Orlando Grace Church grew out of the prayers of two men. They prayed regularly for a period of two years and discussed their vision for a new church where the doctrines of God’s grace would be preached from the pulpit and Christ would be exalted in the worship. They wanted ministry to be initiated by Spirit-led members instead of having programs drive the ministry. A core group began to meet in early 1991.

Approximately fifty people attended the first service on November 3, 1991. The Chapel at the Reformed Theological Seminary in Maitland Center was retained as a weekly meeting place. Greg Elmquist was called as the founding Pastor-teacher. The church start committee wrote the by-laws, adopted the Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 as the church’s statement of faith, and made a commitment to give 20% of tithes and offerings to missions. During its first few years church attendance grew to over 300 people. In 1994 fifteen acres of land were purchased on Keller Road near Maitland Center for a possible future site for a church building. Theological differences between the elders and the pastor which surfaced toward the end of 1996 led to Pastor Elmquist’s resignation.

In November of 1997, Tim VanderMey was called as the new pastor and two years later Ken Wells was called as Associate Pastor. During 1999, OGC began to meet at a new location, the Altamonte Springs Seventh Day Adventist Church on Maitland Avenue. The land on Keller Road that was purchased in 1994 for $290,000 was “traded” for seven acres on Maitland Avenue and $1.2 million in cash. These funds are being saved for a future building program. Also during this time, Curt Heffelfinger was retained as part-time worship leader. A difference in ministry philosophy and pulpit emphasis became evident among the elder board in early 2002. Efforts to overcome the impasse proved unsuccessful. In the middle of the year Pastor VanderMey, then Pastor Wells, and ultimately all the remaining elders resigned. Four temporary directors were appointed to take the leadership role for OGC until new elders could be elected.

PeaceMakers Ministries conducted a leadership reconciliation retreat in September 2002. This provided a time for confession, repentance, forgiveness and healing for all concerned. It also helped chart a course and direction for the future. After much prayer, the directors retained Curt Heffelfinger as Interim Pastor for a period of one year beginning January 27, 2003. Throughout this year of transition Pastor Heffelfinger has served the congregation in supplying necessary shepherding ministry while the body seeks God’s will for a permanent pastor-teacher, calling new elders and deacons, and retooling its mission and vision for the future.

In the Fall of 2003 the directors asked Curt Heffelfinger to develop a Mission Vision Statement for the church. An Alignment Task Force met and determined that that statement was in alignment with the historical values and current membership of OGC. In January of 2004 Curt Heffelfinger was installed as the Pastor-Teacher of Orlando Grace Church.

Throughout the year of 2004 the church gave itself to the execution of various aspects of “Operation Nehemiah” – a plan for rebuilding the walls at OGC. We studied the book of Nehemiah to glean insights for our task. We read and sought to apply Ken Sande’s book The Peacemaker to cultivate a culture of biblical peacemaking in the body. Significant progress was made toward adopting a revised Mission, Vision, and Values statement for our ministry.

 

With 2005 came a new challenge. Pastor Heffelfinger contracted head and neck cancer. Treatment and recovery consumed the better part of the year. God in His grace brought him through with healing and in 2006 he returned to full-time ministry. The Lord helped get us back on track with pursuing “the rebuilding of our walls” in many significant ways. We are excited about what God will do in the weeks and months ahead.

The History of the Reformed Church