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May 01

Grace Fellowship Breaks New Ground

Linda Freeman

Participating in the groundbreaking ceremony were Winton Forde Sr. (left), local elder; Wayne Thompson, local elder and construction coordinator; Tamara Libonati, associate director for early childhood education at the Southern Union; Martin Fancher, Gulf States executive secretary; Stan Hobbs, Gulf State vice president for education; Thom Lopez, local elder; Jaime Pombo, pastor; and 
Shushannah Smith, school board chair.

 

Artist’s proposed rendition of the new Grace Fellowship facility

 

Community leaders and church members of the Grace Fellowship Church came together Friday, March 16, 2018, in Madison, Ala., to break ground on their new church expansion project. About 50 believers began meeting in March 2003, renting space from a local Presbyterian church to hold Sabbath services. In nearly a year’s time, they transitioned to official church status, and they felt that God was leading them to move to a different facility. Three years later, with much prayer, they began the process of purchasing a property of their own.

They found a piece of property that included a house with six acres of land. However, the house needed remodeling to serve as a church. The group was nervous about taking on the responsibility of a mortgage, renovating the house, and maintaining the rental fee of the Presbyterian church, but God made it clear this was the place for them. God provided for them right when they needed it, and they completed the house renovations in about six months. With the remodel complete, and the rental fee out of the way, all that remained was the $300K mortgage. God stepped in again, and the loan was paid in full in about 18 months. Through God’s grace and the stewardship of the members, Grace Fellowship was able to acquire additional property without the need for loans, purchasing the property in lump sums. The church intends to use the combined property to build a new facility that will not only provide a more spacious place for worship, but also support the launch of a church school, Grace Preparatory Academy. The school will start with two early childhood education classrooms for 3- and 4-year-olds, and will expand to include kindergarten and higher grades in the future.

Jaime Pombo, pastor of Grace Fellowship, made it clear in his remarks at the groundbreaking ceremony that, “We have never wanted to acquire property simply to give us a bigger plot of land to occupy. Grace Fellowship has a set of values and goals that we have collectively embraced, and at the heart of all those values and goals is the desire to serve our community. As Peter says, ‘Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.’ We are not building to provide a bigger, more comfortable place for us to sit during church. We want to make a difference by serving our community.”

Pombo and other church leaders maintain that the development of Grace Fellowship is purely God’s doing, He is the one who has provided every resource the church has needed from the very beginning, and He is the One who will continue to provide as the members place faith in Him.

Gulf States | May 2018

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