Sovereign Grace Church ( formerly Halifax Covenant Church ) was officially established in 1985. At that time, Dan Walsh, our Senior Pastor, was also ordained. The idea for starting the church was actually conceived almost two years earlier, at a Jesus Festival in Orlando, when Dan and his wife Cindi heard a message by CJ Mahaney (along with about 20,000 others) called " The Restoration of New Testament Christianity ." They brought home a tape and shared it at a meeting with about 15 friends, believing a church like the one CJ described was needed in our area. Twelve who were at the meeting agreed and began to meet regularly in a home with their families.
Over the next year, it became obvious they didn't know how to put these newfound ideas into practice. Dan began pursuing a relationship with Brent Detwiler on the PDI apostolic team (the ministry now known as Sovereign Grace Ministries), who at the time was in Fairfax, Virginia helping another Sovereign Grace church get established.
In January of 1985, Brent announced Sovereign Grace Ministries would be interested in adopting our little work and helping us become established as a church. He made a number of exploratory visits that year, which ended with him relocating his entire family to the area for 6 weeks to establish the church and train Dan Walsh for his new role as Senior Pastor.
Our "embryonic season" gave way to the establishment of Halifax Covenant Church on November 3rd, 1985. In November of 2003, after 18 years as HCC, we decided to change our name to Sovereign Grace Church (a name we believe will relate better as we reach out to the community in our new facility). And the rest, as they say, is...history.
Back