Staff:
Reverend Tom Baran
Senior Pastor
Pastor Tom Baran was born and raised here in Connecticut, and he and his wife Donna currently live in Bristol. They have been married for over seventeen years and are blessed to have three children and five grandchildren. Pastor Tom and Donna have been ministering in Bristol for just over fourteen years with the Isaiah 61 street ministry, which they founded. God has always focused them on the city of Bristol and the surrounding communities. Tom’s desire to serve in pastoral ministry led him to enroll at Liberty University in 2011 while he worked as Director of Sales, Purchasing, and Marketing at HPC Foodservice. As he progressed through Liberty, he felt a call to leave his position at HPC, and took on the role of church consultant for Liturgical Publications. After completing his undergraduate degree in Biblical Studies, Tom enrolled in Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and completed his Master of Divinity in Pastoral Ministries. During this time, he began serving a pastoral internship at Faith Baptist Church in Southington. After completion of his degree Tom received his pastoral license, and in the fall of 2018, he went before the ordination council of Converge, and was ordained. Pastor Tom was called here to Grace Baptist in February of 2019 to serve the people of Grace Baptist Church and the surrounding communities in service to our great Lord and King, Jesus Christ.
Leadership:
Diaconate
It is the responsibility of the diaconate to care for the spiritual well-being of the members of our church. The Bible makes it clear that serving as a deacon or deaconess is a high and holy responsibility. Because of the nature of this position, a deacon or deaconess is not elected on the basis of church votes, but rather selected on the basis of recognizable qualities and maturity. Here at Grace, the Pastor and Diaconate work together with the Board oversight to select members for the committee.
Church Board
Our Church Board is made up of the chairpersons of each of our ministry committees along with a couple of members at large. Each chairperson represents the ministry for which they are responsible and the members at large represent the views of the church body as a whole. The board handles all important administrative decisions for the church.