Grace Presbyterian Church is the outgrowth of an idea born and nurtured by the Task Force on Missions at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church in Dallas. The Reverend Cleve C. Wheelus, a member of the Task Force and Associate Pastor at Preston Hollow, was chosen to lead the way as the organizing minister in the farming community of Plano where the growth was exploding in the late 1970’s.

In March of 1979, a small group of Christians started meeting at the Wheelus home in Plano. After only six months of meeting in the Wheelus home for Sunday services, this group of worshippers had grown large enough to place a prefabricated building along West Park Boulevard on a five acre piece of land. That building was later moved to the south end of our property and was used for several more years as the Children’s Place preschool facility.

Why the Name 'Grace'?

In August of 1979, the congregation met in order to come up with a name for our church. Ann Wheelus, the pastor’s wife, said, "Why not call our church ‘Grace’ after our Presbytery?" The motion was approved unanimously and the members immediately broke out singing "Amazing Grace". It was a wonderful experience and that hymn more or less became our main anthem for many of the initial years at Grace.

By January 1980, the membership had grown to the magic number of 100 to become an organinzed church.  On March 23, they boarded a bus and drove to Austin College in Sherman to attend the Presbytery Meeting and officially receive the Charter of the church. The following week the Reverend Cleve Wheelus was called by the congregation to serve as the founding pastor.

Phenomenal Growth

The congregation grew rapidly as did the city of Plano. In February 1981, the ground breaking took place for our first permanent building phase, which would include rooms for staff and educational programs plus a large multi-purpose room with a small stage which would serve as the sanctuary on Sundays. (That room was later referred to as "Fellowship Hall" and most recently changed to "Wheelus Hall" in memory of the founding pastor). This building phase was completed in March 1982. Grace was now at over 300 members and had to go to two worship services on Sunday mornings.

In August of 1982, Grace Learning Center opened its doors to the community and to the many people seeking a Christian day care facility for their pre-school children. In May of 1983, a third service was added to Sunday worship and that summer, the Reverend Paul Gilmore was called as the church’s first Associate Pastor.

As Grace continued to grow, more space was needed.  By mid-1984 the congregation totaled over 600. The Christian Education programs were in desperate need of more space. A large temporary building was purchased and was used until 1999 when it was donated to the Crossroads Presbyterian Church in Blue Ridge, Texas, and moved to that location. The second building phase broke ground in July 1985 and one year later was dedicated. This phase includes the current Sanctuary for Sunday worship services and has a 777-seat capacity. This building phase also included additional educational and meeting rooms and administrative offices.

In November 1986, the Reverends Bruce and Susan Taylor were installed as Associate Pastors to minister to the youth of our church and to lead the Christian Education programs.

A Time of Crisis and Change

In March 1988, the founding pastor, the Reverend Cleve Wheelus, retired and during this time the energy crisis hit the Southwestern states. This economic downturn had a negative impact not only on the state of Texas and the city of Plano, but also on Grace Presbyterian Church. Many of the members lost their jobs and were forced to move elsewhere in order to find new employment. Membership declined and the budget had to be reduced and cut-backs made in the staff.

In August 1989, the Reverend Dr. William Carr who was the associate pastor at Grace Presbyterian Church, Houston, was called to be the new senior pastor and served in that capacity until July 1993. During his tenure at Grace, Dr. Carr brought Tracy DePue, whom he knew in Houston, to be the full time music director of the church in 1991. Tracy, an accomplished musician and worship leader, brought a new level of musical expertise to the new church. Also during Dr. Carr’s ministry, the congregation began to grow again and reached over 1000 members, peaking at 1,107 members in 1994.

In 1993, the Dr. Carr accepted a call to the First Presbyterian Church of Corpus Christi, Texas and Grace Presbyterian Church began a search for a new senior pastor. During the interim period the Reverend Jerry Rice, a former Air Force chaplain, was an extremely popular interim pastor and helped the church make the transition in leadership.

New Leadership

The Reverend Dr. Rolfe J. Granath was called on December 1, 1994, to be the new senior pastor. Dr. Granath, his wife Beverly, and their three children moved from Aurora, Colorado where he had served as senior pastor of the First Presbyterian Church for nine years. Shortly after the Granaths arrival, the Reverend Dr. David Sparks joined the church as Parish Associate and began teaching the Trinity Bible Class and overseeing adult education. Children’s Ministry continued to grow under the leadership of Jennifer Carl, Director of Children’s Ministries. In the fall of 1998 ground was broken for a new 20,000 square foot Christian Education building which was dedicated on September 19, 1999 with a grand celebration.

In the spring of 2000 with newly constructed children’s classroom filled, Jennifer Carl left Grace to become Director of Education Ministries at our new church development in nearby Frisco, Faithbridge Presbyterian Church. Quickly, God found a replacement in Lisa Reece, who served in a similar capacity at the Highland Park Presbyterian Church of Dallas.

In April of 1999 Grace called the Reverend Larry Thorson as associate pastor. The Thorsons came to Dallas from southern California when Larry’s wife, the Reverend Martha Thorson was called as associate pastor at the Highland Park Presbyterian Church.

The Reverend Harry Chase, retired pastor of a large church in New Jersey began volunteering in 1999 as worship liturgist, mentor and coach for the staff, Session and others. He also began teaching the Bible Boomers Sunday School class.

In September 2003, Geoff Haskell joined our staff as Associate Pastor of Youth and Family Outreach.  He and his wife Kendra and three children moved here from California.

The birth and growth of the Grace Presbyterian Church has truly been a work of God’s grace. Now that our church has celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2005, it looks with eager anticipation to what God will do with it in the years to come.