Just 3.7 miles from Lancaster Bible College’s campus sits Grace Baptist Church of Lancaster (GBC), which, like LBC, was founded in 1933 by Dr. Henry J. Heydt. He was leading home Bible studies at the time, which naturally led to the creation of the church that summer.
The staff of GBC is made up of four pastors who share a common thread. Over the course of 45 years, all four graduated from LBC.
Since 1933, the church has gone through many phases and found its home in several buildings. It first met in Lancaster’s Convention Hall on Orange Street, then the local YMCA, Lancaster Airport, and even rented LBC’s auditorium for a period of time while raising money for the current location.
Associate Pastor Rev. Marvin Reich (’68) has served GBC for over 35 years, and although his role has changed throughout that time, he now focuses mainly on pastoral care with an emphasis on senior citizens—or, he said jokingly, as the self-proclaimed “Chief Agitator” of the church.
Four LBC alumni pastors minister together at Grace Baptist Church, which was started by LBC founder Henry J. Heydt in 1933. From left, Marvin Reich (’68), Greg Funk (’80), Chris Mellon (’13) and Mike Cortez (’11).
Mike Cortez (’11) completed most of his degree at LBC from 1996-99 but pursued a career in the building industry before beginning his ministry career at GBC in 2007. “I came here just to attend because of their Awana ministry and that transitioned to a role on staff,” he explained. Mike now serves as the Pastor of Family Ministries.
Chris Mellon (’13) has held the Worship Arts Pastor role at GBC since he graduated from LBC. “We’re definitely a church about transformation and restoration,” he said.
Greg Funk (’80), GBC’s Lead Pastor, felt a call to ministry when he was 16 but could never have guessed the path ahead of him. The church has seen much growth in recent years, from seniors to young adults. For instance, a recent service saw eight babies dedicated.
But one population that is growing and becoming a primary ministry focus at GBC is the addiction recovery community. In fact, Greg said about one-third of the church’s population is in active recovery. The church hosts a group on Thursday nights for the recovery community and recently welcomed 140 people to one session.
“God’s blessing us, bringing them into a place where they can find Christ and begin to grow,” Greg expressed. “It is interesting, every generation takes a different look, and this is our look right now.” Added Marvin, “The neat thing is, those people are accepted now. There was a time they were not.”
Mike agreed, saying that “across the board, you see passion for what we do. People get involved because they’ve bought into what we do, and we strive to do what the Lord commands us and follow Him in how He’s leading.”
Although their LBC graduation years span 45 years, all four pastors reflect on their time at LBC as foundational to their current roles in the church.
Mike recalled two professors in particular—Dr. Bruce McCracken and Dr. Sandy Good—who were influential to his learning as they stressed the importance of relationships and relationship building. “They were not nearly as driven about process and procedure as they were relationships and figuring out how to meet the needs of those as you get to know them,” he said.
Likewise, Chris appreciated the encouragement he received from professors and mentors to seek out a variety of experiences in an effort to “create passion for all different aspects of ministry and a desire to learn and grow through different experiences.”
Greg saw benefits in learning from professors who were also pastors. “The value for me back then was, these teachers actually pastored and taught,” he explained. “They were just living out what we were about to live out. I learned more from having conversations with them about what to expect than in the classroom.”
And Marvin, who graduated when the college was still called Lancaster School of the Bible (LSB), said, “I told Dr. (Peter W.) Teague (former LBC President) one time that I’ve gone to several other schools after LBC, but what I need and use every day is what I gained at LSB. That was the basis. It was the most valuable.”