“Simply the Word”

When we began meeting together, we spent a couple of weeks deciding what church name best communicated our commitments and distinctive values.  One suggestion was “Simply the Word” as we’re not about gimmicks and programs.  While we ultimately decided for our current name, that’s become our informal tagline ever since.


So, why Grace Bible Church?  We are first a church, gathered by the Holy Spirit under the Lordship of Jesus Christ as prescribed in God’s inspired and inerrant Word.  Second, we are committed to the exposition of His Holy Scripture above all else, so we are a Bible Church.  Third, nothing we have or do would be possible without the unmerited favor of God; grace reminds us of our continued dependence upon Him.


The charter members of our church met at another church that eventually closed after the pastor left.  After much prayer and many meetings together, we incorporated as Grace Bible Church in 2017 with the aim to glorify God with a biblical ministry in Savannah, Richmond Hill, Pooler, and all surrounding areas.  Pastors Shaun Marksbury (M.Div, The Master's Seminary, 2012) and Brian Hubbard currently lead and teach. 


Timeline:

  • On July 26, 2020, because the Savannah Korean Baptist Church graciously offered to house Grace Bible Church in their upper room, we resumed our weekly services there!  Please continue to keep us in prayer as we use this time to regain our footing, grow, and save for a place of our own.
     
  • In March 2020, like other churches around the world, we've gone to online-only services for several weeks.  We were already talking about a move from Perkins when the Coronavirus hit, and we're planning to reunite at our new location.  Please keep us in prayer.

  • In October 2018, the church began meeting on Sundays in the smaller conference room of Perkins Restaurant and Bakery. About a year later, we began meeting in their larger conference room.

  • In September 2017, we started meeting in members' homes. 

What Distinguishes Grace Bible Church?

Watch minute+ introductory videos:


 
  1. We affirm Scripture above all. 
    The Bible instructs Christians to see it as sufficient, meaning that Christians shouldn't pursue secular philosophies, popular psychology, or any other prophetic utterances.  All of life and godliness should follow God's Holy Word. 

  2. We affirm the sovereignty of God in salvation. 
    The Bible instructs Christians to believe and trust in God's control over both salvation and history. 

  3. We affirm the lordship of Christ in salvation.
    The Bible instructs Christians to follow Christ as Lord in submission.  

Distinctive markers of Grace Bible Church (Full Sermons) >


What We Teach

We’re a Baptist church, dedicated to God's Holy Word, and unaffiliated with convention or denominational body.  We’ve adopted our statement of faith from Grace Community Church and The Master’s Seminary in Sun Valley, CA.  Below is a summary of that statement, and you can also read that whole statement here.

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Holy Scripture
  • We believe the Bible is the wholly inspired Word of God, infallible, sufficient, and authoritative for all matters of faith, life, and godliness.  As such, we teach the plain, literary, grammatical-historical interpretation of Scripture.
  • We reject the apocryphal or deuterocanonical books added by the sixteenth century Roman Catholic Church, any other new “New Testaments” or gospel accounts, and any other revelation supposed prophets penned after the first century.
The Holy Trinity
  • We believe there is one God, eternally existing in three distinct persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each equally deserving worship and obedience.
  • GOD THE FATHER: We believe God the Father is the Creator and ordered of all that is.  Though He created people, He is spiritual Father only to believers.
  • GOD THE SON: We believe that Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully man, sent to reveal God to us and bear the sins of those who would believe on Him for salvation. He was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, died on the cross, was buried, and resurrected on the third day.  He ascended to the right hand of the Father and will return a second time to judge all people and rule over His Kingdom.
  • GOD THE SPIRIT: We believe the Holy Spirit is fully God and as much a Person as the Father and the Son. His work is revealed in creation, the incarnation of Christ, and the salvation of believers throughout time.  He convicts the world of sin and empowers believers through spiritual gifts.
Man
  • We believe all men and women are created in the image of God.  However, because of Adam's sin, every person is also a sinner, falling short of the glory of God, and are in need of salvation from sin and its consequences.
Salvation
  • We believe that salvation is by God's grace, mercy, and faith alone, through the preaching of the gospel, repentance, and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.
  • We believe that salvation includes justification, wherein God declares a believer righteous on the basis of Christ's merit, regeneration,producing increasing obedience and transformation into the image of Jesus, and sanctification, the believer's new position as one set apart to God, and security, forever sealing a believer's relationship with Christ.
The Church
  • THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL: We believe the Holy Spirit immerses all believers into the Body of Christ, the church, of which Christ is the Head. 
  • THE CHURCH LOCAL: We believe that, part of the universal body, each local congregation serves to spread the gospel and to equip and mature believers through the teaching of the Word, through fellowship, and through the church ordinances (Baptism and the Lord's Supper).  
  • THE CHURCH GOVERNANCE: We believe that it is to be autonomous, ruled by a local plurality of qualified elders and assisted by qualified deacons.
  • THE CHURCH AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS: We believe that the Holy Spirit providentially places Christians in local churches and empowers them to serve the Body of Christ in various ways.  We believe the miraculous gifts were for the founding of the universal church, authenticating the message of the apostles and the prophets, and not repeatable today.
  • THE CHURCH ORDINANCES: We believe in only two ordinances for the local church, water baptism and the Lord's Supper.  Water baptism symbolizes a believer's spiritual baptism and thus should be practiced by immersing the one professing faith in water.  The Lord's Supper likewise is symbolic, commemorating the death of Christ and the spiritual communion the believer shares with the Lord.
  • THE CHURCH AND DISCIPLINE: We believe when unrepentant sin in the life of a professing believer becomes known, it is necessary to lovingly confront that sin. The goal of 'church discipline' is the glory of God, the purity of God's church, as well as the restoration of the one who is sinning.
Angels
  • We believe angels are created to serve God and man, and are not to be worshiped.  One angel, Satan, rebelled, took a third of the angels with him, and introduced sin into the world.
Last Things
  • We believe that, at death, a person's immaterial soul continues in a state of consciousness in either Heaven or Hell.  In the future resurrection, saved souls go on to eternal life and the unsaved to eternal punishment.
  • We believe that we currently live in the end times.  The next event on the prophetic calendar will be the rapture of the church, to be followed by seven years of tribulation, the second bodily coming of Jesus Christ in which He will set up a literal kingdom on earth lasting one thousand years, and the eternal state and the new heavens and earth.



Ministry Staff


  • Shaun Marksbury

    Elder / Pastor-Teacher

    After a few years of lay ministry in Jacksonville, Florida, Shaun Marksbury moved to California and earned a Bachelors in Christian Ministries at The Master's College and a Masters in Divinity at The Master's Seminary. In 2015, Cornerstone Church of Savannah ordained him to the role of senior pastor. He also serves as a chaplain at the Chatham County Detention Center through Coastal Jail Ministries of Georgia. He and his wife have five children.

  • Brian Hubbard

    Elder / Pastor

    Brian moved to Savannah from Pennsylvania in 2003 and was saved in 2004. For the first 4 years of being a Christian, Brian's employment situation gave him the ability to listen to verse by verse Bible preaching and teaching over the radio on a daily basis. This time of hearing the Word of God rightly taught was very foundational for Brian. 


    While listening to the proclamation of the word, Brian developed a passion for biblical evangelism and for rightly dividing the Word of God.  

  • Mrs. Kim

    Church Clerk

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