Staff | Grace Baptist Church

Mario Gonzalez

Senior Pastor

Pastor Mario Gonzalez has been serving as the senior pastor of Grace since April of 2026. He was born and raised in the southern Wisconsin area, and attended Pensacola Christian College, graduating in the Spring of 2017. He has been at Grace since 2013 and has served as a deacon prior to being called to the pastorate. Although born into a Christian home, Pastor Mario did not truly receive Christ by faith until adulthood, after coming under the conviction of sin and turning to Christ for salvation.

He and his wife Alejandra have been happily married since fall of 2023. Alejandra is from Peru, South America, and grew up in a Christian home where her dad was the pastor of their local church. Alejandra received Christ for salvation at the age of six and has served in her local church ever since. She and Pastor Mario enjoy spending time together, learning and growing in the ministry, and raising their little daughter Bethany.

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.