Maranatha Baptist Church, Grimes, Iowa, welcomed David and Debbie Strope to its worship service April 30. David is interim national representative of the GARBC.
Speaking on “God’s Transforming Grace,” from Titus 2, David shared how the grace of God teaches us to live for God.
“The lessons of grace are often missed and misunderstood among Christians,” Pastor Lance Augsburger says. “As a result, we miss out on the joy, righteousness, and hope that God’s grace empowers.”
Lance has been pastor of the church since 2017. He says he knows David as “Pastor Strope,” since before David became interim national representative, he was pastor of Ankeny (Iowa) Baptist, a sister church of Marantha Baptist. But the connection between the two goes back even further. When Lance was a student at Faith Baptist Theological Seminary, David taught one of Lance’s classes, about serving on a pastoral staff.
While attending that class, Lance says, “what I came away with was how important it was to grow in our love for Jesus Christ.” David “is a man who has lived that out,” Lance says. “And as I’ve become a pastor, he’s one who has shown me friendship and grace—not as one over me but one next to me.”
Photos by Jared Graham.
