2024 Year END Report

This year has been a challenging yet defining season for the Grace Family of Churches, underscoring the vital importance of donor support in sustaining our shared mission. As we look ahead, we are filled with hope and anticipation for what God will do through this movement.

With nine organizations pursuing God’s heart for the world, we remain steadfast in our commitment to our core pillars: raising up the next generation of leaders, planting healthy, reproducing churches, and catalyzing Jesus movements in the Muslim world.

The Grace Family exists to strengthen and support the unique vision and mission of each local church, while fostering connection, providing covering, and multiplying our collective impact. We want to thank each of you for your continued prayer and support and are excited to share some stories of breakthrough from the past year.

Our financial goal this year is to raise $150K.

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3 Pillars Updates

Pillar 1: Next Generation Leaders

This year, we proudly celebrate the start of the seventh year of our Residency program and a remarkable milestone—in August we accepted our 101st Resident into the program!

The Rooted Renegade Residency remains steadfast in its mission to go beyond practical ministry training by prioritizing spiritual formation, personal growth, and leadership development. Through this holistic approach, our participants take meaningful steps toward discovering their unique Kingdom calling and gifting.

We are deeply honored to witness the incredible impact our alumni are making in their churches and communities. Join us in celebrating this significant achievement and the lasting difference it continues to make in shaping future ministry leaders.

Pillar 2: Planting Churches

Grace Lake

The Groomes landed in Eatonton, Georgia in late July and have settled in and hit the ground running. God has already made it clear that the harvest is ripe in this beautiful lake country area of Georgia. Eatonton is a city with a lot of potential and God seems to be opening doors with partners in the city who dream for more. Eight local businesses are partnering with us in relief efforts for local families in need. Our first joint effort was a coat drive for struggling single parents and the generosity has been overwhelming. In addition to this, God has opened a door for cross cultural partnership with a local African American church. These partnerships build relationships, deepen curiosity, and broaden our contact base for our August 2025 launch.

Pillar 3: Jesus Movements in the Muslim World

Engaging Worlds

This year, the Suhba (Muslim Community Group) movement has seen remarkable growth, with over 500 Muslims in the Philippines actively engaging with Scripture. Through these groups, participants are exploring stories of Jesus, Joseph, Jonah, and more in their own language, creating opportunities to hear from Jesus and follow His teachings. These connections are transforming lives and fostering vibrant discussions about faith and spirituality.

Middle East Young Life

It has been a year of unimaginable "war and rumors of war" (Mth. 24:6) in the Middle East region. The violence, particularly in the Holy Land, caused the Grace Family to suspend the regular adult and student EPIC pilgrimage and discipleship experiences and re-evaluate how best to respond to the needs of our partners in the region. Amidst a sharp decline in the already critically low numbers of Christians in Israel and Palestine in particular, we undertook to focus on caring for our brothers and sisters in Young Life Middle East who are salt and light to their communities under incredibly challenging circumstances. The Grace Family mobilized in extraordinary prayer and giving to facilitate the needed relational and practical care during this season of unusual trauma and suffering, but also incredible openness to the gospel.

In coordination with the regional leadership of Young Life Middle East, a Grace team of fifteen pastors and discipleship leaders from four Grace campuses went to Jordan in April as a support team for a week-long training and retreat for over sixty Young Life staff and volunteers from Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Kurdistan. Then in October, two of our lead pastors, supported by the generosity of multiple Grace campuses, hosted a retreat for nearly seventy Palestinian Young Life staff and volunteers in Bethlehem, focusing on identity and trauma healing and care. As a result of these gatherings, the Grace Family has deepened its relational connection with Young Life in the Middle East and increased financial support for individual staff across several countries and for specific needs such as these retreats. As the ministry of Young Life continues expanding in the region, the Grace Family will be poised to continue partnering relationally and financially to see the Kingdom advance in the Middle East.

Local Church Updates

Grace Athens

This year we sent out one of our strongest college graduating classes with fifty students ready to take on the world. We also had our first ever Kids Night with elementary students from across the community coming together. Lastly, our people gave generously to translate the Bible into the native language of an unreached people group across the globe.

Grace Capital City

At Grace Capital City we’ve seen incredible fruit in a few key areas. Our college ministry continues to reach students from Georgetown, George Washington, Howard and American Universities. Twice a month, following service on a Sunday all our students are fed a home cooked dinner by one of our GCC House Church communities. Not only are our students able to leave church with their stomachs full, but they’re also getting more integrated into the church community and building connections across generations. Earlier this year we were able to baptize several of our key college students, many of whom confessed faith in Jesus for the first time! Praise God!

Grace Lanier

Our children’s ministry continues to grow and thrive! We’ve expanded from meeting in one room to utilizing four rooms, supported by 12+ incredible volunteers. With over 45 kids impacted by this ministry, we’re also seeing their families transformed, as parents are now stepping up to serve in the kids’ ministry themselves. Several of the kids and their parents have also been baptized this year, marking a powerful testament to how God is moving through this ministry!

Local Church

Local church multiplied to 5 micro churches this year, led by 9 micro church pastors, and we raised up 10 new micro church co-pastors. We had seven new families jump in our micro churches. One of those families got to experience a micro church for the first time (simple, slow, and sustainable rhythms of praying, listening, eating, serving, Sabbathing, and sharing scripture), after which a 7-year-old boy asked his mom, "Please, can this be our church?"

Grace Marietta

There’s a lot to celebrate at Grace Marietta this year, beginning with the hiring of a new lead pastor and his family, Benton Cranford who started in August.

We have had a number of stories celebrating healings that are physical, mental, and spiritual, and we celebrated 25 baptisms.

We have also been blessed to see continual commitment and steady growth in our Student Ministries. For one, we have just launched a College and Career Ministry with the intentions of discipling those in our local area colleges such as KSU, Life University, etc. We celebrated nine baptisms. One of our high school students began a House Church with an average of 15 students showing up every month. We have very successful D-Groups meeting weekly at the church averaging 25-30 students. We have hired two new leaders to meet the need of the growing ministry. And we have about 15-20 high school students serving as leaders each week at our Midweek program, ranging from greeting to fully leading discipleship groups with Middle School students.

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Grace Midtown

In 2024 at Grace Midtown, we ran our second year of Vocare, a vocation discovery journey, completed our first year of Men’s ministry, saw Candid, our women’s ministry grow and thrive, and launched two new ministries, MDWK and TABLE. In addition to that we are set to do our first ever Church Camp in the spring of 2025!

Grace Monroe

For Grace Monroe, 2024 began on FIRE... quite literally, as we dealt with an accidental blaze during our 24/7 Watch Week prayer that moved us out of our auditorium for the first several months of the year. However, that unplanned shift forced us to slow down, simplify, and re-orient back to our heart of being present - with God, with one another, and in the community. And despite the upheaval we watched ministry flourish with new families, fresh faith, and greater impact on mission.

We celebrated 26 baptisms this year of people expressing new faith in Christ. Our student ministry grew from 25 to 40 students being regularly discipled as our core students made a shift to becoming disciples who make disciples, and are empowered to be ministry leaders and missionaries on their campuses. In addition, in the past year Grace Monroe families have adopted 10 children - 8 through fostering and 2 internationally, and 3 new foster families have started receiving children into their home, all of which is supported by our newly formed Village ministry.

Will you consider giving to our $150k goal?

Your meaningful contribution will continue to help see more next generation leaders be developed,
more churches planted and more Jesus movements in the Muslim world.