Shadowbrook Church sits along Suwanee Dam Road in Suwanee, Georgia, a few minutes from the border of Gwinnett and Hall counties, in a community that has long drawn families looking for small-town feel with quick access to Atlanta. The church describes itself as a family of Christians aiming to live out the gospel as they gather and go, and that simple phrase shows up again and again in its ministry language. Lead Pastor Jerrod Rumley has often told first-time visitors that the church is a place for anyone searching for a gospel-driven congregation that teaches the truth and strives to live it out. Shadowbrook's doors open twice on Sunday mornings for worship, and its teaching carries through the rest of the week in classrooms, living rooms, student buildings, and a weekday preschool that shares the same campus.
Sundays at 9 and 10:45
Two Sunday gatherings anchor life at Shadowbrook. The first service begins at 9 a.m. and the second at 10:45 a.m., both on the campus at 4187 Suwanee Dam Road. The atmosphere is intentionally casual. Newcomers are welcomed to come as they are, and the invitation to dress up, dress down, or land somewhere in between is genuine. The service itself follows a familiar pattern: the church reads, sings, preaches, prays, and sees the Bible, a phrasing the leadership uses to describe what worshipers can expect.
The 10:45 gathering is also the church's online service. It is livestreamed on Facebook Live and YouTube Live each Sunday, so people who are traveling, homebound, or simply exploring can join from anywhere. Sermon recordings stay available afterwards, and a searchable sermon archive on the church's site reaches back years, with discussion guides for nearly every message so that life groups can work through the same passage together during the week.
Finding the Campus and Parking
Visitors reach Shadowbrook by entering at the traffic light on Suwanee Dam Road and following the driveway around to the back of the building. The main parking lot is at the rear, and guests can park in any open space. The entrance into the worship center is the small awning marked by the Welcome sign. Families with children headed to the kids ministry keep driving past the main lot to the far side of the playground, where the large glass doors lead into the Shadowbrook Kids lobby. A connections team member meets each family there, walks them through check-in, points the parents toward coffee, and helps them find their way to the worship center.
Shadowbrook Kids, Birth through Fifth Grade
Parents with young children will find one of the most developed ministries on the campus. Shadowbrook Kids welcomes children from birth through fifth grade at both Sunday services, with check-in opening at 8:45 a.m. for the first service and at 10:15 a.m. for the second. The desire is for every child to learn the gospel as they gather and grow in their faith, and the team is explicit that good, gospel training is the top priority in the earliest years.
Programming is built around age and milestones. The 9 a.m. hour gathers children into life groups structured by milestones from birth through age two, and then by age from two through fifth grade. The 10:45 hour divides into two tracks. Preschool-aged children, two years old through Pre-K, meet in the preschool hall to learn what worship is, what it means, and why it matters, with a lesson, a craft, a snack, and activity time. Kindergarten through fifth grade meet in a space called the LOFT for Kid's Worship, where they start together for a Bible story, memory verses, and musical worship, then break into small groups by grade for games, crafts, and other activities.
Safety is taken seriously. Every leader is background-checked and trained, and a security team monitors the kids' building in person and by camera throughout the morning. Parents can pre-register their child to save time on a first visit, and a Kids Director, Summer Childress, is the point of contact for any questions.
Students, Sixth through Twelfth Grade
Shadowbrook Students is the ministry for middle school and high school students, and Joe Lucero leads the team as Student Director. The student gathering meets on Sunday evenings from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Student Building, where games and musical worship open the night before students split into middle school and high school groups for Bible teaching and life groups. The purpose of the ministry is to give teenagers significant relational connection during a season of life that puts heavy demands on them, and the approach is to let the gospel speak directly to those pressures. Students stay connected throughout the week through Instagram and a student link tree that points to resources, events, and ways to get involved.
Adults: Life Groups, Men, Women, and Summit
Shadowbrook sees the Christian life as intrinsically communal, and life groups are the primary environment where that community becomes concrete. The church's ministry description captures the conviction: the Sunday gathering is too large of a context to really know and be known by others, so life groups exist to provide a tangible, practical setting for meaningful relationships, mutual sanctification, and mission together. More than twenty life groups are active at any given time, meeting on Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays across Suwanee, Sugar Hill, Buford, Flowery Branch, Lawrenceville, and Duluth. Some meet in homes, others meet on campus, and a few gather in other Gwinnett County locations. Groups vary by makeup, including co-ed groups, men-only groups, women-only groups, kids-welcome groups, no-kids groups, groups for seniors, and a young-adult group.
Shadowbrook Women offers events and retreats throughout the year, including a fall event, a Christmas gathering, a spring retreat, and smaller get-togethers in parks, restaurants, and homes. The purpose is to encourage women to live out the gospel within the church, the home, and the community, and to equip women of the Word who are committed to good and godly relationships.
Shadowbrook Men focuses on helping men become courageous in the roles God has given them. The ministry runs a quarterly event, usually a one- or two-day gathering on campus, with a focus on fellowship, equipping, and leadership development.
Shadowbrook Summit is the young adults ministry, described as more than a life group, a community. Summit meets on Tuesday nights from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Student Building, with weekly time in community, scripture study through reading and discussion, games, and time to hang out. The group also shares meals, plans movie nights, and stays connected through group messaging.
Weekday School, Fifteen Months through Kindergarten
Sharing the Suwanee Dam Road campus is Shadowbrook Weekday School, a preschool ministry of the church. The school serves children from fifteen months old through kindergarten, with hours of operation from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Classes run two, three, four, or five days a week depending on the age and program, and tuition follows a clear monthly schedule with a registration fee and an annual activity fee. The school follows Gwinnett County Public Schools closings throughout the year, including for inclement weather, and remains open for GCPS digital days.
Every teacher is described as a faithful believer and follower of Jesus, and all staff hold current First Aid and CPR certification along with fifteen hours of continuing education each year. The facility meets all fire, safety, and building regulations, and includes a safe, well-maintained playground with age-appropriate equipment and an indoor carpeted gymnasium for cold or rainy days. Curriculum blends Zoo-phonics, Mindful Math, Scholastic materials, and a Christ-centered focus, and enrichment classes include Chapel, Art, Music and Movement, P.E., STEM for five-day students, playground time, and a library visit for Pre-K and Kindergarten. A summer camp runs in mid-July for children in the community who are at least three years old and fully potty trained. The Weekday School is exempt from state licensure requirements by the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning and is not a state licensed care facility.
What Shadowbrook Believes
The church's doctrinal foundation is laid out in detail on its About page. The core convictions stand in line with historic Christianity, with the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 functioning as a reference point for what the leadership teaches and protects. Shadowbrook holds that the Holy Bible is God's written revelation of himself, fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, entirely true, and completely authoritative in matters of life and faith. There is one living and true God, eternal in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, without division of nature or being, and co-equal in every divine perfection.
God the Father orders and directs all things according to his own purpose, and graciously involves himself in the affairs of mankind, hearing prayer and saving all who come to him through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God's only begotten Son, fully God and fully man, conceived by the Holy Spirit, who lived a sinless life, died as a substitutionary sacrifice for sin, rose bodily, ascended into heaven, continually intercedes for his people, and will return personally and visibly in glory. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, regenerates and seals the believer, and serves as an abiding helper, teacher, and guide.
The Fall of Man is part of the teaching: man and woman were created in God's image and free from sin, but willful sin brought physical, spiritual, and eternal death, leaving all people with a nature opposed to God and in need of salvation through Christ. Salvation is by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ alone, and those who trust Christ are redeemed and secure forever. The church is described as a living spiritual body of which Christ is the head, with God having established offices of pastors, elders, and deacons to lead and serve the body. Marriage is taught as the lifelong union of one man and one woman, and children are a blessing and heritage from the Lord from the moment of conception. The church also holds to a personal and visible return of Christ, the receipt of glorified bodies for those who trust him, and eternal judgment for those who do not.
Values: Membership, Homes, Community, and Kingdom Impact
Four values shape how the beliefs are put into practice. Meaningful Membership is the conviction that committed membership is essential to the health of the local church and reflects commitment to the body of Christ, with each member called to use their gifts for mutual edification and the glory of God. Healthy Homes reflects the church's belief that the home is one of God's foundations for any society, with a strong emphasis on discipleship, marriage, and parenting, and the conviction that flourishing in biblical roles leads to flourishing in every other area of life. Renewing Community captures the teaching that spiritual growth happens best in community, with life groups serving as the primary environment where that growth takes place. Kingdom Impact pushes the church outward: a desire to see the local church flourish, a willingness to be for all gospel-centered churches, and an ambition to see gospel-centered churches planted wherever the Lord leads.
Teaching Verse by Verse, One Book at a Time
A walk through the sermon archive shows the cadence of the teaching ministry. Long stretches of expository, verse-by-verse preaching through single books of the Bible are the rhythm, often anchored by Lead Pastor Jerrod Rumley with regular contributions from Pastor of Discipleship Brad Miller and Pastor of Worship Hector Cervantes. Recent series include Joyful Assurance, a walk through Philippians focused on gospel-rooted joy; Healthy Homes, a series on discipleship and flourishing in every season of life; From Death to Life, on putting sin to death; From Heaven to Earth, on practical Christian living; and Unashamed, a series through Romans. Older series trace the same pattern through the Old and New Testaments: Genesis in two parts (As Above, So Below and A Promise, a People, and a Place), Advent, The Table, Galatians, Psalms 1 through 9, Proverbs 1 through 3, Matthew in six parts (Kingdom Come), Basic Church, Cultivate, Ecclesiastes (When Strivings Cease), Gospel Conversations (Share the Story), Hebrews (Jesus is Greater), Biblical Friendship (Friend-ology), Colossians (The King and His Kingdom), and Philemon (The Freedom in Forgiveness).
Guest preachers appear regularly, including Jim Kramer, Jordan Williams, Jeff Sorrow, Adam Howell, Bryan Chapell, Dr. Timothy Lane, Jared C. Wilson, Micah Fries, Kevin Ezell, Jason Phillips, and Wesley Dunn. Each series is paired with a downloadable study or field guide so the same passage can be discussed in life groups during the week.
The Leadership Team
Shadowbrook is elder led, staff driven, and congregationally accountable. Lead Pastor Jerrod Rumley preaches most Sundays and sets the vision for the church. Hector Cervantes serves as Pastor of Worship, leading the musical and creative dimensions of the services, with Mariana Davis supporting as Worship Arts Coordinator. Brad Miller is Pastor of Discipleship, shepherding the adult teaching ministry and regularly preaching through the same books of the Bible. Three elders share governance with the pastors: Michael Kuntz, Andrew Eller, and Garrett Tomlinson.
Joe Lucero leads the student ministry, Summer Childress directs Shadowbrook Kids, Terrie Jones serves as Care Director, and Melissa Kramer coordinates the church's missions partnerships. Jenny Baldwin directs Shadowbrook Weekday School with Pam Alvarez as Assistant Director, and Ean Boswell oversees the facilities that house all of it. Supporting staff include Amanda Angel, assistant to the lead pastor; Rebecca Lucero, discipleship and worship assistant; Emily Thrasher, kids and students assistant; and Lisa Fulghum, finance assistant.
Partnerships and the Wider Work of the Church
Shadowbrook partners with a network of Southern Baptist organizations and local ministries. Lifeline to the broader convention runs through the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, the North American Mission Board, the International Mission Board, the Atlanta Baptist Association, and three Southern Baptist seminaries: Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The church also partners with the North Gwinnett Cooperative, the Pillar Network, Georgia Wellness, Faith Bridge Foster Care, Good News Club of Gwinnett, and Connection Point Counseling, the biblically based counseling ministry connected to the church. International missions are supported through GE Mission, including ongoing support for Pat and Meg Preston. A small bookstore, 10 of Those, is hosted in partnership with the congregation.
Connection Point Counseling
For pastoral care and counseling, Connection Point operates as a biblically based service connected to the church. The ministry exists to come alongside people in the congregation and the wider Gwinnett community through seasons that call for trained, gospel-centered help. Care Director Terrie Jones oversees the church's broader care ministry, working alongside Connection Point for those who need a deeper level of support.
What a First Visit Looks Like
The best way to walk in for the first time is to use the Plan Your Visit option on the church's site. A connections team member will reach out ahead of Sunday, answer any questions, help with kids' check-in, and introduce newcomers around the room. Worship is casual in dress, the music is contemporary, the preaching is expository, and the atmosphere is built for families with children, students, and adults all in the same room. Communion and baptism are observed as the leadership teaches through them, and visitors are welcome to participate in keeping with their own convictions.
Serving and Getting Involved
Volunteers are described as the heart of the church. People just like the members serve on Sundays and during the week to keep ministry running, and the church's serve form is open to anyone who wants to get involved. Shadowbrook Kids is always looking for leaders willing to invest in the youngest members of the body, and life groups are open for new participants throughout the year.
The Church's Heart
What holds everything together at Shadowbrook is the conviction that gathering for worship and scattering for mission are both essential, and that the gospel is meant to be lived out in everyday relationships. The same teaching that fills the Sunday pulpit carries into living rooms, classrooms, student gatherings, women's retreats, men's events, a preschool hallway, and a counseling room. Whether someone joins in person at 9 or 10:45 a.m., tunes in online at 10:45, or walks through the doors of the Weekday School on a Tuesday morning, they are stepping into one church with the same mission, the same leadership, and the same desire to live out the gospel as they gather and go.