Church Planting on Easter

On Easter, the church I pastor, Grace Point Fellowship, Franklin, planted its second campus, Grace Point Hunter.

The new campus is led by Teaching Pastor and Church Planter Devin Delgrosso and is located in the Hunter/Middletown area. Two hundred eighty-five people attended the Grand Opening service.

The umbrella of Grace Point Fellowship now includes Grace Point Franklin, Grace Point Hunter, and Grace Point Espanol. It also includes Grace Point Preschool, which launched last fall, and the Grace Point Network of churches, which is a localized avenue for partnership and support for new churches in the Cincinnati/Dayton area.
 
Grace Point itself was planted less than ten years ago and was started in my home. My wife Heather serves as Women’s and Worship Minister for Grace Point, and she just received her Master’s Degree from Gateway Seminary in Ontario, CA.

On Easter Sunday, five people made professions of faith at Grace Point – two at the new Hunter campus, and three at the Franklin campus. We also got to baptize at the Franklin campus on Easter as well as the week after.
 
Our campuses used a staggered worship schedule with the Franklin campus holding services at 9 am and 11 and the Hunter campus and Grace Point Espanol worshipping at 10 am.

Instead of one large Easter Egg Hunt, Grace Point decided to do 3 smaller Easter Egg Hunts right after each service, offering fellowship (and of course candy!) for families and kids who came for worship.

Our Hispanic congregation is led by Pastor Adrian Cespedes who immigrated to the United States from Bolivia, got his degree from the Rio Grande Bible College in Texas, and served in residency at Lakota Hills Church before coming to Grace Point.
 
Grace Point is so grateful to Lakota Hills Church for helping us start ESL classes. We now partner with a bakery, a Mexican restaurant as well as others to teach their employees English, and we have people coming to church not only from Central and South America, but from Tanzania, China, Angola, India, and Bangladesh.

The other day I was walking through our building and there was a group of people meeting for ESL classes which include care, prayer and Bible study in addition to teaching English.

In that group alone, we had people from six different countries. One lady who recently gave her life to Jesus through our church was from the city in China where I went on a mission trip over 20 years ago. She was part of the unreached all over the world, and now she is sitting on a couch in our church learning English! God is bringing the nations to us right here in Franklin and Middletown.

Please pray for Grace Point as we continue to reach the lost, raise leaders, and start new “Grace Points” that God would receive the glory, and He would allow us to care for people well through our church and our new campus.