Dave & Carol Mikulsky

On June 4, 1976, Dave was 18 years old.  A coworker at a sporting goods store had been sharing the Gospel with Dave over several months. Having been raised in the Catholic environment, Dave had no assurance of salvation and was open to the Bible’s message of truth presented by the coworker.  On that night, Dave prayed to receive Christ.

Five years later, Dave was working at the Railroad Station Restaurant in Walnut Creek and was sharing Christ with a coworker there named Carol.  Initially, Carol was not very receptive. She told him, “I could do this just to get you off my back, but I won’t.   So just back off!”  Yet, within several months, God called Carol, and she also received Christ as Savior.  Eventually, they started dating, got married, and while Dave developed his career in the insurance industry, began raising three children.

By the time Dave was 25, he sensed God calling him into the ministry and began taking Bible classes to prepare for that calling.  About that same time, Dave met Pastor Tony Sanelli. That meeting led to Dave working with Tony in a lay capacity in church ministry.

In 1994, Dave’s insurance company transferred him to Indiana. Dave and his family joined Fayetteville Baptist Church and he began guest preaching occasionally.  That expanded to him being a guest preacher for other churches as well.  During this time, Dave again began sensing God’s call to the ministry with a burden for the high percentage of unchurched people in their new hometown of Mitchell, Indiana. In 1998, Dave resumed his Bible College education and on September 16, 2001, was ordained.

In February 2002, Dave and Carol began a church plant in Mitchell, Indiana, with a Bible study in their home. Eight adults, plus children, attended that first Bible study. Eight weeks later, 15 adults and their children were attending. The attendance and commitment grew, and in September 2003, Grace Bible Church of Mitchell officially began. Two years later, there were more than 45 adults attending. Attendance outgrew their rented facilities, so land was purchased, a building constructed, and in March 2007, they moved into their own facilities. Now those facilities are again getting crowded! The church hosts a weekly Awana program for more than 60 children, many from homes of families who don’t attend church. Church members are visiting homes in the community using Evangelism Explosion materials. Their third class of Discipleship Training Program (DTP) students has just finished year one, and Grace Groups (their home fellowship ministry) are well attended.