel became constituted into “GatewayBaptistChurch” of St. Petersburg, Incorporated, and thanking God for the past and trusting him for the future.
Welcome to Gateway Baptist Church!
Under the leadership of Nolan Tobias, North Central Baptist Chapel incorporated into Gateway Baptist Church on November 21, 1971. Under Pastor Tobias’s leadership, Gateway Baptist continued to flourish. Ground was broken on November 18, 1973 for the new Sanctuary and on July 28, 1974 we moved in and the first service was held. After 5 years of service, Pastor Tobias and his wife were called to be Missionaries to Costa Rica.
Over the next 14 years, God sent several well-qualified men to serve as pastors: first came Rev. Fred Smallwood; followed by Rev. Walter Carter; followed by Rev. Clint Rogers; followed by Rev. Larry Padgett; followed by Rev. John Asharne; followed by Rev. Scott Leonard; and finally Rev. David Deck.
We were fortunate at various times to have such outstanding interim ministers: Rev. Horrace Sams; Rev. Henry Schaffer; Dr. Hammond; and Rev. Bob Clark, and Ryan Saari.
GatewayBaptistChurch closed the 1989 year with a budget of $97,219.50 with more than $10,000 going for Southern Baptist mission work.
During these years, the membership of GatewayBaptistChurch remained steady and peaked in 1980 with 489 members.
In 1993, a decision was made to pay off the sanctuary and make the church debt free. At the same time, with Meadowlawn area expanding, Hoyt Development made an offer to the church to purchase the pastorium and the western portion of the property for $90,000. The deal was brought to a vote and the congregation approved the sale. Soon afterwards, the church’s loan on the Sanctuary was satisfied and the church became once again, debt free.
In 1996, with the Tampa – St. Petersburg area attracting record numbers of new residents, old communities found themselves adjacent to new communities. The Gateway area was now subdivided into Gateway, Meadowlawn, Winchester, and Sawgrass. In order to reach out to all communities and not be limited to just the Gateway area, a decision was made to change the name to “GraceCommunityChurch.” It was put to a vote and passed by a narrow margin, and the name was changed to the current name of “GraceCommunityChurch”.
Welcome to GraceCommunityChurch!
In 2005, the GraceCommunityChurch Family mourned the passing of our former Pastor, David Deck. Under his leadership, the church had consolidate and paid off debt, insuring that the church would have the opportunity to meet the needs of the community to its full capacity.
In 1999, Rev. Billy Ray Little came to our church and accepted the call to Pastor our church upon the retirement of Pastor Deck. A tireless worker, who took great pains in caring for the church and each individual member of the congregation, was an incredible orator. He brought to the pulpit a flare of “old time religion” reminiscent of the Billy Sunday style of preaching. His love of God was evident throughout every area of his 6 years of service to the Church.
In July 2005, Ryan Saari came forward as Interim Pastor. He was charged with responsibility of readying the church and the community for a new Pastor. As a member of the church for 5 years he has brought a musical talent and a desire to serve the Lord with Joy and Gladness. He has brought a fire of desire through individual worship. As the church Organist, he brought his love of pipe organs to the church, and every Sunday you can hear the “Call to Worship” come from out of the bell tower of the sanctuary, a compliment of his talent and the sound of the beautiful pipe organ.
On January 29, 2006, the congregation of Grace Community Church voted to call Pastor William "Skip" Cook to be the Senior Pastor of the Church. Upon his immediate acceptance, he and his family moved from his current pastorate in Gumbery, NC. A man named Pastor Cook was the first Pastor of this church almost 50 years ago, and with the calling of another man named Pastor Cook, the leaders of the church are excited that the church has come full circle. Pastor "Skip" took over the pastorate officially on June 4th, 2006. The church would like to recognize the leadership of Interim Pastor Ryan Saari for a job very well done in completing the enormous task of readying this church for Pastor Cook!
"To all who mourn and need comfort, to all who are weary and need rest, to all who are lonely and want friendship, to all who are tired and want victory, to all who sin and need a Savior, to whosoever will, this church opens its doors and in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord says, "Welcome."
