History

Text Version of History

The Beginning

Grace Fellowship began in the heart of God. While our pastor, Rex Keener, was in seminary preparing for ministry, God placed a dream in his heart. That dream was to establish a dynamic, love filled, local church.

In the fall of 1992, the dream began to take shape. Five men went away for a weekend of prayer and fasting to seek God about the start of a new congregation in the Capital Region. Out of that prayer vigil came the resolve to launch a local church that officially opened on Sunday, March 21, 1993.

Our First Homes

We began meeting in a rented store-front on Metro Park Drive, just off Wolf Road. That first summer attendance averaged about 60. But the fall of 1993 saw rapid growth, with many people finding Christ as Savior. By the one-year mark attendance averaged 200. Within two years it was 400. We sensed God was doing something special.

By 1996, just 3 years after its establishment, the church averaged 500 in Sunday worship. We’d outgrown the storefront, and the need to move to a new location was not just a desire, it was a necessity.

We purchased the Space Place building and renovated it to become our second home. On Sunday, September 15, 1996, after just 3 years and 6 months, Grace Fellowship met in the storefront church for the last time and then paraded across Wolf Road, stopping traffic and creating quite a spectacle!

God was doing more than we could ask or imagine. Over the next five and a half years, Grace grew from two services to three with two video cafes. We grew in both quality and quantity. He continued to answer prayers, change lives, raise up leaders, and pour His grace upon us.

Where We Are Now

As the services became more crowded, we realized the need to find a new home. We began a long and prayerful search. As always happens when God ordains the steps, doors opened, and Grace Fellowship became the owner of the Colonnade Plaza. In 2001 we began renovations, and with grateful hearts, we began worshipping there on Sunday May 19, 2002.

Since our first day at our Delatour Road campus, God has continued to change lives. Easter Sunday, 2005 brought another mile marker as we crossed over the 3000 attendance mark for the first time. We have grown from a congregation of about 900 at our 3 Cerone Campus to one of thousands. As God touched lives, our growth necessitated the renovation of unused space to provide us with six new classrooms for our children's ministry. And our other ministries were also growing since the move to Delatour, both in size and in number...In 2006, the number of ministries had grown from 45 to over 80 in just four years...and that number continues to climb as we meet the needs of those both inside our growing church family and of those we impact around us. We regularly hear about how God has drawn individuals closer to him, given them faith to believe and changed their lives forever.

The Future

We continue to look for new methods that God is blessing in order to reach people with His life-changing message. In 2007, we secured our Grace North of Halfmoon Campus location in order to launch our first Multi-site Venue.

What does God have for our future? Only He knows! But if we continue to honor Him and "keep the main thing, the main thing," He will continue to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine. To God be the glory!