Two Year
Ministry Plan

Grace currently has three serving partners—covenant members who serve full-time in missions and are actively involved at Grace Church.

One of these partners is Kristin Fisher, a member of the Taylors campus who oversees the ministry of She Is Safe in Myanmar. She Is Safe is an organization that works to equip young girls and women who are at high risk of slavery as well as rescue and restore those who have been enslaved. Kristin recently shared an update about the context and mission of She Is Safe, how they are working to be the hands and feet of Jesus to families in Myanmar, and how we can pray for them. Click the video below to hear Kristin’s story. To learn more about our serving partners at Grace, click below.

Our Foster & Adopt ministry has been active all year serving foster and adoptive families, biological families, DSS workers, and guardians ad litem in many different ways. As we transition into a new year of ministry, we wanted to highlight two areas in particular.

The Foster & Adopt Resource Center has grown into an extraordinary source of both physical and spiritual support for those involved in fostering and adoption. Through the Resource Center, we have served over 500 children in the past year, providing $62,500 worth of donated items. In addition, 50 volunteers have invested over 5,000 hours throughout the year and prayed for over 200 families.

Another exciting area of this ministry is our seasonal giving project. Your generosity has enabled us to collect over 290 gift cards for foster families this Christmas season. That means we have contributed more than $29,000 worth of gift cards that will go towards blessing foster children with Christmas gifts.

We are encouraged to see how our Foster & Adopt ministry has flourished this year, and there are many more stories to tell of God’s work in this area of our church. We hope you will join us in prayer for all involved. To learn more about Foster & Adopt or to volunteer, click below.

Grace has partnered with many churches and faith-based organizations around the world, and we are excited to announce a new partnership with fellow believers in Israel. Over the past few years, leaders at Grace have connected with the Association of Baptist Churches in Nazareth. This group represents the largest single group of Evangelical Christians in Israel today with 18 churches and a community of 3,000 people, serving mainly among the Arab population in Israel.

One particular focus of these churches in Israel is student ministry, as it is especially difficult to be a young believer in that context. So for the next two years, Grace has agreed to provide financial support to hire a central student coordinator for the students who belong to the ABC. We hope you will join us in praying for this new partnership, the student coordinator who will be working in Israel, and the many students whose lives will be touched.

Click below to watch a video that explains more about the challenges of youth ministry in Israel.

Across all of our campuses, volunteer worship and audio visuals teams serve every week to create a worshipful environment for our congregations. This December, as a special “thank you” to these teams, a group of staff and volunteers hosted Worship Culture, an evening for our volunteers to worship together, as well participate in the recording of a live album.

During the evening, three hundred people gathered to celebrate and praise God for the work he has done over the past few years. Ten songs were recorded, including nine new ones written by Grace staff and volunteers. The live recordings will become an album released in March 2022.

See below for more photos from Worship Culture, or visit Grace Church Worship on Spotify for songs, albums, and playlists.

The last two years have presented a wealth of difficulty, and with travel restrictions, supporting our outreach partners around the globe has been a challenge. While we’ve been able to stay connected virtually, we’re excited that multiple opportunities have opened up to serve and support our outreach partners in person. See below for a summary of what’s coming up. For more, visit our outreach page or click on Bill White’s full update.

• Nicaragua: For the first time in several years, a team will join Christ the City International in Chinandega, Nicaragua, to train local pastors and leaders and host a children’s program and medical clinic. Medical professionals are still a need for this trip, March 19–26, 2022. Apply here!
• Puerto Rico: Continuing in our partnership with Hunger Corp, a team will serve in Puerto Rico February 5–11, 2022, helping to rebuild homes damaged by natural disasters in the Dorado Community.
• East Africa: This fall, Bill and Rachael White will spend time in Rwanda encouraging pastors and their wives, then join Robby and Nathalie Richard in Kenya, where they will work with Bernard Kabaru and the Aberdare Baptist Convention to help train pastors and leaders.
• Germany: For the last few years, Grace has been a resource for several local churches in Frankfurt and Munich. Currently, our leadership is working with a German church as they begin leadership succession.
• Israel: Grace is currently supporting a full-time student ministry staff member in a church in the Arab community of Israel.

At Grace Church, our mission is to make disciples, and our efforts are strategically directed to guide members through life in a lost culture. Whether relationships, jobs, or mundane day-to-day tasks, we believe all of life falls under the umbrella of discipleship, and ultimately we are either guided by Scripture, or by culture.

In the summer of 2020, our nation exploded with the tragic deaths of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd. In the aftermath, many of our members were left to fend for themselves as they began to listen to the loudest voices on the left or the right.

Since we have a duty to shepherd our people, staff members David Delk and Chrystie Cole began extensive research and eventually developed the Race, Justice & the Scriptures curriculum. Our elders and leadership team, along with their wives, went through the study, and leaders of several African American churches in our area provided feedback.

This fall community groups went through Race, Justice & the Scriptures in two live sessions, which included teaching, a panel, and direction on how we should respond:

• By rooting out any sin of partiality
• Working to make unjust systems more just
• Getting to know someone different than you
• Putting yourself on the hook for someone who has chronic and difficult challenges

Groups gathered together after the session to work through the material and discuss questions. The live sessions of Race, Justice & the Scriptures will become a 6-session video study, available in February 2022.

Since 2009, Grace has worked to build partnerships in Allendale, a county in our state that has faced significant economic struggles. One of the primary ways Grace supports local churches in Allendale is through Camp Impact, a six-week summer program for kids ages 5–12. But even when camp is not in session, the work in Allendale is ongoing. During the school year, our outreach team hosts Impact Student events for former campers, now middle and high school students. These special times allow Grace volunteers to continue investing in relationships, as well as provide community, teaching, and discipleship for students.

This fall, we hosted our first Impact Student Fall Overnight in Allendale. A team from Grace joined Allendale students for a unique time of teaching, small groups, and community building at a local retreat center. Students participated in several service projects centered around breast cancer awareness and Veterans Day, and also enjoyed a Halloween Party.

Taylor Frick, outreach project manager, felt like the event was an important milemarker for Grace’s work in Allendale County.

“It was the first opportunity we had for an overnight event tailored for our students who live there,” Taylor says. “It provided an opportunity for the Camp Impact community to invest in our relationships with each other, even though we’re from different parts of the state and have different backgrounds. Seeing these students stay involved as they navigate high school, and be open to our involvement as a church, is an answered prayer and great privilege to witness!”

Click below for more about our partnership in Allendale County, and make sure to check out the Impact Student Fall Overnight photo gallery!

Walking through the death of a loved one is a complicated and difficult time. As a church, Grace feels responsible to shepherd members during this process, specifically through natural burial. Instead of embalming, vaults, and coffins, natural burial is a simple alternative involving a pine box or a shroud. Not only is this better for the environment, it is inexpensive, and most importantly, allows for Grace to support members in a tangible, intimate way.

Since purchasing property in Piedmont, Grace has partnered in the passing of two men, including Donald Banke, the father of Spartanburg member Chip Banke. Donald, who died in September, was buried peacefully in an intimate graveside ceremony, surrounded by the natural serenity of the grounds. Chip’s former community group gathered in support, helping him lower his dad into the ground and fill the grave.

"Grace Church staff were incredibly caring, honoring, respectful, and nurturing in the burial experience with Dad,” Chip says. “I truly felt loved while grieving."

"Seeing and experiencing natural burial and how it brought the Banke family together with our church body is something that I will never forget,” says Spartanburg campus pastor Daniel Black. “Instead of keeping the grieving family at a distance, it allowed for men that Chip has led in community groups to have an opportunity to serve alongside him in the unique season of burying his father. This shared experience absolutely helps our church better care for our members through loss."

The site in Piedmont includes more than 12 acres of peaceful, rolling grounds, which will allow Grace to partner with thousands of members in the burial process. For more information on natural burial, click below, or email Jennifer Dill at [email protected]

Since its beginning, Grace Church has been on a mission to make disciples in local communities, which has led to multiple congregations worshipping in different buildings across the Upstate. One of these communities, our Latino brothers and sisters in the area, needed a church home, and in response, Grace en Español was launched in 2014.

Now Grace en Español has two campuses, located in Spartanburg and Taylors, with around 250 people gathering for teaching and worship at each campus every Sunday. Recently they’ve been able to launch a student ministry (Fusion through Forge), and this September started re:generation. Grace en Español is actually one of the first churches to implement the re:gen program in Spanish, and now has four Step groups and two Groundwork groups.

But in addition to discipling Spanish speakers in the Upstate, Grace en Español has a vast digital reach. Their resources, including teaching, conferences, and online services have been accessed from 32 different countries, including every country where Spanish is the primary language. Families whose churches are closed due to COVID-19 have been able to utilize their online teaching, and there’s even a group of women in a Colombian prison studying the Ezer curriculum.

“There is a church in Nicaragua that uses everything that we do, even our teaching,” Robby Richard, our Grace en Español campus pastor explains. “I send him my notes and he uses them to teach after watching our sermons. We are hoping to do an online sermon prep class with him and some of his leaders in November.”

As the Latino population increases in the Upstate, the need for discipleship and discipleship resources in Spanish only increases. Click below for more about Grace en Español.

Each year in Grace Student Ministry, leadership and staff strategically plan time outside of regular meetings for students to bond together as a group. While these retreats certainly include fun elements for groups to create memories, they also provide teaching and worship—a unique space where we pray expectantly for God to work in students’ hearts.

On Saturday, October 2, Fusion, 24Seven, and Forge students from across our church gathered at the Powdersville campus for the Fall Classic. Throughout the day each ministry experienced teaching, worship, and carnival-themed fun. For Fusion, 419 students and leaders gathered under teaching on Saul versus Paul. Our 24Seven ministry received teaching on trusting God in all areas, with 401 leaders and students attending. For Forge, 462 students and leaders listened to teaching on success. That’s more than twelve hundred people participating in this special time of discipleship!

Click below for more on Grace Student Ministry and don’t miss the Fall Classic photo gallery.

Transitioning from high school to adulthood is a challenging time for many, and for believers, a supportive community rooted in the local church is essential. Located near several universities and colleges, our Anderson and Powdersville campuses have a unique opportunity to disciple the young adults attending their services. This has grown into Grace NEXT, a ministry specifically geared toward college and college-aged students.

“We are wanting to meet them at a pivotal moment in their lives and help them grow into mature followers of Jesus Christ,” Stephen Dickey, our Anderson campus pastor says. This fall, the Anderson campus welcomed students with a college cookout and launched three student groups, which will be studying the new Understanding the Bible leadership track. A few weeks ago, they hosted a worship night, focusing on the theme of finding rest in Christ. Our Powdersville campus just held an initial NEXT interest meeting, and with around 50 Clemson students attending, they’re looking forward to growing the ministry throughout the year.

Will you pray for NEXT at our Anderson and Powdersville campuses? Ask God for willing leaders to step up, and for him to give them influence in the lives of students. Pray that they would make meaningful connections and students would grow in their faith.

For more information on Grace NEXT, reach out to your campus staff, or fill out a connect card.

Each campus has its own unique journey, and Travelers Rest is no exception. In 2017, our TR campus launched at Travelers Rest High School with a faithful core of dedicated members. When the pandemic hit in 2020, they met under a tent at the new location at 999 Geer Highway and then moved the tent to Kings Point Academy, eventually moving inside at Kings Point. That’s four different locations over the course of four years!

Last weekend, we saw many prayers come to fruition as our TR family had their first services in their newly renovated facility! We're excited to see the ways God is going to use this building for discipleship in Travelers Rest and for the good of the community. We hope you’ll join us in prayer as they begin ministry in this new location. Click the video below to see footage of the new building.

This past month, our Foster & Adopt ministry hosted an informational session where our church body could learn more about fostering, adoption, and advocating as a guardian ad litem. Many members in our church are living out the gospel through fostering and adoption, and we are excited to help others come alongside children in need of a loving and stable home. There is also a great need for guardians ad litem in the state of South Carolina. In Greenville County alone, there is a need for 350 guardians ad litem and only 150 are currently serving.

Grace member Paul Gaeto said this about his experience as a guardian ad litem:

“It’s the epitome of Christian service because you’re doing something for somebody who can never repay you—just as Jesus did something for us that we’ll never be able to repay.”

To hear Paul share more about what it looks like to be a guardian ad litem, click the video below.

During this meeting, Kaley Linquist of Fostering Great Ideas shared insight into what fostering looks like and the next steps members can take in order to get licensed. Participants also heard from Margaret Richardson, a Grace member who is available to assist through the adoption process through DSS. And Sylvia Walker, Greenville County Program Coordinator, shared stories about guardians ad litem and the valuable impact they can make. Click here to learn more about or volunteer as a guardian ad litem.

We were thrilled to have around 50 participants at this meeting and ask you to pray for them as they take their next steps toward vulnerable children. If you want to learn more about fostering, adoption, or advocating as a guardian ad litem, please email Beth Drake at [email protected]. We would love to hear from you and connect you with resources that can enable you to minister to children in need.

As Grace ministries and community groups have geared up for the fall over the past few weeks, we have also had the opportunity to rejoice with nearly 50 members of Grace who were baptized across all of our campuses. Baptism is a beautiful picture of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, and it is also an important step of obedience for a believer. We hope you’ll take a moment to watch this video and rejoice with each one of these men, women, teens, and children who identified with Christ through baptism. To watch the video and learn more about baptism at Grace, click below.

Grace currently has three serving partners—covenant members who serve full-time in missions and are actively involved at Grace Church.

One of these partners is David Miller, a member of the Taylors campus who is the Operations Manager for Child Freedom Coalition—an organization that works to end child slavery and generational poverty through rescue operations, long-term care, and education. David recently shared an update about the context and mission of Child Freedom Coalition, how they are working to be the hands and feet of Jesus to children in South Asia, and how we can pray for them. Click the video below to hear David’s story. To learn more about our serving partners at Grace, click below.

Ken and Doris Bickel are members at Grace’s Downtown campus, and they have been going on mission trips to Nicaragua since 2012. They’re excited to be leaving for yet another trip this weekend. We had a chance to chat with them about their experiences, why they continue to return, and what God has taught them.

How many times have you been to Nicaragua? At least eight times.

Why do you keep going back? Our partners—the ministry team at CFCI—have become very special to us. They are more than ministry colleagues; they are friends. We both also enjoy teaching. I (Ken) believe God prepared me, through years of pastoral ministry, for the opportunity to teach other pastors. Doris loves to teach Ezer studies and assist the medical teams when they go. We both find great fulfillment in being able to teach and interact with our Nicaraguan brothers and sisters.

What challenges have you faced? We’ve faced sickness at times, and the climate can be difficult. You can’t drink the water. The basic challenges of being in a third world country can be hard to navigate, but we’ve always felt protected and cared for. There’s really no reticence to go on our part. We just live with the minor inconveniences and get on with life. Ministry can be fun, and this is the kind of ministry that is fun!

What would you tell someone who is considering going on an international mission trip? It’s important to experience different cultures. It’s wise for personal growth, especially if you’ve never been to a third world country. You will learn to appreciate the believers there. They have to live with disadvantages that we take for granted. We can pray better and respect them. This can challenge our spiritual growth. I’ve never met anybody who regretted going on a mission trip. It’s an opportunity for personal growth, spiritual growth, and treating others as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Many thanks to Ken and Doris for sharing their experiences with us! Will you pray for them and the rest of the team as they depart for Nicaragua this weekend? Click below to learn more about our ministry and partnerships in Nicaragua.

Last month, Grace offered a Health Screening Day at our Taylors campus. This event was open to the community, and several medical volunteers came out to provide screenings such as body mass index, blood pressure, blood glucose, dental screenings, and health education. All of these services were at no cost to the participants. We also partnered with Prisma Health Upstate’s mobile clinic to offer free COVID-19 vaccines.

One volunteer commented:

“An entire family who came to the US within the past few months came in and was evaluated. They were cared for so well by all of our teams and expressed how much they felt that care. They were prayed for, connected to community in the local church, and provided resources for medical care that they previously did not have.”

What a great opportunity to show Jesus’ love to the community in concrete ways! We plan to offer these types of events on a regular basis, and we hope you’ll join us in prayer that they will be effective in serving our community. If you’re interested in volunteering at a future Health Screening Day, please email Sarah Branan at [email protected]

Over the summer, Grace was able to host two Ascend summer camps—one at our Powdersville campus and one at Pelham. Ascend is a week-long program for children and teens who have experienced the divorce of their parents or the loss of a loved one. We are thankful that over 40 children and teens participated this summer.

During their week at camp, kids spent time outside engaging in fun activities like water games, building connections with their leaders and each other. They also participated in group activities and discussions that addressed the specific hardships they were facing, and our leaders consistently pointed them to Christ and showed them love every step of the way. It was truly a blessing to see children and teens who were experiencing the isolation of a difficult season come together, break down barriers, and build community.

A few of our small group leaders had this to say about Ascend:

"The strength these kids have and show has impressed, almost astounded me. They are coping with situations, issues, questions, and feelings that have crushed older, more mature persons. These ‘little children’ have indeed humbled, taught, and inspired me." - Cleatus Blackmon

"I love getting to serve in Ascend/DC4T because I am inspired by the willingness of the students to show up and see how the Holy Spirit works in tangible ways throughout our time together." - Alison Little

We hope you will pray for all those who participated—that God would continue to work in their lives. If you know someone who could use this kind of support during a difficult season, click below to learn more about our Care ministries, including support for kids and teens.