Our Story
It began with a few leaders at Grace Baptist Church in Knoxville TN. Pastor Trent’s father, Dr. Ron Stewart, was the catalyst for the birth of a new church in Blount County TN. The decision was made to begin the church as a satellite campus of Grace Baptist Knoxville in 2009. The church began meeting on Easter of 2009 at Maryville Christian School using video preaching from Grace Baptist Knoxville. A team from GB Knoxville began serving in leadership roles to establish the church.
Dr. Trent Stewart became the Lead Pastor in January 2010. The church quickly transitioned from video teaching, to Pastor Trent preaching and leading GCF to become a church plant. God blessed the church with growth and people coming to know Christ. GCF successfully developed a leadership team of new members to assume all ministry roles, which allowed the original Grace Baptist Knoxville leaders to return home. By the summer of 2010 the church had reached an attendance of over 220 people.
Not having a permanent site to call home in Maryville, the church decided to open up an office in the Foothills Mall. The mall office created unique opportunities to share the love of God in practical ways. GCF began giving away free water, providing free video games for kids, as well as other ministries to the community. It has given GCF a platform to engage our city. The office is also a place for mall employees and shoppers to come have a free cup of coffee, watch TV on one of four flat screens, or simply talk about life.
Grace Baptist Knoxville and Grace Church of the Foothills have a great partnership and continue to cooperate together. As a church plant, GCF functions as an autonomous church.
The vision is huge, and everyone must do his or her part. We work as a team to fulfill our mission and God is doing great and wonderful things. As GCF grows we continue to press toward the goal of making disciples of Christ. We aren’t interested in playing church, we talk about real issue and help equip each other to follow Christ in every area of life.
