Grace Point Church
Grace Point Church is a church in San Antonio, Texas.
Overview
Grace Point Church, in San Antonio, Texas, is one church with two locations: Grace Point Medical Center and Grace Point West. Sunday services at each location include live contemporary worship and preaching, with worship leaders and teaching pastors rotating between the two campuses on varied schedules. Generational ministries (Kids, Students, College, and Adults) and classes are offered at both locations. Grace Point's mission is to lead common people into uncommon life in Jesus. Jeff Harris is Grace Point's Senior Pastor.
Weekend Services
Grace Point Medical Center (9650 Huebner, San Antonio, TX 78240): Sun 10am & 11:30am
Grace Point West (8531 W Loop 1604 N, San Antonio, TX 78254): Sun 9:30am, 11am
About
Grace Point is a Southern Baptist Church and supports the cooperative program but because of her mission, downplays denominational involvement in order to maximize her reach.
Grace Point Church is a missional church and has over 75% of its membership serving on a weekly basis according to their spiritual gifts. Grace Point also sends over 200 of her members on global missions annually. Grace Point consistently baptizes over 100 people each year and her innovative practices have been noted in several books: Shaped by God’s Heart by Milfred Minatrea, Spiritual CPR by Todd Phillips, and Building Leaders by Aubrey Malphurs and Will Mancini. In 2005 Grace Point undertook a bold vision to plant 100 churches in a 10-year period. This missional church movement seeks to partner and plant reproducing churches. Grace Point Church also hosts the Willow Creek Leadership Summit led by Bill Hybels and continues to influence San Antonio and the world.
History
Grace Point Church, formerly known as Castle Hills Church Northwest, was started as a satellite campus of Castle Hills First Baptist Church in San Antonio, Texas, in November 1992.
After months of negotiations with the Resolution Trust Corporation, an agreement was reached to purchase an abandoned 45,000-square-foot (4,200 m2) church facility, complete with education classrooms and situated on nearly 25 acres (100,000 m2). One hundred families from the main campus were asked to make a one-year commitment to begin the satellite campus.
Since November 1992, Grace Point Church has experienced steady growth and significant influence in the city of San Antonio. Dr. George Harris, Sr. Pastor of Castle Hills First Baptist Church from 1975 to 2003, passed the Castle Hills Church Northwest leadership mantle to his son Jeff Harris() in November 1994. Jeff continues to lead this congregation today, setting a clear vision. In February 1998, Castle Hills First Baptist Church initiated the constitution process for Castle Hills Church Northwest to become an autonomous church. The process received overwhelming approval.
Under Pastor Jeff’s leadership Castle Hills Church Northwest voted in early 2002 to change the church name to Grace Point Church in order to better reflect her identity and the purpose of her existence: To lead common people to uncommon life in Jesus Christ. In March 2002, Grace Point Church dedicated the addition of a 22,000-square-foot (2,000 m2) educational facility.
In August 2014, Grace Point opened a second location on San Antonio's far west side, near 1604 W and Shaenfield Rd. Sunday services at Grace Point West include live worship music and preaching, with Grace Point's worship and teaching pastors rotating between its locations each week.
On Father’s Day, 2016, GPC main campus experienced a devastating fire that destroyed the interior of the structure. The fire was ruled accidental by fire officials in the San Antonio Fire Department. The fire starting in an air conditioning unit on the roof of the building and made its way into the sanctuary. Although the main body of fire was relatively small, the resulting smoke and heat caused the majority of the damage. Dozens of units from the San Antonio Fire Department answered the call to service to extinguish the fire. Services were immediately moved to the Student Building adjacent to the main campus as rebuilding began. An newly redesigned main campus reopened in the fall of 2017.
Children's Ministry
Grace Point’s Children’s Ministry is well known for its Rotation Model Sunday School for 1st-5th Grades. This Workshop Rotation Model, called Crosswalk for Kids, allows children to learn and retain Biblical concepts through a variety of learning styles by rotating through various experience stations over a five-week period. The Biblical concept and story are the same for five weeks, but taught in different, relevant and exciting ways by teachers gifted and passionate about their particular workshop. The non-traditional classrooms include a Movie Theater, Computer Lab, and Kitchen, along with other classroom environments that allow the children to learn through video, computers, cooking, nature, drama, dance, puppets, music, art, and games.
Notable Guests
Grace Point has had many notable guests such as Kirk Whalum, Mike Huckabee, David Robinson, Alvin Gentry, Josh Davis, and 2000 Olympic diving gold medalist Laura Wilkinson.