Our History
Grace Bible Church started on June 16, 1991. Our first meeting was in a rented day care facility in Muskogee, OK. Our first meeting included five like minded families who wanted to be part of a New Testament Church.
A few years later we moved into a rented facility on West Okmulgee, just east of the Muskogee Post Office. We were in that facility for several years while we saved money and searched for a suitable place to build a permanent facility. Five acres of land were donated on East Hancock by a family in the church and construction began on our current facility. We moved into our current facility at 4321 E. Hancock, Muskogee, OK, on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, 2000. We were able to build and furnish the facility without incurring any debt.
Our vision for GBC has always been to be a New Testament Church. We are committed to the Scriptures as our final authority on all matters of faith and conduct. We want to be as much like the first century church as possible. Acts 2:42 tells us, “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” These four activities are at the heart of all we do. We study the Bible because this is where we find the Apostle’s teachings. We share life-to- life in true biblical fellowship. We worship with the Cross of Christ as our focal point. (Breaking of bread is a reference to the Lord’s Supper which serves to remind us of His redemptive work.) We devote considerable time on Sunday morning and all our time on Wednesday evenings to prayer.
We have always been a mission’s minded church. Historically, almost half of our church budget has gone to support missions locally, nationally, and internationally. We currently support thirteen different ministries involved in evangelism, teaching, and discipleship in Muskogee, across Oklahoma, and around the world. We also have a rich history with the Gospel Rescue Mission in Muskogee. We currently serve the evening meal on the fourth Sunday evening of each month and conduct the chapel service.
Brad Schell has been the pastor/teaching elder of GBC since the inception of the church. Brad is a native Muskogee area resident. He has been married to Donna (Hope) since 1976. They have seven children. Brad and Donna currently live just south of Hulbert, OK. Brad served GBC in a bi-vocational role for the first 19 years of the church. In January, 2011 Brad started serving GBC full-time.
