Staff | Grace Baptist Church

Dean Howell

Senior Pastor

Pastor Dean Howell has faithfully served as Senior Pastor of Grace Baptist Church since June 1998. Born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin, he trusted Christ as Savior at age 7 during the summer of 1968. In the early 1980s he proudly served in the United States Marine Corps with the 22nd MAU multinational peacekeeping force in Beirut, Lebanon. Following his military service, he studied at Hyles-Anderson College, and later, graduated from Northland Baptist Bible College with a Bachelor of Arts in Bible. Pastor Howell is currently working toward his Master of Bible degree from West Coast Baptist Bible College.

Together with his wife Tammi, Pastor Dean Howell raised four sons. Today, he brings a deep passion for sound, Biblical preaching that strengthens and encourages the local church to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus Christ.

Alfredo Olivares

Spanish Pastor

Pastor Alfredo Olivares and his wife Diana Garcia came to know Christ in a Baptist church in Juárez, Mexico—Alfredo in 1993 and Diana in 1994—under the ministry of missionary Pete Raymond. They studied together at La Esperanza Bible Institute (The Hope Bible Institute), and Pastor Alfredo was ordained to the ministry in 2003.

They first joined the Grace Baptist family in 2004, with Pastor Alfredo serving as the Hispanic pastor until 2017. From 2017 to 2019 they pastored a Spanish-speaking Baptist church in Hutchinson, Kansas, before returning to Madison in April 2019. Today Pastor Alfredo is our assistant pastor and youth ministry director.

Together they've raised two children—Esthela Anaid (22) and Daniel Isaías (19)—and continue to pour their hearts into reaching Hispanic and American families alike, always guided by the same scriptural convictions that shape our church.