Reaching our Community
For the past two and a half years, we have had the privilege of operating the Mead Valley Community Center in the nearby Perris area. We have felt God’s calling to continue to bring the Gospel to the city of Perris and surrounding neighborhoods. Over the past year, God has made it clear that a church service needs to be established. The time is now and in 2020 we will launch The Grove Perris campus. Pastor Erick Burgos and Maritza Burgos have agreed to come on staff full-time and pastor this new campus while continuing to lead our Spanish service here in Riverside. Noland Turnage, our Community Minister, will continue to help us reach this community. The Love Offering will provide funds for Pastor Erick coming on board full-time, as well as the purchasing of needed equipment for the new service. We expect to see many people come to Jesus through this campus, which will in turn bring God the glory He deserves.
Our neighbors in Perris continue to be a community the Lord directs us to support and minister to, through various programs and events held at the community centers and other locations.
Grovite, Bob Sicher, has established a new non-profit, Room for Love, that is hiring a passionate individual, for a two-year commitment, with the desire to address and end homelessness here in Riverside. Grovite, Kevin Martis was chosen and these funds will allow him to work directly with the homeless and volunteers who will open their homes to help the transition out of homelessness.
These funds will be used to assist Grove families in navigating through the adoption process, providing prayer and financial assistance.
Each Easter, we desire to provide a powerful sunrise service. Last year, we celebrated with over 1,800 people at this outdoor gathering. Our giving helps provide the additional resources needed for this unique service.
Last year, every dollar given over the $1,000,000 mark was used for debt reduction. One family had generously pledged to match every dollar raised over $1,000,000. For the 2019 calendar year, we will have paid down over $1.2 million in debt principal! Once more, we will use every dollar over $1,000,000 toward debt reduction. The generous family wants to bless The Grove again by matching those funds.
Our church constantly has people on campus; from soccer to services, thousands of people visit every week. As our community grows, more and more people walk the perimeter of our campus. We would like to engage our church by placing signs throughout the walk that remind us to pray. These placards will walk us through different prayers and remind us to pray for our Global Partners and Love Offering initiatives.
The Grove will continue working alongside Rebirth Homes to develop a 24-month program focused on guiding victims of human trafficking through spiritual, physical, emotional and mental healing.
The Grove believes in the uniqueness of each and every church. When a fellow church is struggling we have been called to help. This help comes in different forms: sending teams from worship or other ministry areas, sending pastors to preach, buying supplies or helping with repairs. Join us as we love our neighbors and help churches go from struggling to thriving and become all that God wants them to be.
Serve Week is a week-long volunteer service event with the focus on The Grove’s mission to reach all people. Serve Week will offer Grove attendees the opportunity to share Christ’s love through service projects in the local community and with local organizations.
We love hosting events and inviting people from the community to connect with our church. We offered Movie Nights, Block Parties and Water Mania in 2019. We are always looking for new and innovative ideas to engage our community with the love of Christ. It is our prayer that families will enjoy these free events and accept our invitation to come back and check out our weekend services.
The Grove Vets Hero Banquet is a special evening where we honor a veteran from The Grove who embodies service. This individual is one who edifies what it means to be a Christ-follower; exemplifying service to their country, community, church, and family. This banquet allows us to say thank you to such individuals, while also honoring those who served our country in the military, defending our country for the cause of freedom.
Our food pantry has been in operation for over four years and this ministry is a huge blessing to those who participate. By adding a power lift to our resources we will be able to move pallets of food safely and more efficiently. This will help save us time, allowing us to use our time and direct our attention to those in need.
Our newly launched ministry, The Bridge (grades 5 & 6), will be using the gym for discussion, teaching, and games, but the acoustics are a serious challenge. We want to install acoustical treatments in the gym to make this a much more usable space for The Bridge to do ministry well.
We hope to improve our overall audio experience with acoustical upgrades and treatments, in an effort to enhance the sound in these larger spaces on our campus for The Grove’s ministries and outside events.
Reaching our
World
This groundbreaking opportunity to establish a Community and English Center in northern Vietnam has been years in the making and we are excited to be a part of a strategic method of proclaiming the Good News in this part of Asia. The Good Samaritan ministry has brought many doctors to this region that provided direct patient care to poor and remote areas. It has built an unprecedented trust with the government that has granted the opportunity to build a facility to be used as a community gathering location, a medical clinic, and a coffee house.
Long time Grove Global Partners, the Kallestads, run children’s programs in two locations for hundreds of Ecuadorian children. Together, we have the opportunity to expand this ministry with funds toward the construction of a church building and children’s center in a third location.
The refugee crisis of the last decade has resulted in many unique opportunities to share the Gospel across the globe. In major European cities, immigrant communities have settled together in neighborhoods that are predominantly Muslim, such as Strasbourg, France. Our support would set up a coffee house that would serve as a community center and a place to foster relationships between Christians and non-Christians and is in a strategic location as more refugees come from the Middle East.
Longtime Grovites, C and T, are expanding their ministry. They will be partnering with Mountain Child to oversee training and resourcing of local leaders for church planting in unreached mountainous areas.
We will be going into year two of a three-year partnership with Pastor Patrick Watmon to establish a church in Adjumani, Uganda. These funds help the church find sustainable ways of income for the church and pastor.
For the last few years, The Grove has partnered with Machaca Camp in Punta Gorda, Belize. Several of the camp’s cabins need restoration and renovation. The Men’s HANDS Trek team will work to restore cabin conditions: flooring, walls, bathroom, electrical and roofing.
For years, The Grove has worked to establish ministry through business on the Plateau. This missional business is flourishing and uses agriculture as a platform to place local believers in this region with direct access to the poor and disadvantaged, who are being left behind by modern farming. D and S help farmers grow higher-value crops and get them sold at a good price to help stimulate growth and sustainable living.
David and Taylor are working with Indonesian believers Pak and his family as he plants a church in Java. These funds will help Pak and his family settle in this region and will continue our ongoing support and partnership with David and Taylor.
Funding for this initiative will go directly toward training for Indian pastors who seek to plant churches in unreached parts of the country. In addition, it will also provide sponsorship for children to attend year-round Bible clubs in India. This will give The Grove a chance to partner with different age groups throughout India and build relationships.
Through an unusual partnership, The Grove has an opportunity to send a team of law enforcement personnel to establish an English training program for Middle Eastern police. This is a unique chance to work with the infrastructure of the cities and to foster and build relationships as a way to proclaim the Gospel from the top down in the community of an unreached region.
ELAM’s unique approach has reached hundreds of thousands of those in the Persian region with the Gospel. A portion of the funds will be used to print Bibles for the Persian-speaking world; the rest will support highly strategic training for Persian women. This training will equip the women to create organic relationships at cultural gatherings to work toward the spread of the Gospel.
As our partners, J and H, have seen great success connecting with the creative community in North Africa, the development of a studio production facility will enable them to establish a legitimate business and allow for them to have a private, soundproof meeting space where the Good News can be shared with boldness and without fear.
Beyond monthly support, funds are needed to assist long-time Grovites, Jeff and Yvonne Weinstein, with their transition into full-time ministry work in Uganda. This house will allow Yvonne to host sewing classes and women’s fellowship; Jeff will also be able to have community engagement in a place where they can all gather together.
We continue The Grove’s partnership with Remember Nhu by sponsoring children in two homes in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We hope to increase our monthly support to help cover the cost of additional children and other needs as they arise.
J. V. – J.V. and his team have been welcomed into a remote and lawless community in northern India. This is a unique and strategic opportunity to bring the Good News to that region.
Sarah P. – Sarah is earning a certification as a doula and childbirth educator. She is called to be work with AGWM in Central Eurasia. Her passion is to see disciples made and the church established in the Persian-speaking world.
Jeff & Yvonne Weinstein – These Grovites have a giant heart for Uganda and have spent many years building deep relationships with the Acholi people group, especially elderly women. They will continue to build relationships with our church planting partners.
Be Faithful - Recap Video 2019