Pastor Keith: Global Missions “Puts Juice Inside of You”

"Because we're a large church, we have a lot of options on who to partner with,” says Pastor Keith Minier of Grace Fellowship in Columbus, Ohio. “We get a lot of people who knock on our door and say, ‘Why don't you come be a part of what we're doing?’"  

Yet despite the many ministries competing for the attention of large churches, Grace Fellowship has been intentional about continuing their partnership with Encompass over the decades. “Our philosophy as a church is to find ministries that we believe are winners and then resource those winners,” he says. “And we would say that Encompass is a winner at what they're doing.” 

“One of the reasons we want to stay really connected with Encompass is their desire to see the gospel go where it’s never gone before,” Keith says. That vision is one that deeply resonates with their church’s heart. “We see this pressing need for the gospel to be known by every tribe, tongue, and nation,” he says, “and we want to take part in the joy and the experience of making that happen.”  

One of Keith’s clearest memories of Grace Fellowship’s partnership with Encompass comes from a trip to the Central African Republic in the early 2010s. What impacted him most was witnessing how all the parts of God’s kingdom came together on that trip: unreached people groups were hearing the gospel, African churches were thriving, African believers were leading ministry, and multiple American churches were there partnering alongside them. “When we go to the other side of the world and see people on Team Jesus who are pushing back the kingdom of darkness while advancing the kingdom of light,” he says, “Man, that puts juice inside of you to keep going!” 

And that foray into global missions left a lasting impact on the others who went too. “It transformed their ability to live on mission when they came home,” Keith says. “And it jettisoned several of those people into positions of significant leadership or influence in their local churches.” Keith continues, “That happens on an individual level, on a team level, and also on a church-wide level when we're partnered with an organization like Encompass.” 

We’re so thankful for Grace Fellowship and their many years of faithful partnership. The reason why we can be winners at what we do is because God has blessed us with so many incredible partners like them who share our passion for reaching the nations. As Pastor Keith says, “There are parts of the world where people haven’t had a chance to know Jesus, and we want them to have that chance. That’s why we’re in it for the long-haul and are willing to put in that hard work together.”