Grace Pointe Baptist Hopes to Make a Difference in Montgomery

Jeremy Biziarek believes that church is not a place you go, it’s a community you build.

Biziarek is the lead pastor at Grace Pointe Baptist Church, a new house of worship opening its doors on Easter Sunday, April 8. And while Grace Pointe does have a physical location – they’re on the second floor of an office building at 2015 Route 34 in Oswego – their focus won’t be there.

It will be in the streets, shops and homes of Montgomery, the community they’re calling home.

Biziarek, a confident and engaging speaker who grew up in Cicero, started Grace Pointe last year with his wife Sabrina, his brother-in-law Jonathan Wicks, and three other families. They were all members of a church in Lockport, he said, and decided that rather than plant a church in a far-away state (or country), they would look down the road for people in need.

They found Montgomery, and over the next year, they worked at getting their name out in the village. They attended Montgomery Fest last year, giving out bottles of water with their business card attached. And when the village held its annual community garage sale last summer, Biziarek and other members of the church went to 70 participating homes, and gave the owners $10 each.

The idea, he said, was to meet people, and do some good in their lives. He said he got a lot of amazed reactions – “People told us a church had never come to their house and given them money before,” he said – and got to know several families, several of whom they’ve been able to help in other ways.

And that’s the point, Biziarek said – Grace Pointe Baptist wants to be a force for good in Montgomery and Boulder Hill, even for people who don’t attend their Sunday services.

“You can never go to my church at all, as long as you have my phone number and know you can call if you need help anytime, anywhere,” he said.

Grace Pointe Baptist is a Bible-based church, Biziarek said, and if you go to the Sunday services, you’ll hear teaching with depth – just check out Biziarek’s blog for a taste. But it’s their community works by which they hope to be known. Biziarek said he’s working to partner with the village, and get involved in things the community is already doing.

Biziarek said his hope is to soon have Grace Pointe Baptist relocated to Montgomery, and to begin some outreach programs that address the needs here. Instead of creating a place that people come to, he said, “we want to find out what people are doing, and get involved with them.”

If you’re intrigued, Grace Pointe Baptist will hold a 60-minute preview of their church service on Saturday at 6 p.m. This will be the third such preview, and the last before the Easter grand opening. Biziarek said the word is slowly building – the first preview drew 45 people, the second 54. (Sunday services have drawn about 30 so far, he said.)

Sunday services begin in earnest at 10:30 a.m. on Easter. For more information on Grace Pointe Baptist, check out their website.