Gold Country Baptist Church
Shingle Springs, California 95682
530-677-4122

• Education: Phil is a graduate of The Master’s College in 1997 and The Master’s Seminary (www.tms.edu) in 2006. Before accepting the call of pastor at Gold Country Baptist Church in the fall of 2006, Phil served for 10 years as a lay-leader and shepherd at Grace Community Church (www.gracechurch.org) under the preaching ministry of John MacArthur (www.gty.org) and elder oversight of Phil Johnson (www.spurgeon.org). Pastor Phil is committed to expository preaching, the sufficiency of Scripture for ministry and all of life, the doctrines of grace, spreading a passion for a high view of God and His Word, and pursuing a ministry that is Scripture-saturated, Christ-centered, God-glorifying, and Spirit-sensitive.
• Family: Pastor Phil Layton grew up as a missionary kid in the Philippines, where his parents still serve as career missionaries with ABWE involved in creation science evangelism and church-strengthening ministries similar to ICR & Answers in Genesis. The Lord has blessed Phil with his wife Jaime (married in 1997) and three daughters; Ella, Annalee, and Georgia.
• Best advice given to me about preaching: "People are starving for the greatness of God. Most of them would not give this diagnosis of their troubled lives. The majesty of God is an unknown cure. There are far more popular prescriptions on the market, but the benefit of any other remedy is brief and shallow. Preaching that does not have the aroma of God’s greatness may entertain for a season, but it will not touch the hidden cry of the soul: ’Show me thy glory!’" -- John Piper, "The Supremacy of God in Preaching", p. 9
• Books that have had an impact: I have benefitted greatly from books by John MacArthur, John Piper, R.C. Sproul, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Charles Spurgeon, Jonathan Edwards, Thomas Watson, Richard Baxter, and many other authors in the Puritan and Reformation tradition. God-centered and man-humbling messages are desperately needed in our day