A new church plant coming to Gadsden, Alabama!

Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025!

WHY CHURCH PLANTING?

Church planting is not a new idea or fad. When we look at the pattern of church growth in the New Testament, it is growth by multiplication. Biblical, Christ-centered churches give birth to other biblical, Christ-centered churches as God’s Word is preached, disciples are made, people are trained in the Word and then sent out by the church to begin a new work as a local church. Jesus’ words in the Great Commission give us a picture of this church planting work. We are to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). The local church goes, disciples, baptizes, trains and sends… over and over. God’s plan of multiplication is the church. Whether that be local or global multiplication, we believe church planting is the mission work of the local church.

Over the last few years Grace Fellowship has been praying that the Lord would make His will known as to who, where, when and how we would go about being faithful to this burden to plant a church or churches. We believe that God has graciously answered these prayers as he has burdened us and our families with a passionate desire to obediently go and plant a new church in Etowah County, AL.

We are being sent out by Grace Fellowship with our families and others to plant King’s Fellowship in East Gadsden in the Fall of 2025. We are fully trusting God as we passionately pursue this gospel endeavor. We are joyful in God’s sovereign plan and we ask that you read further about the vision, purpose, beliefs, values and plan of King’s Fellowship and prayerfully consider how you can partner with us as we seek to be faithful to this gospel work.

Leaders

Adam & Laura Swann

Raylan and Ava Grace

Adam grew up in Gadsden and his love for Etowah County runs deep. He believes that the grass is greener where you water it and that God has called him to water this community he cares for so much.

Adam came to faith as a teenager and immediately knew God was calling him to devote his life to serving the church. He believes the greatest sound in the world is God’s people singing his praises together and he has a deep desire to help people understand the Scriptures and how to live their lives in response to God’s mercy and grace.

He and his wife Laura were married in 2005 and they have two beautiful children through the blessing of adoption. A son named Raylan Jude and a daughter named Ava Grace. They reside in Etowah County and love their neighborhood and neighbors.

People are the most important thing in life to Adam so he enjoys spending his time with family and friends and having people to their home. He loves listening to music and playing music, being a dad, and is a passionate Atlanta Braves fan.

Leadership

King’s Fellowship will be led by a plurality of pastors who will work together as a team to lead God’s people according to God’s Word. We believe that God entrusts the leadership of the local church to biblically qualified men who devote themselves to the preaching and teaching of God’s Word, to prayer, to the care of the souls of the saints and to the oversight of the ministries of the church. As Christ is the Head of the church, He gives these men to serve in the office of pastor (elder, overseer, shepherd) and entrusts the church into their care. With a plurality of pastors, the church is not built on or led by one man, his personality, or his giftings. Rather, the church is built on Christ and led by multiple men of equal standing with various and complementary giftings as they seek to serve in faithfulness to build up the church into Christ-likeness and equip the saints for the work of the ministry.

David & Lydia Ryan

Bennett, Sanders & Ellie

David’s family moved to Etowah County when he was in 8th grade. He called different areas of Southside, Gadsden and Rainbow City his home until moving to Calhoun County in 2019. Being close to and involved at Grace Fellowship was essential to their life. He has served as the Family Pastor there for 3 years.

He came to faith as a young teenager and experienced the Lord’s persistent urging to grow in his ability to care for other people and serve the Lord. Throughout the years David has served in different ministries and God has used that to grow his love and passion for the local church. The local church is where he desires to devote himself to the preaching and teaching of God’s Word and to the care for others.

David married his wife, Lydia, in 2012. They are blessed with two boys, Bennett and Sanders, and a little girl, Ellie. They love the outdoors and are always up for their next adventure.

Rene & Ariel Zeringue

Alanus, Jerry, Naomi, Coen and John Collins

Rene moved to Gadsden when he was 11 years old and has lived there for the past 24 years except when in college, most of that time in East Gadsden. Rene loves Gadsden and is overwhelmed with joy at the call to minister to the people there.

Rene came to faith as a young teenager and began growing in the Lord thanks to the many wonderful Christ-loving people that he has been surrounded by, by God’s grace, throughout his life. Rene was urged into much public teaching and preaching early in his teenage years and encouraged to consider vocational ministry, which he fought against for as long as he could. Rene has been in ministry in some official capacity since he was 19. He feels most acutely called to and passionate about the local church and intends to devote his life to the Lord’s work therein if the Lord intends.

Rene and Ariel have been married since 2012, experienced the incredible grace of God through adoption a few months later of Alanus and Jerry, and now have 3 more wonderful children as well: Naomi, Coen and John Collins.

Timeline

Spring/Summer 2024

Elder conversations // Meeting weekly to pray // Ask church to join us in prayer

Fall/Winter 2024

Working on founding documents // Meeting with potential core team members // Weekly meeting and prayer

Spring 2025

Sunday morning Worship with Core Team // Sunday night prayer services in Gadsden // Membership classes

April 20, 2025 – Easter Sunday

Covenant together as King’s Fellowship // Public launch in Gadsden

King’s Fellowship is…

Purpose

King’s Fellowship is a local church that exists to glorify God by seeking to know Him and to make Him known. We are a spiritual family of baptized believers united by our faith in Christ, living in authentic community and seeking to love God and each other. We are committed to Christ, the Scriptures, and discipleship.

Mission

Our mission is to join Christ in the building of His church, in depth and breadth. As the local church we are to grow deep in our knowledge, love, worship, and maturity in Christ through the preaching and teaching of God’s Word, congregational worship, prayer, and intentional discipleship. We are to grow the breadth of Christ’s Kingdom through church centered multiplication which includes evangelism, church planting, and missions both locally and globally.

Distinctives

Expositional Preaching
Elder Led, Congregationalism
Confessionally Baptist
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
Strong Congregational Singing
Membership and Discipline
Sacrificial Love
Fervent Prayer
Authentic Community
Church Centered Multiplication

Core Beliefs

Doctrine

At King’s Fellowship, we embrace “the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3). Our doctrine is grounded in God’s Word and evidenced in historic Christianity. Our church values diversity—different backgrounds, ethnicities, life stages, even levels of spiritual maturity. When it comes to our core beliefs, however, we are gladly united.

We submit to the Scriptures as our sole authority in matters of faith and practice and adopt the following Confession of Faith as our interpretation of Bible Doctrine:

Scripture

We believe that the Bible is God’s written revelation of Himself. These Holy Scriptures are perfect as originally given by and from God (“God-breathed”), and are the eternal, inspired, inerrant, infallible, verbal, and plenary very Word of God for man. They are the sole authority and truth for all men for all times for all matters of faith and practice. Properly interpreted, they support or supercede all that follows.

God

We believe there is but one living and true God, perfect in all His attributes and character, one in essence, eternally existing in three Persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is the Creator, Sustainer, Controller, Judge, and Ruler of all things and beings. He rules and reigns in absolute sovereignty for His divine purposes and glory alone.

Jesus Christ

We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, who exists having two natures, fully human and fully divine. The natures of Jesus are without confusion, change, division, or separation. The eternal Son of God was conceived when the Holy Spirit miraculously overshadowed the virgin Mary. Jesus Christ was born of Mary, lived a sinless life, died as a substitutionary atoning sacrifice for our sins, and rose bodily from the dead on the third day. He ascended into heaven, where He intercedes for His people as an eternal high priest. One day, He will return bodily and visibly in all His glory to judge the earth and establish His eternal kingdom. He is the head of the church, having purchased it with His own shed blood. All who claim allegiance to Christ are to obey His commands, imitate His life, and promote His gospel.

Man

We believe that man was directly and immediately created by God in His image and likeness. Man lost his original innocence and freedom in Adam’s sin of disobedience to the revealed will and Word of God, incurred the penalty of spiritual and physical death, became subject to the wrath of God, and became inherently corrupt and utterly incapable of choosing or doing that which is acceptable to God apart from divine grace. Sinful in our natures, depraved and corrupt in all our parts as a result of the original sin and our natural beings, mankind is hopelessly lost apart from God’s divine grace. The purpose, happiness, and success of all men are ultimately found only in God’s plan and design, for His glory alone.

Salvation

In keeping with the Protestant tradition, we believe that salvation is by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to the Holy Scriptures alone, to the glory of God alone. There is no mixture of faith and works in regards to salvation. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and who have been sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end.

Creeds and Confessions

We joyfully stand alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the ages in affirming the Apostles’ Creed (2nd Century) and the Nicene Creed (325 and 381). We gladly stand in the reformed Baptist tradition and believe that the New Hampshire Confession (1853) and the Baptist Faith and Message (2000) provide helpful expositions of God’s Word. We also affirm the following three statements and believe they make clear what the Bible says about itself, gender, and sexuality: The Danvers Statement, The Nashville Statement, The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy.

The Danvers Statement

The Nashville Statement

The Chicago Statement

Foundation Lectures