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On June 21, Grace City Church (GCC) will hold its first services at its new 73,000-square-foot building located on the west side of US 98 South. A community grand opening event with food trucks and a ribbon-cutting is set for Aug. 30.
“I’m excited for this to be a home away from home for people,” said Senior Pastor Andrew Gard, 43, who co-founded the church with his wife, Christina. “Students find mentors here. People make lifelong friends – the kind you call when you go through tough times or great times.”
On a recent weekday, dozens of workers continued to finish out the campus, which includes a 1,700-seat sanctuary, a children’s ministry wing with dozens of classrooms, a coffee shop, church offices, several smaller gathering spaces, and nearly 1,000 parking spaces.
Inside the auditorium, technicians from MABE Audio/Visual have installed three massive LED screens, along with state-of-the-art lighting and sound.
“I want us to be excellent, but not slick and overproduced,” said Gard. “It still feels very authentic. But when something is out of whack, it can be a distraction from people encountering God.”
GCC Communications Pastor Roxane Griner, 49, joined when the church was formed in 2015.
“Our staff is very rugged because we’ve been through so many transitions and have had to be creative with our limited spaces,” said Griner. “Now we can broaden our vision.”
‘Increasing spiritual interest’
Bill Mutz, 72, former mayor of Lakeland, has been a key leader since GCC’s launch, including co-chairing the Grace City Church Council, their version of an elder board.
“There’s an increasing spiritual interest in Polk County that is helping to fill churches,” Mutz said.
GCC is estimated to be among Lakeland’s largest evangelical churches, though audited attendance figures are not available.
Protestant congregations averaging at least 2,000 weekly attendees are classified as megachurches. Other large congregations include Family Worship Center, Victory Church, Lakes Church, Free Life Chapel, and Church for the One.
Grace City leaders report that 2,700 adults and 400 children currently attend GCC’s multiple weekly services at their rented space on New Jersey Road. That’s up about 500 people from last year, Gard said.
“We’ve constantly gone from just enough room, to cramped conditions,” Mutz said, referencing their multiple moves. “Our Grace City family has been heroes in putting up with difficult logistics.”
Andrew Gard notes the new location, about a mile from SR 570/Polk Parkway, will redirect their high-volume Sunday traffic to a commercial district that has capacity to handle it.
“Right now, we’re super residential, and I feel so bad for our neighbors,” Gard said. “On a Sunday, if somebody goes to the grocery store at 9 a.m., it’s backed up a mile before they get back home. I understand why that would be frustrating.”
After the church vacates their current space, it will be utilized by GCC’s current landlord, Geneva Classical Academy, a K-12 private Christian school.
Community outreach, youth leadership
Commuters on US 98 South will continue to see additions to GCC’s campus, such as palm trees and landscaping. To welcome young families, a two-level play structure will go up in a dedicated space off the entrance foyer.
During Phase II of construction, the church plans to add athletic fields, a fishing dock, and running trails adjoining Banana Lake, intending to have those amenities available to the community.
“The same way people go to Bonnet Springs Park after work to connect with some friends and run the lake, we want to provide that for this part of town,” Gard said.
These additions to the new campus reflect GCC’s interest in community outreach that goes beyond physical space.
Every month, as part of their Saturday Serve program, hundreds of members volunteer at a rotating roster of local nonprofits including One More Child, Gospel Inc., Parker Street Ministries, and United Way.
Steve Scruggs, outgoing president of the Lakeland Economic Development Council, has known Andrew and Christina Gard since they moved to Lakeland in 2011 to work on staff at Southeastern University (SEU). Scruggs said the Gards have brought a “servant leadership culture” that has carried over to GCC.
“They’re not trying to reinvent the wheel on outreach,” said Scruggs. “They’re just plugging in where they can serve. And Grace City is so big now, it makes a big impact when they bring people and resources to Parker Street or Gospel Inc. or whatever group they help.”
The church has also partnered with about 10 public schools, providing backpacks of supplies to students in need as well as cleaning and painting classrooms when requested.
Phase II of the new campus will also include apartments for Grace City College, the church’s accredited young-adult leadership program. In partnership with SEU, students in the program participate in three days of on-site practicum training at GCC along with online and in-person classes, ending the year with a week-long mission trip abroad.
Most graduating classes have been about 50 students, and the new complex will cap capacity at 72 students, the lead pastor confirmed.
A place to connect
The financial side of the project is also nearing completion, five years after planning for it began. “We’re really down to the finish line, within $121,000 of a $13.5 million goal,” said Mutz. “And no one marvels at where we are more than Andrew and Christina.”
Only a year ago, thousands of tons of dirt were being moved from near Banana Lake, creating a massive reservoir, to raise the primary building site by about eight feet. With the steps taken for wetland mitigation, Gard said they are “not worried” about past flooding at the property, which GCC acquired in February 2024.
But he recalled the team was nervous last fall, when the site was “pretty vulnerable” during hurricane season, with only a few walls up. “If we got hit hard, it could’ve set us back two or three months,” Gard said. “Thank God, it was the quietest hurricane season in a decade.”
Nine months later, the campus is nearing completion.
Griner said the new space opens up more opportunities for midweek classes and other ways for people to connect at GCC. “We want as many people to experience the love of God as possible,” she said. “And that’s mostly done in community.”
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