Why Grace
Family
The Grace Journey organization is a diverse group of Christians consisting of a wide range of races, ages, geographical locations, backgrounds and cultures united by the common belief in Jesus Christ.
Active Faith
Our desire is to provide the inspiration and motivation for people of all faiths to accept the Lord as their Savior and commit to an active spiritual life of Christian faith following their retreat experience.
GRACE Journey Mission Statement
We believe the Holy Bible, both Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired Word of God, without error; the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of man, and the Divine and final authority for all Christian faith and life.
We believe in one infinite, true God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We believe Jesus Christ is true God and true man, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. Having lived without sin, He truly died and was resurrected in His own body for our atonement and resurrection.
We believe that only through His death, by the shedding of His blood and His resurrection, are we provided justification and salvation.
We believe in the bodily resurrection of all mankind: for the believer, to an everlasting dwelling with God; for the unbeliever, to an everlasting, conscious hell without God.
We believe that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, to convict men of sin, to regenerate the believing sinner, to indwell, guide, instruct, and empower the believer for godly living and service.
We believe in the imminent, bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There are many other precious truths taught in the Bible over which godly men have differed in understanding. Therefore, this is not a statement of all that is important to believe, but lists the essential foundation of Christian fellowship and unity. (Romans 15:5-7)
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. ( Ephesians 2:8-10)
History of GRACE
The GRACE Journey came to birth from the ACTS movement through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the protestant churches of Victoria, Texas. The GRACE Journey started in 2011 and held the first men’s retreat at First Baptist Church in Victoria, Texas.
Four men who had attended ACTS retreats, Sean Brooks and David Shelley of First Baptist of Victoria, Texas, Bruce Thurlkill of Rocky Creek Baptist in Mission Valley, Texas and David Williams of Parkway Baptist Church of Victoria, Texas started meeting in early 2010 to discuss and put a plan together for the Grace Journey. These four men make up the GRACE Missions Team. They started meeting at least once a week for about a year planning and discussing how to accomplish this without infringing on ACTS. To insure this, they contacted a few men from the ACTS community to be consultants.
With the help of the ACTS consultants, the development of the GRACE Journey weekend began. The weekend was modeled after ACTS but the Missions Team made some significant changes to make it fit a non-denominational culture. During this time, the agenda was developed for the retreat weekend. The GRACE Movement shall always be grateful to the ACTS retreat for its beginnings and its foundation.
\The committee had met for weeks while forming the retreat program and discussed choosing a name for the retreat. At one of the meetings, Bruce Thurlkill read a bible verse out loud that basically said that we will only accomplish this by the Grace of God. The word “GRACE” seemed to stand out and everyone agreed to call the retreat “GRACE”. Eph. 2:8: “For by Grace are ye saved through faith and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God”. Nearly all who experienced a Grace Journey retreat feel truly blessed by God through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The acronym of GRACE came to mean:
G – God’s Grace
R – Relationship
A – Accountability
C – Community
E – Eternal Life
The GRACE Journey has gradually become a Church weekend retreat patterned after the description of the early church in the acts of the Apostles (ACTS 2:42-47); breaking bread together, worshipping together, receiving instruction together, sharing in common, and reaching out in loving service. No two GRACE Journeys are exactly alike. There are certain events that are required, but each retreat is unique because of the individuality of each team.
After the weekend, participants are encouraged to reach out to church activities. GRACE does not want to be thought of as a “group” or “brotherhood”, etc…,but as Christians that have been on a special retreat and now have a greater interest in church ministry involvement.
GRACE Missions was founded in 2010 to take the GRACE Journey to new churches in the Victoria area, with a vision to expand as God directs. Many other men and women have added much and continue to add to the GRACE Journey through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.