A 1951 Garage Start in West Fort Worth
On a cold Wednesday evening in January 1951, a small group gathered in a garage in Fort Worth for the organizational meeting of what would become Grace Baptist Church. The following Sunday, twenty-one charter members kicked off Sunday school for all ages and a regular worship service in that same garage. Rev. Brady Williams shepherded the new fellowship during its first year, and by 1952 the congregation had purchased its first church building to keep up with rapid growth.
Grace took shape under Dr. Wayne Martin's pastoral leadership from 1955 to 1979. The church acquired a new property and built a sanctuary, completing it with educational and Sunday school wings. In 1977 the church secured twelve undeveloped acres in the northwest section of Fort Worth, near North Las Vegas Trail and Loop 820, the location Grace still calls home today. Under Ronnie Williams, a family center gym was built in 1981, the congregation relocated on September 26, 1982, and a five-hundred-seat sanctuary was completed in 1986.
Grace continues to seek to proclaim the truth of the gospel, remain faithful to the Word of God, and serve the community in west Fort Worth. The church's stated mission is to make disciples of Jesus through the worship of God, the equipping of believers, life in community, and the sharing of the gospel with the world.
What Sunday Morning Looks Like
Grace holds two identical worship services each Sunday at 9:30 AM and 11:00 AM at 1501 Jim Wright Freeway. A full worship band leads the music, accompanied by an adult choir, with media adding visual dimension to the room. The blended style weaves modern worship songs together with hymns, and the same songs are sung at both services. Services run a little over an hour, and first-time guests are invited to park in any open space on campus.
Volunteers in yellow shirts greet visitors at the front doors and help with directions. After the service, guests can stop by the Connection Corner in the Commons, where the Welcome Team is ready to say hello. Attire ranges from casual to Sunday best, so newcomers can wear whatever makes them comfortable. Child check-in is available so that parents can pre-register their children before they arrive.
Community groups meet during both Sunday morning services, with options for every age and life stage. There are also evening and off-campus community groups that meet at other times during the week. Community groups are the primary place Grace lives out its call to grow in deep, intimate Christian community through Bible study, prayer, accountability, gospel-sharing, and serving together.
Family Discipleship from Birth Through High School
Grace takes the spiritual formation of its youngest members seriously, with ministry for every stage from birth through the senior year of high school.
The Grace Place is the church's weekday preschool outreach, serving mothers and preschool children from Grace and the surrounding community. Children ages twelve months through Pre-K attend Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 AM to 2:30 PM. Days include learning centers, music, art, story time, outside play, Bible stories, and Spanish for the three- and four-year-old classes. Tuition is $260 per month with multi-child and church-member discounts available. Director Laurie Smith oversees a team of lead teachers and assistants across the one-year-old, two-year old, three year old, and Pre-K classes.
Preschool ministry for birth through Pre-K is offered during both Sunday services, and on Wednesday nights during the Equip Bible study. The simple, profound goal of the preschool team is to introduce children to the truth that God made them, God loves them, and Jesus wants to be their friend forever. Background checks are required for every volunteer, two qualified leaders must be in each classroom before drop-off, and a secure sticker system manages check-in and pick-up. The preschool minister also works with families whose children have special needs.
Elementary ministry for kindergarten through fifth grade runs at both Sunday services. At 9:30 AM, kids in kindergarten through third grade gather for Kids Worship Hour, a time of worship and teaching. At 11:00 AM, classes split into kindergarten-first grade, second-third grade, and fourth-fifth grade groups that use crafts, games, object lessons, and discussion to apply biblical truth. Wednesday night classes continue throughout the year, and Vacation Bible School fills part of the summer. The children's minister coordinates special needs support for elementary families.
Student ministry for sixth through twelfth grade exists to equip students to be disciples who make disciples. Students meet in gender- and grade-specific community groups at 11:00 AM on Sundays, and Wednesdays bring the entire ministry together for the Best Night of the Week, a large-group gathering built around fellowship, fun, worship, and teaching. Annual traditions include the Guys and Girls Collective each spring, a Spring Break Outreach week, summer mission trips, Camp Refuge, a summer kick-off party, a Christmas bonfire, and Breakthrough Weekend, a DNOW-style retreat held in host homes.
Wednesday Nights of Equipping
Wednesday night at Grace is built around the Equip Bible study for adults, which runs concurrently with Kids Bible Study for babies through fifth grade and the Best Night of the Week for students. Each semester the adult study walks through a book of the Bible from start to finish in a gender-based setting. Men study with men, women with women, and childcare is provided for the evening group. A separate women's morning group meets Wednesdays at 10:00 AM, and a men's Sunday morning group meets at 8:00 AM during the fall semester. For those who can't attend in person, teaching videos are posted online each Thursday so participants can work through the workbook on their own schedule.
The fall 2026 study is the book of 2 Samuel, with sessions running September 2 through November 4. Past semesters have included 1 Samuel, Luke, Judges, the Minor Prophets, the Sermon on the Mount, Colossians, Jonah and Ruth, and James. Workbooks are ten dollars and are picked up at registration.
Men's, Women's, and Senior Adult Ministries
Grace's men's and women's ministries are Word-based and designed to enhance, not replace, community groups. Both provide formal and informal opportunities for men and women to learn how to read, study, and apply Scripture in everyday life.
The men's ministry, known as Activate, anchors its program around the Wednesday night Equip study and additional gatherings that surface during the year. The women's ministry holds seasonal Equip studies, an annual conference and retreat, a summer book study, and a podcast called the Grace Women's Podcast that carries conversations further into the week. Women also participate in Praying Pairs, where women of different generations are matched together for a set season of mutual prayer. Share Saturday is the women's annual local outreach day, and Bound by Hope is a support group that walks alongside women navigating infertility.
Senior adults aged fifty-five and up gather every second and fourth Thursday in the gym for food, fellowship, and fun. The Grace Senior Adult Ministry focuses on helping older members grow in Christ and invest in the generations coming behind them. The senior adult pastor can be reached through the church office for more information.
Local Outreach and Mission Partners
Grace takes seriously its call to share the gospel in word and deed, both locally and around the world. Locally, the church operates a Care Ministry that includes the Graceful Threads clothes closet, a bill-pay assistance process, and the Care Pantry. The food pantry is open Tuesdays from 1:00 to 4:00 PM and Thursdays from 9:00 AM to noon, with no appointment needed. The clothing closet operates by appointment. Because the church receives many applications, financial assistance is limited to households within a ten-mile radius of the campus.
Beyond its own ministry, Grace partners with a number of outside organizations. Academy 4 places mentors with every fourth grader at a partner school. The Family Support Ministry partners with Hope Local and Care Portal to preserve and strengthen biological families and support foster and adoptive families. Grace also partners with Eagle Mountain Pregnancy Help Center, World Relief Fort Worth for refugee ministry, and two nursing homes: Haltom Convalescent Center on the second Saturday of every month and Lake Lodge Nursing Home in Lake Worth on the fourth Saturday. The Nursing Home Ministry, which began in 1996, holds a brief church service complete with singing, a devotional, birthday recognition, prize drawings, and treat bags.
The Sharing side of Grace's mission extends well beyond Fort Worth. The church supports thirty-nine missionary families, eleven partner organizations, and work in twenty-one countries. A volunteer Missions Team of eight to ten members leads the church's sending strategy, and an International Prayer Center in room A-100 of the sanctuary building is open during services and activities for intercession. Grace also provides a four-bedroom residence on or near its property for missionaries on furlough. Average monthly missions giving runs about ten thousand dollars.
Biblical Counseling, Prayer, and Care
Grace operates a Biblical Counseling ministry that helps members face life's challenges in a way that pleases and honors Christ. Most sessions are offered Monday through Thursday from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, with occasional Sunday afternoon or Wednesday early evening appointments. Referrals are also available through counseling@gbcfortworth.com.
The church's prayer ministry is treated as the source of power for everything else. Anyone can submit a prayer request online, and a team of prayer ministers is faithful to lift up each one. A Spiritual Gifts Assessment is available for those who want to find a place to serve, and the Serve page connects willing hands to the right ministry.
Music, Media, and the Worship Arts
The music ministry at Grace is built around three teams. The worship band leads every Sunday service at both 9:30 AM and 11:00 AM, singing a blend of modern worship songs and traditional hymns. The adult choir joins the band at both services, adding southern gospel, classic anthems, and contemporary arrangements to the mix. A technical arts team runs sound, video, and lighting for both Sunday services and Wednesday nights. Musicians, choir members, and tech volunteers can sign up through the Music Ministry page.
What the Church Believes
Grace holds a detailed Statement of Faith rooted in historic Baptist convictions. The church affirms the verbal, plenary inspiration of the sixty-six books of the Bible and treats Scripture as the only complete and final revelation of the will of God. There is one true God, eternally existing in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - equal in every divine perfection and executing distinct but harmonious offices in redemption. The statement affirms the historicity of the Genesis creation account, the literal fall of man, the virgin birth of Christ, the substitutionary atonement accomplished through Christ's death and resurrection, salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone, believer's baptism by immersion, the Lord's Supper as a memorial ordinance, the priesthood of every believer, the perseverance of the saints, and the personal, bodily return of Christ.
On the church, Grace holds that a New Testament church is a congregation of baptized believers associated by a covenant of faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the ordinances of Christ, and governed by His Word, with pastors or elders and deacons as officers of ordination. The statement affirms the autonomy of the local church, free from interference by any hierarchy of individuals or organizations, with Christ as the only superintendent through the Holy Spirit. Grace also affirms that civil government is of divine appointment and that magistrates are to be prayed for and conscientiously obeyed except where obedience conflicts with the will of Christ.
On giving, Grace teaches that scriptural giving is one of the fundamentals of the faith. Members are taught to bring tithes and offerings into the common treasury of the church on the first day of the week as God has prospered them, as an act of grace rather than obligation.
Becoming Part of the Grace Family
Anyone curious about the church is invited to attend Starting Point, an introductory class that walks through what Grace believes and how the church operates. Those who want to formally join move next into Basics and Baptism, a class that covers basic biblical truths, baptism, and what it looks like to be a disciple of Christ. After completing those classes, prospective members meet with a senior staff member for a membership interview and are then presented to the congregation.
Right Now Media, the Church Center app, an online bookstore through 10ofthose, the Grace Women's Podcast, and a sermon library that stretches back through series on Genesis, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Psalm 119, Advent, Easter, and more are all available to members and regular attenders. The livestream begins ten to twenty minutes before each Sunday service, allowing viewers to catch announcements and pre-service music before the service begins. Giving can be done online, through the Church Center app, by mail to the PO box, or by placing an envelope in one of two giving boxes in the foyer.
Grace Baptist Church is a congregation rooted in historic Baptist doctrine, shaped by seventy-five years of ministry in west Fort Worth, and organized around four simple words: worship, equip, community, and share. From its earliest days in a garage to its present campus at 1501 Jim Wright Freeway, the church's heartbeat has been to make disciples of Jesus who live all of life for the glory of God.