Staff & Ministry Leaders
We hope to train up as many of our members as possible to be servant leaders in their own areas of influence. While we do believe in official leadership — we also believe that every follower of Christ is called to use their gifts and resources in ways that show God’s love and justice to the world.
David McMurry serves as our Senior Pastor. He loves his work and prioritizes a) teaching about Jesus from the Scriptures; b) leading the church staff to equip volunteer leaders; c) praying and planning with the elder board ; and d) coaching new pastors and global partners.
Dave has been married to Autumn for 26 years. He hopes you get a chance to meet her and see how her eyes sparkle. In addition to managing the busy McMurry household, Autumn has worked primarily as an educator in public, private, and home settings. They delight in their new grandchild and are very proud of their three adult children and son-in-law. The family has been involved extensively in community theater, sports, music, and education throughout Bell County. They helped found Providence Preparatory School in 2010, and have both served on various community boards. Dave and Autumn enjoy hiking, cooking, and reading to each other.
Dave and Autumn have a history of coaching and assessing young leaders together. They are Bell County natives who did youth ministry in Temple and College Station. They have received leadership training with Act 29, Young Life, Navigators, and Son Life Ministries. They have also received extensive temperament training with the Style of Influence, DISC, and Enneagram systems.
Dave earned a Master of Divinity degree from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis in 2002. He made a lot of Presbyterian friends in St. Louis, and then returned to Temple Bible Church as Children & Family Pastor from 2002-2006. Temple Bible Church commissioned Dave and other leaders to found Grace Bible Church in 2006.
Chris Webster serves as our Worship Pastor. Chris is our resident artist and uses his gifts in music and graphic arts to help us vividly encounter Jesus Christ every Sunday. He also oversees communication and assimilation ministries.
Born and raised in Austin, TX, Chris began leading worship in his high school youth group at Hill Country Bible Church. While in college, he continued to lead worship as a youth intern at Temple Bible Church, and enjoyed writing and performing original music as a part of Central Texas rock band, Three Nails Short.
Chris graduated in 2005 from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor with a degree in Computer Graphics and double minors in Art and Music. While working as the Web Services Manager at UMHB, he was convinced by Dave to help start Grace Bible Church. After serving part time for several years, Chris was hired in 2011 as our full time Assistant Pastor of Worship and Communication.
In between his other duties, Chris continues to write music. He has written some of our favorite worship songs, and is excited to continue to write music with and for the local church. Dave and Chris love to study and pray over upcoming sermon passages, and enjoy working together to combine truth and beauty as we walk through the Gospel each week as a church.
Chris married his childhood sweetheart, Brooke, in 2005. They have four young children: Eli, Clara, Rose, and Henry.
Joey Colón serves as our Youth Pastor here at GBC. Joey was born and raised in Southern California (he wasn’t born here, but he got here as quick as he could).
While attending Biola University, he played bass with the band For All Seasons, ministering to youth groups, churches, Christian camps and universities. In 2010 he graduated with a degree in Sociology and a minor in Biblical Studies. He also coached club swim, water polo and high school swimming in Los Angeles for seven years.
He is joining our staff after serving as a Captain in the Army. He has been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Joey married his beautiful wife Kathryn in 2013. Kathryn taught middle school choir in Killeen ISD for four years and now teaches piano and voice lessons from home. They have one young daughter and are expecting their second child in early 2017.
Jim Wilson is our "Pastor of Weapons and Tactics", i.e. the Operations Pastor. He enjoys hunting with a cross-bow, fixing cars, and going mountain biking with other men. After retiring from the Air Force, Jim served as a Hospitality House shepherd and regional shepherd with Cadence International in Germany for many years. He has been married to Diane for almost 45 years. Diane is definitely his better half, and they have 2 grown sons and 8 grandchildren.
Julia Gendreau serves as our Ministry Assistant, which means she does a little bit of everything around here... okay, a lot of everything. She hails from the Frozen North where she was a professional hockey coach and multi-award-winning ice sculptor. After rescuing one too many kittens from the never-ending snow she and her husband, Mark, decided to move South in order to be closer to family and save money on sweaters. Julia enjoys staging one-woman broadway plays in her living room and playing racquetball in the church lobby when no one is around.
Having been an army wife for more than 20 years, Cathy understands the unique challenges, hardships, and opportunities of being in a military community. Knowing this cultural reality, Cathy leads women who are here for a short time or here for the long haul to plug in quickly, grow deeply, and serve lovingly. She loves helping women who love Jesus find a place to use their gifts to bless others.
Cathy grew up in the great Northwest of Idaho fame (not Ohio, not Iowa), and met her husband-to-be, Oscar, in Germany while she was serving with Cadence International as a summer intern. She earned a Master of Christian Education from Dallas Theological Seminary back in the 20th century when Oscar was attending the seminary for his ThM. Graduating together is a highlight of their married life!
Cathy enjoys God’s beautiful creation and one of her delights is watching fireflies dancing at dusk with her husband. She also loves hanging out with her fun, adult children and snuggling with her cat!
Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean. A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary regelialia. It is a paradisematic country, in which roasted parts of sentences fly into your mouth.
Elder Board
Lauris Shepherd is a member of the Elder Board, and leads our prayer ministry. He and his wife Rhonda have 8 grown children and 6 grandchildren. Although they grew up in Kansas and California respectively, they have a long history in Killeen. They have spent 24 years sharing Jesus and their lives with military families at Fort Hood. Lauris is a regional shepherd for the Navigators Ministry. Their passion for authentically walking with Christ makes them a wonderful blessing to the team.
Brian Dosa is Chairman of the Elder Board. Brian is an avid runner. He and his wife Roberta have 8 children, and 3 grandchildren. God has blessed them with incredible wisdom and patience, and we are blessed to have them serving with us. They are natives of Delaware, but have spent several tours in Central Texas. Team Dosa spends a lot of time serving in the nursery and hosting small groups at their home. In between shepherding the church and loving his family, Brian retired from serving as a Colonel in the Army, and is the Director of Public Works for Fort Hood.
