By Mike Matthew
Special to The Laker / Lutz News
Shaun Walker, lead teaching pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Wesley Chapel, is responsible for teaching scripture from the pulpit and in small groups. He oversees all teaching activities at Grace Baptist.
“My work is not just preaching,” says Shaun. “We care for the whole person by pointing them towards answers in scripture. We want to help people going through life’s trials and also rejoice with them in good times.”
“Church is not just about Sunday,” says Shaun. “Sunday matters because it’s lived out Monday through Saturday. It’s about bringing God’s words to life within each individual so the real meaning of the scriptures shine through everything they do and say.”
Shaun grew up attending church. After receiving a bachelors degree in Bible, he moved to Colorado to serve as an unpaid pastoral intern. He lived with families in the community, moving to a new home every two months for two years.
He spent the last 13 years in Colorado serving as an assistant pastor. As he matured into the role, he recognized people responding favorably to a teaching style of ministry. Grace Baptist was looking for a teaching pastor and contacted him. After going through the interview process, the church voted him in. He moved here in July 2014.
“What drew me was the people,” says Shaun. “I found people truly supporting and caring for each other. They weren’t just doing church on Sunday. They are a loving community of Christians who spend time in each other’s homes.”
“A healthy church requires the meaning of the sermon to reflect the meaning of the scripture,” says Shaun. “Our teachings are relentlessly faithful to the biblical text. I am essentially a reporter of God’s word. Here’s what God said.”
“We can’t just pick a phrase out of the Bible and debate its meaning,” says Shaun. “We need to look at the context, the flow of meaning that exists through the whole text. The teaching must also be relevant. I’m always asking the question, so what? The text has to answer the ‘so what’ question.”
The teachings at Grace Baptist Church are not shallow. “God is trustworthy,” says Shaun. “We’ve been loved and forgiven. This is a foundation upon which to build an active faith.”
Grace Baptist welcomes sinners of all social and economic distinctions. “There is no room in a healthy church for any type of discrimination,” says Shaun. “We need diversity. It helps us to understand how God loves each and every one of us without regard to our apparent differences.”
Anyone dissatisfied with their current ministry or bouncing from church to church should come to Grace Baptist and experience the power of a teaching ministry.
Grace Baptist Church is located at 2600 Cypress Ridge Blvd in Wesley Chapel (behind Goodwill at State Road 54 and Interstate 75). Sermons are at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, and 7 p.m. on Wednesday, and are open to all (no appointment necessary).
