Pastors & Leadership
In May of 2011, Greg Stiekes announced to our assembly his desire to pursue a Ph.D., with the hopes of glorifying God, extending the ministry of Bethany Bible Church, and edifying the greater body of Christ. He had chosen to study at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary under Dr. Andreas Kostenberger. The congregation gave him its blessing and the liberty to take an extended sabbatical while he completed his course work in the Raleigh area. In the interim, the church asked Greg’s father, George Stiekes (who was already acting as a Bethany lay pastor), to lead the pastoral staff and serve as interim pastor. Ryan Martin continues to serve this assembly as Associate Pastor. George and Ryan, in addition to the two lay pastors, Matt Herbster and Gene Walters, will be sharing the work of the teaching and preaching ministry while Greg is away. And, on occasion, Greg hopes to return to preach. This is an unusual time for any local church, but we together look at it with joy and confidence, believing it to be God’s will. We do not believe the ministry has a kind of “band-aid” right now. The Word of God continues to be faithfully taught and applied from our pulpit. The vision and ministry philosophy of Bethany that Greg has established continues. George has over forty years of experiencing ministering the gospel for his Lord. Moreover, Bethany Bible Church has a unified commitment to each other in this body, and we thank God for his gracious working in us to give us one mind during these days of ministry without our pastor, Greg Stiekes.Pastor Greg Stiekes
Greg Stiekes began his ministry as pastor of Bethany Bible Church in 2002. He is originally from Detroit, Michigan, but lived in South Carolina, Wisconsin, and Minnesota before moving to North Carolina with his family. His wife, Rena, is a native of Pensacola, Florida. Both Greg and Rena began to trust in the Lord at an early age and were reared as baptized members of conservative, local churches. They have five children: Katherine, now 16 years old; Caroline, 14; Audrianne, 12; Micaiah, 10; and Emmaline, 7. Greg and Rena met as students at Bob Jones University where both of them received their undergraduate and their Masters degrees in Speech and served as Graduate Assistants for the Speech Department, teaching Freshman speech. During his last four years at BJU, Greg had his first experience in pastoral ministry through serving as Associate Pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Starr, SC.After graduation, Greg and Rena were on the Speech Faculty of a small Bible college in Wisconsin for a few years before Greg was asked to serve as Youth Pastor at Fourth Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN. While in Minneapolis, Greg earned a Master of Divinity degree at Central Baptist Theological Seminary and was formally ordained for public ministry by the Fourth Baptist Church. Since coming to Bethany, Greg has also earned a Master of Theology degree from Erskine Theological Seminary, located in Due West, SC. Greg has a passion for the expositional preaching of the Word and its genuine application in the lives of God’s people. His main academic interests are in New Testament theology, Apostolic Fathers, Hermeneutics, and philosophy.
Sermon series he has preached since coming to Bethany include the Pastoral Epistles, Revelation 2-3, Exodus, Colossians, Parables in Luke, and currently the Letter to the Hebrews. He and Rena are grateful for the warm relationships they have established with their church family at Bethany and for the genuine love that is exhibited for the preached Word, the body of Christ, and for Christ Himself.
Pastor Ryan Martin
Ryan was born to parents who were members of a church in rural Illinois called the Apostolic Christian Church, an Anabaptist denomination most akin to the Mennonites. In the first grade his mother and father enrolled Ryan in a Baptist Christian school in central Illinois. It was through the ministry of this Christian school that he heard and believed the gospel. In late grade school, Ryan’s parents became members of the Baptist church connected with that school. A few years later Ryan was immersed and joined First Baptist Church of LaSalle, Ill. While attending Northland Baptist Bible College (now Northland International University), Ryan majored in sacred music with a minor in pastoral studies. After a year of traveling with an evangelist and marrying Jennifer, Ryan and Jen moved to the Minneapolis area.
There Ryan enrolled at Central Baptist Theological Seminary, received his Master of Divinity in 2004, and in 2009 was ordained to gospel ministry by Bible Baptist Church of Elk River, Minnesota (now in Otsego). He is now in the later stages toward becoming Doctor of Philosophy at Central. Ryan has been on staff at Bethany Bible Church since 2010. The Lord has blessed Ryan and Jennifer with four sons.
Pastor George Stiekes
George Stiekes surrendered his life to serve Christ at Chief Noonday Camp in Western Michigan in August of 1960. He began his ministry working with young people and music ministry while a student at Bob Jones University and Detroit Bible College. He married Judy Peters on July 30, 1966. After graduation, he served the Lord in Freeport, Illinois and Sparta, Michigan in a variety of ministries – Youth and Music Pastor, Christian Education Director and Camp Director. He has since served as Senior Pastor in Grand Rapids, Lake Orion, and Hazel Park, Michigan and Seattle, Washington. For twenty-three of those years, he served as a teacher at the Birmingham Bible Institute in Birmingham, Michigan. He also finished his Master of Divinity Degree at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary and completed the class work toward the Doctor of Ministries Degree at Bob Jones University.
Other experience includes speaking at camps, conducting Deacon Seminars and teaching individual class sessions in three Bible colleges. Currently, He is serving as the interim Pastor of the Bethany Bible Church, an independent fundamental Baptist Church in Hendersonville, North Carolina.