Grace Baptist Church was incorporated in December of 1970 as the Grace Community Chapel. George Swanson was the first pastor, and they met in the United Church of Christ on Flagg Road in West Hartford. Pastor Swanson resigned on September 1, 1972.

On February 7, 1973, the church called Russell Sykes to be their pastor. It was during his ministry that they began to look for a new location for worship. It was decided to have Pastor Sykes check out the Windsor area. Pastor Sykes resigned on April 30, 1975 to pastor in South Carolina.

During the interim, John Buck of CEF filled in as pastor until a permanent pastor was called. On January 14, 1976, Keith Gephart was called to be the pastor. Upon his arrival the church was encouraged to begin looking for available land or a building suitable in which to worship. On September 1, 1977, the church called Tim Coley to be the assistant pastor. Shortly thereafter, Grace Baptist Church merged with the Windsor Bible Fellowship and on December 4. 1977, they had their first meeting together. On April 9, 1978, the church voted to rent the facilities of the Loomis-Chaffee School in Windsor. In November 1978, Tim Coley resigned as assistant pastor. In June of 1979, Pastor Gephart resigned to take a teaching position in California.

On August 15, 1979 the church voted to call Glen J. Farnham to be their pastor. Glen began his ministry on the second Sunday of December of 1979. During Pastor Glen’s ministry the Lord blessed Grace Baptist with a new building for which they prayed and worked during those years. Ben and Jon Sasportas were instrumental in helping locate the land and also building the facilities. Under Pastor Glen’s leadership, God used the Sasportas’ to build what we see today. Also during Pastor Glen’s ministry, his brother Clay was called to be the assistant pastor in 1987.

When Pastor Glen died, the church voted to call his brother Clay as the Pastor on June 3, 1990. During his years of ministry, the Lord blessed the church as: missionary support was increased; the church took on 18 missionary families and increased the bus ministry. He served the Lord for 14 years as Pastor and 3 years as Assistant Pastor. Pastor Clay resigned in April 2004.

On October 17, 2004, Jason B. Stephens, was asked to candidate. He and his family were from Walkertown, North Carolina. On November 24, Jason accepted the call to be the Pastor at Grace. His first service was on December 29th, 2004. He and his wife Clare have a son and two daughters.

During the first few years of Pastor Jason’s ministry, discipleship training has been the top priority. He believes that a commitment to Biblical Discipleship is an important key to helping the overall health of the church. Our focus has not been on how to grow the church; rather, we have focused on the process of developing individual followers of Christ. These followers, in turn, can help others grow closer to God. We accomplish this by staying true to our Church’s mission. This is why we are here: “To give hope and help to the hurting by leading people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.”

We are looking forward to the “great things” that God has in store for our community through the church.