The Grace Place

I wont be coming to church anymore, Dr. Hyveth Williams, Professor of Homiletics, Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, declared to her pastor, Dr. Throstur Thordarson. She continued, I feel the Lord has called me to do more than just sit in a church. I have been praying about this with one of my students, Heber Aviles, and I have decided to... go to a section of Chicago and start knocking on doors. If you dont see me in church it will be because I am out knocking on doors, praying with people and seeing if I can find some who will study the Bible. Pastor Throstur calmly responded, Lets pray about this. When they finished praying, he said, There is a little company I have in South Bend. They are not growing and Im thinking of disbanding them, but they meet in this beautiful church. Why dont you go and look at it before you go to Chicago? Just see what can come of it. The next Sabbath Hyveth looked at the church I was just overwhelmed by the facilities, the location and everything. It was just as if God was saying, This is where I want you to minister. Immediately, Hyveth contacted her friend, Heber, a Seminarian, and they both prayed about the possibilities. They invited a few other individuals to join them and the group grew eventually to twelve. They prayed and fasted together for a whole month asking the Lord to reveal His will. The impression on all involved was that God wanted them to do something in South Bend, Indiana. They were further affirmed in their goal and zeal and became charter members and The Executive Team of The Grace Place, as the church plant has been named. They felt the Lord leading them to do a church plant with a community focus rather than simply another worship program for disgruntled or disenfranchised Adventists. The thought was that if the community could be made healthy spiritually, physically and mentally, the church would grow and make a difference through innovative, creative simple acts of kindness evangelism. The plant was adopted by the South Bend First Seventh-day ...Read More