Staff

Staff

Elders

Deacons

GRADY SMITH / Lead Pastor

Grady is the lead pastor for Gateway. He has been with us since November 2016. He is married to Julia and they have three children.

Grady graduated from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, with both a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree. His degrees were in the field of missions and evangelism with minors in theology and church leadership. In particular, his doctoral research was on how one’s view of providence impacts one’s prayer life (click here to learn more about it).

Grady believes in the importance of expository (verse by verse) preaching, the role of community in the local church, the need for living missionally, and the importance of biblical counseling in the church to help believers grow in holiness.

Before coming to Gateway, Grady served on the staff of a church in Auburn, Alabama, for 14 years.

- grady@gatewaybaptist.com

C.J. FALCIONE / Associate Pastor

C.J. has been Gateway's Associate Pastor since 2012, though he has been a part of Gateway since 2007. He previously served as an elder on the Pastoral Leadership Team before joining the staff. C. J. is a graduate of Auburn University Montgomery (AUM) with a degree in Marketing. After graduation, he served with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) for five years. During that time, the Lord brought C.J. his precious wife Nikki and placed in them a long-term vision for ministry. They returned to Montgomery in the fall of 1997 and over the years before coming to Gateway served in a variety of roles. C.J. loves anything sports, quality time with family and friends, and any opportunity to laugh. He and Nikki have 3 high school and college age children.

- cj@gatewaybaptist.com

PRESTON ADAMS / Pastoral Assistant

Preston joined Gateway in 2018 as our first pastoral intern. After completing that internship, he now serves on the church staff as our pastoral assistant. He serves alongside our pastoral team with a particular focus on college-student and young-adult discipleship. In addition, he oversees Gateway's communications and teaches in a variety of roles around the church. Preston is married to Michelle. He graduated from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2019 with a Master of Divinity in Christian Ministry. Before coming to Gateway, Preston served in several youth ministry roles in both Auburn and Montgomery.

- preston@gatewaybaptist.com

MOLLY MOORE / Children's Ministry Director

After many years of serving with the kids at Gateway, Molly became our children's ministry director in 2016. She oversees our Kids Bible Study and Kids Worship on Sundays and our Kids Club on Wednesdays, as well as special events such as Vacation Bible School. She also helps coordinate our church wide fellowships. Molly is a graduate of the University of Central Missouri with a background of special event planning and fundraising. She is married to Dan, who also serves with our praise teams. Molly and Dan have three children.

- molly@gatewaybaptist.com

ERIN GROSS / Administrative Assistant

Erin serves as Gateway's administrative assistant. She is responsible for the the day-to-day operations of the church office and is our bookkeeper. In addition, she assists the pastoral and ministry staff. Erin is married to Jason, who serves as one of Gateway's deacons. They have three children. They have been part of Gateway since 2006, and Erin has served on the church staff since 2015.

- erin@gatewaybaptist.com

JUSTIN TAYLOR / Music Minister

Justin is Gateway's music minister. He oversees the congregational praise in our weekly worship service and leads our music ministry team. He is married to Alana, and they have two children. They have been part of Gateway since 2018, with Justin becoming our music minister in 2021.

- justin@gatewaybaptist.com