Pastor Don Shirk has been pastor of Grace Baptist Church, Batavia, N.Y., for 24 years. Remarkably, both the associate pastors—Mark Hurlbut and Jeffrey Bartz—came to know Christ under his ministry. And spiritual and numerical growth are still occurring at the church.
Recently seven babies were born in just two months. Intrigued by a photo of seven babies sitting in the front row of the church, a reporter for the Batavia Daily News contacted the church, resulting in a feature story where the pastor and church leaders attributed the growth to faithful Bible exposition.
“The Bible is a supernatural book that speaks to people like nothing else,” Pastor Shirk was quoted in the story, explaining the growth “is through word of mouth, because it works. We work hard at doing a few things well.”
- Read “Baby Bonanza at Grace Baptist.”
Chris and Deb Hindal had the opportunity to visit Grace Baptist on Sunday, Aug. 7, and see for themselves its thriving ministry. During Sunday School and the two worship services, Chris presented the International Ministries of the GARBC as an extension of Grace Baptist’s engaging missions program led by Pastor Hurlbut. The church currently holds two worship services on Sunday morning while they wait for the completion of a major building program. A new worship center will seat 500, enabling the congregation to meet in one service. The project, which took two years to design, is scheduled to be completed by summer 2012.