Soteria Community Development Corp.
Soteria’s founder and leader is Jerry Blassingame. After experiencing severe trauma as a kid, Jerry found himself running from God and selling drugs. After a couple of arrests, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. While incarcerated, he met Jesus and caught a vision for a ministry that would help people just like him - those impacted by the criminal justice system.
Drive down shaw street and you’ll see Soteria Community Development Corporation. You’ll know the building because you’ll see a mural of the word “Human” on the side of it.
Soteria’s founder and leader is Jerry Blassingame. After experiencing severe trauma as a kid, Jerry found himself running from God and selling drugs. After a couple of arrests he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. While incarcerated, he met Jesus and caught a vision for a ministry that would help people just like him - those impacted by the criminal justice system.
Through a series of miracles, Jerry was released (and eventually pardoned). With his second chance at life he started Soteria (which means Salvation). Soteria gives housing and jobs to incarcerated men that are re-entering society and provides low-income housing.
One of the jobs the men do is furniture making. They make all kinds of great pieces which you can find on instagram at @SoteriaAtWork.
You can read more of Jerry’s story by ordering his book on Amazon.
Ministry Park
Ministry park is the space between the two churches at 27 2nd Ave right in the middle of Poe Mill. It serves as an outdoor space for all of the neighborhood ministries. There’s a play-ground, picnic tables, and a pavilion with a sound system. This is a great location for block parties! Last year, we held the Poe Mill Spring Block Party there.
Ministry Park is the space between the two churches at 27 2nd Ave, right in the middle of Poe Mill. It serves as an outdoor space for all of the neighborhood ministries. There’s a playground, picnic tables, and a pavilion with a sound system. This is a great location for block parties! Last year, we held the Poe Mill Spring Block Party there.
It’s also a great place for teaching and preaching. We held our Wednesday night services there throughout the entire summer of 2021.
And we’re not the only ones who use the space. Here’s the current lineup of ministries you can find at the park:
TUESDAY NIGHT FRIENDS
Mark Clayton has been hosting Tuesday Night Friends for years. Every Tuesday night at 6 p.m., a group meets at the park for a meal and teaching. Mark has a great crew of regulars from the neighborhood who are faithful to come each week. They go deep into the scriptures. It’s not like a short, evangelistic devotional thought. Mark usually prints out 3-5 pages of notes for everyone, and they study the Bible for almost 45 minutes.
NOTHING BUT JESUS STREET MINISTRY
We love this effort! Each Saturday at 4 p.m., a big crowd gathers at Ministry Park for food and fellowship in the name of Jesus. NBJSM gives out much-needed supplies as well, such as blankets and coats. Several churches are involved, and they meet rain or shine all year round.
WORSHIP IN THE PARK
Every Sunday at 4 p.m., Scott Weinart, who was instrumental in founding Ministry Park, and his team host a worship service in the park. There is a meal and a time to eat, and then you basically enjoy a church service together. Scott is a fantastic Bible teacher who has spoken at Griggs a couple of times and is able to pull out rich gospel-centered truths from each text.
We’d be glad to help you get involved in any of these weekly gatherings at Ministry Park. For more information, just drop us a note.
The Upstate Church Collective
Our hope is that this will help some of our leaders feel more confident in their spiritual gifting and abilities as they serve Griggs. And who knows, maybe one of our young seminary guys can one day revitalize a church just like Griggs, in a mill village like Poe Mill, with a team of people and offerings from the other churches participating! We have a handful of our leaders attending the Sunday night sessions already, but we can bring another group through the program next year too, Lord willing.
Hey Griggs Family,
I wanted to make you aware of an awesome program a couple of our leaders are participating in this year called The Upstate Church Collective.
UCC was started by Fellowship Greenville and Summit Church for the purpose of “Equipping church leaders with the character and competency for faithful, lifelong ministry.”
During this first track, the focus is especially on lay-leaders.
Every other Sunday night, some leaders from five churches gather to hear and discuss a topic of biblical church leadership. We break up into small groups and talk about how that topic applies to our specific churches.
Throughout the 10-month program, each leader is coached and encouraged to be the strongest leader they can be. Josh Moll and I (Pastor Mitch) are the coaches for our Griggs folks.
Though this is beneficial for every lay leader in the church, the collective wants to identify people who are called to plant and revitalize churches and help them do so by both training them and helping them raise support.
So the future could entail more gospel-preaching churches planted and re-planted across the upstate. It’s amazing to think about what could happen when churches collaborate.
My hope is that this will help some of our leaders feel more confident in their spiritual gifting and abilities as they serve Griggs. And who knows, maybe one of our young seminary guys can one day revitalize a church just like Griggs, in a mill village like Poe Mill, with a team of people and some funding from the other churches participating!
We have a handful of our leaders attending the Sunday night sessions already, but we can bring another group through the program next year too.
So let us know if you have any questions. It’s all new, but we’re glad to be along for the ride.
Pastor Mitch
All About the CBR Journal
Bible reading is a key factor in our spiritual health. Scripture tells us that “man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God.” Griggs is a family, and we want each member to be fed. We cannot accomplish this through simply preaching on Sundays. We must equip one another to feed ourselves each day of the week. The tool we’re using to guide us in this endeavor is the CBR (Community Bible Reading) Journal. We used this to some degree last year, but this year we’re diving in with both feet.
One aspect of our vision for 2022 is being a Bible-reading community as we are committed to spiritual health first and foremost. Though we do have hopes for numerical growth, new programs, and building projects, all of those take a back seat to spiritual health. They must be a result of spiritual health.
Bible reading is a key factor in our spiritual health. Jesus tells us that “man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God.”
Griggs is a family, and we want each member to be fed. We cannot accomplish this through simply preaching on Sundays. We must equip one another to feed ourselves each day of the week.
The tool we’re using to guide us in this endeavor is the CBR or Community Bible Reading Journal. Also called the SJT, the Seeing Jesus Together Journal. We used this to some degree last year, but this year we’re diving in with both feet.
The CBR Journal is a simple Bible reading tool that prompts you to read two chapters of scripture each day—one from the Old Testament and one from the New. It’s also a journal where you can pen your thoughts as you read.
Each day, you’re asked to share one thing you’ve learned with your community (i.e., your church, your Griggs Groups, or your friends).
We want as many people as possible at Griggs to use the CBR Journal. We aim to create a culture of sharing what we learn, implementing time for reflecting on what we’ve read in Griggs Groups, and asking folks to share what they’ve been learning from the stage in our Sunday morning and Wednesday evening services.
If you need a new CBR Journal, you can buy one here.
Listen to this Sermon
Listen below if you want to hear the heart behind why must be a Bible reading community (along with a few tips for daily bible reading).