GraceWay Committees

Worship Committee

Purpose Statemet: We are called to create a culture of excellence that will permeate every aspect of our Sunday service. Creating a Culture of Excellence We've all heard it said that Sunday worship is not meant to be a performance. While certainly true, this statement does not mean we shouldn't plan, practice, and prepare. Quite the opposite. If our Sunday service is for God, then we should give our very best, from the opening prayer to the closing benediction. Does our God deserve any less?

Christian Education Committee

	Purpose Statement The Christian Education Committee is dedicated to understanding what spiritual maturity looks like and applying this understanding to Christian Education at GraceWay Baptist Church. “We proclaim [Christ], admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.” Colossians 1:28-29
Current Agenda: Identify the target – What does spiritual maturity look like? What does a mature follower of Christ know (i.e. understanding of Scripture and doctrine), and what does he or she do (i.e. commitment to a local church, spiritual disciplines, etc.) Evaluate our practice — Based on the criteria identified in step 1, are we meeting our goals? Are we moving people toward greater maturity through our Sunday school classes, worship services, sermons, bible studies, etc.? Are we helping people live more faithfully to Christ in every sphere of their life? Dream about the possibilities — First, how can we improve what we are already doing? What changes need to be made for us to be more effective? Second, what new ministries may we need to implement? Discuss details — After we have considered the big picture we are ready to focus on the logistics (i.e. curriculum, personnel, etc.). Understanding What Spiritual Maturity Look Like? Even though we will never get to the level of perfect spiritual maturity in this life it is our responsibility and privilege as new creations in Christ to join God in this process in our lives and the lives of fellow believers. We are being sanctified by God and through the power of the Holy Spirit we can grow daily, motivated by love, not fear or pride, knowing that God gives us the energy to become mature. We must mentor, equip, minister to and love fellow believers as long as they are in our lives, and to provide an environment that promotes spiritual growth. Though there are many attributes of a spiritually mature Christian, here is a list of what we feel are some essentials of spiritual maturity: Faith in Christ, (repenting of your sins and receiving Christ as savior and master of your life) Commitment to serve and follow Christ Daily time in the word, (Bible Study) Daily quiet time, (prayer life) Regular church attendance at a healthy Bible believing church Obedience to God and His Word Loving God with all of your strength, heart, mind soul and body and loving others as ourselves Humility and self discipline Discovering and using your spiritual gifts for God Making disciples Sharing Christ with others (reaching the lost) Being Fruitful Christian maturity means making Christ the beginning and end of our faith. To grow in maturity, we must center our lives on Him, not depending on religious ritual, not falling back into sin, not trusting in ourselves, and not letting anything come between us and Christ. Christ is sufficient and superior.
Outreach & Fellowship Committee
	Purpose Statement We are called to impact the lives of believers and non-believers for Christ inside and outside the walls of our church. Who We Are and What We Do The Outreach & Fellowship Committee facilitates and implements strategies for reaching the lost and unchurched people of Kiowa and the surrounding communities while providing for the fellowship needs of the Body of Christ. "…and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." — Acts 1:8
The Outreach & Fellowship Committee is dedicated to reaching the community of Kiowa for Jesus through sertvice to the community.  We also strive to imporve fellowship through events and activites that help us grow together as a church.

Our Church History

The Conception

In 1997, several people saw the need and became burdened for a Southern Baptist work in the Kiowa, Colorado, and vicinity. Pastor Bobby Cornelius of Grace Baptist Church in Deer Trail, along with his wife Billie, who were Mission Service Corps Volunteers, began to “canvas” the Kiowa area to see about the possibilities and need for a work in this area. Pastor D. Ray Taylor from the Parkway Baptist Church in Franktown, was contacted to see if he had interest in partnering with Grace in this endeavor and found that Parkway was indeed interested in this beginning work

Things Begin to Happen

In the summer of 1997, a group of people “on Mission” from Mississippi came to Deer Trail in order to help with the building of their church facility and help with Vacation Bible Schools in the area. Since the group was quite large, the Cornelius’ brought some of the group to Kiowa to help with our very first “Back Yard Bible Club” which was held in Burt and Carmen Stan fill’s back yard. Pastor Riley Ainsworth, his wife Helen, from Mississippi, Carmen Stanfill, and Parkway’s summer missionary, Beth Acree were the staff. We were blessed with about 10 neighborhood children coming each day.

Worship Services and Children Ministry

In February, 1998, Billie Cornelius and Carolyn Wright, from the Grace Baptist Church in Deer Trail, Colorado, came to the Kiowa vicinity and began to seriously visit the area and found some people who were interested in an Evening Worship Service and a Thursday after school Bible Adventure Club for grade school children. Bobby and Billie Cornelius contacted Sister Blanche Byrd, Pastor of the Nazarene Church and she graciously consented to rent to them, at a very small fee, the building for these activities. Since the Nazarenes only used their church on Sunday Mornings, Sister Byrd was pleased to have GraceWay use it on Sunday Evenings and Thursday afternoons. Bobby and Billie Cornelius, and Carolyn and Don Wright came over each Sunday Evening to hold services. After two months, Pastor D Ray Taylor and wife Betty, from Parkway Baptist in Franktown, began to attend, and every Thursday they would bring a car load of kids over for the children’s program. Soon others from the Parkway Baptist Church began to attend, including Pat and Jack McAskill who had moved into the Kiowa area the year before. Pat and Jack began leading the music for the worship service and helping with Bible Adventure club.

GraceWay becomes a Mission

From this very small beginning GraceWay developed into a mission with two sponsoring churches, Grace Baptist Church of Deer Trail and Parkway Baptist Church of Franktown, thus being appropriately named GraceWay.

First Vacation Bible School

In the summer of 1998, GraceWay held its very first Vacation Bible School with the assistance of Pastor Riley Ainsworth and his Mississippi Mission group from Liberty Baptist Church in Jefferson, Mississippi. This first V.B.S. was held at the Nazarene building. Classes were held all over the church property each in the shade of a big tree. In fact one creative teacher taught the story of Zaccheus while perched up in a tree. This group came the next two years to assist us in V.B.S. and in the summer of 2001 we held our first V.B.S. in the Kiowa Park and our own members were available to staff this wonderful time with the “Big Tent” borrowed from our local Baptist association.

Mission Pastor Called

During the first Vacation Bible school in 1998, it became apparent to Bobby Cornelius, D. Ray Taylor, Pastors of the sponsoring churches and Pastor Riley Ainsworth from Mississippi, that there was a need for a Pastor who lived in the community. They approached Jack McAskill, who at first was very reluctant because he had never pastored. After much prayer and a mission trip to the Ukraine where God showed him how He could be used as Pastor if he were just willing to step out of his comfort zone, he agreed to accept the pastorate of GraceWay. On August 23, 1998, Jack was licensed to the gospel ministry and became church planter/pastor of the GraceWay Baptist Church.

The Big Move

The church members desire was to have a place for Sunday morning worship and God provided a very special place. On November 14, 1999, we had our first morning Worship Service at the Western Elbert County Seniors Center in Kiowa. We celebrated with the Vail Valley Quartet from Basalt, Colorado in concert that morning with a big pot lunch afterwards. About forty people were in attendance.

Sunday School Comes to GraceWay

Our members begin to think about having a Sunday school. If this was to come about we had to have people willing to teach, so we began to enlist teachers and select the curriculum. On September 9, 2001, we had our very first Sunday School including a Nursery taught by Pat McAskill, 3 and 4 year olds taught by Jessica Marks, 1st through 6th grades taught by Carmen Stanfill, Youth taught by Rich Marks, and Burt Stanfill teaching the Adults. We were fully staffed and away we went!

Constitution Day

The Lord blessed with growth and it soon became time to go from Mission Status to Church Status. On May 16, 2004, we had a great celebration in the Kiowa High School Cafeteria, commemorating our becoming a church. This was attended by people from the Colorado Baptist General Convention, the Platte Valley Association (which has now become the Great Commission Partnership Baptist Association), many other churches in our local association and friends. We, also, invited the Vail Valley Quartet from Basalt, Colorado to come and give a concert. A great day!

Our New Pastor

On December 18, 2005, Bro. Daniel Prentice, recently graduated from the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois, came in view of a call as our first paid Pastor of GraceWay Baptist Church. On January 8, 2006, at a called business meeting, we unanimously voted Daniel Prentice as our Pastor. Pastor Daniel, with his wife Beth and children Heidi and Benjamin moved the following week from Chicago to Kiowa and on January 22, he preached his first sermon as pastor. We are so blessed to have the Prentice Family as our Pastor and co-workers.

Good Things Still Happening

GraceWay is progressing under Pastor Daniel’s leadership. We have moved to a larger meeting place with room to grow, seeking property which will allow us to look forward to building our own facility. We have four new deacons, Keith Abbey, Harold Anderson, Rich Marks and Burt Stanfill. We are beginning to organize our church body into committees in order to further enhance our capabilities to reach others for Christ in the Kiowa community. Praise the Lord!