When a severe storm struck Shreveport, Louisiana, in mid-June, it knocked out power for over 250,000 people in the area, prompting the mayor to issue a state of emergency for the city. For nearly a week, city residents were without power during a heatwave that caused heat index values to skyrocket to over 105 degrees Fahrenheit.

As elderly residents struggled to keep cool, GracePointe Church of the Nazarene and the Pine Road Area Business Association conducted a “fan drive,” reaching out to church and community members through various methods, including TV and radio advertisements. The group collected nearly 150 fans to distribute to elderly people in the neighborhood.

“That’s our church,” said Pastor David Craig. That statement may not have been true more than 10 years ago.

Kevin McCoy, a man who began attending GracePointe because of its work in the community, recently said that before Craig arrived, “people drove past this church and didn’t even realize it was there.”

“But now, when you mention GracePointe to someone, they may not attend here, but they know where GracePointe is,” McCoy said. “They know where we are and who we are in this neighborhood.”

Craig has been the pastor of GracePointe since 2011. Since then, the church has sought to become a community resource as much as a place of worship. 

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the congregation was already positioned to be a resource thanks to a pre-existing relationship with the Northwest Louisiana Food Bank. The church has hosted a weekly food ministry out of its dining hall since 2017. The ministry ballooned from 10-15 clients weekly to nearly 130 families a week during the pandemic.

In addition to the food ministry, the church hosts weekly support groups for alcohol and gambling addiction recovery. In the coming weeks, the church will host a back-to-school bash, distributing 100 backpacks to local students and offering free haircuts.

The community that surrounds GracePointe is a lower-income area. The surrounding apartments are a revolving door of people coming and going, getting evicted.

“There’s just not a lot of hope here,” Craig said. “We’re just trying to give people hope and show our community that we love people the way they are and where they’re at.”

McCoy resides in one of the nearby apartments. One of Craig's first outreach events was a kids-focused event with a group from Dallas, Texas, called the Peanut Butter and Jelly Ministry. McCoy and his family attended the event, where he met Craig. Through their discussion, McCoy learned of Craig’s passion for outreach, and he and his family began volunteering with GracePointe.

“That’s how we were exposed to what the heart of GracePointe was,” McCoy said. “The Lord kept making opportunities to meet and serve with them.”

McCoy notices how quickly those being served by GracePointe’s ministries get involved and start attending the church. And that’s precisely how Craig hopes it happens.

“Our hope, our dream, our desire is to share the grace that we’ve received so that we can pass it on to them,” Craig said. “And then, hopefully, they’ll pass it on to somebody else.”