Marc was born on May 25, 1964. He lived in Newcomerstown, Ohio, until the fall of 1982. He worshiped at the Parkview Church of Christ in West Lafayette, Ohio. In the fall of 1982, he moved to Temple Terrace, Florida, and attended Florida College. He worshiped at the former Fletcher Avenue Church of Christ.
He received his A.A., B.A. in Biblical Studies from Florida College (1984, 1999) and a B.A. in History from the University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida (1989).
Marc worked full-time preaching for the Church of Christ in Frostproof, Florida (1990-1996). In 1996, he started his present ministry with the Lakeland Hills Church of Christ in Lakeland, Florida.
Brother Gibson was married to his wife Kellie (Hammer) in 1988. They have four children ? Katherine (1992), Kristina (1994), Kimberly (1997) and Mark, Jr. "William" (1999).
Don was born March 8, 1946, in Oklahoma. His parents, Olin and Helen Hastings, moved to Trenton, Florida, when he was one year old. They later moved in Florida to Floral City, Deland, Arcadia and Bradenton. Don?s father preached in these towns and was also a high school teacher.
When they moved to Bradenton, Don was in the fourth grade. He graduated from Manatee High School in Bradenton, Florida, in 1964. He went on to attend Florida College in Temple Terrace for two and a half years. While in college, he married Janelle (Davis). Her father, Hugh Davis, also preached for the Lord?s Church.
Don has been preaching for 36 years. During this time, he has preached in Covington, GA, Saratoga, AR, Waycross, GA and in the Florida cities of Dade City, Bradenton, Zephyrhills and now in Lakeland.
While living in Saratoga, AR, he and Janelle adopted two babies, Ted and Pam. During their residence in Dade City, FL, the Lord richly blessed them with the birth of their son, Benjanim.
Paul said that all scripture is inspired of God and furnishes us unto good works (II Timothy 3:15-16). We have no creed but Christ. The Bible contains the gospel, which is the "good news" for man. This "good news" is the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. It contains facts to be believed, commands to obey and promises to be enjoyed. The fact upon which the Lordship of Jesus is based, is the fact that he was raised from the dead by the power of God. The followers of no religious leader can make that statement about their leader.
Obedience is necessary in order to be pleasing to God (John 14:15). The first command to be obeyed is to believe in Jesus the Christ (Hebrews 11:6). Our faith must be active (James 2:14-24), and like love, will demonstrate itself in obedience to all of God?s commands.
Our faith should lead us to repent of our sins. This involves turning one?s back upon sin ? determined to live the new life. Acts 3:19 states, "Repent therefore and return that your sins may be wiped away".
After one repents, he must complete the remaining two steps in the plan of salvation. The persistent believer must confess his faith in Christ (Romans 10:10).
The steps that brings about forgiveness of sins and puts one in Christ is baptism (Acts 2:38; Romans 6:3-4 and Galatians 3:26-27).
After completing the primary steps of obedience, we must remain faithful until death (Revelations 2:10), doing all and whatever is commanded by our Lord.
Our worship services are simple and reverent. We do not assemble to be entertained, but rather to be pleasing to God.
In our assembly we sing songs of praise to God (Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16). We find no authority for using mechanical instruments of music.
We also pray. Prayer is a very important part of our worship (I Timothy 2:1-4).
In preaching, our lessons are designed to encourage compliance to the will of God. Our preaching is plain and simple. We make no appeal to sensationalism or emotionalism.
We follow the example of the New Testament Church and eat the Lord?s Supper each first day of the week. The supper is composed of, as given by the Lord, the unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine (I Corinthians 11:20-26).
In order to finance the work of the congregation, the members are commanded to give upon the first day of the week as they have been prospered (I Corinthians 16:1-2). We do not ask visitors to contribute to carry on the work.
The promises to be enjoyed are many. There is peace, joy, victory over temptation and the hope of a home in heaven.
In addition to our regular worship services, we have Bible classes for all ages, home Bible studies, video courses and correspondence courses.
We offer two free correspondence courses. The correspondence course, "Know Your Bible" has six lessons entitled, "Understanding the Bible", "Sin and the Blood of Christ", "What Must I do to be Saved", The New Testament Church", "Denominationalism" and "Baptism". The John Hurt Bible Correspondence Course has eight lessons entitled, "The New Testament", "Rightly Dividing the Word", "Faith and Works", "Becoming a Christian", "Acceptable Worship", "The New Testament Church" and "You Can be Just a Christian".
An excellent means of teaching others God?s plan of salvation is the Visualized Bible Study Series on video. This interesting and informative five lesson series lets you study what the Bible teaches about the "Patriarchal Age", Mosaic Age", Christian Age", "God?s Plan for Redeeming Man" and "History of the Lord?s Church".