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A Short History
Before the foundations
of the world began, even before the beginning of time, Grace
Fellowship had its beginning with carefully laid plans in the
mind of the Almighty (Proverbs 8:22-31) (John 1:3) (Ephesians
3:9) (Hebrews 1:10) (Colossians 3:16) (Revelation 4:11). The
scriptures carefully teach, and we acknowledge, that God
sovereignly predestined this work (Acts 15:18) (Eph 2:10) (2
Timothy 1:9) for His purpose, for His glory, for His praise, and
not for the created beings to receive any honor by it. This
preamble is very important, for this writer in no way wishes to
either draw attention to himself, nor to any other man, as being
anything more than a tool: one as though he were a spade,
another as though he were a chisel, and another as though a
hammer, each one used in diverse and purposeful ways in the
formation of a structure (or in this case an ecclesia), a called
and set apart group of believers.
During the early
spring of 1996, God began to draw together the lives of three
men and their families. One was the newly appointed, young, and
dynamic pastor of an established denominational church. Another
was one of the younger deacons of the same church. The third was
a rogue church-drifter who was disenchanted with religion in
America. These men were given a burning desire, placed into
their hearts by the Lord, to diligently seek after His face.
They began to meet
together on Saturday evenings in the back room of the
denominational church building in order to encourage, edify,
admonish, and pray for each other. Soon the prayer meeting began
to grow, slowly at first, and then, as God gave increase, the
meeting turned into a bible study. Out of prayer, the men began
to have a burden for wounded sheep and lost souls. Very quickly,
the three who started praying were five, then seven, and then
nine. The meeting that began 2 hours long grew to 4 hours, 6
hours, and then all night.
The church began to experience tremendous growth, increase that
it had not seen in decades. There were new faces almost weekly;
and people who had previously walked in darkness were seeing the
life-giving light of the gospel. The congregation was being
stretched and forced out of its comfort zones of routine and
predictable custom. Even with this new and exciting growth,
there were some who opposed the new direction of ministry.
Because it was the conviction of his heart to leave and start a
new work rather than have the church split, the pastor resigned
his position. Although the other two men strongly counseled
against this move, they also encouraged him by saying that if he
was sure that it was the leading of the Sovereign Lord, they
would stand behind him.
September 15, 1996, the announcement was made that the pastor
had given his letter of resignation to the board of deacons and
that the words he was speaking in the pulpit on that day would
be his last. Then, as a result of much prayer and a phenomenal
move of the Holy Spirit, a building was rented (and later
purchased). The very next Sunday, Grace Fellowship had its very
first service at the present location of 17 Second Street. On
September 22, 1996, there were 80 people (men, women, and
children) gathered to praise and glorify Almighty God.
Since
then, God has moved in many mighty and powerful ways to
demonstrate His blessing upon this work.
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