About Us

We exist to make disciples in order to impact the world with the Gospel of Christ.

Our Pastor

Pastor Mike Jones and his wife Tahsha moved to Cedar Rapids to join the Good News team in June 2022. Before that they actively served in ministries in the DFW area of Texas since 2008, when Mike completed his active-duty service in the U.S. Army as a Cavalry Scout. Mike was born and raised in Mexico to missionaries Daniel and Michelle Jones. Tahsha is a Texas native who is passionate about serving through music and discipleship.

Youth Ministry

Dusty and Ashley Beasley head up the youth ministry and teach the Senior High teens while Paul and Megan Pestel serve our junior high teens. Both couples have a passion for discipling teens and have a lot of fun as they do it. Dusty and Paul also serve as our deacons.

Children’s Ministry

Zach and Mindy Johnson head up the Sunday morning children’s ministry. Not only do they do a great job teaching the children at GNBC, but they also keep our different teams of children’s workers organized.

Discipleship / New Members Class

At GNBC, we view discipleship as an ongoing process, a lifestyle of following Jesus. Every message, lesson, life group, and Bible study is an attempt to draw people deeper into their walk with Christ. Jason and Briana Steffens help facilitate a class for those interested in membership at Good News.

What We Believe

The following paragraphs simply summarize what we believe as a church family. Simply put, we believe the Bible and teach it to be absolutely true and perfect. Every belief, teaching, and practice of Good News Baptist flows from God’s Word. The important thing to understand is not what we’re against, but what we stand for based on what we believe God and His Words says. For a more exhaustive list of all that we believe, contact us and we’ll be happy to share that with you based on God’s Word.

The Bible

We believe the Bible to be the perfect Word of God, fully and verbally inspired of God. We believe the Scriptures to be the inerrant, infallible Word of God, as found within the 66 books from Genesis to Revelation. (II Timothy 3:15-17; I Peter 1:23-25; II Peter 1:19-21)

God

We believe in one God, who is eternal, self-existent, infinite, and immutable. We believe He has one nature, one essence, and one substance, yet manifests Himself to man in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Deuteronomy 6:4; I Timothy 1:17; James 1:17; I John 4:4).

Jesus Christ

We believe Jesus Christ to be the one and only Saviour of mankind. We believe Jesus Christ to be eternally God and to possess all the attributes of Deity. We believe that He was virgin born, that He was God incarnate, and that the purposes of the incarnation were to reveal God, to redeem men, and to rule over God’s kingdom. We believe Jesus Christ never relinquished any attributes of His Deity, but merely veiled them. We believe He lived a perfect, sinless life, at the end of which He was offered for all mankind as a substitutionary sacrifice for man’s sin. This sacrifice was a just payment to God for the forgiveness of sin. It was activated by His death through the shedding of His blood on the Cross and was accepted by God upon His resurrection. We believe He ascended into Heaven after His resurrection to be seated at the right hand of the Father, waiting for the time of receiving His church at the Rapture, and returning seven years later to earth to rule and reign as King for 1,000 years (Psalm 2:7-9; Isaiah 7:14, 9:6, 43:11; Micah 5:2; Matthew 1:25; Luke 1:26-35; John 1:1, 1:3, 14, 18, 29; Romans 3:19-25; Romans 5:6-15; Philippians 2:5-11; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Timothy 2:5; I Timothy 3:16; Titus 2:10-15; Hebrews 7:26, 9:24-28; I Peter 1:19, 2:2; I John 1:3; Revelation 20:1-6).

The Holy Spirit

We believe the Holy Spirit of God is a person who has personality and all the attributes of Deity. We believe the Holy Spirit has always been involved in the affairs of mankind. However, we believe He has a special ministry which began at Pentecost and will continue until the Rapture. This ministry includes convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit was also sent to regenerate, sanctify, seal, teach, comfort, and fill all who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ (John 3:5-6; John 14:16; Acts 1:5; Acts 11:15; I Corinthians 3:16; I Corinthians 6:19-20; I Corinthians 12:13).

Sin and Salvation

We believe all men were born with an inherited sin nature received from our common ancestor, Adam. We believe that because of his nature, man is a sinner by choice, and he is totally incapable of reforming himself or ceasing from his sin by his own power. We believe the only hope of deliverance for man is a total change of mind (repentance) concerning his sinful condition and inability to change it, and a turning to Jesus Christ as the only Saviour. We believe that only through the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ on the Cross can a man be delivered from his sin. We believe that all those who reject Jesus Christ as their Saviour are already condemned to an eternity in the Lake of Fire (Genesis 5:1-5; Acts 4:19; Acts 16:31; Romans 3:10-23; Romans 5:6-12; Romans 6:23; Romans 10:9-10; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-6; Revelation 20:11-14).

The Church

We believe the church began with the calling out of the twelve apostles by Jesus Christ and was empowered on the day of Pentecost. We believe the local church is God’s only institution to carry out His work today. We believe the local church is composed of members who have been saved and baptized according to the command of Christ, and have voluntarily united together for the purposes of worship, fellowship, service, and the Lord’s Table. We believe all true believers will be taken up at the Rapture, just prior to the Tribulation (Matthew 16:16-18; Acts 1:15; Acts 2:41-43; Acts 11:15; Acts 20:28; I Corinthians 15: 51-58; Ephesians 1:12-14; Ephesians 5:25-30; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Timothy 3:4-15).

The Last Days

We believe in the literal interpretation of the Scriptures in their grammatical and historical context. We believe in the pre-tribulation Rapture of the church saints, followed by the seven-year Tribulation. We believe in the pre-millennial return of Christ to the earth and His literal rule of one thousand years. Following these one thousand years is the Great White Throne judgment and then the new Heaven and new earth (I Corinthians 15:51-58; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Thessalonians 5:1-9; Revelation 19-22).