Larry and Laura Johnson, members at our Downtown campus, are serving at Myungsung Medical College in Ethiopia. The Johnsons received funding from Grace Church to support their personal ministry through the Missions Grants program. Read below as we were able to talk to Laura and Larry about their journey and work in Ethiopia. To learn more about the Missions Grants program or to apply for support in your personal ministry, please visit www.gracechurchsc.org/missionsgrants.   What brought you to Ethiopia? Larry: Although I did a summer missions project to Central Asia in college, I had litt ..read more

If I’m being honest, the morning of our departure greeted me with feelings of both excitement for what was in store for us but also a sense of uneasiness (and maybe even a little fear).   “I don’t know anything about construction—am I in over my head? We go to the same church, but I don’t even know the other members of the team. How is this all going to work out?” Well, we had a six-and-a-half-hour car ride where I started to find the answers to some of my questions. As it turned out, each of us attended a different Grace campus, but that mattered little as we found that the common ties o ..read more

Dinner time conversations are often lively and humorous in our home, and one of my children recently shared over a meal that he was thankful for two things: love and bacon. We laughed at his candor, and his 7-year-old way of expressing gratitude, but when it was my 8-year-old’s turn to share, her response required no thinking and it wasn’t humorous: “I am thankful that I was adopted, and I am thankful that I have a family.”   Our adoption story was not one of rainbows and butterflies where we just “knew” we were supposed to grow our family this way. We had three (young!) biological childr ..read more

Derek Nelson, a member at our Powdersville campus, serves with his wife, Lauren, and two children in Cape Verde with Global Year. The Nelson family received funding from Grace Church to support their personal ministry through the Missions Grants program. To learn more about the Missions Grants program or to apply for support in your personal ministry, please visit www.gracechurchsc.org/missionsgrants.   Tell us about your background. Lauren and I met in college and celebrated our ten-year anniversary this year. We have two children, Rosie (6) and Violet (3). We have been members at Grace ..read more

What does it mean to live a life that is on mission? For some people, this means going on a mission trip to Allendale over the summer or making the trip across the pond to Kenya.   For others, it means helping out with the Foster and Adopt ministry or contributing to the backpack drive that is put on before school starts. For me, I look to the Great Commission to see what it means to live my life engaged in the world around me. Matthew 28:18-20 says, “Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all th ..read more

There’s been a shift in our society. We have become accustomed to knowledge that is broad but shallow, sharing digital experiences with a wide spectrum of people, celebrating or mourning alongside the many but only for a brief moment.   Like it or not, once an event or photo has left our news feeds, we are quick to forget. Our emotions and actions have become short-sighted. We forget to bring a meal to the newly widowed because we are already focused on the next post. Not only has media impacted our relationships close to home, it has shaped our view of the world and our ability to advoca ..read more

Jump Start, a Grace Church We Choose Partner dedicated to stopping the cycle of recidivism, has started a program of discipleship classes in 16 state prisons. Over the past 10 years, 2,500 incarcerated men and women have completed the program and have returned to our communities. 95% of released participants have been successful, remaining out of incarceration and continuing to break the cycle. Some of those released have transitioned with support from Jump Start, where they are provided with a safe place to live, job placement, transportation, accountability, and are plugged in with a lo ..read more

With it being National Adoption Awareness month, I have the honor of sharing a bit of my story with you. My name is Emmie Fouche, and I was born in Dallas, Georgia.   I was adopted when I was two weeks old and grew up in Madison County, Georgia. To most people on the outside looking in, they see a child that needed a home and a nice couple that decided to take her in; however, in reality, my adoption was not planned. In my family, my three siblings and I are adopted. My family is multiracial and none of us are blood-related. We each have our own unique story on how we got to the same plac ..read more

I started the Camp Staff Experience program last summer expectant. I was confident that the Lord would work in and through each member of the team, and I was excited to return to a place I have grown to love.   Even so, as I sat with the other camp staffers and was asked to describe my current relationship with God, I felt spiritually dry. I was coming off of a grueling semester that wore me down mentally, physically, and spiritually. Honestly, I felt weak and tired, and I think that scared me. I was not naïve in thinking the summer would be easy. I knew it was going to challenge me in wa ..read more

Growing up, God graciously allowed me to be in a family that was whole, loving, and selfless.   I was able to see my parents care for us in ways that sometimes seemed so counterintuitive that I couldn’t help but see God through it. My dad worked hard and led the best he could. Even when he failed, it was accepted and humbly worked through. Personally, I always felt cared for, loved, and safe. However, I know that is not always the case. I know kids live in homes that aren’t safe. I can’t begin to imagine what it would be like to live in a broken home as a little child—innocent and defense ..read more