Grace Baptist Church, an independent, fundamental Baptist church, had its beginning on June 4, 1979. The first meeting was held at the Murphy Funeral Home chapel. The church continued to meet at Murphy’s Funeral Home, pastored by Rev. Bill Adams, until March of 1980. It was at that time that services were moved to the pastor’s residence at 1033 East 3rd Ave. On December I, 1980, the church purchased the property at 600 South Edmunds, which had originally served as the home of a Free Methodist church in the early 1900’s and more recently as Calvary Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist congregation.
Pastor Adams, originally from Wilmington, Delaware, attended Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga, Tennessee and assisted in pastorates in Monteagle, Tennessee, and Oswego, Illinois, before coming to Mitchell to start Grace Baptist Church.
In June of 1985, Grace Baptist Church acquired the former Church of God building, which sat a block west of the Corn Palace on 6th and Rowley, through an arrangement with Dr. Filemon Olegario, who planned to build an office on that corner. The building was moved to the property on South Edmunds onto a new basement and joined to the existing building. The addition greatly increased the space for the various ministries of the church. Since then, many improvements have been made including a much used prophet’s chamber.
Over the years Grace Baptist Church has been home to Grace Baptist Academy as well as an attendance center for home schooled students.
Pastor Adams resigned the pastorate here in August of 1987 to take the position of pastor of a church in Kentucky. In March of 1988 Grace Baptist called Pastor Lee Wilson to be their new pastor. Brother Wilson was a graduate of Hyles-Anderson College in Indiana and served here as pastor until March, 1990.
In June of 1990, Pastor Carroll Torberson moved his family from Pierre, South Dakota, to Mitchell to begin serving as pastor. In June, 2020, he reached the milestone of thirty years in this ministry.