Grace Gospel Church on Pike Street
Grace Gospel Church sits along Route 14 between Parkersburg and Mineral Wells in the Mid-Ohio Valley. From I-77, drivers take Exit 170 and follow Route 14 north, passing Walmart and turning right at the church property. The building is bracketed by an upper and a lower parking lot. The upper lot carries the accessible parking spaces; the lower lot fills up quickly on Sunday mornings. Grace Gospel Church carries the phrase "Holding Forth the Word of Life" from Philippians 2:16, a line that captures the spirit of its stated mission.
What the Church Is For
Grace Gospel Church describes its purpose plainly: "Glorifying God through whole-hearted obedience to the Great Commandments and passionate pursuit of the Great Commission." The mission grounds that aim in Isaiah 48:11 - God glorifies Himself by orchestrating all of human history around His Son. The church's stated purpose is the gospel-centered living of every member, not merely gathered worship on Sundays. Five core commitments shape the ministry: biblical expository preaching, God-centered worship, biblical evangelism and discipleship, gospel-centered living, and a biblical faith family that bears one another's burdens.
A Sunday at Grace Gospel
Sunday morning worship begins at 9:30 a.m. and runs to 10:45. The service opens with blended worship, mixing contemporary and traditional music, then moves into a substantial portion of expository preaching. Pastor Roger Benson typically works verse by verse through a single book of the Bible, week after week, drawing the sermon's main point straight from the passage. Long-running series have moved through James, Philippians, 2 Peter, the Psalms, Romans, Ephesians, 1 Peter, and 1 John, with frequent returns to the Psalms in midweek study.
Sunday School runs from 11:00 to 11:30 a.m., immediately following morning worship. Graded classes for children, teens, and adults fill the church's hallways. Nursery care is provided during all services for newborns through age 2.
Sunday evening is set aside for growth groups, which begin at 6:00 p.m. Children's programming is paused for this hour so the whole church gathers together as a family.
Wednesday Nights Around the Word
Midweek brings three parallel gatherings in the church building. Teen classes run from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. through the Word of Life program. Children's programs (Gopher Buddies for ages 3 to 5 and Olympians for grades 1 to 6) run on the same hours. The Adult Bible Study runs from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., and Pastor Roger or another teacher works through extended studies on Wednesdays that range from book-by-book expositions of 2 Peter and Hebrews to Psalms series and topical studies on prayer, wisdom, and the inspiration of Scripture.
Joe Blauser, an elder in the church, leads much of the midweek teaching, with week-by-week studies through Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Habakkuk, Matthew, Exodus, and a Summer of Psalms series. Visiting pastors and teachers round out the calendar. Each fall the church hosts the Mid-Ohio Valley Bible Conference, sometimes running across two or three evenings with messages from friends such as Dr. Anderson of Appalachian Bible College and Bruce Frye.
Preaching That Opens the Bible
The Core Beliefs section makes expository preaching foundational. "The central part of our worship gatherings is to hear the preaching of God's Word, the Bible." Expository preaching lets the main point of a particular passage become the main point of the sermon, because "God brings new life through His Word." The same conviction shapes how disciples are made. Discipleship is "not a program," but a relationship in which a mature believer walks with a less mature one, "teaching him doctrine and modeling for him how this teaching is lived out." Men disciple men; ladies disciple ladies.
Worship gatherings aim at the same end. Music draws attention away from the congregation and toward God and the good news of what He has done through His Son. Prayer in the service calls on God to work by His Spirit among His people.
What Grace Gospel Believes
The Statement of Faith walks a thoroughly conservative, confessional line. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are "the verbally inspired Word of God, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant in the original writings, infallible and God-breathed." God is one, eternal, infinite in power and goodness, "the Creator of all things, visible and invisible," and is three in person: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Lord Jesus Christ is confessed as eternal Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, who lived a sinless life, died on the cross as a substitute for sinners, was raised bodily from the dead, and now sits exalted at God's right hand as the church's intercessor and advocate. The Holy Spirit is a person who convicts the world, regenerates the spiritually dead, baptizes all believers into the body of Christ, and dwells in them, and who guides believers into all truth.
Salvation is the gift of God by grace, received through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Man is "totally depraved" since the fall into sin and "of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition." The church practices two ordinances: water baptism by immersion for believers only and the Lord's Supper with bread and unfermented wine. The Lord's Table is "open to all who are in right relationship with God, regardless of church affiliation."
The church looks for the personal, imminent, pre-tribulation and pre-millennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ for His redeemed, followed by His return to earth with His saints to establish His millennial kingdom. Believers are sealed in Christ; the souls of the redeemed are with the Lord at death; and the lost remain in conscious misery until their resurrection to final judgment.
Grace Christian Preschool
Grace Christian Preschool is a tuition-free ministry of the church, founded on the premise that "God is love" and that Christ loved and appreciated children. The preschool serves children ages three through five (children must be three by September 1 and must be toilet trained) and meets Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 9:00 a.m. to noon. The school year runs from September to May, generally tracking the Wood County Schools calendar for holidays and days off. Its goal is developmentally appropriate spiritual, physical, academic, and social growth. The preschool is registered through the church office, and a single registration fee covers supplies for the year.
Children and Teens at Grace Gospel
Children's programming runs alongside the church's services so that families can worship and learn together. On Sunday morning at 9:30, graded children's church meets - Little Lambs for ages 2 to 3, Pre-Jr. Church for ages 3 to 5, and Junior Church for grades 1 through 5. Beginning at 10:30, Sunday School classes divide children by age: Little Lambs, Son Shine Kids (3-5), I Love Jesus (K-1), Joy Class (2-3), Kingdom Kids (4-5), Jr. Ambassadors (6-8), and Senior High (grades 9-12). Wednesday evenings bring Gopher Buddies (3-5) and Olympians (grades 1-6) from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Nursery care runs during all services for newborns through age 2.
The Teen Ministry centers on Word of Life, meeting Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. separate from the adult Bible study. The aim is to walk teenagers through the same gospel-centered life the church holds for adults, with teaching that equips them to apply Scripture in school and at home.
Ladies of Grace, Seed Sowers, and Senior Saints
Ladies of Grace is the women's ministry of the church, providing opportunities for women to grow in their walk with Christ, encourage one another in fellowship, and serve the body. Seed Sowers gathers working-age adults for friendship, service, and outreach. Senior Saints is for adults age 55 and older, meeting once a month, usually on the second Thursday of the month at noon, for a meal and a devotional. The senior group also takes several trips together each year.
Local Outreach
Grace Gospel's local outreach ministry is shaped by the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ and aims to make both words and deeds point to God in the Mid-Ohio Valley. The church focuses on three groups: the homeless and hungry, children, and the elderly. The goal is people, not projects, with the desire that "our community will be radically transformed by the gospel as we allow Him to radically transform us." Members serve at food and clothing ministries, with local schools, and at retirement and care facilities.
Global Missions
Global missions at Grace Gospel is described through four verbs: praying, giving, going, and training. The church prays for unreached people and for missionaries around the world, supports missionaries financially, sends members on short-term trips, and trains new believers to pass the gospel on to others. Missionaries and visiting pastors preach from the pulpit on Sundays and in summer missions conferences. Recent visitors include Brent Halstead, Mike Brunk, Josh Brunk, and Florian Gostner.
Sermons and Teaching Online
Sermons are posted to the church's YouTube channel (@gracegospel) as both video and downloadable MP3. The audio archive goes back more than a decade. Visitors can search sermons by book of the Bible, by topic, by speaker, or by series (Sunday Morning, Wednesday Evening, the Fall Bible Conference, and the Summer of Psalms). Searchable topics span everything from the doctrines of grace to the end times, from marriage and parenting to money and persecution, from the Trinity to the resurrection of Christ.
Visiting Grace Gospel
Grace Gospel Church meets at 6239 Pike Street, Parkersburg, WV 26101. Office hours are Monday through Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The phone is 304-489-1209 and the email is secretary@gracegospel.com. Ushers greet guests at the door and can answer questions or point families toward the right classrooms. Parking is available in the upper and lower lots, with designated accessible spaces in the upper lot. There is no formal dress code - the church invites visitors to wear what is comfortable and fit right in. Inside, expect a relaxed, multi-generational atmosphere, blended worship, and roughly an hour of expository preaching straight through a Bible passage. After the service, prayer needs and pastoral questions can be brought up to the pastors.
Giving is available through a Clover Give portal linked from the church's online giving area, as well as through the Givelify mobile app.