Two Year
Ministry Plan

A few weeks ago, Grace hosted our first Parenting Culture conference—a focused time for parents of 3rd and 4th graders to hear relevant teaching, connect with one another, and orient themselves to discipling their children in intentional ways. About 300 parents attended from all our campuses and heard biblical truths about parenting as well as teaching on the importance of authority and raising humble and resilient kids. They also had conversations around the topics of sex, technology, and community. Not only was it an important time for our parents to gather and be equipped while their children are in these formative years, it was a good chance for parents to step outside their usual routines and cast vision for their families.

Will you join us in prayer for all our parents as they disciple the next generation of believers? If you would like to see some of the resources offered at the conference, click below.

Mosaic is our ministry for children, students, and adults with special needs or disabilities, and it’s been a blessing to see this ministry grow over the years. A new facet of Mosaic that we are excited to share is the Inspire Coffee House!

Located at Front Porch Housing, Inspire Coffee House seeks to create an equipping space for adults with disabilities to learn, develop, and be discipled in the workforce while engaging the community. We currently have nine employees, and it’s been so encouraging to see our Mosaic adults thrive in this new setting. We hope you’ll celebrate and pray with us for all involved in this new discipleship opportunity. Be sure to follow them on Instagram and Facebook to see their hours—and swing by to grab a cup of coffee and say hi!

Over Christmas break, a team of Forge students traveled to Cuba to serve with Filter of Hope—a gospel-centered organization that brings simple, live-saving water filters to families in poverty who have no access to clean water. Our teens worked with Filter of Hope and local churches in Havana, Cuba to deliver water filters to families in need, explain how to use and maintain them, and share the gospel.

These teens got to experience a new culture, meet people who are very different from them, and serve outside their comfort zone. Our students moved from being unsure of how to communicate with locals and share the gospel to feeling confident by the end of the trip. They now feel more equipped to engage in conversation and share the gospel with people in their lives. We are thankful for how they got to serve and how God is continuing to work in their hearts through this mission trip.

To learn more about Grace Church Students, click below!

We have all been thrilled to see Front Porch Housing take shape over the past six months at its primary location on Cleveland Street. But did you know that Front Porch Housing also exists in other houses and apartments across the Upstate?

Our Spartanburg campus has helped with the development of three new three-bedroom homes in Spartanburg County, and they are almost ready for residents! In December, they hosted a donation day when campus members brought furniture and other household items. And there is also a group of members ready to assist the incoming residents with moving, transportation, providing baked goods for birthdays, and simply creating a supportive community.

Hopefully, these homes will be ready for residents in early February! If you would like to learn more about Front Porch Housing and how you can get involved, click below.

One of our ministry partners is JUMPSTART—a gospel-centered organization that disciples current and former prisoners and assists with re-entry to society. One of JUMPSTART’s current initiatives is the ongoing development of Restoration Village located in Spartanburg County. The Village provides a community for those reentering society from prison in a setting that prepares them to be productive citizens. In this type of supportive community setting, participants will have more intimate discipleship opportunities and be better equipped to both serve one another and grow in spiritual maturity.

Over the summer, three five-bedroom homes were completed and currently house 15 residents. After over a year of planning, development, and construction, it was exciting to see this community come to life. During 2023, JUMPSTART hopes to complete four additional homes as well as an opportunity center that will have classrooms, a commercial kitchen for teaching culinary arts, and event space for community events and worship.

We are thankful to be part of this ministry through our financial support and volunteer involvement. Grace members have been involved in various ways over the years, and this past year, one member generously donated her time and expertise to shop for décor, paint some original artwork, and do the interior decorating for the first three homes in Restoration Village.

Will you pray with us for the residents and ministry of Restoration Village? To learn more about Grace’s local partnerships, click below.

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

One of these partners is Aimee White, a member of the Powdersville campus who founded JC Cares. JC Cares is a ministry that empowers people in need to walk in dignity through biblical counseling, discipleship, and meaningful work. Aimee recently shared the story behind the founding and mission of JC Cares and how they are working to see the economically disadvantaged flourish as they turn the page from past pain, bondage, and mere survival to a new chapter of healing, freedom, and fruitfulness through Jesus Christ. Click the video below to hear Aimee’s story. To learn more about our serving partners at Grace, click below.

Over the holiday break from school, our friends at Front Porch Housing hosted a Winter Camp for the kids who live there. Each day, about 15-20 kids got to hang out, play games, share meals, and participate in other fun activities. They even got to learn from the Greenville City Fire Department and visit the Greenville Zoo!

All this was made possible by over 200 volunteers (of all ages) who donated over 600 hours of their time to support this community. Thank you to everyone who participated—your heart for others is seen and appreciated!

If you are interested in volunteering with Front Porch Housing, there are many opportunities available. Click below to learn more.

Last month, our Pelham campus hosted a special Christmas Luncheon for DSS workers in Greenville County. These men and women serve foster children and families in our community tirelessly and often without thanks, so we wanted to find a small way to show them that we see and appreciate all they do.

About 150 people attended the event, and they got to enjoy a delicious lunch, Christmas goodies, games, a photo booth, and simply spending time with one another. We loved seeing joy on everyone’s faces, and one participant told us, “I was so honored that Grace Church would do something so special for DSS workers.”

Supporting our DSS workers is just one way we seek to serve the Foster & Adopt community. If you are interested in learning more about our Foster & Adopt ministry and how you can get involved, click below.

During the Christmas season this year, all our campuses served their communities through seasonal giving projects. Thank you to everyone who participated—this was a special way to show Jesus’ love to those around us. Check out each campus’ project below!

Anderson—collected about 100 coats for youth at Homeland Park Primary School and Westside High School. They also adopted four families from the Homeland Park area who have been through a season of challenges, bringing them each a Christmas meal and gifts for their whole family.

Downtown—partnered with Front Porch Housing this Christmas to provide Visa gift cards to families for Christmas shopping. Over $5,300 worth of gift cards were collected!

Greer—partnered with Greer Relief to help with their Renew Christmas Shoppe, which is where our neighbors participate in the Renew program to earn rewards to participate in the Christmas program, which includes dinners and toys under the Christmas tree.

Harrison Bridge—hosted a Thanksgiving Food Drive for The Good Shepherd Free Clinic.

Pelham, Travelers Rest, & Español—partnered with the Greenville County Foster Parent Association to provide $100 gift cards to either Target, Walmart, Amazon, or a VISA Vanilla to help foster families with their Christmas shopping. Over $16,000 worth of gift cards were collected!

Powdersville—partnered with the Dream Center to stock their Santa Shoppe, which provides Christmas toys and gifts for families in need.

Spartanburg—collected items for Front Porch Housing, providing household goods like new bedding, kitchen necessities, and more to communicate to each resident that they are valued.

Taylors—Partnered with Mitchell Road Elementary to collect Christmas gifts for children in need.

Over the past year and a half, we’ve been using Night of Prayer to focus on the Lord’s Prayer in our Teach Us to Pray series. It’s been both challenging and encouraging to examine this passage line by line, allowing the Scripture to shape how we think about prayer. This fall, we focused on “Give us this day our daily bread,” which points us to God’s daily provision and our need for him and each other.

Some of our members had this to say about what they’ve learned through Teach Us to Pray:

The "Give us" in the Lord's Prayer reminds me that I am God's creature, under the reign and in need of an all-knowing, caring Creator, Savior, and Lord. When I pray and God answers (in whatever way he does), I’m reminded that good things don’t come from self-dependence or performance, but a daily relationship with and reliance on the Lord. He knows best and has been faithfully answering my prayers for almost 24 years now—and even before I was born! Why would he fail now?" —Jess Tietz

The use of plural pronouns (our, we, us) in the Lord's Prayer reminds me that I can't do life alone. As I get older, it’s tempting for me to isolate, and the Lord‘s Prayer reminds me that I need to be in community. At times, I need to force myself into it. I need others to keep me in check. —John Childress

If you would like to go back and watch a previous teaching from our Teach Us to Pray series, be sure and visit the Night of Prayer resource page. There, you can also find additional resources and prompts to help you establish regular rhythms of prayer in your life. Click below to learn more.

Over the past few years, many of our international missions trips have been put on hold due to the pandemic. So this fall, we were excited to be able to send a medical mission team to serve with our partners in Kenya for the first time in three years. The team consisted of medical providers, dentists, nurses, and several other members who helped support and organize the clinics—a total of 19 members.

Our partnership in Kenya is with LEFTI, Life Empowerment for Transformation International, led by Bernard Kabaru. Through local church networks, LEFTI provides pastoral training and support for the body of Christ in Kenya. LEFTI also works through community and school networks to support children and their families participating in the OVC Kenya program.

This most recent mission team worked to provide practical resources and meet physical needs for individuals and families in the Kenyan community of Turuturu, serving alongside Kenyan pastors who provided spiritual support. In partnership with a local church, the team helped host a three-day medical clinic for over 690 individuals. While people waited to be seen, pastors and Kenyan believers were able to share the gospel with them. As our clinical team provided medical, dental, vision and pharmaceutical care, they enjoyed having more personal conversations and praying with individuals as God provided opportunities. As a special treat, the team visited one of the schools where children in the OVC Kenya program attend. Several Grace members who are OVC Kenya sponsors were able to meet their child and their child's family! A safari and time in the local market capped off the week for this team as they debriefed and prepared to fly home.

Some of the team members had this to say about their experience:

God reminded me of how restful it is to lay down my life, forget myself, my comfort, my foolish desires, my desire for control. How truly I’m blessed when I live in dependence.

My biggest takeaways were being challenged on being intentional and kingdom-minded with my sphere of influence along with believing and claiming power in prayer.

God reminded me that the world is much bigger than my little bubble and that there is a great need for the body of Christ to continue to go out into the world to help and serve others.

This trip was not only an opportunity to serve our brothers and sisters in Kenya, but an important pathway for our members to be discipled. If you would like to learn more about our partnership in Kenya or apply for an upcoming trip (applications are being accepted for our April 2023 trip), click below!

We have staff members in both campus staff and support staff roles all over the Upstate! We want you to get to know some of them as you stay updated with what’s happening at Grace Church.

What brought you to Grace Church?

I was looking at a few different churches to see if my family and I would be a good fit. I came across Grace church and decided to apply for a pastoral position. That was the first step in the Raulersons’ connection with Grace Church.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I really enjoy working with the Harrison Bridge staff to equip our leaders to do the work of the ministry. I know that sounds cliche, but I love the process of working through our team to make sure our people feel cared for and equipped. I love the fact that the ministry at each campus doesn’t rest on one person’s shoulders. So, I enjoy the team aspect of my job the most.

What is your favorite thing about your campus?

The people. I mean, the distance to QT is nice too! Seriously, I love being a part of a church family where so many people are sacrificing their time, energy, and resources to help people experience life change. So many couples and families are taking the call to discipleship seriously. It’s my favorite part of being a part of the Harrison Bridge campus.

What are you most excited about right now?

I’m really excited about our Grace Church Kids and Students ministries. We have a lot of young families at Harrison Bridge. Knowing that adolescence is such an important time in life, I’m excited about the way our GCK and Students teams are strategically ministering to our kids, students, and parents.

What is one interesting thing about you?

I like to draw. I love drawing pictures for people that I know will be meaningful to them.

Last month, a group of students from Allendale County, along with Grace staff and members who have been involved in our Allendale partnership, went on a mission trip to Queens, New York. We were excited to see this new facet of our partnership with local churches in Allendale come to life! The team included five students from Allendale County, two of their moms who are community leaders, and seven participants from Grace, including three Grace staff members.

The team worked with a local ministry that is seeking to build a community of believers in the Afghan population in Queens. They spent time getting to know people in the community by passing out water bottles at parks, praying for people, and connecting them to Scripture and Bible studies in their own language.

During the evenings, students heard teaching from the book of Daniel and unpacked the big ideas in small group discussion, exploring what it looks like to follow God in a culture that pulls us in a different direction. They also got to enjoy seeing some sites and experiencing New York City! The entire trip was a time of learning, serving, and growing, and we were thankful to be part of this opportunity along with our friends in Allendale County. We hope you’ll join us in prayer—that those who went on the trip are reflective, and that the seeds they planted are fruitful.

To learn more about our partnership in Allendale County, click below.

Eric Archibald is a member of our Pelham campus, and he recently shared the story of his recovery from addiction and how God has worked in his life over the past few years. After a difficult season of addiction, Eric went through the program at Miracle Hill’s Overcomers Center, a six-month residential addiction recovery program for men suffering from life-dominating addictions. As he did the hard work of recovery, Eric met Jesus, and the entire course of his life was changed. To hear more about Eric’s story and how God is using him to serve others, click the video below.

A little over a year ago, Grace purchased over 12 acres of land in Piedmont for our Natural Burial site. We believe that death and dying are discipleship issues that the church needs to be involved in, and this has prompted us to pursue the option of natural burial—a way to shepherd our hearts and minds as we surround our loved ones in death. As a peaceful, less expensive, and simple alternative, there is no vault, coffin, or embalming.

Over the past 15 months, we have buried eight people, and it has been humbling to be able to walk through the grieving process with these families. We are thankful for this unique opportunity to wrap around families and support them while they grieve.

We have also been able to develop the land in various ways so we can better serve our church body. Land has been cleared, fencing installed, trees moved, and stone columns are being added. We have also built a shed to store tents, chairs, and other items that are used to serve families during the burial process, and in the future, we hope to add a chapel as well.

Natural burial has created new discipleship opportunities for our members as well. Volunteers have been involved in making caskets, digging graves, landscaping, greeting, parking assistance, connecting at the burial site, preparing flowers, and sending prayer cards. We are so thankful for each volunteer who makes this ministry possible, and we pray that God would continue to use our efforts to bless the church.

If you are interested in learning more about natural burial or getting involved as a volunteer, click below.

One of our goals at Grace is to build and strengthen healthy families. We all know that we live in a broken world, and this has affected many families in our community whose children have gone into DSS care. One way we support reunification efforts for these families is by offering a parenting class—Families Count.

This seven-week biblically based class is state approved, and it helps biological parents meet requirements to reunite with their children. Each participant has a mentor from Grace who walks with them through the course, and many help with transportation as well. We also have volunteers and community groups who provide a meal before the class.

We just completed our eighth Families Count class, and 12 parents graduated. We are so excited to see parents grow and move towards being reunited with their children. This is also a great opportunity for us to show God’s love by treating each participant with dignity and making sure they know they are valued.

Will you join us in praying for these families? Pray that God would continue to work in their lives and that we would continue to serve them faithfully. If you are interested in serving with Families Count, our next class begins in January. Be sure you are subscribed to Stuff That Matters to learn about upcoming serving opportunities!

Between the years of 2007 and 2011, Marilyn Mays lost both her parents and her husband. As each loved one passed away, her grief became overpowering and her life spiraled to a very dark place. Her drinking habits went from unhealthy to full-blown addiction. And then the substance abuse began. The following months and years were a downward path—addiction, jail, mental hospitals. In one of her darkest moments, Marilyn realized that in order to break this cycle, she needed help. And in February of 2018, she began her journey of recovery at Miracle Hill’s Renewal Center. There, she faced her past and learned how God could rescue her from herself.

At first I tried to run, but they talked me into staying. I was so angry at God, but one night, I finally let out every emotion I had held in for all those years. I gave up. I surrendered all of it to God, and I felt his power in that moment.

When she graduated from the Renewal program, Marilyn began visiting Grace Church Taylors. The campus had just been launched, and she was drawn to the smaller setting. Learning about God and the Bible was still very new to her, and she knew that she needed to be taught. However, it wasn’t always easy. Because her background was so different from most people at Grace, she often felt uncomfortable. But Marilyn knew the enemy would try and use her discomfort to keep her away, so she kept attending and went through re:generation.

Things had been going well, but in 2020, Marilyn had a one-night relapse that ended with a wreck, a DUI, and losing her job. It was devastating. She knew that she couldn’t recover alone, so she reached out to her friend and mentor, Cindy Chibarro. Through Cindy’s encouragement, Marilyn met with several staff members, came under the umbrella of Grace Housing, and began working through a plan to move forward.

They came together and helped me come up with a plan. They prayed, they gave me friendship, set up meetings to check on me, gave me rides to church. They would listen. I knew God was trying to show me something.

In the following months, God stretched and strengthened Marilyn in new ways. When she was asked to co-lead a closed re:gen group, she initially resisted. And even though she eventually agreed to do it, she struggled with feeling different from the other ladies in her group. But every time she wanted to quit, Marilyn’s mentor would encourage her to keep going. Towards the end of the program, one of the ladies in her group said this to Marilyn: “I know the Bible from front to back, but I’ve never seen someone experience God the way that you have. It blesses me.” In that moment, Marilyn saw clearly how God was working both in her and through her to encourage others.

I got to watch those ladies transform as they worked through their issues and struggles. And even though we were different, we were all the same by seeking God in our trouble—looking for that relationship with him.

Now, when Marilyn looks back, she is so thankful for God’s power to rescue her from her path of self destruction. She still faces many challenges, but she has learned to pray for guidance, strength, and wisdom to live in a way that honors God. And she knows that God will continue to use her to encourage others along their journeys as well.

Last month, Grace hosted the first Mosaic Family Retreat! Mosaic is our ministry for children, students, and adults with special needs or disabilities, and this retreat was a great time for everyone. We had 30 families attend—50 caregivers and 68 individuals (participants in Mosaic as well as their siblings). There were also 90 volunteers present to make this day happen, and we are so thankful for their faithfulness and generosity in serving our Mosaic families.

The retreat provided two tracks—one for caregivers and one for individuals in Mosaic and their siblings. Caregivers attended teaching sessions specifically geared towards the unique experiences and challenges of caring for an individual with special needs or disabilities. They then had a chance to engage these ideas in a small group setting after the teaching. It was such a blessing to see parents and caregivers from all our campuses come together in community, support one another, and learn together. Caregivers also had time to process the idea of lament as well as come together and worship. Another special element of this retreat was that caregivers had a few hours of free time in the afternoon to either stay on campus and fellowship, or go out on a date or activity together!

Our Mosaic individuals and their siblings had a special day of fun! They got to watch Finding Nemo, play Nemo themed games, make crafts, enjoy outdoor activities including bounce houses, and just be loved on by our volunteers.

A few participants shared how the event encouraged them:

I’m so thankful for the Mosaic ministry and all of the volunteers and people coming to love on and minister to caregivers of those with special needs. We enjoyed great eats, treats made by those with special needs, lunch, and then a date at Top Golf—all of this while we know Zane is being loved on and having a fantastic Saturday with his friends! —Randi Harper

The room was full, and we learned about living in community and bringing our burdens to the Lord through the body of the church. Bearing up sturdy under being seen by the Father over the urge to hide from the eyes of others and their potential thoughts, praise or otherwise, whether perceived as good or not. Oooh, we all felt that! It gave comfort that we are not alone and hope to carry on as we count it all JOY. —Joy Foster

Will you join us in celebrating how God worked through this retreat? We are beyond thankful for all the staff and volunteers who made it possible, and we pray that God will continue to provide opportunities to serve our Mosaic community well. To learn more about Mosaic, click below.