I. We are a FOUNDATIONAL CHURCH:

I Corinthians 3:11

By this we mean that GIBC has only one FOUNDATION: JESUS CHRIST. Our purpose is to glorify Him, proclaim Him, exalt Him, trust Him, please Him, honour Him, preach Him. Our desire is to love the Lord Jesus Christ with all our hearts, to spread the good news of the Gospel everywhere we can and then teach the foundational truths of God's Word to those who are saved.

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II. We are a FUNDAMENTAL CHURCH:

I Timothy 3:14-16

In a day when "fundamental" can mean a myriad of things, we insist that to be a church true to God and His Word, we cannot and must not forsake the fundamentals (basics) of the faith. We are a fundamental church that uses ONLY the KING JAMES BIBLE in our preaching and teaching. We affirm without apology the doctrines frequently identified as the "Fundamentals of the Faith", which include the deity, virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary death, efficacy of shed blood, bodily resurrection and imminent return of Jesus Christ. We believe in the Divine Inspiration and preservation of the Scriptures; salvation of sinful man by Grace through Faith in Jesus Christ; a literal 6 day creation; the sanctity of human life; the priority of home and family; a real Heaven and Hell; the work and ministry of the local New Testament church, etc. We truly are an independent Baptist church, not a member of any convention, organization or fellowship. However, we do fellowship with churches of like faith and practice. The Bible is our final rule for faith and practice. We, therefore, believe that the "fundamentals" are necessary part of the proper foundation of any true New testament church and the criteria for fellowship with other churches.

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III. We are a FAMILY CHURCH:

Ephesians 5:22, 6:4

We at GIBC put a great emphasis on home and family. We believe that a strong home is the foundation of a strong church and a strong nation. We believe there is a great need for men to rise up and be Godly servant leaders in their homes. That ladies are Godly helpmates, diligent mothers, keepers at home. We encourage mothers to be at home for their children. We support proper home-schooling and at the same time have a Christian school for those who cannot home school their children for whatever reason. We teach and preach that children are to obey, honor, and respect their parents and those in authority. We participate yearly in Men's retreats, ladies retreats, youth conferences, youth camp, etc. We are currently making plans to begin hosting a yearly Men's conference, Ladies conference, Teen conference, Couples Retreat, and Parenting conference. We do not profess to have "all the answers" in these areas, but realize the great need for encouraging, instructing, strengthening and motivating God's people in these much needed and very often neglected areas of training. Our goal is Godly couples in love with God and each other, raising Godly children with a heart for God, His Word and His Work. 

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IV. We are a FRUIT BEARING CHURCH:

John 15:1-16

We are convinced the ministry of the child of God and the local church is to "bear fruit". For that purpose we strive to be a consistently SOUL WINNING ministry. We believe that includes spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, winning souls to Christ, baptizing those converts, and then discipling them to be faithful followers of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28: 18-20). With the purpose of seeing a harvest of souls, our ministries are focused on soul winning. We have a regularly scheduled door-to-door SOUL WINNING time every Saturday morning at 9:30am. We also have folks who do FOLLOW UP visitation, BUS visitation, SUNDAY SCHOOL visitation, etc. at various times during the week. We have recently started a Saturday afternoon bus ministry to reach areas where could do only limited work on Sundays. Our goal is to win boys, girls, young people and adults to Christ in the services on Saturday; see the entire family reached and attending church together on Sunday. We still run 4 bus routes every Sunday and now 2 on Saturday. We have adults in church every week because of our Bus ministry. We participate in at least 3 PRISON REVIVALS with the Rock of Ages Prison Ministry each year. Our goal: win souls in prisons, encourage the saved and help those who will get out onto the right path. We also participate in SMITE (Summer Missionary Institute in Training and Evangelism) every year. SMITE trains teenagers and adults on how to effectively reach children with the Gospel. This "child evangelism school" trains how to win, teach, and train children for Christ. It also equips and gives practical daily experience in holding "5 Day Clubs", "Back Yard Bible Clubs", VBS, and Junior Church. In 2002 our teenagers and adults held or participated in over 20 "5 Day Clubs" with nearly 1,000 children enrolled and over 100 of them being dealt with and professing faith in Christ for salvation. We had a SOUL WINNING Training Conference in Dec 2002 with Dr. Mike Wells, a tremendous evangelist out of our church. We intend to have this conference yearly to equip our GIBC family to be better soul-winners. We are at this time also making plans to involve our church with Bro. Dexter Truesdale and Bro. Dan Carr in a ministry called "REACHING MISSISSIPPI". This ministry, started by these 2 good men of God and their churches, has as it's thrust: going into a city in Mississippi that does not have a Bible believing, fundamental Baptist church; winning souls, holding tent meeting services nightly and trying to get a nucleus of people with which to start a church. The big push will be in the black communities. In Mississippi, these dear folks have often been neglected or just ignored by Fundamental Baptist churches, BUT NOT ANYMORE! We also have an active soul winning ministry to the military. Tucked right on the middle between Keesler Air Force base and Pascagoula Naval Home Port, we strive to reach and teach our military. We run a bus to Keesler AFB every Sunday and hope to do the same to the Home Port this year. We provide a meal EVERY Sunday after morning services for all military personnel who desire to stay. We have seen many saved, baptized, encouraged and strengthened as they serve our country. As other opportunities and ministries present themselves, we will do all we can to use these tools t reach souls for the Lord Jesus Christ and by God's grace glorify Him by attempting to "bear fruit" (John 15:8)

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V. We are a FAITH MISSIONS CHURCH:

Matthew 28:19-20

Here at GIBC we put a great emphasis on World Wide Missions and support of missionaries through Faith Promise Missions giving. One of the highlights of our calendar year is our ANNUAL MISSIONS CONFERENCE held every February. Our conference lasts 8 days from Sunday to Sunday with usually around 10 missionary families present during part of the week. We also have missionaries speak about once a month throughout the year. God has graciously blessed our Missions Programs over the past several years. Our missions budget has grown to over 120 missionaries and mission projects and over $160,000 mission giving for 2004 for which we PRAISE GOD! The dear church family at GIBC has sacrificially given nearly one million dollars for missions since 1996. Our desire is to continue to grow in our missions outreach. We believe that Missions is the heart beat of God and we desire to reach the lost around the world. The Lord has used our emphasis on missions to see at least 5 men called to preach (3 to missions) and at least 10 young people surrender to missions in the last 6 years. We now have several families from GIBC on the mission field, on deputation, or in preparation to raise support to go. We are excited and pray and trust God to do more and greater things the days ahead!

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VI. We are a FRIENDLY CHURCH:

Proverbs 18:24

Our church family at GIBC is a down-to-earth, homey, friendly family. We strive to show our visitors and new families that we are truly glad and honored they have chosen to visit and/or join with us. There is always a warm smile and a kindly handshake waiting for our visitors, friends, and family. we are overwhelmed by the goodness of God brining folks in to visit with us week after week. Travelers passing through, TDY personnel, students, and local folks grace us with their attendance weekly. For nearly 7 years the Lord has given us visitors EVERY WEEK with the exception of Sept 28, 1998. We did have a visitor that day; his name was Hurricane George! Our desire is not to just shake a hand and share a smile though; we endeavor to genuinely care for one another. With that purpose in mind and on our hearts, we are currently organizing "care groups" to pray with, fellowship with and properly care for each other in our church family.

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VII. We are a FAITHFUL CHURCH:

I Corinthians 4:2, II Timothy 2:2

As Pastor, let me say, I am so very grateful that the Lord has allowed me such a wonderful group of dedicated servants to labor with for the cause of Christ. No, not every member is faithful or dedicate, but I've never served in a church family where more people are involved in some capacity of serving the Lord through this local church. GIBC is not a trophy case where folks sit on the shelf and show off their stuff. It is a spiritual hospital: a place for (sin) sick folks to come and get well, for well folks to stay healthy, for new "babies" to be born into the family of God and where a group of sincere (not sinless), principled (not perfect), and faithful (not forgetful) folks are serving together trying to make an eternal difference for Jesus' sake. If you are looking for a place to serve God, reach people and find a caring church; then pray about Grace Independent Baptist Church. We care about you!  

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