
OUR LEADERSHIP
DR. FRED STEELMAN
Interim Senior Pastor | fred@brainerdhills.com
Dr. Steelman has a B.S. from Mississippi State University, a Masters of Divinity from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, a Doctorate of Ministry from New Orleans Theological Seminary, and an Honorary Doctorate from Carson Newman University. He has been a pastor from more than 50 years, 33 of which were at Red Bank Baptist Church in Chattanooga.
Dr. Steelman has been active in denominational life serving on major boards of the TBC and the SBC. He serve from 1975-1984 on the TBC Executive Board and was elected President in 1983. As a Trustee at Carson Newman University from 1995-2007, Dr. Steelman was Chairman of the Board from 2003-2004. He is married with three grown children and five grandchildren. Since his retirement in 2006, he has served several lengthy interims and has managed to hunt and fish a significant amount.
OUR LEADERSHIP
OUR LEADERSHIP
Get to know our Pastoral Staff and ministry teams who help lead our Church family.
JEFF CLARK
Minister of Music | jeff@brainerdhills.com
Jeff joined the staff of Brainerd Hills in January of 1993 after graduating from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with a Masters in Church Music. He originally served as Minister of Music & Youth, but as the church expanded, was moved to music ministry exclusively. His passion is to see the church engaged in heartfelt, biblical worship.
Jeff and his wife, Kris, reside in the East Brainerd community and have three children.
OUR LEADERSHIP
OUR LEADERSHIP
Get to know our Pastoral Staff and ministry teams who help lead our Church family.
MIKE LOFTON
Minister of Education | mike@brainerdhills.com
Mike Lofton joined the pastoral staff of Brainerd Hills in 1998 after serving as Associate Pastor and Minister of Education at First Baptist Church of Ridgeland, Mississippi. Mike oversees the educational ministry of the church which encompasses the Sunday School Ministry, Discipleship/Equipping Ministry, and Outreach Ministry.
Mike graduated from Mississippi State University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and resides in Chattanooga with his wife Deborah and his two children, Meagan and Adam.
OUR LEADERSHIP
OUR LEADERSHIP
Get to know our Pastoral Staff and ministry teams who help lead our Church family.
ANDREW CRAWFORD
Minister to Students | andrew@brainerdhills.com
Andrew serves as Minister to Students, joining our staff in September of 2013. He is from Ringgold, Georgia and is a product of the student ministry at Brainerd Hills. His desire is for students to fall in love with our Savior, Jesus Christ and follow Him wherever He leads.
He and his wife Jennifer have been married for five years and have two children, Cooper and Lily. They currently reside in Ringgold.
Andrew holds a BA in Business Administration from Maryville College where he played football and wrestled, and he is currently pursuing a Master of Divinity degree.
OUR LEADERSHIP
OUR LEADERSHIP
Get to know our Pastoral Staff and ministry teams who help lead our Church family.
LINDSAY BLACKWELL
Director of Preschool and Nursery | lindsay@brainerdhills.com
Lindsay grew up in Huntsville, Alabama. She has a degree from the University of North Alabama in Social Work. Lindsay has over 10 years experience working in the field of childcare and early childhood education. She has worked with children of all ages. Lindsay has a passion to see children grow in their foundation in Christ starting at birth.
Lindsay and her husband, Richmond, have been married since 2005. They have two daughters and currently live in Ringgold.
OUR LEADERSHIP
OUR LEADERSHIP
Get to know our Pastoral Staff and ministry teams who help lead our Church family.
ANITA PARKER
Children's Ministry Director | anita@brainerdhills.com
Anita and her husband Tim are from Rock Spring, GA. Anita has an Early Childhood Education Degree and has worked with children for many years. She has had several roles working with children, including serving as Children and Preschool Director at her former church as well as being a USA Gymnastics Team coach.
Anita's passion is to show the love of Christ to each child and to help build a solid foundation in their relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.
OUR LEADERSHIP
OUR LEADERSHIP
Get to know our Pastoral Staff and ministry teams who help lead our Church family.
OUR LEADERSHIP
OUR BELIEFS
WHAT WE BELIEVE ABOUT THE SCRIPTURES
The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.
WHAT WE BELIEVE ABOUT GOD
There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
GOD THE FATHER
God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men.
GOD THE SON
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.
GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.
WHAT WE BELIEVE ABOUT MAN
Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God's creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.
WHAT WE BELIEVE ABOUT SALVATION
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.
REGENERATION
Regeneration or the new birth, is a work of God's grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace. Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Savior.
JUSTIFICATION
Justification is God's gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God.
SANCTIFICATION
Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God's purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person's life.
GLORIFICATION
Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.
WHAT WE BELIEVE ABOUT BAPTISM AND THE LORD'S SUPPER
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.
If you want to learn more about our basic beliefs,
you can read the Complete Baptist Statement of Faith by clicking below.