Grace Bible Church Leaders and Speakers

George S. Whitten, Elder

George S. Whitten, Sr. is one of the teaching elders of Grace Bible Church. He was born in Sumner, MS in 1940.

George became a Christian while at college, and also while at college he met and married his wife Joy (formerly Joy Katherine Hand, and presently and continually a pure joy, and a gift from God). They have five grown children, who are all a constant encouragement and blessing, and who have given them a total (so far) of ten grandchildren.

George was graduated in 1962 from Mississippi College with a B.A. in history, and was graduated in 1964 from the University of Mississippi Law School from which he received a J.D. degree. After graduation he was selected to be one of the first law clerks to serve the Mississippi Supreme Court.

Following his tenure with the Court he joined the Office of the General Counsel of the United States Department of Agriculture. His area of expertise with the Department was in the law of Sales as it relates to interstate and international shipments of perishable commodities. George retired from the Department in 2003.

His special areas of interest include Systematic Theology, Apologetics, and Church History, particularly the English Reformation extending through the reigns of the Tudors and Stuarts.

John P. Hey, Elder

John P. Hey is one of the teaching elders of Grace Bible Church.

He was born in Greenwood in 1939 and has lived most of life in the Delta. He was saved and baptized at eleven years of age, and has been active in church since.

He attended Mississippi College, majoring in chemistry and minoring in Bible and Speech. While there, he met his wife, Nora; they have four children and five grandchildren.

He earned his MD in 1964 from the University of Mississippi Medical School, with a residency at Baptist Hospital in Jackson. He served as an Army captain in Vietnam.

He moved to Greenwood in 1967 and established a practice in family medicine, with subspecialties in geriatrics and sleep medicine.

He helped found Grace Bible Church in 1970, and later the Greenwood Christian School. While helping in the pastorate here he has preached and taught through the entire Bible verse by verse.

He is an avid reader, and very active in Civil Air Patrol as a mission pilot, incident commander, check pilot, and wing medical officer.

John Pittman Hey

John Pittman Hey leads the Lord's Table observance each week at Grace Bible Church.

He was born in 1961 in Jackson, Mississippi, to Godly parents who from the beginning raised him in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. With child-like faith he came to Christ on his fourth birthday at his mother's knee.

He received his education at church school, obtained his B.S. degree in chemistry with minors in mathematics and physics from Bob Jones University, and his Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of Chicago in 1988.

His business pursuits are software development and computer technologies. Other interests include political activism, investigative journalism and issues of public integrity.

His favorite Bible commentaries are the writings of Dr. John Gill.