A Faith Family on Rainbow Drive
On Rainbow Drive in Gadsden, MeadowBrook Church has built its identity around a single, repeated rhythm. The church exists, in its own words, to "connect people to Christ and His church, grow them as disciples to be disciplers, and equip them to serve through missions, ministry, and worship all to glorify God." That three-fold cadence - connect, grow, serve - shows up on every sign and in every program, from the Café '59 where Sunday mornings begin, to the small conference rooms where a missions cohort prays for Belfast, Siedlce, and Kampala.
MeadowBrook is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and worships in a contemporary style with a blend of familiar and traditional songs. Senior Pastor Randy Gunter has led the church since January 2001, and under his preaching the congregation has grown into a multi-generational body whose reach extends well beyond Etowah County. The church offices sit at 2525 Rainbow Drive and are open Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, with a single phone line (256) 442-3550 and a general inbox at info@mbchurch.com tying everything together.
Sunday Mornings at 9:00 and 10:30
Two identical Sunday gatherings fill the MeadowBrook campus. Worship is held at 9:00 and 10:30 AM, and most people arrive twenty to thirty minutes early to grab a seat or a coffee at Café '59. The services feature a band, choir, and praise team leading contemporary music alongside familiar hymns, with the MeadowBrook Worship Choir and Orchestra providing a choral and instrumental layer that has become a signature of the Sunday experience. Sermons run thirty-five to forty minutes and are Biblically-centered, with Pastor Randy working through books of the Bible verse by verse.
First-time visitors have a clear path in. Visitor parking is located on the Brookhaven and Manor Street lots, where the Guest Connections team meets people at their cars and walks them to the right spot. Dress runs the full range - shorts to suits - and the church is intentional about welcoming anyone who walks through the doors. Life Groups meet at both 9:00 and 10:30 AM, so families can drop into a small group at the same time their children are checked into Preschool or Kids Ministry.
Life Groups for Every Season
Life Groups are the small-group engine of the church. They meet on Sunday mornings in parallel with the worship services, gathering at 9:00 and 10:30 AM, and stay connected throughout the week. The groups are organized for every age and stage of life, with separate Life Groups for co-ed adults, women, students, kids in first through fifth grade, and a Foundations for Marriage track for engaged and newly married couples. Most groups walk through entire books of the Bible using a self-published curriculum that combines systematic study with occasional topical series tied to the Sunday sermons.
The aim, as the church describes it, is "life together for the kingdom of God." Members are encouraged to find a group near them and to use it as the primary place for prayer, accountability, and friendship. The Foundations for Marriage Life Group, in particular, has become a popular on-ramp for young couples; the next season typically begins in the fall and is led by Al and Barbara Anne Garret along with John and Kristen Beason.
Wednesday Nights Around the Word
Wednesday is the second pillar of the week at MeadowBrook. Beginning at 5:00 PM, a fellowship meal is served in the Dining Hall - kids' plates for those 17 and under, adult plates for everyone else, with a salad-with-protein option and a rotating menu of homestyle Southern fare like grilled chicken, chicken pot pie, meat loaf, and fried pork chops. Plates must be pre-purchased so the kitchen can plan ahead.
At 6:30 PM the campus lights up for a full slate of midweek programming. Adult Breakout Groups run in rotation throughout the year, with classes on parenting, finances, marriage, missions and ministry connections, disciple-making, and life verses. KidStuf gathers kindergartners through fifth graders in the Kids' Theater for an hour of high-energy biblical teaching, while middle and high school students head to The Hangar and Clark Hall for Mid-Week Worship, a blend of large-group teaching and small-group discussion. The Worship Choir and Orchestra also rehearse on Wednesday evenings, and the men's and women's ministries hold their own seasonal breakouts in the Dining Hall and Conference Center.
Preschool and Kids Ministry
For the youngest members of the MeadowBrook family, the Preschool Ministry provides a safe, secure, age-appropriate environment led by trained teachers who love Jesus. Vickey Weeks, who has served on staff since 2006 and previously spent fifteen years as Preschool and Children's Minister at First Baptist Church of Rainbow City, oversees the program along with a team of background-checked volunteers.
On Sunday mornings, childcare is provided for infants eight weeks old through Kindergarten from 9:00 to 11:30 AM. The same window covers Life Group hours so parents can attend a small group without worrying about their children. On Wednesday nights at 6:30 PM, childcare is available for infants through K4 on the first floor of the Education Building, with 2-year-olds, K3, and K4 preschoolers receiving a Christ-centered Bible lesson, games, and activities.
For first through fifth graders, the Kids Ministry meets in the Kids' Theater on Sundays from 9:00 to 11:30 AM. Mornings include large-group and small-group time, Bible stories, age-appropriate activities, and an emphasis on evangelism and discipleship. KidStuf, the Wednesday evening program for kindergarten through fifth grade, runs from August through May and is built around core biblical virtues, with multimedia lessons, games, and worship led by Kristi Nichols and her team. KidQuest, the church's VBS-style summer event, brings the same kids together for a week of high-energy teaching, missions, and recreation; recent themes have included Worthy of Wonder and missions emphases on New York.
Middle School and High School
Matt Fike, who joined the MeadowBrook staff in 2015 after serving in campus ministry and earning a Master of Divinity from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, leads the Student Ministry. The goal is to "reach students with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, equip students and parents to discover the never-ending fountain of joy that is found in knowing Christ, and to multiply disciples who make more disciples of Jesus everywhere."
Middle schoolers (sixth through eighth grade) meet in The Hangar for Life Group at 9:00 and 10:30 AM on Sundays and for Mid-Week Worship at 6:30 PM on Wednesdays. High schoolers (ninth through twelfth grade) gather in Clark Hall on the same schedule, with a focus on helping students take ownership of their faith, wrestle with hard questions, and build meaningful relationships. Both groups are led by trained adult leaders and split into smaller discipleship groups during the Wednesday hour.
The Collective: Young Adults in Their 20s
Chad Kitchens, a graduate of the University of North Alabama and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary who is currently pursuing a doctorate in Applied Theology, leads MeadowBrook's young adult ministry for adults aged 18 to 30. The ministry is built around a phrase the team uses often: "Bible-saturated community."
The flagship gathering is The Collective, which meets on the first and third Sunday evenings of each month at 6:30 PM in the Kids' Theater. Each evening includes engaging worship, biblical teaching, and a chance to connect with other young adults; childcare is provided with advance registration. Beyond Sunday nights, young adults participate in Life Groups throughout the week and have access to conferences and retreats such as the CROSS Conference, the Cultivate Conference, and MeadowBrook's own Dwell Retreat.
The Well and The Forge: Men and Women
The Women's Ministry at MeadowBrook is called The Well, a name drawn from the image of women gathering at a village well in biblical times to share life, encourage one another, and refresh in the Word. The Well hosts spring and fall gatherings - typically an afternoon event in the MeadowBrook Gym with a light lunch, fellowship, and breakout groups - and runs seasonal women's Bible studies on Wednesday nights in the Dining Hall. Past fall studies have included books like "Growing in Gratitude" by Mary Mohler, and a recurring Secret Supper has been a popular icebreaker for newcomers.
The Men's Ministry is called The Forge, with the name reflecting the work of shaping and refining. The Forge hosts gatherings throughout the year, including outings to local golf courses, fellowship events, and a Father/Son Retreat held at WorldSong Missions Place in Cook Springs, Alabama. Twice a year, the men also gather for a Wednesday Night Breakout in the Conference Center where they study deep theological truths together.
55+ Ministry: Finishing Well
MeadowBrook's 55+ Ministry is an active community of older adults who gather for Bible studies, luncheons, day trips, conferences, and travel experiences. The purpose, as the church describes it, is to honor the Lord, edify one another, impact the next generation, and "finish well" for his glory.
On a typical month, 55+ members might attend a luncheon with an inspirational speaker, board a charter bus for a day trip to a place like the Tate House in Tate, Georgia, or pull on fishing waders for the Annual Fish Fry with Christian comedian and musician Paul Aldrich. Once or twice a year, the group also embarks on a longer trip - a week-long bucket-list getaway or a multi-day excursion. Grand Camp Day, a summer event for grandparents and grandchildren, rounds out the year with activities, Bible devotions, and a shared meal.
Worship Through Song and Service
Worship Ministry at MeadowBrook is led by Kevin Boyd, a Nashville native who joined the staff in June 2016 and whose favorites range from the hymn "How Great Thou Art" to current songs like "Come Jesus Come" and "The Lamb's Book of Life." The ministry includes the MeadowBrook Worship Choir, the MeadowBrook Worship Orchestra, multiple worship bands, and praise teams serving both Sunday morning services as well as The Collective, middle school, and high school gatherings. Rehearsals are held on Wednesday evenings in the Worship Center and Rehearsal Room.
The Abundant Life Choir, a ministry of adults 55 and older, sings almost every Tuesday in the spring and fall at senior living and rest homes around Etowah County, sharing the Gospel with residents who often feel forgotten. The MeadowBrook Kids Choir, open to children in K5 through fifth grade, presents a Spring Musical and takes part in a Night of Worship each spring and a Christmas Night of Worship each December.
Behind the music is the MeadowBrook Media Team, which includes sound, ProPresenter, lighting, broadcast, video, and camera operators. The team handles the production for both Sunday gatherings, and an active YouTube channel keeps the choir, the praise team, and the sermon archive available throughout the week. A sermon audio series drawn from the Wednesday Night Bible Study is also posted for anyone who serves elsewhere in the church on a Wednesday evening and cannot be in the room.
Weekday Education
Beyond Sunday and Wednesday, MeadowBrook runs a full weekday education program out of its Education Building on Rainbow Drive. The program - sometimes called MeadowBrook Weekday Education - is open from 7:00 AM to 5:30 PM, Monday through Friday, and serves children from six weeks old through fifth grade.
Infants from six weeks to two years are cared for in dedicated classrooms with a 2:1 teacher-to-baby ratio. Preschoolers ages two through five use a Christian curriculum, gather for chapel on Wednesdays, enjoy music on Tuesdays, and participate in field trips and special visitors throughout the year. School-age children up to fourth grade can attend summer camps when school is out. Tonya Walker serves as Weekday Director with Hanna Brogdon as Assistant Director, and the center is a nut-and-egg-safe environment. A parent handbook is available for prospective families.
Counseling and Care
Biblical counseling at MeadowBrook is provided through STS Counseling, a non-profit that works to "effectively and effectually communicate biblical truth for the health, restoration, and encouragement of individuals and families." Bill Jessup, who has spent more than thirty years in pastoral ministry and counseling - including chaplaincy work with the Gwinnett County, Georgia Fire and Rescue and the Stafford County, Virginia Fire, Rescue, and Police departments - serves as the church's counselor.
The counseling ministry is built around three pillars: that God's intended creation and re-creation is to bring about a hope-filled life, that biblical truth is relevant and transformational, and that every individual is accountable to God, to himself or herself, and to others. GriefShare, a separate thirteen-week support group for those who have lost a loved one, meets on Monday mornings at 10:00 AM in the Conference Center and provides a safe environment for working through the difficult emotions of grief.
Local Missions Across Etowah County
MeadowBrook's heartbeat for missions is visible first at home in Etowah County. The church partners with a wide network of local ministries and welcomes anyone with a heart for service to step in.
The Allay Ministry reaches out to homebound and nursing home members through cards, phone calls, and visits. The Caring for the Fatherless ministry has long been engaged with the Etowah County foster care system, building relationships with foster parents and children. Good News Club teams teach the truths of God's Word through songs, prayer, games, and Bible stories in four area elementary schools - Attalla, Eura Brown, John Jones, and Striplin - on Tuesday mornings and afternoons. Way of the Cross, an interdenominational ministry at 101 N 24th Street in Gadsden, receives MeadowBrook teams every Thursday morning to prepare and serve a hot lunch to those who are hungry, along with a Bible study.
The Dream Center, housed in the former Boys & Girls Club building off Meighan Boulevard across from Floyd Elementary School, provides a safe place for kids in nearby housing projects to enjoy recreation, mentoring, life skills, and tutoring, with a particular focus on after-school programs at Floyd Elementary. MeadowBrook also partners with Dwight Baptist Church in Alabama City, sending teams and encouragement to help the church grow and engage its community. Through the Etowah Baptist Missions Center, the church helps provide food, clothing, hygiene items, job coaching, and reading classes to the poor in the area. The Etowah Pregnancy Testing Center is supported as well, and a new Fatherhood Initiative launched in 2025 to engage the men in those situations with the truth of the Gospel. Alabama Baptist Disaster Relief rounds out the local work, with MeadowBrook members deploying alongside the "yellow shirt brigade" to provide food, water, childcare, showers, laundry, repairs, rebuilding, and prayer in communities hit by floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes.
Going to the Nations
Global missions have long been a defining mark of MeadowBrook. The church's missions ministry tracks the work in numbers: 17 mission partners, 74 trips taken, more than 445,000 miles flown, and over 120 churches planted. A printed Missions Prayer Guide, refreshed quarterly, is available at Ministry Central, Guest Connections, and the Fireplace on campus, and the church's portion of tithes and offerings flows through the Southern Baptist Convention's Cooperative Program to fund the International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board.
Recent and ongoing partnerships include Hope Ministries in Costa Rica, where MeadowBrook teams come alongside Gaby and José Prado each August for Mother's Day outreach events, women's conferences, family conferences, and life-skills classes like sewing, first aid, and CPR. The Browns serve in West Belfast, Northern Ireland, where MeadowBrook has sent multiple teams to a kids' camp at a local youth club; the city remains one of the most divided in the world, and the partnership focuses on engaging Irish Catholic children and their families with the Gospel. Other partnerships extend into Uganda (including church planter training and Bethel Covenant College), East Asia, England, Buffalo, New York, and Argentina.
For anyone who wants to learn more, the Missions Cohort is a ten-session class led by Missions Pastor Mike Niemi that meets on Sunday afternoons. The class walks through the biblical foundations of the Great Commission and surveys MeadowBrook's various partnerships, using a church-published curriculum. It is free to attend, with a small fee for the curriculum book. As the church frames it, every Christian is either a "go-er" or a "sender," and both callings are essential to the work of the Great Commission.
What MeadowBrook Believes
MeadowBrook's doctrinal convictions are rooted in the Bible, which the church describes as "true and divinely inspired, revealing the person and work of Jesus as the only hope for humanity." The Bible reveals one eternal God, perfect in righteousness and love, who exists eternally in three distinct and equal persons - Father, Son, and Spirit. God the Father reigns over all of creation, made and sustained by his word, and has made a way through Christ for men and women to be adopted as his children.
Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. He perfectly revealed and did the will of God, made provision for the redemption of mankind through his substitutionary death and resurrection, ascended into Heaven, and now waits to return in power and glory, interceding for those who have faith in him and reigning as Lord over all. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of unbelief, leads some into faith and repentance, indwells and empowers believers, progressively conforms them to the image of Christ, and permanently keeps them until the day they inherit what has been given by grace.
Salvation is received by turning from sin and placing full trust in Jesus Christ's completed work on the cross - not by works. In its broadest sense it includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. The church is understood as an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the two ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper, and governed by the lordship of Christ. The two scriptural offices are pastor/elder/overseer and deacon, with the office of pastor/elder/overseer limited to men as qualified by Scripture.
MeadowBrook practices baptism by immersion as an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer's death to sin, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life. Baptism is a prerequisite for membership and for participation in the Lord's Supper, which is observed as a symbolic memorial of the Redeemer's death and an anticipation of his second coming. The church also holds a complementarian view of the family, affirming marriage as the lifelong union of one man and one woman, the husband as the loving head of his wife, and parents as the primary teachers of their children in spiritual and moral values.
Taking the Next Step
For anyone curious about plugging in, MeadowBrook offers a clear on-ramp. The Next Steps Lunch, hosted by Pastor Randy and the ministry team, is a gathering for people who have been attending and are prayerfully considering membership. The lunch walks through the church's doctrine, beliefs, and structure, and is a prerequisite for joining. Ministry Connect, a follow-up meeting with the missions and pastoral care team, uses the SHAPE assessment to help newcomers identify their spiritual gifts and find a place to serve. Both can be signed up for through the church's online registration.
Throughout the week, the church keeps an active digital presence for those who want to follow along. A sermon archive and a worship playlist run on YouTube, sermon audio from the Wednesday Night Bible Study is uploaded weekly, and a daily Bible reading plan, a weekly connection handout, and a Ministry Plan are all available for those who want to stay rooted in the Word between gatherings. Whether someone is a longtime resident of Gadsden or new to Etowah County, MeadowBrook's invitation is the same: come as you are, find a place to belong, and join a faith family that wants to see every person connected, grown, and sent for the glory of God.