A Brief History of a Part of the Body of the Lord Jesus Christ called Grace Community Church of East Tennessee

The history of any local church, of necessity starts before the foundations of the world in the redemptive purposes and work of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit; “according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him, in love; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, through which He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:4-6.)

As in the beginning of God’s physical creation recorded in Genesis chapter 1, there is always first a stirring of God’s Holy Spirit upon the face of the deep of men’s hearts that are without form, void, filled with darkness and without life, (Ephesians 2:1), in order to have spiritual life. This is a brief account of the moving of God’s Holy Spirit in shining light on the souls of men and women, making them alive, that were dead in their trespasses and sins and of His faithful guidance in the perseverance of His children.

During the 1960s and into the 1970s rebellion and disobedience were rampant in this nation, which was the fruit of a more serious spiritual issue, apostasy in the “church”. However, God was lovingly, graciously and powerfully in a still small voice moving upon the waters of couple’s hearts; in the McClellans in Minnesota, the Shuberts in Tennessee, the Taggart’s in Louisiana, and so many more that we are not aware. As many small springs comprise the waters of brooks and streams that flow together forming mighty rivers, so our Lord Jesus Christ was drawing young families from many states east of the Mississippi to east Tennessee. Admittedly, some of us were reacting to that rebellion and just wanted to get up in the mountains, away from it all, not knowing or too spiritually immature to see God’s holy purposes being accomplished in our lives. I think many of us also felt an impression, that perhaps the solitude of the mountains and being in the “Bible belt” would be beneficial to the hunger and thirst we were experiencing in our souls.

During this period of time Baptist doctrine and life had fallen to unprecedented lows in spite of all the “religion” that was being displayed. Tragically, as so often happens in times of apostasy, all this pharasitical religion was accepted by many as “evangelical Christianity.” There was “a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the Word of the Lord”, (Amos 8:11). But God, in His faithfulness and grace was stirring hearts that He would use in the years ahead to provide oasis of life and truth for His people. Many saints were wandering from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, during these years, seeking the word of the Lord at Bible conferences and camps across the nation in search of spiritual life and sound Biblical teaching.

Thankfully, to the praise of His glory, in this famine, God raised up godly men after His own heart to revive the “old paths” and “ancient ways” of Scripture which were the foundations of early Southern Baptists. Men like Pastor Ernie Reisinger, of North Pompano Baptist Church in Florida; Associate Pastor Jerry White of Park Avenue Baptist Church in Titusville, Florida; Dr. Tom Nettles, Professor at Southwestern Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas; Pastor Fred Malone in Texas to mention a few.

On November 13, 1982 Ernie Reisinger, Tom Nettles, Fred Malone, Ben Mitchell and Tom and Bill Ascol met in a Euless, Texas Holiday Inn motel room to pray and seek God’s direction concerning a ministry to bring Southern Baptists back to their Biblical roots, hence the beginning of the Southern Baptists Founders Conference. All of this early history among Southern Baptists is well documented in Ernest C. Reisinger and D. Matthew Allen’s book entitled “A Quiet Revolution: A Chronicle of Beginnings of Reformation in the Southern Baptist Convention” by Founders Press, 2000. The first Southern Baptist Founders Conference was held on the campus of Southwestern University (now Rhodes College) in Memphis, Tennessee on August 1-4, 1983. Ken Taggart and Jerry White attended this conference and we are thankful that, twenty five years later, it is still having an eternal impact for the glory of God in east Tennessee. The Southern Baptist Founders Conference was blessed of God and grew with the publishing of a quarterly, the Founders Journal as well as the Southern Baptist Founders Youth Conference in which many of the youth of Grace Community Church have participated in recent years.

It was through ministries such as this that many of the present members of Grace Community Church were fed in a spiritually dry and thirsty land. During the 1980s in east Tennessee there was little concern among Southern Baptists, or any denomination for that matter, over the spiritual famine and decay of doctrine and life. Indeed, most saw nothing wrong with the shallow evangelism, missions, and worship as well a lack of discipleship and spiritual maturity. This probably was the result of east Tennessee being in the large shadow of Southern Seminary which was pregnant with liberal thinking and philosophy substituted for the “warp and woof” of Scriptures during these years. Although there was little concern among Baptists in east Tennessee over the decline in spiritual life and doctrine, there was increasing concern among some Presbyterian Churches over this “down-grade”. The few and scattered Baptist brethren that were burdened over this condition found the only place they could labor in good conscience was among the efforts of the Presbyterian Church of America in planting Evergreen Church in Sevierville and Maryville Evangelical Church in Maryville. Evergreen started in two motels in Pigeon Forge; the DeGroats, Farrants, Shuberts and Taggarts were part of these early works. Maryville Evangelical Community Church, (now Maryville Evangelical Presbyterian) started in the home of the Taggarts on Pleasant Hill Road. Some of that group went on to establish Sandy Springs Presbyterian Church (O.P.C.) on Montvale Station Road in Maryville.

The Taggarts and the Shuberts had a burden to establish a Baptist fellowship true to their Biblical heritage. In December of 1988, after calling a pastor for the Maryville Evangelical Community Church and after much prayer, several families started meeting in the Taggart’s home, again trusting the Lord to raise up a Baptist fellowship as He did for the Presbyterian brothers and sisters. Pastor Ernie Reisinger, now with our Lord Jesus, was an encouragement to us in this endeavor. Also, Pastor Jerry White and his fellowship at New Covenant Baptist Church in Denham Springs, Louisiana (a suburb of Baton Rouge), and their elders acted as shepherds for us. In January of 1989 we incorporated as Grace Community Church of East Tennessee as a Tennessee non-profit religious organization and received a Tax Exemption Letter from the U.S. IRS as a 501.c organization.

During the 1990’s we saw our Lord working in our families particularly among our children. Our little girls and boys were growing into young men and women. During this time the fellowship was growing spiritually and God continued to bring families to the fellowship from around the nation. We were not growing greatly numerically but we were having increasing opportunities to share our faith in our various communities. We continued to enjoy the fellowship of many at Maryville Evangelical Presbyterian Church and Sandy Springs Presbyterian Church who were like-minded in sharing the Gospel of grace in east Tennessee. One reason our numerical growth was slower during this time may have been due to the remote mountain community location on Chilhowee Mountain in which the Taggart’s lived. It took real commitment to gather for worship on the Lord’s Day when you had to drive up a 3000 foot mountain with a winding road which was oftentimes covered with ice and snow. In the later part of the 1990’s we moved briefly to a vacant church building in Townsend, Tennessee in an attempt to be more accessible, but our Lord had other plans for us.

It was around this time that Bill Housley shared with the fellowship that he believed God had called him to the Gospel ministry. This had an impact on the entire fellowship as Bill and Kelley prepared to move their young family to Louisville, Kentucky to the Boyce Bible College, the undergraduate school on the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary campus in May of 1998. With Bill and Kelley leaving the mountain, Ken and Gail (Kelley’s parents) felt impressed to move off the mountain and into Maryville.

As we prayed over the direction for the fellowship, a building became available to us at 305 Gill Street in Alcoa, Tennessee. Being far more accessible, the Lord continued to add to the fellowship. Although the fellowship was sending Bill and Kelley off to prepare for the Gospel ministry, the Lord was bringing more families and singles to the fellowship. These were spiritually exciting times, for due to the Lord’s work among Southern Baptists during the last twenty years, two of the seminaries as well as many churches within the Southern Baptist Convention were turning back to the “old paths” and “ancient ways” of Scripture. The President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS), Dr. Albert Mohler, was leading that seminary back to its Biblical roots which consequentially began to have an impact here in east Tennessee. It was exciting to have Baptist families looking for a Baptist church that was teaching and preaching “the whole counsel of God”. Some of this was due to the Southern Baptist Founders Conference web site coming on line in which we are currently registered.

When Bill and Kelley left for Boyce/Southern we asked them to be watching for a man, that loved the Lord and was grounded and settled in His Word, we might call as a pastor. In the early part of 1999 Bill advised us that there might be a young man we might like to invite down from Southern to preach for us. Bryan and Macon Fritsch attended Trinity Baptist Church with Bill and Kelley in Louisville and Bryan was a M.Div. student at Southern. Bill also shared with us that Bryan and Macon appeared to have a good walk before the Lord. The fellowship agreed to ask Bryan to preach two consecutive Sundays for us in May 1999. After these two weeks, we invited Bryan to preach throughout the summer because he needed the experience for a seminary class. The elders were to critique and grade his preaching for his professor. At the end of the summer after much prayer, the fellowship extended a call to Bryan and Macon. And much prayer on their part they accepted on August 10,1999. This in itself was a testimony and praise to the glory of God’s grace and goodness to the fellowship because He enabled us to fully support Bryan despite our small number.

During 2000 our Lord continued to add to the fellowship under Bryan’s pastorate. We had submitted an application to join the Chilhowee Baptist Association here in Blount County. We were recommended for acceptance by the New Church Committee and were accepted as the 86th Southern Baptist church in the association at the annual meeting in October of 2000.

In the fall of 2000 we saw our nursery and preschool room being out grown and we prayerfully considered purchasing the present property at 161 E. Harper Avenue in Maryville. Although this was a big step of faith for us, we are thankful for His provision of a place to minister first to Him and then those around us for the incredible price of $19.00 a square foot in downtown Maryville along the Greenbelt.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has continued to go before us, but not without some tests, trials, and disappointments. However, God’s grace has been sufficient for all our needs and more than we could ask or think.

We called our present pastor, Chris Riser, from John MacArthur’s, Master’s Seminary in the spring of 2004 and he and his wife Alisa, and son Josiah and daughter Johanna arrived in July of that year. Under his pastorate the ministry continues to expand and grow spiritually.

And even as this history is being written, Bill and Kelley Housley are now serving with New Tribes Mission in Papua New Guinea to a tribal group that has never had a written language. They have been living among the Inapang people of Papua New Guinea for the past three years during which time they have learned their language, given them an alphabet and have taught them to read and write in their native language. Next week, June 11th , 2007, they will start the chronological Bible teaching starting in Genesis with the Inapang people, trusting God to raise up His Church there in the jungle/swamps of Papua New Guinea.

We are thankful for His goodness and grace to this part of His body at Grace Community Church of East Tennessee. May we be found faithful stewards, sharing His glorious Gospel and life with those around us. God our Father has truly allowed us to minister in east Tennessee. We now have members or visitors in communities spread throughout six east Tennessee counties.

The history would not be complete without mention of the ministries we have supported over the years. The Pregnancy Resource Center in Maryville, Mt. Zion’s Chapel Library printing ministry in Pensacola, Christian Gospel Ministry in Cape Coral, Florida, Knox Area Rescue Mission in Knoxville, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the Baptist Center in Maryville, Global Outreach Group (Dan and Becky DeGroat’s ministry to Russia), the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program with the Chilhowee Baptist Association and Bill and Kelley Housley and daughters Madison (10) and Sabra (8) with New Tribes Mission.

Although there is much to be thankful for but there is still a famine in the land and many in need of hearing the glorious Gospel of grace here in east Tennessee and throughout the world. We are most thankful for the spiritual oases that are appearing not only here in east Tennessee but throughout the country and around the world. Praise God from whom all blessings flow! Unto Him be the glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.