The Simple Room was founded in 1983 when Greenville College professor Jim Reinhard was teaching a Creative Evangelism class. He and his students looked at Greenville and searched for a way they could creatively share the gospel. While doing so, they noticed many young people who were unsupervised after school. Dr. Reinhard recalled seeking a “simple room” where the Creative Evangelism class could “practice friendship evangelism - win their hearts as friends, and bring them to Jesus. The motivating factor is evangelism, reaching out to touch kids for Jesus.” This is why The Simple Room was created.
Beginning in June of 1986, John Heston led The Simple Room for seventeen years as the Executive Director along with many dedicated Board Members including Karen Smith, Dan Jensen, and Cynthia Wiegand. These dedicated individuals laid the foundation for what The Simple Room is today.
In 2015, The Simple Room transitioned from being open in the evening during the school year to an After School Program. With this change, students shifted from attending The Simple Room from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm to participating from 3:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Along with this change came the addition of a Tutoring Program within the after-school hours, and a consistent programming time schedule.
Through the years The Simple Room has had many homes. Beginning in Mario’s Pizza after closing time, students could come to eat leftover pizza. From there The Simple Room was hosted in the Rasler Plumbing building, offering a space to play pool or board games as another way to connect. After much support from the community, The Simple Room moved to the corner of Franklin and 4th Street to a building that they could call their own.
In 2019, The Simple Room moved into a new facility funded by the generosity of the people of Greenville. Now, several years later, this building continues to be an incredible blessing to students and staff alike. It offers double the square footage of the previous space, multiple tutoring rooms, and a gymnasium.
Today, The Simple Room remains deeply committed to its original vision of being a safe, welcoming, Christ-centered space where students know they are loved by God and by others. Its mission is to empower young people to be disciples of Jesus Christ through holistic development—spiritually, mentally, emotionally, socially, and physically. Programming includes daily After-School Tutoring and Activities for K–12 students, Project 24 summer enrichment, leadership development that equips older students to mentor younger peers in faith and life, and special events and trips that broaden horizons, build community, and share God’s love in tangible ways.