LEADERSHIP
Pastoral oversight at HRBM Cookeville is provided by a plurality of elders. The elders are equal in status and share the church’s teaching and counseling ministries.
Pastor Donny Martin
Donny Martin has served as an elder at Grace Baptist Church since 1995. Before coming to GBC, he labored as a missionary in Spain for several years, taught at a Christian high school, and served as an elder at Southside Baptist Church in Gallatin, Tennessee. Donny is fully certified by the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors (NANC). He is the full-time pastor of Grace Baptist Church. Donny and his wife Jane have been married for twenty-two years and have seven children.
Mr. Carroll Carman
Carroll Carman is a lifelong resident of the Hartsville area. He was installed as an elder at Grace Baptist Church in the early 1980s and has labored faithfully at the church for twenty-five years now. In addition to his pulpit teaching, Carroll also ministers on a weekly basis in several local nursing homes. He works as a land surveyor, serves as foreman of the county Grand Jury, and seems to know virtually every citizen of Trousdale County. Carroll and his wife Linda have been married for thirty-five years; they have three children and 14 grandchildren.
Mr. Thomas Strong
Thomas Strong has been a member of Grace Baptist Church in Hartsville for three years. He has been retired from full-time active ministry since 1998, having before then served as Minister of Music and Assistant Pastor of First Baptist Church in Indialantic, Florida; Pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Hialeah, Florida; and Pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Sparta, Tennessee. From 1981-1994, he pursued an overseas Bible Teaching and Evangelism ministry, visiting approximately 20 countries around the world, several of them multiple times. From 1995-1998, he was Administrator of the Timisoara, Romania Baptist Bible Institute. Mr. Strong and his wife Sarah (Sally) were married in May, 2009. Between them they have 6 children, 16 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren.