Two Year
Ministry Plan

Last week, a team from our Spartanburg campus traveled to Puerto Rico to come alongside our partner, Hunger Corp. The team worked to rebuild and repair two houses that had been damaged in past hurricanes. However, just as important as working to provide physical shelter for people, team members were able to build relationships, encourage, and pray for those they served. At both work sites, the individuals whose homes were worked on have experienced significant challenges. Through their work in close proximity to these individuals, the team was able to connect with them personally and live out the love of Christ in tangible ways.

One team member had this to say about connecting with one of the people they served:

Before we left, we all met together and prayed over him as a team and spoke the blessings of the Lord over him. It was so humbling to serve in that way, and in the grand scheme of things, who are we that God would use us in such a way?

Will you pray with us over what God is doing in Puerto Rico and how he is discipling our members through short-term missions? If you are interested in joining a team, click below to learn about upcoming opportunities.

One of our long-time local Outreach partners is Homes of Hope—a nonprofit organization that seeks to inspire lasting change in communities through multiple avenues of development. They recently celebrated 25 years of building affordable homes and helping men coming out of addiction through their Workforce Development program.

25 years of supporting our communities:

• 700 homes built
• Over 330 men graduated from the Workforce Development program
• 179 new homes in the construction pipeline
• Planning a 50% increase in capacity for more men in the Workforce Development program

Grace Church has been committed to supporting Homes of Hope—over the past five years, we have contributed over $900k in financial support. We believe their mission demonstrates the love of Christ to the under-resourced in our communities. Will you join us in praying for their continued work? To learn more about Homes of Hope, click below:

May is Foster Care Awareness month! Our Foster & Adopt ministry is always busy caring for adoptive and foster families, biological parents, and our local DSS workers, but we want to bring your attention to a few of the ways we are making disciples and serving our community. Click the video below to hear teaching pastor Matt Williams give an update and share how you can get involved.

Resource Center

The Resource Center is located at our Taylors campus and is run by volunteers. In the first two months of 2023, it has served over 70 children!

Families Count

Families Count is a parenting class that allows participants to complete a part of their DSS plan working towards reunification with their children. Every participant has a mentor, and this spring, six moms graduated from the class.

Front Porch Housing

We now have an apartment at Front Porch Housing that is set aside for DSS workers and foster children. If a foster child does not have an immediate placement, they are able to stay in the apartment along with their DSS worker. Front Porch Housing has generously furnished the apartment, and our Outreach ministry is keeping the pantry stocked. Our goal is to provide a safe place for children and teens to rest during an uncertain time.

Volunteer Opportunities

There are always volunteer opportunities with our Foster & Adopt ministry!

• Resource Center—sort and organize donations
• Childcare when campuses host a Parent’s Night Out for foster and adoptive families
• Mentor a parent through Families Count (next class coming up in July)
• Become a guardian ad litem

To learn more about our Foster & Adopt ministry, click below to visit our website and fill out an interest form. You can also email Beth Drake with any questions at [email protected].

Over the past six weeks, all our campuses have participated in Just Serve Days! This is an intentional time when we express Christ’s love to the community in tangible ways. Across all campuses, over 1,500 volunteers served at over 50 sites throughout the Upstate. Participants worked on a variety of projects with our local partners, for members within our church body, at Front Porch Housing, and for many other organizations in our communities. Thank you, Grace Church, for showing up and serving in this way!

Our friends at Miracle Hill’s Renewal House had this to say about the landscape work by one of our crews:

The grounds look AMAZING! I cannot imagine what Renewal would look like without you . . . We really are the showpiece for Miracle Hill. And, more importantly, our beautiful grounds make for such a therapeutic and beautiful canvas for God to restore our residents. I cannot thank you enough for that!

We also wanted to share a story from our Anderson campus lead:

We had one site canceled due to the rain that had occurred the morning of our date. We did our best to send volunteers to them the next weekend, and when it was looking like we wouldn't have enough, we contacted the wrestling and soccer coaches at Westside High School to see if they could send any of their athletes. A handful of them showed up since they could use the volunteer hours for National Honor Society requirements. It was a great opportunity for our people to serve alongside students from a local high school, and those high schoolers got to witness how we as believers demonstrate love.

These stories represent a few of the many ways we saw God at work through Just Serve Days. Thank you again to all who participated and prayed over this labor of love. To get a glimpse of some of the ways we got to serve our communities, check out the photos below!

Last month, a team from Grace spent a week ministering alongside our partners in Nicaragua. While the team was originally slated to host a medical clinic, they found out shortly before departure that the medical clinic was not approved for this trip. Although this news was disheartening, the team was able to pivot quickly and God worked in amazing ways to allow them to show his love, encourage fellow believers, and share the gospel in Nicaragua.

Some of our medical professionals were able to participate in health talks on a local Christian radio station. They shared information about pediatric care, dentistry, women’s health, and addiction recovery. The response was particularly encouraging around the topic of addiction and recovery, which is rarely discussed publicly in Nicaraguan culture.

The team also got to minister to local families in multiple ways—they hosted a kids camp at the church while ministering to adults in men’s and women’s groups. About 50 children participated in the camp, and they spent time enjoying skits, hearing Bible stories, memorizing Scripture, and doing crafts. The men’s and ladies’ groups spent fruitful time in discussion and hearing testimonies. It was an opportunity to bring to light many sins that are kept in the darkness culturally and talk about the gospel’s power to rescue us from the enslavement of sin.

In the local elementary school, team members got to spend time talking to students about health and interact with them in a variety of ways. A few team members partnered with translators, local church members, and the pastor to complete work projects at the church and the school. And finally, many local pastors and church leaders participated in training regarding marriage and parenting.

Although the original plan did not work out, God faithfully provided many ways for our team to reflect and extend his love to the people of Nicaragua. And it was an important discipleship moment for our team members as well—understanding that God is in control and we can trust him with our plans.

Will you join us in celebrating what God has done and praying for continued discipleship in Nicaragua? To learn more about international missions at Grace and see upcoming short-term opportunities, click below.

One of our local ministry partners is Homes of Hope, a nonprofit organization that seeks to inspire lasting change in communities through multiple avenues of development. By providing affordable, energy efficient rental and home ownership options, Homes of Hope is actively developing foundational, safe environments for low-to-moderate income families in the Upstate. Throughout the years, they have built more than 600 energy efficient homes, enabling local families and individuals to thrive.

Homes of Hope also runs a workforce development program for men overcoming drug and alcohol addictions—helping them restore their lives through sobriety and construction training. Currently, this program has graduated over 300 men who are in high demand for construction related employment.

We are thankful to partner with Homes of Hope through financial support and volunteer efforts. To learn more about Homes of Hope, other local ministry partners, or to get involved, click below.

Through Grace's partnership with Hunger Corps in Puerto Rico, we are excited that what began as hurricane and disaster relief is transforming into discipleship as we have been able to come alongside Eileen Alemany in launching Respira—a women’s ministry hosted by Hunger Corps. The group began with Ezer’s Biblical Femininity study in June of 2022 and is now working through A Woman's Words.

Not only are the women involved in Respira studying together, they are also ministering to other women in their communities. In September of 2022, following the severe flooding in Puerto Rico, the women on our missions team were able to partner with the 12 women in the Respira group to provide relief to a family who lost any material items they owned in the flooding and were living in a 16x16 plywood structure.

Most recently, the team that served in Puerto Rico in early February was able to minister to Sonya, a local woman who is homebound due to physical limitations. Hunger Corps is working to upfit her home with handicap access. While our team was there, Sonya prepared coffee for the ladies and met with them to practice and learn English, and they were able to pray with her and offer encouragement.

During this time, we learned that the women of Respira have been regularly visiting Sonja, and will be holding meetings in her home so that she will be able to become part of Respira in La Hormiga, the community where our teams serve to provide sustainable housing and disaster relief.

La Hormiga is known as a squatter community in the heart of Dorado, which is an affluent community, and very church poor. The community itself does not have any churches nearby for the women to connect with, so Respira is filling in that gap to provide both community and spiritual growth for the women of La Hormiga, and the growth that we have seen in the past eight months is a clear picture of what it means to make disciples!

If you would like to learn more about our partnership in Puerto Rico or apply for a short-term mission trip, click below.

Our Outreach ministry has recently expanded by opening a low-cost legal clinic at Front Porch Housing! The clinic recently had their first day of consultations, and it was exciting to be able to serve individuals and families through legal advice and connecting them to community resources.

Front Porch Legal Clinic is open to residents of Front Porch Housing, participants in re:generation, and our Mosaic families. Volunteer attorneys from across multiple campuses serve by offering 45-minute consultations in areas of family law, wills, power of attorney, DSS cases, landlord/tenant issues, and more. They also connect individuals and families to other resources in the community, help them create a next-steps plan, and point them to any forms or documentation they will need.

Currently, the legal clinic is open once a month on the first Saturday of the month. Will you join us in prayer that God would use this ministry to support our community and reflect his love and light in difficult situations? To learn more about Front Porch Legal, click below.

One facet of our Outreach ministry is Missions Grants—a funding program that invites our members to apply for yearly grants of $1,000-2,500 to support specific projects or programs of their personal ministry.

As applications for Missions Grants open soon, we’d love to introduce one of our current recipients. Meet Powdersville member Blakely Callaham! Blakely received a Missions Grant on behalf of the Alabaster House Recovery for Women, a faith-based, residential, 7-month recovery program in the Upstate of SC. Alabaster House provides a compassionate home where broken women can be set free from addiction while encountering God’s unconditional love and forgiveness.

Blakely shared a little bit of her story with us:

After completing and serving in re:gen at the Powdersville campus, I became involved with Alabaster House. I was out of my comfort zone, but God had bigger plans. Over the past two years, I’ve been overwhelmed by the clarity and direction God has shown me. The Alabaster House has impacted numerous women’s lives because of tremendous community support. We continue to expand our capacity only because of support like the Grace Church Missions Grant.

We are so thankful to have a small part in supporting women in our community through organizations like Alabaster House. If you are a member and part of a non-profit or ministry that would benefit from a Missions Grant, applications are opening in March! Click below to visit the webpage where you can learn more and apply.

Nick and Annie VanWingerden have been serving in Grenoble, France since 2008 with Impact France, focusing on connecting with college students at the University of Grenoble. In 2018, the VanWingerdens partnered with Aurélien and Chloe Lang and planted the Grenoble East Church. They have seen consistent engagement over the past few years, especially with young people.

In 2021, the VanWingerdens became connected with Grace Church through Nick’s parents, who are members at our Harrison Bridge campus. Nick and Annie are now serving partners, and we were excited to send an exploratory team of staff members to Grenoble in January. The team got to spend time with both the VanWingerdens and the Langs, see what their ministry looks like, meet people from their church, and grow in understanding of the culture in Grenoble. They also shared resources from Grace that can help this young church as they seek to equip the believers under their care.

The VanWingerdens face unique challenges in Grenoble, but there are also unique opportunities to share the gospel. There are over 500,000 people in the city of Grenoble—fewer than 1600 of them are Christians who make up less than 16 evangelical churches. Because the area is largely unchurched, these churches desire to support one another. Also, because the University of Grenoble is a high level research university, there is a strong international presence in the city, which provides opportunities to connect with people from all over the world. Please join us in praying that God would continue to use Nick, Annie, and their fellow believers to build a coalition of like-minded churches to reach the Grenoble metro area.

Here are some ways you can pray for the VanWingerdens and our partnership with their ministry:

• Pray for the growth of their student ministry
• Pray for leadership development among the men in the church
• Pray for continued relationships and support between local churches
• Pray that we would be responsive to the Holy Spirit as we consider the future of mission trips and other opportunities for partnership.

To get regular updates from the VanWingerdens and learn more about their ministry, click below.

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!

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 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!

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.

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!

Nick and Annie VanWingerden are missionaries serving in Grenoble, France, and we are privileged to support and partner with them. Like most typical post-Christian European countries, France has great spiritual needs. Its proximity to North Africa and immigration have changed the landscape both ethnically and religiously. The VanWingerdens and their local church can connect with young people from all over the world. They are seeking to reach the least reached peoples where they are most reachable to make an impact for God's Kingdom.

Facts about France and Grenoble:

• 1.6% Christian
• 9.6% Muslim
• Strong spiritualist influence
• Grenoble is home to France’s third largest university, founded in 1339
• Over 60,000 university students and 3,000 researchers are in the city

The work that Nick and Annie are part of is necessary, developing the relatively few Christ followers that already exist and reaching those who have never heard. Through their church community, they want to give students an opportunity to hear the truth of the gospel by exposing them to God's Word and Christian community. After a year sabbatical and experiencing much of the Grace culture, the VanWingerdens are now serving partners. We are committed to monthly financial and prayer support, but even more so, hope that we can send teams of Grace members to come alongside them in special seasons of ministry opportunity.

As we begin this partnership with an exploratory team in January, please pray for God’s guidance to give us discernment for the future. If you would like to receive the VanWingerdens’ newsletter, email [email protected]. To hear more of their story, click the video below.