The Rev. Tim Stamper stands in the room used as a meeting place for Grace Community Church.

Stamper has many hats as coach, pastor and teacher

Tim Stamper is a masonry teacher, assistant wrestling coach and pastor of one of Alleghany County's newest churches.

He carries out all three of those roles on the campus of Alleghany High School.

Grace Community Church held its first Sunday service Dec. 2, 2001. The congregation meets Sundays at 10 a.m. in the drama/chorus room in Alleghany High School's new east wing.

The church evolved from a Sunday evening service begun by a few people four and a half years ago at the old Glade Valley Presbyterian Church.

"It was a non-denominational, community Bible study," said Stamper. "Some of the folks who went to the Bible study wanted to meet on Wednesday evenings, so we began to meet in homes." The interested group met in different homes from week to week for Bible study and prayer.

Stamper said, "There was something really special there. We had people of many different denominations, all learning to focus on what we had in common rather than spending time on some rather minor doctrinal differences. That really led us to choose to be a community church, not affiliated with any denomination.

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