Where We Worship: Grace Bible Church Celebrates 50 years in North Idaho

A passerby trying to find Grace Bible Church located at 152 W. Prairie Ave. in Coeur d’Alene just might miss the building entirely because of its rather plain outside appearance. But in this case, looks are absolutely deceiving about what lies inside.

“We try not to be flashy or fancy, just real. There are a lot of very real people here.” said Chris Dortignac, director of Music at Grace Bible Church.

Grace’s pastor, Gene Speer agreed, “there’s not a lot of frills” at their place of worship.

“We try to focus everything around the Word of God and what He is calling us to do,” said Speer who moved to the area and became its pastor last August.

Dortignac has attended Grace for 15 years and is a congregation elder where approximately 150 people are members.

Last month, Grace quietly reached the half century milestone as a church providing a place of worship for all comers that is steady, family-friendly, fundamentally conservative and rooted in the biblical word, and deeply defined by its music and fellowship.

Grace Bible Church’s worship schedule begins at 9:30 a.m. with Sunday school followed by its 11 a.m. all-church service.

Most worship places have faith-based pillars of pride that set them apart and Grace is no exception.

For Grace, their music is a cornerstone of what makes their church “unique” said Dortignac. On Sundays, approximately seven songs of praise are wrapped around God’s word and the pastor’s message. Usually two pianos, an organ, and occasionally a small orchestra accompanies the singing.

“Our music and our service are very traditional, stylistically. We use a lot of hymns, praise songs, and choruses to come together to worship the Lord,” Dortignac said.

“I know people travel a great distance to come here because of the music. That is a reality of who we are and who we have been,” he said and suggests it’s one reason for their longevity.

Grace also offers a special “singperation” quarterly during the year where about 100 people gather to raise their voices in praise in the sanctuary.

According to Dortignac, their church draws worshipers from as far away as Silver Valley, Idaho to Worley and Sagle in North Idaho and as far west as Deer Park in Spokane. In addition, Grace offers online, livestream (and past services) and viewers from California, Texas, Canada, Pennsylvania and the Dakotas often join in.

Once a month, communion is offered and open to all believers and on those Sundays, a potluck is served up following it. This feeds into the second Grace pillar of pride which is its approach to fellowship.

“It’s very common for people to be here until 2, 3, 4 o’clock after the service just visiting with folks and just having that fellowship – to meet together, to have lunch together, to challenge each other,” Speer said.

“We are family-orientated which means the whole family stays in the service,” Dortignac said. “We don’t send the children away during the service. You might hear a child crying,” he said.

He added that the church does have a nursery and a screened area for viewing, allowing the younger ones not to be too disconnected.

Grace Bible Church also has a counseling center on site where rigorously trained “biblical counselors” are available to offer confidential services. In addition, Grace has robust options for serving others within the church or the community at large covering areas such as missions, music, nursing homes, and others.

“Our goal is to be a lighthouse to this community, to be a bright spot if you will, not just on Sundays,” Speer said.

This story was written in partnership with FāVS News, a nonprofit newsroom covering faith and values in the Inland Northwest.