Grace at NC State
May 13, 2009
It was a risky move, back in 1994, for pastor Berk Wilson to follow God’s leading and re-plant Grace Community Church as a campus church. God had firmly impressed on him the need for college ministry—particularly in the Research Triangle of North Carolina—but as the community church dwindled to a fraction of its size, Berk was questioning his call.
“I wondered whether I made the right decision,” remembers Berk, a GCM missionary of 14 years. “But every time, the Lord would add another soul to our group.” Through one-on-one evangelism and discipleship, Grace at NC State was slowly built. The church has since spun off Grace House Church Network in Raleigh and Pneuma Fellowship at UNC-Wilmington. Now, in addition to serving at Grace, Berk coaches the pastors of these church plants.
One of those pastors, GCM missionary Ed Russ, was influenced by Berk as a student. He now leads Grace House Church Network, a group of simple churches that meet in various homes on Sundays and gather all together once a month. Many international students are being reached, students who “are usually hearing the gospel for the very first time,” says Ed. “It is exciting to see them think through truths they have never heard before. We believe some will return to their home countries as church planters.”
Pneuma Christian Fellowship is a more recent plant by Grace. It is the fruit of multiple summer projects, as college students and campus staff directed their summers toward evangelism in Wilmington, NC. GCM missionaries Brian and Miriam Bridgeman moved to Wilmington in November 2007 to assume leadership of the church. Brian was another student who was directed toward ministry while attending Grace. “Please pray that we will see many students saved and discipled,” he asks, “and pray that God will raise up other pastors to help lead the church here in Wilmington and prepare us to start new churches.”
Grace continues to focus on raising up leaders. GCM missionary Ross Thomas works to disciple high school students, saying, “I’ve seen teens struggle through broken homes, abuse, addiction, and more. I have also seen God reverse this pattern, reviving the next generation. That’s where my passion comes from.”
Please pray that God would raise up more full-time staff at Grace so that it can continue to expand its ministry and plant new churches. “Our vision comes from Acts 17:6, which says, ‘These people have upset the world.’ Wouldn’t it be neat if God did that with the gospel, here in North Carolina?” says Berk.
