HISTORY OF GRACE FELLOWSHIP CHURCH

In 2002, Bill and Gloria Bagley, as missionary church planters, moved to North Logan, UT from Frontier School of the Bible (LaGrange, WY) to plant a church. Over the process of time they found many of the attenders were coming from across the border in Preston, ID. At the time there wasn't a Bible teaching, gospel preaching church in Preston. One of those who traveled to Logan each Sunday was Casey Jones. Casey had prayed for 40 years that someone would come to Preston to plant a Bible church and in 2003 Grace Fellowship Church of Preston was born. Bill and Gloria feel very humbled and privileged to be the answer to Casey's prayers. They initially met at the Senior Citizens Center for 5 months prior to moving into our current storefront location on State Street. The facility has gone through a lot of changes over the years including the addition of a kitchen, nursery, and prayer room, remodeling the upstairs apartment, and fixing up the junior church room. The Bagley's were blessed to serve at Grace Fellowship Church until 2016 at which time they moved to continue their church planting mission by establishing a church an Garden City, UT. At that time, Jeff Thames, who had been serving as Associate Pastor, was called to become the Senior Pastor. He and his family served the Lord faithfully at Grace Fellowship Church, however, in 2018 the Lord called the Thames to serve Him in a different manner and they moved to Texas to fulfill their new callings. After six months of searching for a new pastor, the church voted in Tom Johnson. Tom officially started in January of 2019. He and his wife Cyrena moved to Preston from Eagle Mountain, Utah in February. Prior to taking the position, Tom Johnson agreed that implementing the Biblical model of Shared Eldership, where each of the churches elders are co-equal in authority and each share in the responsibilities of shepherding the church, would be beneficial to the church at this time. The slight change in structure works well since each of the Elders / Pastors are bi-vocational.

Pastor Tom Johnson preaches the Word of God from the Bible each week as the Teaching Elder and oversees the Adult Teaching Ministries. Pastor Joel Webb is the Ministries Elder and oversees various other ministries such as Youth and Children's. Pastor Tom Palazzolo is our Missions Elder and oversees our Missions Ministries.

By the grace and power of our Lord Jesus, the church continues to be a place of loving fellowship to each other and a beacon of Light to the Preston community at large.

BELIEF STATEMENT

THE SCRIPTURES

We believe the Bible, containing the sixty-six books from Genesis to Revelation, to be the complete Word of God. We believe that every word in the Bible and every part of the Bible are equally inspired by God. We believe that the Bible was written by Spirit-controlled men; therefore, it is without error in its original documents and is the supreme authority in all matters of faith and practice. (2 Timothy 3:16-17, Revelation 22:18-19, 2 Peter 1:20-21)

SALVATION

We believe that man was created in the image of God but fell into sin, and is now, by nature, lost and has no merit before God; that only through the sacrifice of Christ can man be saved; that God offers full, free and perfect salvation by grace, apart from any human effort or merit to all who receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, through faith; that when saved, the believer is the possessor of eternal life, being kept secure forever by the power of God; that he may be victorious on a daily basis over sin and self and walk in the power of the new nature through the guidance of the Holy Spirit; that he is called to a life of separation from all religious apostasy and Worldly practices, and is responsible to be a witness to all men, by his life and words, of the saving power of Christ. (Romans 3:23, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 6:23, John 5:13, John 10:28)

SATAN

We believe in the person of Satan; that he is the unholy god of this age and that he is destined to eternal judgment in the lake of fire. (1 Corinthians 11:14, Revelation 20:10, Ephesians 2:2)

THE ETERNAL STATE

We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men; the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to everlasting punishment. At death the souls of the redeemed are now absent from the body and present with the Lord where, in conscious bliss, they await the resurrection when spirit, soul and body will be reunited. The souls of the unbelievers remain in conscious misery until the last resurrection when soul and body are reunited. They appear at the Great White Throne, and are cast into the lake of fire to suffer everlasting, conscious punishment. (Luke 16:19-26, 1 Thessalonians 1:7-9, 2 Corinthians 5:8, Revelation 20:11-15)

THE CHURCH

We believe that the Church is the Body of Christ; that it had its earthly origin on the day of Pentecost, and is composed of all who truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are united in one body, whether Jew or Gentile, with Christ as our living Head; and we are responsible to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and to love one another with a pure heart. The blessed hope of the Church is the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. We believe that the establishment of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament. (Ephesians 5:23, 1:22-23, 2:11-13, 4:3, Colossians 1:18, Acts 2, 1 Peter 1:22, Titus 2:12-13, Matthew 28:18-20) We believe that both the Lord's Supper and water baptism are proper and scripturally in order for this church age. (Matthew 28:19, Romans 12:5, Acts 19:5, 1 Corinthians 1:10-17, 10:16-17, 11:17-34, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) We believe that every Christian has been given at least one spiritual gift and that these gifts are to be used solely for the edification of the church. (Acts 2, 10, 19, Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 4)

THE GODHEAD

We believe that there is one, and only one, true and living God; He is an infinite, intelligent Spirit, maker of the heavens and the earth; that He is inexpressibly glorious in holiness, and worthy of all possible honor, confidence, and love; that in the unity of the Godhead there are three equal Persons- the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, each being equal in every divine perfection, each executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great works of Creation and redemption. (Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 28:19, Isaiah 44:6, 1 John 5:7)

Concerning the Father: we believe Him to be perfect, wise and measureless in power. We rejoice that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayer, that He saves from sin and death all that come to Him through Jesus Christ, our Lord. (Romans 11:33-36)

Concerning the Son: we believe in Jesus Christ as God's unique Son, God in the flesh, being one with the Father, who, for us and for our salvation, came down from heaven and was made man, born of a virgin, having an absolutely sinless life. We believe in His sacrificial and substitutionary death for all men, His bodily resurrection on the third day, His ascension into heaven, His presence at the Father's right hand as our great High Priest and as Head over all things concerning the Church, which is His Body. We further believe in His personal return to Earth to take His Church to Heaven and to come again to set up His Kingdom on earth for 1000 years before creating a new Heaven and a new earth. (Matthew 1:23, John 1:1-3, 1 Corinthians 15:4)

Concerning the Holy Spirit: we believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine Person, equal with the Father and with the Son and of the same nature. He restrains the Evil One until God's purposes are fulfilled; He convicts us of sin, righteousness and judgment; He bears witness to the truth of the Gospel through preaching and testimony. We believe that each person is regenerated, baptized, and indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit upon believing in and accepting Christ as Savior. (John 14:16-17, 16:13-14, Romans 8:9)

We believe in the sovereignty of God and the free will of man. (Daniel 4:35, 1 Peter 2:16, John 3:16)