GFBC Deacons 2011-2012

Council of Deacons   Caregiving Deacons
Moderator/Chair Ed Clayton   Chair Vivian Denning
Discipleship Commission Chair Jim Clayton   Caregiver Bill Buisch
Worship Commission Chair Jeneal Teander   Caregiver Linda Stribling
Missions Commission Chair Mark Rice   Caregiver Kathryn Suggs
Administrative Commission Chair Bill Coleman   Caregiver Lee Webb
Family Life Commission Chair Ruth Taylor   Caregiver Marilyn Clayton
Capital Resources Commission Chair Tayo Ogundipe   Caregiver Lee Outlaw
Congregational Caregiving Chair Vivian Denning   Caregiver Doug Black
At Large Member Dave Beam   Caregiver Gail Jones
At Large Member Jennifer Coltrane   Caregiver Jean Lamb
At Large Member Lydia Hoyle   Caregiver Tanya McDowell
      Caregiver Catherine Peacock

Deacon Testimonies

Meet four of our newest deacons and listen to their testimony.

  • Marilyn Clayton



  • Tayo Ogundipe



  • Lee Outlaw



  • Catherine Peacock



Deacons: Set Apart To Serve

The origination of the word deacon, comes from a story in the sixth chapter of the book of Acts, where the Greek members of the early church complained to the Hebrew members of the early church that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. The apostles did not have enough time to oversee this matter themselves, so they decided to appoint others to serve the community in this capacity who would make sure that the daily distribution of food was done efficiently, and that all the widows were cared for equally regardless of ethnicity.


Throughout our history as Baptists in America, we have taken the story of Acts 6 literally, and our deacons have typically been people who provided direct care for the sick and the hospitalized in the church community. But if you look closely at the story in Acts 6 you'll see that there was more to being a deacon than just caregiving - there was also an administrative aspect to their work. Providing food for those in the community who needed it was certainly a caregiving task, but organizing the daily distribution of food so that it was more efficient and equitable was also an administrative task.


The point here is that a deacon is simply one who has been called by God and the church to serve the community, and there are a lot of different ways to serve God's people. Some ways involve direct caregiving and others are more administrative, but neither is more important, or more spiritual, or more biblical than the other. We thank God for calling members of our congregation to serve both as caregiving and as administrative deacons, and we hope that God will continue to raise up a new generation of deacons from our congregation to be set apart to serve.


Excerpted from the Enabler. Written by Rev. Ben Boswell.