1st Permanent Home, Virginia

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“We should have been called the First Nomadic Church of Lynchburg,” quips Dan Portnoy, Church Staff member in charge of LiFE Groups at Grace Church in Lynchburg, VA.

In 1988, 3 couples began meeting together to worship God and learn more about being students of Jesus Christ.  Now in 2007, there are more than 600 people that gather at Grace Church for that same purpose.  In 18 years, this congregation has met in a variety of locations including 7 or 8 rented facilities.  The process of getting to their first permanent facility is one that shows God’s timing, provision and the wisdom of waiting for Him.

Several years ago, Grace Church purchased a piece of land with the intent to build in the relatively near future.  The land was adjoining another church in the community.  Prior to making the purchase, the leadership of Grace contacted the neighboring church to see if they were interested in purchasing the land.  They were not.  Shortly after the purchase was closed, the neighboring church changed their minds.  They now wanted the space to accommodate their newly expanding congregation.  Unfortunately, land prices were escalating and Grace couldn’t afford to buy other land, so they planned to keep the land. 

Prior to purchasing this parcel of land, Grace had looked at other options, including an 86,000 square foot warehouse that was vacant and for sale.  The warehouse was priced well beyond what they could afford as a congregation.  Overtime, the price of the warehouse fell nearly 45%!  Understandably, the leadership decided unanimously to change directions, selling the land and purchasing the warehouse. 

As Dan says “So many people won!  The neighboring church purchased our land, a new church moved into the former location we had been renting and we owned the warehouse.”

Making the warehouse a church and moving into the permanent facility have truly been fun and exciting times for Grace Church.  Just visit their website to see additional photos and the excitement on the faces of a congregation that has seen God lead.  www.graceefc.net

A project like this has players that are less prominent.  Along with the many volunteers and staff from the congregation, Ministry Campaign Services consulted on the capital raising campaign, CIF investors invested to enable CIF to make the loan to purchase and remodel the facility and make completion of the project possible. 

It takes a great God to make all this come together.  In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about how we all have different gifts and we all need to exercise our gifts for the benefit of each other and the body of Christ.  Though these are not necessarily the specific gifts listed in Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church, they are gifts that have been given to His church nonetheless.

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