Two Year
Ministry Plan

We are celebrating that over the past two weekends, 449 students, along with 258 leaders and volunteers, attended the Forge retreats at Carolina Point! These weekends were full of energy and a meaningful time of worship, teaching, and community for our high school students.

The FAKE retreat, for our 11th and 12th graders, explored the idea of exposing the fake gospels in their lives and fighting to find clarity, truth, and freedom in Jesus. The Mirrors retreat allowed our 9th and 10th graders time to learn how freedom from anxiety and being self-focused comes by removing yourself from the center of your life, putting God in the center, and focusing on loving others.

In addition to teaching, worship, and small groups, students were also able to have fun and explore the lake, ride go karts, participate in tournaments, and experience the OGO ball during their free time! We are so thankful for everyone who helped plan and served on these retreats. Join us in praying that God continues to work in the hearts of these students and that there is growth in their lives from the seeds that were planted on these retreats. To learn more about Grace Church Students, click below.

This month, our Fusion and 24Seven students had the opportunity to get away for a day at Denver Downs and connect at our Fall Classic. This was a special time we carved out for students to fellowship with their small groups, sit under biblical teaching, worship together, and just have a good time. Over 600 students and 181 leaders attended, and it was a memorable time for all.

Our Fusion students (5th and 6th graders) heard teaching on Creation and the Fall, and our 24Seven students (7th and 8th graders) finished their series, Prodigal. And of course, they all enjoyed lots of fun activities at Denver Downs—a corn maze, giant slides, games, and more. We hope you will join us in praying for our students as they continue to grow this year. To learn more about Grace Students, click below.

Earlier this month, we were excited to host the very first NEXT retreat! NEXT is a ministry designed to engage college students in a way that tethers them to the local church and grows them as followers of Christ during a pivotal season of life.

The event took place at Pine Cove, and 120 students attended, along with 35 leaders and volunteers. Students heard teaching on the topics of fragility and resilience and how our obsessive focus on self leads to anxiety and/or arrogance. There was a lot for students to process, and they were thankful for their leaders and one another to be able to discuss these ideas in community and spend time in worship. And of course, they also had time for pickleball, socializing, playing games, and a dessert hour trivia challenge!

Many participants expressed their gratitude for biblical teaching on these topics. As they go back to a college environment where everyone is continually stressed or overwhelmed, our prayer is that they would continue to try and figure out what it looks like to follow Jesus as a college student. Will you join us in praying that they would find a sturdy hope outside of their circumstances and anchor themselves in the stability of God’s Word and the local church?

If you would like to learn more about NEXT, please email Dillon Carpenter at [email protected].

Beginning in February, 2022, 95 young professionals began participating in ViewPoint Leadership Year—a 26-session experience for young men and women to help them be effective leaders at work, church, and in the community and to help them consistently apply biblical principles to every area of their work and life. Throughout the year, 28 mentors are walking alongside these young people as they learn operational best practices and seek to apply them to their work.

Being a young believer new to the workforce can be challenging. Many of our participants voiced their difficulty in viewing work through a gospel lens, living an integrated life, and finding practical ways to express the gospel in a professional context.

We are thankful to be able to provide a biblical framework for grappling with these challenges as well as practical tools to help participants be even more effective in their work. Many participants have expressed that the most useful facet of the experience is the relationships they have developed and the time they get to spend processing ideas and current challenges in a group context.

A few participants had this to say about their experience:

I learned how to live out my faith in the workplace by more than just my words. The way I treat people, the way I act, and the things that I do and do not do are all ways that I should live out God’s transformation in me.

I have learned that biblical community and Christian perspective is really important in my work. Even as an entrepreneur with no coworkers and no employees, I have the opportunity every day to represent Christ in some way.

Another cohort of participants will begin ViewPoint Leadership Year in 2023. Will you join us in prayer for the next generation of leaders? To learn more about the program, click below.

We’re all familiar with the value of mission trips, and we often think of traveling to international destinations and serving people from a different culture. However, there is also a need for showing the love of the gospel right here in our community. Over the course of three weeks this summer, over 80 Forge students gave of their time and energy to serve with several of our local partners here in the Upstate.

Mission Upstate was born out of our partnership with Griggs Church, located in Poe Mill. In the mornings, students did service projects for several partners of Griggs Church, and in the afternoons, they ran a camp for neighborhood kids in the Poe Mill and San Souci neighborhoods.

Service partners and projects:

• Calvary First Baptist Church—students helped with their Manna Ministry, providing food for homeless or others in need.
• Salvation Army—students washed vans.
• Rebuild Upstate—one of our teams replaced the siding on a house in Poe Mill.
• The Way Outreach Center—students supported this ministry that invites the homeless to come inside, sit, read, take a shower, etc.
• Poe Mill Achievement Center—team members did yard work and played with kids in their summer program.
• Front Porch Housing—students painted doors.
• Students also did yard work and helped build a playset for a family at our Taylors campus.

While the work these students accomplished was meaningful and helpful in tangible ways, the work that God did in their hearts is key in their discipleship. Many students saw for the first time that people in our community live with significant needs, and it impacted them. In fact, some students have coordinated times to go back to serve at Manna Ministry because they realized they can make a difference right here in Greenville.

Please pray that this work would continue—both in the community and in the hearts of our students. To learn more about Grace Students, click below.

For years, both members of Grace church and individuals from our community have experienced life change through re:generation—a 12-step discipleship process oriented around life change and hope through the application of God’s Word.

In late 2020, we were excited to launch re:gen for Students with a small number of our high school students. Since then, the ministry has grown consistently, and more and more of our students are grappling with the difficult issues in their lives and experiencing positive life change. In this age of social media and constant access to information, teens face many weighty issues—pornography, anger, resistance to authority, substance abuse, anxiety, and more. We’ve been both challenged and encouraged by their willingness to confront their struggles honestly and be vulnerable in community.

While working through these issues has been hard, the rewards are already evident—both in the lives of participants and in their circles of influence. We are so thankful for our students, the leaders walking through this journey with them, and above all, a faithful God who offers hope and freedom through the gospel.

Will you join us in praying for re:gen for Students? New groups will launch this fall. If you are interested in learning more, click below.

Last fall, Grace Anderson launched NEXT—a ministry designed to engage college students in a way that tethers them to the local church and grows them as followers of Christ during a pivotal season of life. It has been exciting to see how this ministry has grown over its first full year.

Students from Anderson University, Clemson University, and a few other schools have come together for teaching and equipping events, as well as worship nights and times of fellowship. Each student who becomes part of NEXT gets placed into a group, and we currently have three groups of 14-16 students each. Groups are led by leaders who are in the next season of life and ready to pour into these college students.

One team of leaders had this to say about their experience:

Leading a NEXT group has been such a blessing and encouragement. In the first year of our group, we have witnessed students open up to true biblical community, become faithful serving members in the local body, and learn to study the Bible. The students who meet in our home every Tuesday have become our family!

As this school year has wrapped up, it’s been a blessing to see how God has grown this community of college students, both individually and corporately. Many have attended Discovery and are serving, and many are also moving towards membership. Please pray with us for this next generation of leaders in our churches and communities. If you want to learn more about NEXT or get involved, please email Dillon Carpenter at [email protected].

Kairos interns are here for the summer, and we are excited! These young men and women will spend the summer across all our campuses working alongside Grace staff in various ministries, taking classes, and serving our church body. Be sure you take time to get to know the interns at your campus, and please join us in prayer as we invest in the next generation of leaders. Click the video below to learn a little bit about this year’s Kairos interns!

Check out these awesome summer interns! Be sure to say hi when you see them around. They’ll be with us until August, working with various ministries and campuses while serving and taking internship classes. Click below to watch a video and learn a little bit about them!