Soveriegn Grace Community Church

This Sunday (April 17th) I visited Soveriegn Grace Community Church. They meet at the site of Bernard Eldridge Elementary School (which has shut down) at 217 Maria Drive. They are a new church, having formed in October of 2010, and currently have about 40 in attendance. However, the pastor and many members are from Petaluma Community Church which used to meet at the Seventh Day Adventist church building (since the SDA didn't use it on Sundays). That church closed down, but the pastor and many members wanted to continue on in a new church.

The Pastor, Kevin Kirby, is a graduate of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. He also directs The Biblical Counseling Center of Sonoma County, which is connected with the church, and which shares office space with the church at the site. He is an adjunct professor at a bible college in Walnut Creek where he teaches biblical counseling.

The church affiliates with the Southern Baptist Convention. They participate in a church planting program through the SBC. However, the church sees itself rooted in the Calvinist Baptist tradition, reaching back to the Reformation, and looks to the First and Second London Confessions in 1646 and 1689, respectively.

While there, I met a friend from a long time ago, Kathleen Morgan (Kathleen Belton), whom I used to know at Church of the Open Door. It was a joy to see her and catch up. She told me she was very happy with her new church and their level of Bible teaching.