Enjoy this visual history of Grace Church of Alexandria that was shown during the celebration service last Sunday. You can also read about our church’s story here.

The Story of Grace Church of Alexandria

I’m amazed how much Heritage Bible Church continually invests in us as a daughter church. You’d think after four years of faithfully getting behind our efforts of establishing a local church that Heritage would concentrate their work elsewhere. Yet this is the 3rd visit by their officers this year to shore up our leadership and help us wisely lead the church. Heritage has continually supported us with finances, by sending new team members to Alexandria every year since 2005, and by listening and advising all along the way.

Aspiring church planters, one the most important ingredients for a thriving church plant is a sending church that is thoroughly committed to preparing, equipping, and encouraging your church plant from start to finish. We have been blessed with the best sending church I can imagine. Paul’s expression of thanks in Philippians 1:3–5 is an appropriate expression of thanks from Grace Church to Heritage:

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

Here’s my blog post about the 2nd visit from Heritage leaders to our church in June 2011.

Started in 2009, Redeemer is one of the newest church planted by Heritage Bible Church, the same ministry that helped our local church get its start. Our friends Todd and Carissa Davis, accompanied by a team of believers, established Redeemer in the greater Denver area to offer hope in the Lord Jesus Christ and bring glory to him. In July Redeemer celebrated their charter service and affirmed three believers as their elders.

ordination of Redeemer Bible Church’s elders, July 2011

Learn more about Redeemer and how to pray for their local church:

• Twitter: @RedeemerCO
• Web site: www.redeemercolorado.com
• Church Planting Blog: brightonchurchplant.wordpress.com

The value of our partnership with Heritage was evident as a team of seven pastors and deacons from Heritage spent April 1-3, 2011 with Grace Church’s elders and deacons, strategizing prayerfully about our opportunities and challenges as as thriving new church. The team from Heritage provided sound, practical advice in areas including discipleship, church finances, problem-solving, real estate for churches, and biblical parenting. Here are some images from our brainstorming and discussion sessions:

We want to express our everlasting thanks to the congregation and leadership of Heritage Bible Church for praying for and supporting our church plant every step of the way. We are grateful to be part of the grace-based family of nine churches that Heritage has planted across the country. Thank you, Heritage, for teaching us to value the utmost importance of the gospel, the power of God’s grace, and the marks of a healthy church!

Williamsburg Church is a sister church of ours, with both churches planted and sponsored by Heritage Bible Church. Rob Elkin leads this church family where God’s grace is active in transforming believers and drawing non-Christians to the glory of Christ in the artistic Williamsburg neighborhood.

Rob and Sarah Elkin (image from www.williamsburgchurch.com)

Rob is one of my favorite speakers to hear; you can catch his sermons on iTunes. Our church has learned a lot from this church plant, as they are innovative yet grounded in spreading word about Christ and his church to their community. If you’re ever in New York, take time to worship with them on Sundays at 5 pm or commend this church family to your friends living in the city. Follow them via Twitter @billburgchurch and on Facebook here.

]]> http://www.graceofalexandria.org/blog/2011/04/20/spotlight-on-church-plants-williamsburg-church-brooklyn-ny/feed/ 0 http://www.graceofalexandria.org/blog/2011/04/12/spotlight-on-church-plants-trinity-church-smyrna-de/ http://www.graceofalexandria.org/blog/2011/04/12/spotlight-on-church-plants-trinity-church-smyrna-de/#comments Tue, 12 Apr 2011 12:49:21 +0000 Jonathan Matías http://www.graceofalexandria.org/blog/?p=585 Trinity Church in Smyrna, Delaware is the second new church we’d like to highlight in our series on likeminded gospel centered church plants.

Our friends Mike Osborne and Dan Lerro are pastoring this dynamic, thriving church that is twenty minutes south Dover. God has granted this church body open doors to reach their community with the gospel, especially through a ministry of a chapel service and pre-game meals to sports teams from their local high school.

Passion and fire for God are contagious at this church family! Attenders receive a thorough grounding in God’s Word and what it means to live as a Christian. And two weeks ago, on March 26 and 27, 2011, Trinity hosted a weekend celebrating recognizing God’s provision of leadership, funds, and resources for them to be a fully established, self-supporting church, after their founding four years ago! An elder from our church, Garrett Lee, and his family represented our church at this joyous weekend event.

Mike Osborne and Dan Lerro, pastors of Trinity Church

Our own church, Grace Church of Alexandria, a church plant in Alexandria, Virginia, was delighted to have Mike Osborne from Trinity preach at our church on “What Does It Mean To Be A Christian?” Do you know someone in the Dover, Delaware area? Let them know about Trinity Church via their web site, twitter account @TrinitySmyrna, and Facebook page.

Photo credits: @garrett_lee

We’ll begin with Crosspoint in Phoenix, Arizona, pastored by our friend Robbie Glazner.

This church family draws attenders from Anthem down through North Phoenix. This last Sunday, March 27, 2011, was Crosspoint’s launch service when they began meeting publicly and inviting the community to join in. A family from our sponsoring church, Heritage Bible Church, has also relocated to Phoenix to lend a hand to this God-centered ministry. We pray often as a congregation for Christ to build his church through this body of dedicated, faithful worshipers in Arizona.

Want to learn more or recommend a friend to visit? Check out their web site, follow them on Twitter @CrosspointPHX, or contact Crosspoint via email here.

]]> http://www.graceofalexandria.org/blog/2011/03/31/spotlight-on-church-plants-crosspoint-in-phoenix-az/feed/ 0 http://www.graceofalexandria.org/blog/2010/08/21/hot-tub-baptisms/ http://www.graceofalexandria.org/blog/2010/08/21/hot-tub-baptisms/#comments Sat, 21 Aug 2010 13:50:02 +0000 Jonathan Matías http://www.graceofalexandria.org/blog/?p=464 A few Sundays ago, two attendees of Grace Church were baptized to picture how Christ has gloriously saved them. Since we’re a church plant that meets in a public school building, we met at a church’s family’s home and conducted the baptisms in their hot tub. On this day, the two who were baptized, along with five others, became members of our church. Praise to the LORD for rescuing sinners and adding them to his family through Christ!

Find Housing

• Roommate Connection – the best place to find a Christian housemate in the D.C. area, a forum run by McLean Bible Church.

Coffee Shops

• Indie Coffee Houses – Northern Virginia Magazine’s guide to coffee shops. An indispensable tool for a church planting team member.
• Starbucks – For you Starbucks lovers out there, I’ve got good news! There are more Starbucks cafes per capital in the Washington D.C. Metro region than anywhere else in the country. 1.81 Starbucks for every 10,000 people. Here’s where to find them.

Traffic & Travel

• Trafficland.com – View real time traffic cameras before you hit the road for work or play.
• Google Maps – Click on “Traffic” to see the color coded status of the roads you want to travel on. Or search for bus, or bicycle-friendly, or walkable routes.
• Get There Blog – The Washington Post’s Dr. Gridlock & their Transportation Team help you plan on how to get around with so many special events, construction, and traffic incidents in the area.

Cost of Living

• CNN Calculator – Calculate how much utilities, housing, food, childcare, and other expenses cost compared to where you are moving from. An important tool to consult as you prepare to move here.

D.C. Metro Area Alerts & News

• Alexandria City e-News – Alexandria city emails me updates regarding life in the city and how it may affect my day. I highly recommend this e-newsletter.
• Capital Alerts – Want to hear about travel disruptions, weather alerts, and school closings? This email list is the place for D.C. Metro wide announcements.
• Capital Weather Gang – Keep apprised of how weather will affect your commute or recreation travel plans. I follow this blog via twitter as well at @capitalweather

Jobs, Home, & Items To Purchase

• Craig’s List – My wife Christy found both jobs she held in the D.C. area on Craig’s List. In addition, our church families buy all sorts of used items, especially furniture, via this site.
• Google Real Estate Map – See homes for sale where you want to move.

Virginia License, Registration, Voting

• VA DMV – This is an indispensable site for you if you’re relocating to Northern Virginia. You’ll find DMV locations, forms, and explanations for transferring your driver’s license, car registration, and even voting in Virginia.

Grace Church’s Community

• CameronStationBlog.com – This blog shares about community events and news for Cameron Station, the planned community in which Grace Church of Alexandria meets for worship at the local public school.

If you’d like to share a resource that I haven’t mentioned here, please add your ideas via the comments section at the bottom.

Pictures From the Church Planting Conference ’10

Here our elders and deacons and their wives are show in a Q&A about church planting:

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Sermons From the Church Planting Conference ’10

Heritage invited the lead pastors of their five current church plants to present a vision & method for planting churches in a series of five sermons. Here they are: