About

Pastor Daniel Scheiderer

Pastor

Daniel was raised in Tucson, AZ where he came to faith and was baptized at an early age. Though he did not grow up “in the church,” his family did attend church occasionally throughout his childhood. When he was a teen, he was able to commit himself more fully to the church and to reading Scripture. Though he had entertained the thought of going into ministry after high school, he decided instead to pursue his childhood desire to join the Army. As an infantryman, Daniel was deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 and 2011 with the Tenth Mountain Division out of New York. On his first deployment, he was able to work alongside two chaplains as a “fill-in” Chaplain’s Assistant at which time he was introduced to the doctrines of grace and the life of ministry. Providentially, when Daniel returned to his platoon, he was wounded by an IED, and on his second deployment he was wounded again, resulting in his medical retirement from the Army in 2013. As he transitioned out of the Army, Daniel began an internship with his pastor at the time in San Antonio, TX, continued his own study, and came to convictional confessionalism. Eventually he and his family moved up to Louisville, KY in order for Daniel to complete his studies at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. While in Louisville, he was blessed to serve as a Deacon and then ordained to gospel ministry as an Elder at Kosmosdale Baptist Church, a Reformed Baptist congregation in the Southern Baptist Convention. After completing his B.A. at Boyce College and M.Div. at SBTS, he continued on to PhD studies in systematic theology, which he completed in May of 2022. After Daniel pastored a church in Massachusetts, He was then called to minister here at Grace Baptist Church in May of 2021. In addition to serving the saints in his local church, Daniel has sought to serve the church more broadly in his writing (some academic articles and one book, Still Confessing). Daniel has been married to Patsy since 2007, and together they have four children: Ana, Malia, Danny, and John. Together, they like exploring, talking about theology and history, and getting to know new things and new places.

C. Kenneth Shannon

Elder

My parents, Charles and Betty Shannon, provided a loving and moral home in the suburbs of Philadelphia. They were church-goers who established their family after World War II. They bought a small home and worked hard to raise a family. Grandparents, aunts and uncles were an important part of family life. As the first grandchild I received a lot of good attention and care from my parents and extended family. When I was a young teenager I witnessed my parents' conversion to Jesus Christ as their living Lord and Savior. The change in their lives was centered upon a new, personal relationship with the resurrected Christ. It became clear to me that this new faith dominated their lives. I could see that this was something real and life-changing. It was as if Jesus had taken up residence in our home. I did not embrace this Gospel and though I was generally moral, I drifted into the pursuit of personal pleasure. In the core of my being I was not a good person, but I was proud my behavior was not as bad as my friends. I became gradually enslaved to a number of self-destructive behaviors and college life provided me with greater opportunity to pursue these. And yet the moral structure provided by my parents and their testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ were deeply ingrained in my conscience. I respected their testimony. It was genuine and heartfelt. It influenced my Dad to get involved in prison ministry with other African-American evangelicals. My parents befriended and sought to help people who lived troubled lives. Their Christian kindness was evidence to all though to some their evangelical Methodism was a little too religious. A few opportunities of serious reflection intruded into my late high school years. An influential teacher helped to read Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. Methodist preachers urged me to be born again. A Jewish friend encouraged discussions about the meaning of life and politics. Nevertheless, I was more like a junior Augustine, dabbling in the life of the mind while principally pursuing my pleasures. At college I continued to pursue my pleasures but I also tried to be a good student and a thinking person. These were the years 1967-1969, the time of youthful rebellion and soul searching during turbulent 1960s. During the summer of 1969, God gradually brought me to faith in Jesus Christ, so that when I returned to college in the fall I was ready to identify with the Christians. Since that time I have sought by God's grace, to be a follower of Jesus Christ. The word of Christ, the Bible, became my guide in every area of life. Thus began my "great conversation" with the Lord of the universe. Imagine that He wants my fellowship and friendship! In some ways this was a radical break with my past, but old habits die hard, and progress in the life of a Christian was not without its failures and troubles. The Bible taught me that my thinking must change and come into agreement with God's thinking. In college I became a Christian in the midst of many intellectual challenges to the Christian faith. I took to reading Christian writers defending the faith and this has become a life-long pursuit. Books became an important part of my life; a life-long companion. My conversion to the Christian faith awakened intellectual interests. As a young Christian God led me to a church where Calvinists and Baptists mixed and I found this to be the most accurate expression of the teachings of the Bible. In 1970, I joined Grace Baptist Church of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and remain there to this day. This was not the church of my family or ethnic group, but I found it to be a church where Christ speaks to and meets with His people. In the early 1970s, God called me to teaching in the church and eventually to teaching as a profession. My latent interest in history was awakened as I now saw God providentially ordering the events of history for His own purposes. Teaching became a central focus of my life. With God's purposes motivating me it has been a great source of joy. God brought to me to Laurie, my wife, who shared a love for Christ. We were married in 1977 which was the first year of my teaching career. Marriage and the blessings of children, and more recently, grandchildren, became the most important earthly blessing from God. Christ has been teaching me through the years to be a more faithful husband, father and grandfather. God has truly showered me with blessings. For all these things and much more I am thankful to the Father, His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Jeffrey A. Garner

Elder

Born in Chambersburg during the tumultuous late sixties, Jeff enjoyed the faithful guidance of a godly mother who protected her family from the potential hazards of the age. Jeff found early refuge in the life of the church, as God transformed the life of a little lost boy and graciously knitted him into the everyday life of a little Baptist church on the corner of Second Street in Chambersburg within walking distance of his boyhood home. After high school, Jeff enlisted in the Naval Nuclear Power program, serving in the US submarine force. Jeff completed several patrols as Reactor Operator and Electronic Technician on the Ballistic Missile Submarine U.S.S. Daniel Webster, stationed in Holy Loch, Scotland at the height of Cold War tensions. Following his honorable discharge from service in 1992, Jeff began a new life back in Pennsylvania, enrolling in college and enlisting as Sunday school teacher at the church nearby his Path Valley home. Here he would meet the love of his life, Lianne, who was at that time praying for a godly husband, trusting God for His providence. In 1998, Jeff and Lianne were happily married at Calvary Bible Church, with the late Pastor Glen Miller performing the wedding. On November 26, 1999, just a few hours past Thanksgiving Day, daughter Hannah came as a true blessing from God. In another tremendous blessing from the Lord, after a long and patient period of foster-adopting, Jeff and Lianne added a second child to their family in August of 2001, adopting their son David just two months shy of his 15th birthday. Jeff has served as Executive Director of an all-summer evangelistic day camp and as Residential Program Supervisor and Director of Education at The Children’s Aid Society of Franklin County. Calvary Bible Church of Greencastle called Jeff to their pastoral staff in 2000. Here he worked closely with his friend and godly mentor, the late Pastor Glen Miller. Jeff served here until 2006 when Shalom Christian Academy hired Jeff as Bible and English teacher. Jeff holds a B.S. degree in Bible and Christian ministry, an MBA in Nonprofit Management, and a Master of Theology degree. In connection with his service at Grace Baptist Church and his work as Administrator of Providence Christian Academy, Jeff is now completing studies at the doctorate level. Grace Baptist Church called Jeff as Elder in January of 2013. Soli Deo Gloria.

Luke Mace

Elder

Luke was born to Christian parents in 1982. Much of his childhood and teen years were spent in Alaska, where his parents served as missionaries. Following ministry in Alaska, Luke’s father pastored in the Midwest until his death. By God’s grace, Luke came to Christ at the age of seventeen, and was baptized in the weeks following. Shortly thereafter, he believed God would have him prepare for vocational ministry, and enrolled in bible college upon graduating high school. While in college, Luke met his wife Amber. They were married in June of 2002. In December of 2005, Luke and family moved to Alaska where they served in a mission work in a remote village on the Yukon River for six years. They returned to their home church in Northwestern Illinois in November of 2011. There, Luke served as one of the pastors until the Spring of 2017. The Mace family moved to Chambersburg early in 2018. They began attending and soon became members of Grace Baptist Church. Luke was called by the church as an elder in May of 2021. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree through Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary. Luke and Amber have five children — Logan, Keegan, Zack. Kate, and Toby.

Mike Fitzpatrick

Deacon

Mike Fitzpatrick was born in 1975 to Christian parents. He grew up in Perry County, PA where his father and mother still live. His father taught Christian school in Carlisle, PA for almost 20 years and was a Reformed Baptist pastor for 19 years before retiring in 2018. Mike came to know the Lord in high school largely due to the influence of his parents and leaders and friends in youth group. He graduated from Grove City College and then furthered his education in Philadelphia, PA. While there he attended Tenth Presbyterian Church and sat under the preaching of Pastors James Boyce and Philip Ryken. He then married Robyn Hannaman, with whom he had been good friends from childhood. They have four children: Molly, Stephen, Megan, and Joshua. The Lord brought them to Chambersburg in 2008 and they are happy to be members of a local Reformed Baptist church.

Weston Noyes

Deacon

Weston was born in 1980 in Norfolk, Virginia to parents Doug and Chris. He is the oldest of seven siblings. His father served in the U.S. Navy throughout Weston's childhood and teenage years, which meant the family moved around the country every few years. After graduating high school in Middleburg, Florida he went on to attend a small Bible college in Elgin, IL in the fall of 1998. It was at this college that he met his future wife, Judi, and they were married in December of 2000. God has blessed their family with four children—Timothy, Jeffrey, Bradley, and Madison. Weston grew up in church and spent his early life (childhood, adolescence, and young adult years) under the preaching and influence of the various Independent Fundamental Baptist churches that the family was a part of throughout the country. In 2002, Weston and his young growing family moved to Rockford, Illinois to be close to his parents and siblings and help in a new church plant being led by his father. He and his wife went on to spend most of the next 15 years serving in various ministries of this church, and living in the Rockford area as well as nearby southern Wisconsin. Around 2012, God began working through various circumstances to grow Weston, as well as a few other men in the church, in the doctrines of grace. Ultimately, Weston came to realize that the childhood prayer he had been holding to as his basis for assurance was not consistent with what he was seeing in Scripture, and this led him to see his need for faith in Christ alone as his sole means of salvation. It was also during this time that he began to be shown and taught the beliefs and teachings of historic Reformed Baptist theology. After much growth in grace over the next couple of years, God moved Weston and his family to the Chambersburg, PA area in the fall of 2017. After several years of running his own home-based business, Weston accepted a sales position at a locally owned hardware and masonry company. He and his family began attending Grace Baptist Church in October of 2017 and joined as members in January of 2018. They have been greatly blessed to be a part of the congregation of believers here for the past couple of years and have been active serving in various ministries of the church. Weston was elected deacon in 2020.

Ben Seifarth

Deacon

Ben was born in 1987 in Hagerstown, MD. The Lord brought Ben to Chambersburg to work at Cross & Crown, where he met Lydia and they were married shortly after. Ben and Lydia have three boys, Caspian, Thomas, and Maxwell. Ben has been a deacon since 2021.