As we seek to faithfully live out our 20/20 vision as a church, it is inevitable that changes were going to take place: if nothing changes, nothing changes! Not only is it impossible for individuals to grow and mature without change, so also it is impossible for churches and families to grow and mature without change. No change = no growth. The last couple of weeks we have announced some major things in our worship services and in our Elder Update Meeting. Below is a summary of five major changes that will be rolling out within the next six months. 

1. New Staff Position: Full-Time Worship Pastor

For the last year, Montana and Seth have been leading the music in our morning and evening services, respectively, each doing so part-time. The leadership has felt the need to transition to one, full-time position in a way that will give us the freedom to move our music ministries forward in significant ways. We have hired the Vanderbloemen Search Group to assist us with this search. Hiring positions like this usually take 6-9 months, which leaves a window between August and November for this position to be filled. An additional factor here is that Montana’s last day as our Worship Pastor will be June 26th, so for an interim period Seth will be leading the music in the morning service. You can read more about the position and send applicants here.

2. New Staff Position: College and Young Adult Director

We must hire a full-time college and young adults director because part of our 20/20 vision is engaging the next generation. We are less than two miles away from the largest university in the country, and Tempe’s largest age demographic is those aged 20-24 (not including ASU!). The job of the College and Young Adult Director will be to ensure that all five parts of Grace’s Mission are being fulfilled in the lives of those aged 18-35ish at Grace Community Church. Submit resumes to or to the Connection Center. View the position description here.

3. New Service Times: 8am & 11am

For some time now, we have been aware of the need to add a worship service with a more traditional and blended style of music because we thoroughly believe that every generation matters. Starting August 14th, we will be changing our service times from 10:30am and 5:30pm to 8:00am and 11am. The 8:00am service will reflect a more blended musical style and the 11:00am service will be more musically progressive. These times will enable us to have a shared Sunday Class hour, which will be 9:30am-10:30am.

These future time changes, combined with the timing of the worship pastor transition, the hiring of a new college and young adult director, and general logistical stewardship have led to our leadership deciding that the last day of Evening Service will be June 5th. The Evening Service was started to reach the unreached and engage the next generation, and now that our whole church is seeking to walk after that vision, we believe that that our two morning services will be fulfilling that need.

The details for the service transitions are not fully worked out, but they will be in the next twelve weeks. If you want to get involved and contribute to making our two morning services launch successfully, one key place we know we will need more volunteers is in our Children’s ministry. To serve in Children’s, contact: .

4. New Staff Position: Guest Services Director

Dustin Combs has been giving leadership to our Guest Services department since July of 2015. However, Dustin and his family are aiming to move to Slovakia this July as Global Outreach workers. In replacing Dustin, we are seeking to hire someone who will oversee our church-wide volunteer mobilization, new member assimilation, and our Sunday morning guest experience. This is a full-time, benefited position. This person needs to be a highly relational, visionary leader who can work with Grace’s current staff to build teams and systems to support Grace’s vision and mission. Submit resumes to or to the Connection Center. View the position description here. 

5. New School Name: Grace Christian Academy 

Our school is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year! We have had the blessing of having Kelvin Inouye as our Administrator since the Fall of 2015. Part of our strategy to continue to move our school forward was a comprehensive rebranding which included a name change from Grace Community Christian School to Grace Christian Academy. To learn more about the name change and future plans for the school, read a letter from our Elder Chairman here. With questions about these changes or information about admissions, contact .

In all of this, we as a leadership are doing the best we can to listen to God. Please continue to pray for the Elders, the Leadership Team, and our church as a whole. This is his church, his bride, and he is building it--we are servants in His house. "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand" (Proverbs 19:21 ESV).