About

Our Story

In 2018, 3 Lakeland families began praying that the Lord would bring a Gospel-centered church to our community. And in October 2020, GBC officially launched with monthly services. As we began to grow, GBC moved into the International Harvesters Managerial Clubhouse on Canada Road in Lakeland, where we currently meet every Sunday morning at 10:30am. (IH Clubhouse is located at 4523 Canada Road, Lakeland, TN 38002). Each week, GBC gathers for prayer, authentic worship and expository preaching. Our prayer is that the Name of Jesus be exalted every time we come together.

Our Pastor

Doug is a native of Martin, TN and came to faith while in college at UT Martin. It was in college that he met his wife, Ashley, and they were married in 2009. They have five boys. Doug received his M.Div. and Ph.D. from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Cordova, TN, finishing in 2014. His ministry passions are expository preaching and discipleship through the local church and training pastors internationally for faithful local church ministry.

Our Vision

The vision of Grace Bible Church Lakeland is Gospel Saturation for the Glory of Christ. We long to see the Gospel infiltrate the following areas:

Personal Life

Family Life

Congregational Life

Immediate Context (where you live/work)

Global Context (throughout the world)

Our Mission

We are pursuing gospel saturation for the glory of Christ through discipleship, defined as Hearing Jesus, Loving Jesus, Obeying Jesus and helping others to do the same.

Our Strategy

In order to Hear, Love and Obey Jesus, our church prioritizes:

  • Expositional Preaching

  • with Biblical Theology

  • focused on The Gospel

  • in hopes of Conversion

  • sought through Evangelism

  • leading to healthy Church Membership

  • which naturally involves the practice of Church Discipline

  • to encourage Discipleship and Growth

  • under the care of Biblical Church Leadership

Our Structure

We believe the following church structure focuses on these priorities and accomplishes our mission and vision:

Small groups for pastoral care, transparency and accountability to one another

A congregational gathering for all members to worship through song, prayer, and the preaching of the Word

The rest of our week being committed to proclaiming Jesus by discipling our families and reaching our neighbors