Hosted by First Lady Qwivander Smith of Grace Bible Fellowship Church of Antioch.

“This place has been dedicated, everything in and around this house. Everything we submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.” – Pastor Kirkland Smith

By Allen D. Payton

On Sunday, July 7, 2024, Grace Bible Fellowship Church of Antioch celebrated the Grand Opening of its new Grace Childcare Center, a project of the church’s Grace Arms non-profit organization.

The Grace Childcare Center is a state-of-the-art preschool situated in Antioch. Our center is committed to delivering exceptional childcare services, fostering interactive learning, and creating unforgettable childhood experiences. We are currently seeking highly motivated teachers who can inspire and contribute to our outstanding team. This presents an excellent opportunity to join a friendly, vibrant, and dynamic work environment.

During the ribbon cutting ceremony, Pastor Kirkland Smith read Psalm 127:1 saying, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards that stand watch are in vain. For every house is built by somebody but God is the builder.”

“May every person who enters this property know they’re entering on holy ground,” he continued. “This place has been dedicated, everything in and around this house. Everything we submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.”

“So, it’s a privilege, it’s an honor as we embark upon another new chapter and endeavor for us,” Smith stated. He and Program Director Beate Bell then cut the red ribbon on the outside of the entrance doors.

“We’re ready to open. We’re ready for business,” the pastor added.

Grace Childcare Center’s mission is to provide a safe learning environment for children ages 24 months through five years old.

The focus is to equip each child with a stimulating early childcare experience focused on promoting strong cognitive and emotional development in order to build up community, civic and socially-minded individuals. This will be done through creative and hands on learning, with parental involvement, to build a firm and enduring foundation in the early formative years.

Operating hours are from 7am – 6pm, Monday through Friday. The facility holds 20 children in three fun and creative animal themed rooms, Duckie, Panda and Tiger where the children will engage in a play-based curriculum including yoga, arts and music.

If you would like to enroll your child in the Grace Childcare Center, located at 3415 Oakley Road in Antioch, please call (925) 522-2017 or email Program Director Beate Bell at bbell@gracearmsofantioch.org. 

To learn more visit www.gracearmsofantioch.org/childcare.

See ribbon cutting video.

Presented by Chosen Training

For more information visit www.chosentraining.org.

Free Community & Family Event

Victory Outreach Antioch presents Unleashed, A Community and Family Event on Saturday, June 22, 2024. Enjoy a custom car show, free haircuts, live hip hop music concert featuring artist EGR and a food giveaway. The event will be held at Antioch City Park on the corner of A and W. 10th Streets from 1:00-5:00 p.m.

Victory Outreach Antioch is located at 2400 A Street on the corner of Rossi Street in Antioch. For more information about the church visit https://voantioch.com.

Enjoy live music from headliners The Main Ingredient and Slave

This year’s Juneteenth Celebration presented by Grace Arms of Antioch will be held on Saturday, June 15, 2024 and feature a Kids Corner, food, games, vendors and live music with headliners The Main Ingredient and Slave.

The event runs from Noon until 5:00 p.m. at the Grace Bible Fellowship of Antioch Campus, 3415 Oakley Road in Antioch. Vendor booths and sponsorships available. For more information visit http://www.gracearmsofantioch.org.

History of Juneteenth

Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. Though the Emancipation Proclamation was given by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, the beginning of the end of slavery wouldn’t be recognized until sometime later – June 19, 1865.

​Early celebrations date back to 1866, at first involving church-centered community gatherings in Texas. They spread across the South amongst newly freed African American slaves and their descendants and became more commercialized in the 1920s and 1930s, often centering on a food festival. Participants in the Great Migration brought these celebrations to the rest of the country. 

​The day was recognized as a federal holiday in 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law. Juneteenth became the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was adopted in 1983.

​Start of Juneteenth Celebration

When the American Civil War ended, the Union Army arrived in Texas led by Major General Gordon Granger who was given command of the District of Texas on June 10, 1865. On June 19, in the city of Galveston, one of the first orders of business was to post Granger’s General Order No. 3 to inform a reluctant community that President Lincoln over two years earlier had freed the slaves and to press locals to comply with his directive. His order began with:

“The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection therefore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer.”

This set off joyous demonstrations by the freed people, originating the annual Juneteenth celebration, which commemorates the abolition of slavery in Texas. The celebration’s name is a blend of the words “June” and “nineteenth”.

​Why did it take so long for the news to get to Texas? 

 There is no one reason why there was a two-and-a-half-year delay in letting Texas know about the abolition of slavery in the United States, according to Juneteenth.com. The historical site said some accounts place the delay on a messenger who was murdered on his way to Texas with the news, while others say the news was deliberately withheld.

Due to the delay, slavery did not end in Texas overnight, according to an article by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. originally posted on The Root. Gates said after New Orleans fell, many slavers traveled to Texas with their slaves to escape regulations enforced by the Union Army in other states. 

Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.

The food distribution is a joint effort of the Golden Hills Community Church Serving & Engaging Neighbors Together, (SENT) ministry and Team Jesus Outreach Ministries. 

Free hot meals are also served at the Community Outreach Center at 525 E. 18th Street in Antioch Monday through Friday. Doors open at 5:00 pm. Our desire is that no one in our community suffer from hunger or malnutrition. Each night we serve a wholesome, home-cooked hot meal to satisfy our appetite. However, we also realize there is a spiritual hunger that God wants to fulfill in each one of us and we have a brief worship service designed to help us connect with the Lord each evening. Everyone is welcome to join regardless of their faith background. For more information visit Community Outreach Center.

Golden Hills Community Church is located at 2401 Shady Willow Lane in Brentwood. For more information about the church and its ministries visit www.goldenhills.org.

Sponsors needed

By Sophia Martin, Regional Director, Love Life NorCal Antioch

Please support us in our annual fundraiser, LifeRide. We will be riding bikes across the nation to raise awareness and funds to unite and mobilize the Church to end abortion and the orphan crisis.

What is LifeRide?

In 2023, Pastor Jay Stewart at the age of 60, rode his bicycle over 3,100 miles across America to bring awareness to the ministry of Love Life and to raise over a million dollars. Pastor Jay has been a partnering pastor with Love Life from the beginning and his church is also a House of Refuge church. (See video1 and video2)

Locally, our goal is to raise $10,000. If you would like to give $25, $50 or $100 to help us meet our goal and learn more, please visit: https://join.liferideusa.org/team/580862.

“Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.” – Proverbs 24:11

For more information about Love Life visit: https://lovelife.org. To sign up for a 1-Hour Journey visit: https://lovelife.org/1-hour-journey. Get your Love Life apparel and coffee here: https://shop.welovelife.org/?ref=antioch.

By Bill Harms

Get your unwanted documents shredded at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Antioch Saturday, May 25 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Donations will raise funds for scholarships and other charitable purposes coordinated by the church’s Endowment Committee.

Through its endowment, the church has given scholarships to students pursuing college degrees as well as continuing education opportunities such as gaining teacher certification. It has also given a grant to support training school tutors, said Eileen Blumhardt-Butler, Endowment Committee Chair.

The endowment has provided a grant to a childcare center to enhance art education. A teacher received a grant to purchase microscopes for her middle school classroom.

“These grants are a way our church can share God’s love with the community,” Blumhardt-Butler said.

St. John’s Lutheran Church is located at 1360 East Tregallas Road and has Sunday School at   9:30 a.m. and services at 10  a.m.  on Sundays. For more information visit https://stjohnsantioch.org.