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Grace Baptist Church

Contact Us

  • Phone: (239) 772-1400
  • Email: 
  • Mailing Address: 1300 Ceitus Terrace, Cape Coral, FL 33991

 

 

Leadership

Grace Elders

 

Tom Ascol - Senior Pastor

Tom Ascol

Tom has served as a Pastor of Grace Baptist Church since 1986. Prior to moving to Florida he served as pastor and associate pastor of churches in Texas. He has a BS degree in sociology from Texas A&M University (1979) and has also earned the MDiv and PhD degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas. His major field of study was Baptist Theology. He has served as an adjunct professor for New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in their SW Florida extension and has also taught systematic theology and pastoral theology at Reformed Theological Seminary and the Midwest Center for Theological Studies (now Covenant Baptist Seminary), respectively. He was also a Teaching Fellow at the Nicole Institute for Baptist Studies at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. 

Tom serves as the President of Founders Ministries, an organization committed to reformation and revival in local churches. He has written numerous articles for journals and magazines and is a regular contributor to TableTalk. He has also edited and contributed to several books and hosts a weekly podcast called The Sword and The Trowel. Tom regularly preaches and lectures at various conferences throughout the United States and other countries in addition to writing for Founders Ministries. Tom also serves as the President of The Institute of Public Theology, which aims to train a coming generation of pastors and Christians to know the times, preach the Word, believe the Word, and do the Word.

Tom enjoys riding motorcycles and, though he currently is "in between bikes," lives with the hope that one day he will have his own Harley. He and Donna have ten children, including four sons-in-law and one daughter-in-law. They also have sixteen grandchildren.

 

Graham Gunden - Assistant Pastor

Graham Gunden

Graham Gunden came to Grace Baptist Church as a pastoral intern in August, 2017 and has since transitioned into the role of Assistant Pastor. Prior to that he lived in Orlando where he worked for Ligonier Ministries and Reformation Bible College. He has a BA in biblical studies from Reformation Bible College and is working toward completing his Mdiv from International Reformed Baptist Seminary. Graham serves as Dean at The Fletcher School, an organization providing Christian parents in Southwest Florida a distinctly classical and Christian education for their children. Graham and his wife Sarah have been married since 2016 and have two boys and one daughter.

Raised on the North coast (Michigan), Graham and Sarah and their kids enjoy spending time outdoors and on the water. Southwest Florida has provided them many opportunities to adventure and explore God’s sub-tropical handiwork. Graham also enjoys reading good literature and theological works, tending to his expansive Florida garden and making slow smoked BBQ for his friends to enjoy. 

 

Chris Faro - Lay Elder 

Chris Faro

Chris Faro and his wife Becky became members of Grace Baptist Church in 2009. They have two children and have lived in Southwest Florida since 2000. God led them to Grace Baptist through a hunger to be part of a church where the Word of God was central in everything and where the preaching and teaching was driven by the Word rather than the ideas of men. Since coming to Grace, Chris has served as a teacher of various age groups, small group leader and is involved in helping to lead the congregation in singing during our worship services. The Faro family has been blessed by how God has worked in their lives during their time at Grace. 

Chris became a lay elder at Grace in April of 2019. He enjoys spending time with his family, learning from God's Word, reading good books, music, sports, and teaching. Their family is also a big fan of the various theme parks that Florida offers. They are grateful for the many blessings that God has showered on them through His Son, Jesus Christ.

   

Don Kiah - Lay Elder

Don Kiah

Don Kiah and his wife Rita retired to Florida from Maryland in 2012. They have been married for 33 years, have two children and three grandchildren. Their primary desire after arriving in Florida was to find a home church. After praying that God would direct them to their new church where they could continue to grow through the preaching and teaching of sound doctrine and discipleship and fellowship with a body of believers, they were amazed at the quick confirmation that Grace Baptist was where they needed to be. Don and Rita joined Grace Baptist in April of 2013. Since that time, they have been blessed to lead and be a part of many discipleship opportunities at the church.

Don became a lay elder at Grace in April 2017. Don and Rita are thankful, since their relocation, to be in a close proximity and enjoy precious family time with their parents and daughter and youngest grandchild. Don enjoys reading and studying the Word, joining together with other church family for fellowship, and brisk morning walks. He and his wife enjoy their time together and seek to appreciate daily all that God has granted them to be at this place at this time for His glory. 

 

Jorge Alvarez - Lay Elder

Jorge and Yoandra Alvarez immigrated from Cuba to the US in January 2000 looking for greater freedom and better opportunities. They both grew up in Santeria, which is a mix of Roman Catholicism and African voodoo religion. They moved from the Miami area to Cape Coral in 2004 in search of a better place for raising and educating their two daughters. Shortly after that they started attending Grace and, by the grace of God, were saved in 2006, joined the church and began to grow in their knowledge of the Word of God and their devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jorge served as a deacon of Grace for 7 years (2012 - 2019) and was then called in 2019 to serve as an elder. He is the founder, owner and operator of a local plumbing company and the Alvarez family enjoys spending time together in any possible way, whether studying the Word of God or hiking in the mountains of North Carolina.

   

Brett Miller - Lay Elder

Don Kiah

Brett Miller and his wife Becky have been members of Grace Baptist Church since 2012. They have been married for 10 years and have 3 wonderful children. A Southwest Florida native, Brett has a bachelors degree in business management from Hodges University in Fort Myers. He has worked in the fire protection industry in SWFL for over 20 years and considers it a blessing to be able to help members of his community stay safe.

Brett has served faithfully as a deacon at Grace for many years and was installed as a lay elder in 2022. He also serves on the Board of Directors of The Fletcher School, an organization providing Christian parents in Southwest Florida a distinctly classical and Christian education for their children. Brett enjoys time spent outside hunting, fishing and boating the Florida waters. But above all, his most cherished roles are that of husband to Becky and father to their three children.

 

Matt Anderson - Lay Elder

Matt Anderson and his wife Rachel live with their two sons Grant and James in Bokeelia and have been members at Grace Baptist Church since 2017. Matt grew up in south Ft. Myers and then moved to Beckley, West Virginia where he attended Appalachian Bible College receiving his bachelors degree in Bible/Theology with a minor in outdoor ministry. He now works locally as a firefighter paramedic for the city of Cape Coral. 

Both Matt and Rachel have been involved in serving at Grace in various ways over the years and in 2022 Matt was called to serve as a lay elder at Grace. In his spare time Matt enjoys spending time with his wife and sons in the outdoors, hunting and tending his small apiary. The Andersons are thankful to be serving at Grace Baptist and look forward to all that God is doing through through this local body.

 

 

Jon H. Thomason - Pastoral Assistant 

Jon H. Thomason

Jon was born in 1999 in LaGrange, GA. He has been married to his wife Caitlyn since June 2020. Jon was baptized upon a profession of faith and has a gripping love for the Baptist church. He is a certified welder with a degree in welding and joining technology from West Georgia Technical College, and has most recently worked building forestry tractors, and as a carpenter’s assistant.

Through leading Bible studies and preaching in his local church there was a recognition from the eldership of a call on his life to pastoral ministry. As Jon and the eldership were looking for a place of training and testing, by the providence of God, came upon the Grace Baptist Church internship and is currently a full-time student at The Institute of Public Theology. At the completion of his internship, Jon transitioned to the role of Pastoral Assistant and serves faithfully with our Pastors in the ministry of Grace. 

 

Grace Pastoral Interns

 

Paul Taylor - Pastoral Intern

Paul Taylor

Paul received his B.A. in English from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, and his M.Div. in Biblical and Theological Studies at the the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Before coming to Grace Baptist, he was a member of Bethany Baptist Church in Louisville and has served as a church moderator, deacon, Sunday School teacher, and lay preacher. He is engaged to be married to his dear fiancé, Michaela in December.