ABOUT

Our Pastor

Russell Davis serves as pastor at Etowah Church. Russell and his wife Kristen were born in Alabama and Arkansas, respectively, but have both lived in Georgia for most of their lives. Russell and Kristen met in high school, grew closer in college, and got married in 2002. Russell graduated from Liberty University in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in religious studies and obtained his master’s in theological studies in 2012 from Liberty Theological Seminary. Kristen graduated from Liberty University in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. 

Before Etowah Church, Russell served as a student pastor for six years, a lead pastor for five years, and was on Fellowship of Christian Athletes staff for two years. Russell and Kristen planted Etowah Church in 2014 with a group of individuals and families that desired to see a church in Dawson County committed to simply living out the Bible in order to impact their families and community for Jesus.

The Davises have a heart for serving their local community, with Russell serving as a character coach and chaplain for the Dawson County High School football program as well as serving with FCA in Dawson County Schools. Russell and Kristen also offer premarital and marital counseling. The Davises live in Dawsonville with their four children: Victoria, Vincent, Valeia, and Oliver.

The Story of the Church

Etowah Church was started in 2014 out of a desire birthed in scripture that God gave to Pastor Russell, a few individuals, and several families. This group of believers realized God wanted more than just another place in Dawson County to gather on Sunday mornings-He wanted a group of people who would be committed to following Jesus daily, loving one another sacrificially, loving others intentionally, serving the community, and living out the bible. God has grown this local church spiritually, which has resulted in lives being changed and our community being impacted for the glory and fame of Jesus.

Statement of Faith

The Scriptures

The Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It is the true center of Christianity and the standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.

God

There is only one true and living God. He is one God who exists in three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

God the Father

God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the events of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise.

God the Son

Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. Through His substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission.

God the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration. He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption.

Man

Mankind was created in the image of God. God created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. Mankind was created to have fellowship with God, but became alienated from that relationship through sinful disobedience. As a result, mankind is totally incapable of coming back into a right relationship with God by his own effort.

Salvation

Salvation is God’s gift to men on the basis of faith, not works. It is by grace through faith in the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ as the only acceptable and sufficient payment for sin that men are granted eternal salvation.

The Church

The church is the body of Christ of which Jesus Christ is the Head. The members are those who have trusted by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. The purpose of the church is to glorify God by loving Him and by making disciples of all the nations.

Eternity

God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous, in their resurrected and glorified bodies, will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.

The Christian Life

Every Christian should live for the glory of Jesus Christ and not for himself. By prayer, studying the Scriptures, and loving obedience to the Word, every believer should mature and become conformed to the image of Christ.

The Family

God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption.

Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the blessings of intimate companionship, sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.

A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ.

Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.