Welcome to Deaf Baptist Church. My name is Bruce Kelly. I am a Deaf Pastor of Deaf Baptist Church in Smyrna, Georgia. As pastor, I want to take this opportunity to invite you to our Deaf Church. We have a warm, friendly church and you will feel more than welcome. We are always excited to see our guests in our deaf services. We are a deaf church where people get saved by turning to only Christ for salvation. At our deaf church, Christ is the answer for every one of the problems of man. God stands with His hand stretched out to all people and so does our deaf church. On behalf of all of our deaf and hearing people, please accept my invitation to attend our deaf service. We will look forward to seeing you soon.
Bruce Kelly has been the deaf pastor of Deaf Baptist Church since March 2001. He was born in Orlando, FL in 1964. He has been married to his wife Vicki since 1986. They have three children: Paul, born in 1988, Timothy, born in 1990, and John, born in 1995. Bruce is a graduate of Trinity Baptist College with Degree in Theology in 1990. He also earned the Doctor of Ministry in Pastor Studies Degree from Covington Theological Seminary in 2001. Vicki Kelly graduated from National Technical Institute for the Deaf under Rochester Institute of technology at New York with degree of Associate in Applied Science with Business Technologies in 1985. She also earned the Doctor of Ministry in Christian Counseling from Covington Theological Seminary in 2001. Bruce was born deaf. He was saved at age of 13 who witnesses him by a deaf man on November 6, 1977. At age 15, God touched his heart about serving full time for the Lord through evangelist at Bill Rice Ranch in Tennessee. Vicki was born deaf. She got saved when she was 18 years old. Bruce was Evangelist from 1990 to 1993. He became deaf pastor at Greater Portland Baptist Church in Portland, Oregon from 1994 to 1997. He relocated to Atlanta, Georgia as Deaf Pastor and Missionary with BIMI since September 1997.
Our Beliefs
The Scripture
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Bible, “as it is in truth, the Word of God‚ (I Thessalonians 2:13). We believe in verbal, plenary inspiration in the original writings, and God’s preservation of His pure words to every generation (II Timothy 3:16, Psalms 12:6-8).
The Masoretic Text of the Old Testament and the Received Text of the New Testament (Textus Receptus) are those texts of the original languages we accept and use; the King James Version of the Bible is the only English version we accept and use. The Bible is our sole authority for faith and practice.
The Godhead
We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections (Deuteronomy 6:4; 1 John 5:7-8).
The Person and Work of Christ
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful men (John 1:1-2, 14; Luke 1:35; Isaiah 9:6; 7:14; Philippians 2:5-8; Galatians 4:4-5).
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His finished work on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice; and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead (Romans 3:24-25; I Peter 2:24; Ephesians 1:7; I Peter 1:3-5).
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven, and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate (Acts 1:9-10; Hebrews 9:24, 7:25; Romans 8:34; I John 2:1-2).
Man
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam’s sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God; and that man is totally depraved, and, of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition (Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 3:22-23; Ephesians 2:1-3, 12).
The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image and is mindful of him, and in that Christ died for man; therefore every individual possesses dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love (Psalm 8:4-9; Colossians 3:9-11).
The Way of Salvation
We believe that the clear message of salvation is “repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21).
We believe that salvation is “by grace” plus nothing minus nothing. We believe that men are justified by faith alone and are accounted righteous before God only through the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12; I Peter 1:18-19).
We believe that all the redeemed, once saved are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever. We believe that eternal life is the present possession of every believer (John 6:37-40, 10:27-30; Romans 8:1, 38-39; I Corinthians 1:4-8; I Peter 1:4-5; Jude 1, 2).
The Church
We believe that the New Testament church is a local assembly of baptized believers who have voluntarily joined themselves together to carry out the Great Commission. The Lord is doing His work in this world through local churches. The establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures (Acts 14:27; 20:17, 28-32; I Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11).
We believe in the autonomy of the local church free of any external authority or control. Christ is the only head of the church (Acts 13:1-4, 15:19-31, 20:28; Romans 16:1, 4; I Corinthians 3:9,16; 5:4-7,13; I Peter 5:1-4).
The Ordinances of the Church
We recognize the ordinances of baptism by immersion in water and the Lord’s Supper as a Scriptural means of testimony for local churches in this age (Matthew. 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42, 18:18; I Corinthians 11:23-26).
Biblical Separation
We believe that all the saved should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord; and, that separation from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices and associations is commanded of God (II Timothy 3:1-5; Romans 12:1, 2, 14:13; I John 2:15-17; II John 9-11; II Corinthians 6:14-7:1).
The Return of Christ
We believe the “Blessed Hope” of our Lord’s return is literal, personal, visible, imminent, premillennial, and pretribulational. Believers will caught up to be with the Lord prior to the seven years of tribulation, and at the end of the tribulation Christ will return with His saints to establish His thousand-year reign on the earth (I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Titus 2:13; I Thessalonians 1:10; Revelation 3:10; Zechariah 14:4-11; Revelation 19:11-16, 20:1-6; Psalm 89:3-4).
Our Eternal State
We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46; John 5:28, 29, 11:25-26; Revelation 20:5-6, 12-13).
We believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul, and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord (Luke 23:43; Revelation 20:4-6; II Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23, 3:21; I Thessalonians 4:16-17).
We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when with soul and body reunited they shall appear at the Great White Throne Judgment, and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting, conscious punishment (Luke 16:19-26; Matthew 25:41-46; II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Mark 9:43-48; Revelation 20:11-15).