At Grand Point Church, we aren’t just seeing seats filled; we are seeing lives transformed.
In 2026 we hosted two baptism events with a total of 161 people being baptized as a public declaration of a life changed by Christ, and we added 38 partners to our ministry through church membership!
But growth brings a unique holy tension. When a house gets full, you have a choice to make: do you close the doors and get comfortable, or do you build a bigger table?
Today, I am calling our church into a season of intentionally making room for people. This is one of our standing vision lanes and I want you to know this isn’t about buildings, real estate, or numbers for the sake of statistics. This is about people. Every empty seat we create or multiply represents a person who hasn’t met Jesus yet.
Our vision for this next season breaks down into two distinct, powerful mandates: A larger table to gather and a larger launchpad to send.
First, we must create Room to Gather.
- At Chambersburg: We need the space to welcome the hurting, the seeking, and the next generation who are walking through our doors looking for truth. The community around the church is expanding rapidly and we really want our location to be a “grand point” of gathering. As you are aware we currently have four weekend services and a video venue. We will be taking intentional steps to make the video venue a more engaged worship center with some changes that are coming yet this Fall. We have also contracted with Speedwell Design LLC, a design/build company out of Manheim, to give us a plan for a 1600 seat worship center that will attach to our existing building. They are currently working on the schematic design phase and will have a 3-D model development for us in the next couple of months.
- At Shippensburg: Right in the heart of a vibrant college town and community, we must ensure our spaces can hold the energy and the hunger of people looking for authentic community. Were mindful that our current lease will be expiring in 2028 so our goal is to have an answer to that deadline by the Fall of 2027.
- At Greencastle: As we root deeper into the community, we want to ensure that no family is turned away or left out because we simply ran out of space to host them. At Greencastle we are currently seeking creative options for more space, especially ways to give access to our friends with special needs.
Gathering is where we get healthy. It’s where we worship, where our kids learn about grace, and where we find our people. We are making room so that anyone in the Cumberland Valley who is looking for hope and community knows there is a seat with their name on it.
But a church that only gathers is a church that stagnates. We don’t just want to be a lake that collects water; we want to be a river that flows out. That is why the second half of this vision is about a larger Launchpad to Send.
Making room to send means we are equipping you to leave the building.
- It means sending leaders into community businesses.
- It means sending students and mentors onto the campus and into the schools of Chambersburg, Shippensburg, and Greencastle.
- It means sending servants into our community and global neighborhoods to serve the hurting and the needy.
When we make room to send, we are investing in church planting, local outreach, global missions, and leadership development. We are freeing up resources and people so that our campuses act as launching pads, sending the hope of the Gospel directly into the places people live, work, and play.
I am happy to announce that “Help Build Hope” is returning to Grand Point on October 16, 2027. Help Build Hope is a collaborative community program by CrossRoads Missions that coordinates parking lot build events to frame walls for affordable housing projects. We will be bringing all three campuses together to construct the walls of 3-4 homes for the new Habitat Humanity development in Franklin County.
We will continue to serve our local community partners and community ministries like The Gathering, The Garden, Ageless Ventures, Widows and Widowers, and men’s ministry. We will be intentional to ensure that individuals with disabilities and their families are welcomed, supported and included in the life of the church. In 2027 we will partner with Keystone Family Alliance offering support to local foster families.
Two global missions trips are planned for 2027:
- We have a team of 30 people going to Honduras in April to visit the village and church of our Compassion kids.
- We have another team of nine individuals going to the Dominican Republic in January to explore the possibility of a future partnership with Work Team Partners.
Our increased capacity to gather and send is all made possible by the generosity of God’s people.
Our Executive Director of Operations, Tony Diehl, has summarized the generosity of Grand Point like this:
- Because of your generosity, you are making an eternal difference. Every dollar given is a part of something bigger – the mission of helping as many people as possible find and follow Christ.
- Because of your generosity, 18 individuals or families received financial assistance through the deacon’s fund.
- Because of your generosity, we have been able to build our ministry teams with capable and gifted leaders.
- Because of your generosity, Grand Point has been able to support ministries and organizations in our communities.
- Because of your generosity we have been able to expand our global partnerships.
- Because of your generosity, people of every generation are being reached.
That is the impact of generosity and we don’t take that for granted. Every gift represents trust and a decision to invest in something bigger than ourselves. Thank you for giving. Thank you for trusting, thank you for helping people find and follow Christ. What you give matters and because you give, our vision of seeing more people gather and more people sent, will be a reality in the new year.
This vision will require all of us. It will require our prayers, our generosity, and our willingness to step out of our comfort zones. It might mean changing the service time you attend to free up seats for guests. It might mean stepping into a volunteer role to help handle the influx of new families. It might mean giving radically to support our campus expansions and sending initiatives.
Let’s not be a church that kept the blessing to ourselves. Let’s make room. Room for the broken to gather, and room for the equipped to be sent.
As you can tell, God is on the move and we want to move with him. However, as we have been praying, and singing, “if God’s not in it, we don’t want it. But if God is in it, we don’t want to miss it. And that is exactly why we are planning to begin 2027 with 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting.
Throughout the month of December we will be sharing the details of this plan and how you can prepare for it and be a partner in it. But as you know, you don’t have to wait until then to pray.
I’m so glad that you are a part of Grand Point – Chambersburg, Shippensburg, and Greencastle. As we learned in Romans chapter 12, we are all members of one body serving together, along with other churches and their members in our community. Let’s pray that God would awaken us to His will, His plan, His heart, and His vision.
Click Here to View the Vision Weekend Booklet