The Greenville Hilton

Pastor Steve Atkins is the founding pastor of Graceway Community Church. The Graceway story is in the developmental stage as you read this. The following is a little background about the vision for this new church.

Steve and Rennie Atkins had been married for ten years before they accepted Christ. Although Steve had been raised in a Christian home, he departed from the values he had been taught, and was living apart from the Lord. Alcohol began to take a toll on his life. After several years of living in sin, Steve became aware of Satan's desire to destroy him and turned his heart towards the love of Christ. Rennie had come from a Catholic background, and had not gone to church on a regular basis during her childhood. Steve and Rennie both accepted Jesus as their Savior in April of 1979 at the Grove Park Inn near Asheville, NC.

In 1984, God called Steve to preach. Steve began studies at Luther Rice Seminary and Carolina Bible Institute. Once licensed, he began to preach in various churches as a supply pastor (filling in for other pastors when they were sick or on vacation).

Steve accepted the pastorate at Ephesus Free Will Baptist Church in 1990 where he ministered for almost 16 years. During his time there, the small country church grew from an average attendance of 30 to an attendance of nearly 130. He led the one hundred year-old church in a building program during 2000, which included a new 225 seat sanctuary, remodeling the existing building into offices, restrooms and classrooms, and paving a large parking lot. The improvements cost nearly one-half million dollars and was paid off in September 2006.

In April of 2006, God clearly indicated to Steve that his work was coming to an end at this wonderful country church. He loved the folks dearly, but it was time to resign. Steve did not know what God had in store, so he began to pray and seek God's guidance. After many prayers, tears, Bible study and book reading, God's plan began to come into focus.

Steve had bought the book, "The Purpose Driven Church" by Rick Warren several years prior. During the course of seeking God's direction, Steve pulled the book off the shelf and re-read it. Suddenly, everything began to make sense, and the vision for Graceway was born.

God began burdening Steve's heart for a segment of the population that the "traditional" church was missing--the 20 to 40 year-olds and their children. Steve began to develop a love for contemporary worship music, and began praying that God would lead people to the church. The name "Graceway" was chosen to reflect the fact that it is only by grace that we are saved, and there is only one way to receive it, and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ.

After placing an ad in the newspaper, several people responded. Initial organizational meetings were held for several months at the Greenville Hilton where everyone was trained on the five purposes of the church.

Graceway had a "rehearsal" service at the Greenville Hilton on Sunday, December 31, 2006 with 39 people present. Then, on January 7, 2007, Graceway held its first official service at the Hope Middle School on Mills Road in Greenville with 108 in attendance. On that same Sunday, Graceway launched "KidMo!" for its youth program. Three adults and 13 children participated. It was a glorious day!

Graceway's first month was wonderful with an average attendance of 88, 2 people accepted Christ, 4 re-dedicated their lives to Christ, and four were baptized! Graceway continues to reach out to the Southeastern part of Pitt County.