Churches are dynamic institutions. They always seem to be
growing or declining in membership. Hollister’s Grace Bible Church
is definitely an example of a congregation in growth mode.
Churches are dynamic institutions. They always seem to be growing or declining in membership. Hollister’s Grace Bible Church is definitely an example of a congregation in growth mode.
In early 1995 several families living in Hollister were attending Gilroy’s Trinity Bible Church. They talked with the church’s pastor, the Rev. Bob Achilles, about planting a church in Hollister. His answer was to invite his son, the Rev. Jim Achilles, to move from Southern California to begin a new ministry in the South Valley.
November 1995 marked the initial worship service of what became Grace Bible Church. Meeting in Hollister Community Center, the gathering of members and well-wishers from other churches numbered 84 that first morning.
For 18 months the young congregation met in that facility. Then something spectacular occurred. The leadership of Community Christian Church, which owned a historic building at 634 Monterey St. in downtown Hollister but was declining in membership, voted to dissolve, give their building to the younger congregation, and merge memberships.
The new facility, despite some remodeling, was still too small for the needs of the growing congregation. They bought 10 acres of property to build a new campus, but their plans were thwarted by environmental restrictions. They continued to meet in the historic facility, holding three morning services to accommodate their growth. Recently, San Benito High School Auditorium became available and the church currently meets there on Sunday mornings.
Then serendipity struck: a former bank across the street from Grace’s church and offices was put on the market. Congregational leaders quickly sold their unused acreage and purchased the former commercial building. After some relatively modest renovations, the building will reopen as a worship center before year’s end.
Senior Pastor Jim Achilles is a man of boundless enthusiasm for the Lord. His father was a professional musician before entering the ministry, and Jim also felt tugs in both directions. From the age of 12 he felt a desire to minister and participated as a leader in mission trips, Bible camps and youth programs.
Yet he entered California State University San Bernadino as a music education major. Then he realized that “performing music was a distraction – fleeting fun but not fulfilling.” After graduating in 1985 he felt the call to serve God through preaching and teaching the Gospel and entered the Master’s Seminary to prepare for the ordained ministry. Serving churches in Southern California full-time while pursuing his education, he “crammed three years of study into six,” he admits.
Soon Achilles became the associate pastor of a church in Pasadena. When the Senior Pastor moved on, Achilles spent a year as the interim pastor until the congregation voted unanimously to offer him the senior pastor position.
Grace Bible Church offers Sunday worship services at the San Benito High School Auditorium at 8:30 and 10:30 a.m.; Sunday evenings at 6 p.m. is SNAG (Sunday Nights at Grace), a less formal service that meets at the church’s facility on Monterey Street. The congregation’s other ministries include home Bible studies, youth groups, pastoral counseling, prayer conferences and a Missions program that travels to China, Bosnia, Mexico and elsewhere. Future plans include opening a Christian day school.
Pastor Achilles invites visitors to Grace, saying: “Worship services are designed for believers to magnify the Lord and exalt Him through singing, Scripture reading, special music, prayer, giving and communion. Sermons are expositions of Scripture and include Biblical views of current events, issues, questions and applications for contemporary living.”
For more information, call (831) 638-1394 or visit www.gracehollister.org.
