March 29, 2011 by
Sarah Lewis
Categories: Church planting
Next month, Eric Holter is planting Redeeming Grace Church in Durham, North Carolina. The church holds their first meeting on April 3.
Eric graduated from our Pastors College in 2010 and has been involved in ministry for a total of 15 years. In part 1 of our interview, he talks about next steps for the church plant and the generosity of their sending church, Sovereign Grace Church (Apex, NC).
Check back tomorrow for part 2, where Eric explains how God used his entrepreneurial background to prepare him to plant a church.
(Photo: Eric and Rebecca Holter with their seven children)
First, the basics: where and when will the church plant begin?
Redeeming Grace Church will be in Durham. Our first meeting is April 3 at Rogers-Herr Middle School. It’s really a neat location. We’re within range of Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Durham, and some areas that are growing northwest of Durham. We’re also within range of Duke, UNC and NC State.
Redeeming Grace is being planted out of Sovereign Grace Church (Apex, NC). What does that involve for the Apex church?
In 2008, when I first started talking to my pastors at Sovereign Grace Church about planting a church, I didn’t have a sense for where it would be. I just wanted to plant a church.
Phil Sasser [senior pastor at Sovereign Grace Church] was the first one to mention Durham, which is 30 to 45 minutes away from Apex. There are several families in Durham who were attending the Apex church. I had been leading a small group in Durham, and when we talked with them about a church plant, they were thrilled. I can see now that God was establishing the seed for a church plant before I even started thinking about it.
Since then that small group has multiplied into three, so now there are a little more than 90 people from Sovereign Grace Church who will be part of the church plant.
Having almost 100 people (42 adults) to start is a huge blessing. We will probably be close to self-sustaining from day one. And the fact that Sovereign Grace Church in Apex is giving us all these people, and all that’s represented in that—the spiritual gifts, leadership gifts, worship team gifts, small-group leaders, financial blessing—it’s huge. It amounts to about 20% of the sending church. Sovereign Grace Church is pouring themselves out to plant this new church. To me, when I think about where the greatest display of faith to plant this church is, it’s the people at Apex. They are the heroes of this church plant.
What are your plans for outreach as the church begins?
A bunch of guys on the church-planting team have joined the local dart league, and we go out on Tuesday nights and get to know other folks in the league. That’s one way we can build relationships.
We also happen to have a lot of doctors, nurses, and hospital staff on our team. We think God may be leading us to reach out at Duke Hospital. We’re brainstorming, thinking about Bible studies and how to serve and pray for folks in need. We’re going to see where God leads us.
What are your present needs at Redeeming Grace Church? How can we pray for you?
- What’s most on our minds right now is pulling off Sunday morning! So much goes into that, and we’ve never done it before. We launch on April 3 and we’re going to dive right in. Please pray that we’d be able to get rolling smoothly, and that we’ll quickly get the rhythm of what it’s like.
- Please pray that I will get into the rhythm of preaching every week. I love to preach and I’m really looking forward to it, but I know that it’s intense. I’m not fearful, but I feel the weight of that responsibility and the time it takes to prepare—while keeping up with other things. Please pray that I won’t be anxious and that I will adapt well to that schedule.
- Please pray for wisdom for our outreach and where we invest our time. There are all sorts of things we could do, but we want to know what God wants us to do in particular. And please pray that God would bless our outreach and make it effective, that we’ll be able to reach the community with the gospel.
How can interested folks find out more?
Visiting our website is the best way: www.redeeminggracenc.org. You’ll find there a link to our Facebook and email. Our first meeting is April 3 at Rogers-Herr Middle School.
Check back tomorrow for part 2.