Our Story

It all began in 1982, when Lebanon, Virginia local Allen Jessee was sent out as a missionary by Lebanon Baptist Church to plant Community Heights Church. Under his direction, the church multiplied and developed leaders. One of those leaders, Tim Brown, developed a heart for multi-site in 2006 while attending Liberty University. With God-given vision and perseverance, Allen and Tim launched the first service as a multi-site on Sunday, September 7, 2008 in Lebanon High School.

On Sunday, May 29, 2011, the church broke ground for a permanent site in Lebanon (located across from Lebanon High School at 345 Donald C. Moore Drive), and on January 12, 2014, we had our first service at the new location. On September 1, 2015, Community Heights commissioned us as a church plant and sent us to serve the Lebanon community. On July 10th, 2016, we changed our name to Gracewood Community Church. What an exciting time in the lives of so many who call Gracewood Community Church home!

We’re excited to be continuing our mission of Leading People into a Growing Relationship with Jesus. We’ve stepped into our new strategy of intentionally doing life together in order to Love God, Love People, and Serve the World. What would happen if we truly embraced this mission?

At Gracewood Community Chruch, our hope is to experience continued and consistent growth in our relationship with Jesus, both individually and as a community of believers.  We also want to become more like Jesus in the way we love God, love people, and serve the world. As we move forward with this mission and vision, we will see continued numerical growth which leads to greater spiritual development and a greater community impact.

While so many have been intricately involved in the history of Gracewood Community Church, our God is the ultimate Author of this story. Gracewood and the families here are forever grateful to have a God with such a big plan and heart for His people! We'd love to have you become a part of our story!