Month: September 2020

Personal evangelism gets creative, overcomes coronavirus barriers

AUSTIN—COVID-19 may have impeded some traditional avenues of evangelism, but it hasn’t stopped the gospel’s advance.

Rick Pittman, a member of Great Hills Baptist Church in Austin, reinforced that lesson when a tree limb fell on one of his neighbor’s vehicles and the neighbor asked him for assistance. Pittman removed the limb with a chainsaw, hauled it away and shared his personal testimony with the neighbor as they drove to dispose of the wood. Later, the neighbor came to Pittman with follow-up questions.

“We hear stories like that” regularly, Great Hills pastor Danny Forshee said.

While masks, social distancing and extra time cloistered at home have made personal evangelism more challenging, Forshee and other evangelism leaders have found ways around those challenges.

The apostle Paul “didn’t let being shackled in place prevent him from sharing the gospel,” said Matt Queen, L.R. Scarborough Chair of Evangelism at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. If Paul “can do it shackled, we can do it sheltered.”

Still, the challenges for personal evangelism are real. Distributing gospel literature, inviting people to church and holding evangelistic meetings all have been impeded by the pandemic, according to an analysis by Ed Stetzer, executive director of The Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College. Added to that, conversations can be hindered by face coverings, and many social settings require people to keep their distance from one another.

Yet the challenges are met with opportunity. Four evangelism leaders interviewed by the TEXAN all said lost people are more open to the gospel than they have been in recent memory. It remains to be seen whether Christians will take full advantage of the openness.

Sharing the gospel with those in our normal social circle generally is not inhibited by coronavirus restrictions, Queen said. But it can “be kind of awkward” to bring up Christ if a Christian has known someone for years but has never broached the subject. To break the ice, a believer can say, “I’ve really been thinking a lot through COVID,” and “I realized that I have sinned against you. I want you to know I need to ask your forgiveness.” Tell the person the sin is failing to talk about the hope available in Jesus, Queen said. Then admit the reason for hesitancy was fear of how they would react. Finally, begin a gospel presentation.

Another method of witnessing to people in familiar social circles is telling “the story of you and Jesus,” said Chuck Kelley, president emeritus of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Believers should consider the people they encounter regularly during their pandemic routines, he said, and ask, “Has each one of them heard my testimony?”

People love stories, and often they are open to hearing both salvation testimonies and accounts of “some life experience when Jesus really helped,” Kelley said.

If social distancing makes sharing a testimony face to face difficult, Kelley said, write a letter telling a lost friend you’re praying for them and that you realized you have never told them how you met Jesus. Then write your story. It may be helpful to include a gospel tract with the letter.

“You’re not having to worry about social distancing with a letter,” Kelley said.

Because mask wearing isn’t expected at meals, they present opportunities to overcome the conversational impediments of face coverings, Kelley said. He has begun gospel conversations with servers by telling them, “I just want to say on behalf of all us you’re serving how grateful we are you’re wearing that mask all day.” Servers typically appreciate the acknowledgment and are willing to talk further.

Shane Pruitt of the North American Mission Board recommended sharing a testimony via social media to overcome pandemic restrictions.

Using a smart phone, make a 60-second video of yourself explaining “who you were before you met Jesus, how you met Jesus and what Christ has done in your life,” said Pruitt, NAMB’s national next gen evangelism director. Then post the video on a social media platform—which can lead to hundreds or even thousands of views.

“If you did that in person, we would make a really big deal about” it, he said. “On social media, it’s still the same thing. I think we need to celebrate that and make it a big deal like it is.”

To take the witness a step farther, Pruitt said, text lost friends a link to the social media post and ask them to share their thoughts after watching it. “That’s an immediate door to a gospel conversation.”

Forshee recommended using current events to spur gospel conversations. When speaking with someone of another race, it can be helpful to reference America’s racial turmoil and say, “We’re living in crazy times. I know there’s a lot of tension. I just want to let you know that I care for you,” he said. Gospel conversations also can result when a Christian references the pandemic, along with ensuing economic woes and political tensions, then says, “There’s a lot going on. Can I just take a minute and pray with you?”

Churches can corporately take advantage of spiritual openness during the pandemic. Among suggestions offered by the four evangelism leaders:

Make sure benevolence ministries include intentional gospel witness to those receiving assistance.
Have church members share their testimonies during worship services to model how it can be done.
Include invitations to receive Christ for online viewers of each internet broadcast.
Participate in the Who’s Your One? campaign launched by NAMB and Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear. The campaign asks every Southern Baptist to select one lost friend and make that person a focus of prayer and witnessing efforts.

“God is doing something in this season that really is softening hearts,” Pruitt said, noting he preached at fewer student camps than normal this summer but saw larger-than-normal rates of response to evangelistic invitations. Christians must “preach the gospel and give everyone an opportunity to respond.”

Forshee is modeling for his church that the coronavirus need not halt personal evangelism. This summer, he led a pest control man at his house to Christ.

11-year-old’s challenge to give $32 to IMB raises $13,000—and counting

EAST ASIA Abby Cavanaugh* had grown up hearing the story of how Jesus multiplied a little boy’s lunch to feed a whole crowd, but on Sept. 15, she got a whole new look at how he can take small gifts and make them grow.

In May, she gave all of her hard-earned vacation money—$32.20—to the International Mission Board because she felt like that’s what God wanted her to do.

“I was just saving up my money because we were supposed to go on vacation,” said Abby, whose family serves with the IMB in East Asia.

But COVID-19 canceled her beach trip—and pushed the IMB to pay for the unexpected relocation of many of its personnel. Suddenly the missions-sending organization had an estimated $4 million shortfall.

And Abby had $32.20.

She knew it wasn’t much, but she also knew she was supposed to give the money she’d earned through babysitting her brother, cooking and doing other chores around the house. It was earmarked for a beach towel or a t-shirt, but all of a sudden, she knew it had a higher purpose.

Her parents jumped on board—they each matched her gift, then challenged friends on social media to join in and give $32. They watched the numbers tick up as people responded, saying they were touched by Abby’s “sweet and tender spirit.” People gave, and their children gave too, giving away their birthday money and in some cases even asking for more chores.

And on Sept. 15, IMB President Paul Chitwood along with daughters Cai and Lilly gave Abby some surprising news through a video call—Abby’s Challenge had snowballed until 155 people had given a total of more than $13,000.

Abby said the news makes her feel “really encouraged and happy.”

But the best news of all, Chitwood said, is that the impact of her generosity doesn’t even end there. Gifts are still coming in, and the IMB is extending Abby’s Challenge, setting a goal of $50,000.

Not only that, but many who have responded to the challenge are first-time givers to the IMB.

“They heard your story, and it inspired them, and they decided they wanted to be a part of what God is doing,” Chitwood said.

He asked the 11-year-old what advice she had for someone who might think his or her gift is too small to make a difference. She had a ready answer.

“Even if what you have to give is just really small, all you have to do is give it to Jesus,” Abby said. “It’s not your job to make it into a whole bunch of money … it’s just your job to give.”

Chitwood said the gospel is being advanced because of the way Abby has lived her own advice.

“We see now how he’s multiplying it,” he said of her willingness to give what she had. “It’s a beautiful thing, and we know that people around the world will hear the gospel because of the generosity of Abby and those who have given to the Abby Challenge.”

Abby said she was shocked that they even got their original goal of 100 givers. It was a number her mom suggested, and to Abby, it seemed huge.

“That just seemed so impossible, because I don’t even know 100 people,” she said.

Her dad encouraged her just to be faithful and leave the rest to God. The whole situation, he said, has been a “faith-building exercise for our whole family.”

Abby said it continues to remind her of the story of how Jesus fed the 5,000.

“It showed me that even if what we have is really, really small, we can just give it to Jesus and let him do the rest,” she said.

You can give toward the $50,000 Abby’s Challenge goal at imb.org/abbyschallenge. Choose to give your gift to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering or another designation, and your generosity will be added to the Abby’s Challenge total.

*Name changed

Asian American church reaches college students in Austin

AUSTIN In a day when many Southern Baptist churches struggle to reach college students, they are abundant at Acts Fellowship Church in Austin, a predominantly Asian American congregation the pastor described as genuine followers of Christ.

“College students, if they are Christians, are looking for a community of faith that loves the Lord and at the same time are very authentic about their faith, not just going through the religious motions,” pastor Charles Lee told the TEXAN.

Acts Fellowship began in 1992 as a department of Korean Baptist Church in Austin with a goal of reaching second-generation Asian American students at the University of Texas. Lee was part of the ministry from the beginning.

“I was a student at the University of Texas at Austin, and I was attending the church,” Lee said, adding that he sensed a call to the ministry and upon graduation enrolled at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He commuted for five years from Fort Worth to Austin to continue serving as an associate pastor at Acts Fellowship. In 1999, he became the pastor.

In 2004, Acts Fellowship became an autonomous congregation and met in a movie theater until settling at the facilities of Skyview Baptist Church in Austin, where they still meet. The church has about 150 students now, and the congregation has grown to include young adults, married couples and children. Before coronavirus, about 250 people attended the church on Sundays.

“Since the beginning of our ministry, we’ve probably had over 30 people that have gone to seminary, so that’s kind of interesting,” Lee said.

Acts Fellowship is predominantly Asian American but not exclusively, he said.

“We reach out to whoever God leads our way, but I would say the vast majority are Asian Americans who prefer to speak the English language,” Lee said.

Most of the students would say they’re from a church background, he said, but a significant number of those they reach don’t start as genuine Christians. “They just grew up in the church,” Lee said.

“We reach out to a handful of people that have no church background. They just met some of our students and were invited to be a part of our ministry, and they come to know Christ,” the pastor said.

As time goes on, Lee notices new challenges in reaching college students.

“I feel like they’re a little more spiritually distant now versus when I was in college,” he said. “At the same time, I feel like as a culture we have moved a little further away from God, so there’s a lot more students, I feel, that are unreached, that have no church background.

“We do encounter more people that choose not to respond to the gospel, and they’d rather continue to live their lives apart from God.”

Acts Fellowship emphasizes the Great Commission and is involved in three annual mission trips, though the global pandemic disrupted those plans this year. For the past eight years, the church has sent a team to Cambodia for three weeks. They have also been sending people to New Mexico to work with Navajo Indians over the last eight years, and they also send a team to a special-needs camp in Missouri called Camp Barnabas.

“We’re continuing to work to see how we can be more involved in missions. We also have a group that goes out to serve on a monthly basis at a place called Community First here locally,” Lee said.

Acts Fellowship is a strong supporter of missions through the Cooperative Program also, and Lee said that’s important “because there should be no lone ranger Christians.”

“As a church, I believe we belong to a greater body,” Lee, a member of the Executive Board of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, said.

“I get to see firsthand how things are run and how cooperative efforts benefit the kingdom of God,” he said. “I strongly believe that together we can do more than just one church trying to do everything or to reinvent everything ourselves.”

As he looks to the church’s future, Lee is optimistic.

“I’m excited that we’re able to reach a younger crowd and hope that we can establish a strong foundation upon which to raise the next generation of believers that will be able to go even further than we have.

“It’s exciting and very energizing working with younger people, and I see a lot of hope,” he said.

“I look forward to what God has in store in allowing us to reach the greater Austin area. This area is growing, and it’s an opportunity to be able to take the gospel to them and to see people respond in faith and for our church to be able to disciple them and raise them up as strong, mature believers in Christ.”

First Person: Thoughts on (soul) winning with Bobby Bowden

“Is winning everything?” I asked.

“No. But winning is important. If you don’t win, they fire you,” replied Coach Bowden.

Bobby Bowden coached football for more than 50 years. Over the course of 34 seasons as head coach of the Florida State Seminoles, his teams won twelve conference championships and two national championships. Coach Bowden knows about winning.

Like all coaches, he also knows about losing. And about getting fired. As athletic director at South Georgia College in the 1950s, Bowden was also head coach in three sports: football, men’s basketball and baseball. After a losing basketball season, Bowden the athletic director fired himself as the basketball coach!

What became clear during a recent Saturday afternoon I spent with Coach Bowden and his pastor was that, as he approaches his 91^st birthday, winning football games isn’t what he likes to talk about. He’d rather talk about soul winning. Mark Richt and Bert Reynolds are two of the better known people who responded to the Lord after Bowden shared the gospel with them but it’s the former players who call on him these days to thank him for the spiritual impact he had on their lives that seem to bring Bowden the most joy.

“I always thought the university would tell me to stop sharing my faith with the players and taking them to church, but no one ever did,” he said with a smile.

I suppose someone at FSU was smart enough to know that the young men Bowden coached, more than half of whom he said had no father in their lives, needed to know about more than passing routes and blocking schemes. They needed to know about things that really matter in life. And for the ones who kept losing their friends back home to drugs and gangs, they needed to know about the only thing that matters in death: a personal relationship with Jesus. Coach was always sowing the seeds and time and time again, they took root.

The question I had really been looking forward to asking Coach Bowden was how he had managed to finish well. Whether as coaches, pastors, missionaries, husbands or fathers, far too many of us men seem bent on finding a way to not finish well. Coach Bowden has faced all of the temptations that fame and success can throw at a man but, by God’s grace, he’s been married to his wife, Ann, for 71 years, escaped moral failure, and is wildly admired, even by his critics.

The key to Bowden’s success? “I knew I had to stay focused on the Lord,” says Coach.

Jesus’ admonition to “seek first the kingdom of God” was not lost on Bobby Bowden. Nor was the training he received in the Baptist church where he was raised.

Still a Baptist to this day, Coach Bowden spoke with great reverence about the missionaries I serve. Marveling at their commitment and sacrifice, he talked about them doing the most important work in the world. What amazed me was how much he’s like them: committed first to the Lord; determined to share the gospel whether or not people in authority approve and willing to suffer the consequences; and working hard to keep the platform the Lord gives them.

For Coach Bowden, winning wasn’t everything but it was important for maintaining the platform God gave him to do the most important thing: winning people to Jesus.

The lesson? As the Apostle Paul wrote, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.” If it’s coaching football, coach to win. If it’s teaching school, teach so your students will learn. If you’re a doctor or nurse, care for your patients to make them well. But don’t forget that the reason the Lord has you on the sidelines, in the classroom, the hospital, or wherever you are, is to win something more important than a title game or teacher of the year.

You’re there to win souls.

SBTC churches partner with Louisiana Baptist Convention in Hurricane Laura aftermath

Texas Southern Baptist churches can now adopt sister churches recovering from damage dealt by Hurricane Laura when it passed through Louisiana in late August.

Louisiana Baptist Convention Executive Director Steve Horn noted 114 churches have been identified with damage from the Category 4 hurricane that made landfall Aug. 27. Those churches are now being categorized by level of damage.

Describing the damage in the hardest-hit area of southwest Louisiana as “mind numbing,” Horn added that the “unusual nature of this disaster is how far north the power outages are.”

“With no power and no internet, giving electronically is not possible for probably a third of our state right now,” Horn said. “Many [churches] did not meet last Sunday, and a significant number in all of western Louisiana will not meet this Sunday due to the widespread power outage.

“I would estimate that 40 churches won’t be able to meet in their building for months, and probably have no community place to gather in either,” Horn said. “We have around 20 pastors with uninhabitable homes.”

In the wake of the storm SBTC Disaster Relief volunteers deployed rapidly to various locations in Texas as well as Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Texas Southern Baptist churches can fill out preliminary information online to adopt a Louisiana church through prayer, financial donations and on-site teams: www.louisianabaptists.org/churches-helping-churches/

Don’t be afraid to say “no,” sometimes

I was reminded this week of the 1997 SBC resolution “On Moral Stewardship and the Disney Company.” In popular parlance it was “The Disney Boycott.” We were ridiculed by some within and without our fellowship for this move. While I don’t have a great deal of faith in boycotts as change agents, I do observe that this likely the most counter-cultural thing we had done, in the eyes of outsiders, since our 1982 resolution “On Abortion and Infanticide.” Most of the criticism of the Disney resolution was that it was embarrassing.

The memory was prompted by an article I read this morning about the new Disney movie “Mulan,” a live action version of an earlier movie. The criticism of Disney in this article is different from the earlier concerns expressed by Southern Baptists. In this case Disney is being accused of praising, supporting, working in regions of China in which more than a million Uighur people, Muslims, have been imprisoned, starved, forcibly sterilized and even killed. This, someone pointed out, is the same Disney that threatened to no longer work in Georgia if that state implemented a 2019 prolife fetal heartbeat bill.

It’s not just Disney of course. I’ve had these frustrations with the NCAA and their threats against Indianapolis over a pro-family initiative, and Toyota over their pressure for cities to endorse same-sex marriage. Boycotts are not terribly effective these days; companies are interwoven and almost universally amoral in their pursuit of profit. But sometimes an offensive act or policy is made known to us, even shoved in our faces. What do we do then?

My point is that there should sometimes be a “then,” an occasion when we will not buy or go or partake. This is a “Corinthian Principle” matter I think—a place where all things are lawful but not all things are expedient. Some things are not negotiable in my opinion. Those who spend years with me have heard me speak of the alcohol industry, all casinos everywhere and the multi-million dollar, taxpayer-funded abortion industry. There is no virtue in them and no need for them to exist except greed. But I’ll be in heaven with those who aren’t as adamant about these. My convictions on alcohol are unyielding for me but patient with you, for example. So I’m not telling you what to do about Disney or Toyota or the NCAA. But I am saying that our Christian convictions should now and again inconvenience us relative to where we shop or what entertainments we consume. It should happen … sometimes.

But we aren’t just “us” are we? When there is a movie, restaurant or company that we can’t in good conscience support, do we have the conviction to explain to our kids or grandkids why this one thing we will not do? That should also happen.

I’d go farther and suggest that some of us are hesitant to own our convictions. All of us are hesitant sometimes. We’d never say that “anything goes,” but we are more cautious to say what doesn’t go for fear of sounding judgey. We hear that younger generations are far more liberal than older generations, and sometimes it makes us fear their disapproval by sounding old-fashioned. It becomes a loop of moral confusion. We soft-pedal our own convictions because we want to sound hip so our younglings go elsewhere to form their morals. We see the great and unexplainable gulf between us and it makes us even more fearful of widening it. If we won’t be leaders we shouldn’t mind much that our followers go astray.

Go see “Mulan” if you like. Your decision is not personal to me. But I might ask you the last time you told yourself or your kids “no” for a convictional reason. Maybe it was about something that others in your church would find more acceptable. There’s an aspect of leadership in taking that stand, even about something as vaporous as entertainment, but there is also an aspect of followship in it. We have indeed been called to live in this world for a time, but we were not called to conform to its ways.

The Unfinished Task

At Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin we are “rolling out the red carpet” for the 22nd annual meeting of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. This year our convention will look different, due to the challenges presented by COVID-19. We will observe the protocols of physical distancing, hand sanitizer stations and we will encourage masks—but the convention will still be an excellent opportunity for our Southern Baptists of Texas churches to worship together, fellowship and accomplish our business.

At Hyde Park Baptist Church, as the host church, we are committed to making all of the messengers as welcome as possible. We are working, planning and praying toward a great convention.

This year I’ve chosen the theme, “Together for the Unfinished Task.” I believe God is working powerfully in spite of the numerous changes in our daily lives brought about by the coronavirus. In fact, despite of our challenges, these may be the greatest days in many years for us to more effectively and passionately evangelize our communities.

After all, the church of Jesus was born in the hostile environment of the Roman Empire. Back then communication meant three months to deliver a letter and three more months to get a response. Travel was only as fast as a ship could sail, a horse could run or a man could walk. The early church had no political clout, no buildings and no money. Their best leaders were frequently in and out of jail. Yet, in spite of the obvious shortages, roadblocks and troubles, within one generation they took the gospel to parts of Africa, Asia, the Middle East and much of Europe.

In our culture we face challenges too, all complicated by COVID-19; but for 2,000 years, the gospel has repeatedly displayed an ability to flourish in the midst of challenge, opposition and crisis. Remember, our churches have struggled during the age of pandemic; but our lost neighbors are struggling too. They need answers, direction and hope. Now is no time to shrink back. Instead, now is the time to work together to take the gospel to our neighbors, family members and friends. Everybody you know needs Jesus.

This year our convention will conduct its business, but we will also encourage one another to press forward in the “unfinished task.” Our speakers, our breakouts, our praying and our worship will all be focused on reaching people for Christ! There will be variety along with consistency from previous years. We will consider a lot of aspects of reaching lost people, but the theme will be clear. As the 19th century evangelical missionary Amy Carmichael once observed, “We have all eternity to celebrate our victories, but only one brief moment before twilight to win them.” I agree with her.

The time is now. The hour is late. The cause is great. Join me in Austin November 9-10 for our annual convention as we press forward in the unfinished task of the Great Commission of Jesus Christ in Texas and around the world.

Churches planting churches: tracing a legacy of multiplication in Boerne

For many visitors to The Bridge Fellowship—a church plant in Boerne, just outside of San Antonio—the church’s story begins at their hard launch on Sep. 13. But for pastor Jared Patrick, things began two years ago when he was serving on staff at Currey Creek Baptist Church under pastor John Free.

“One day in March of 2018 John came in and said it’s time to plant a church,” Patrick said. “My heart sank, and I knew I was supposed to go plant that church.”

Patrick had been on staff at Currey Creek since 2013 overseeing adults, groups and missions when, after hearing the vision for reproduction, he sensed the Lord was calling him to lead the plant Free had talked about.

“I started praying about it, and I went and talked to John and said, ‘I think I’m supposed to plant that church,’” Patrick said. “He confirmed it right then, and we started moving.

“Long story short, we announced it to the church, and Currey Creek just gave me a lot of time to dream and to plan, where would we plant it, how would it be different than Currey Creek. And so we did. We put all that together and announced it to the church in February and started getting momentum,” Patrick added.

Free, who began his career in ministry as a church planter, said he has long dreamed of planting churches from health rather than from division or disagreement.

“Back in 1990 when I finished from Southwestern I went to New Mexico to do a 10-week church planting exercise, and that led to me going back with the Home Mission Board as a church planter apprentice, which is a two-year program. After that, the church called me as pastor.

“I was sitting in my office one day,” Free said, “thinking, ‘Man, I’ve got this seminary degree but I don’t really have any idea how to plant a church.’ I just said, if I’m ever in a position to be a senior pastor of a larger church, I’m going to bring people in and equip them to be senior pastors and then, if the Lord calls them to plant churches, that’s what I’m going to do.”

It turns out that Free would have just that opportunity, both as a planter and as a sponsor. Twenty years ago he was hired at First Baptist Boerne under pastor Bubba Stahl, who had a similar vision for building up a healthy church and sending out a plant. Stahl’s vision to grow a church and plant from health led to Free planting Currey Creek in 2001.

And now, Free’s initial vision as a young church planter has finally come to fruition as Currey Creek sends out The Bridge Fellowship, its first church plant.

Although the timing has been affected by the pandemic, Patrick said there has been an overwhelming response to the vision of The Bridge Fellowship.

“We had our first interest meeting in March and there were about 220 people there,” he said, “and then COVID hit and just shut everything down.”

Patrick said that the strategy has had to pivot, as they were forced to delay the launch schedule, but they continued to have interest meetings online. As of August, attendance was up to 320—before they even opened the doors for the first time.

Much of this is comprised of a group being sent out by Currey Creek itself, including 20 percent of their current membership.

“Currey Creek is sending out a lot of people and resources to go start this church. They believe in church planting. It’s a really fun story that’s kind of happening the next several weeks,” Patrick said, “as Currey Creek is becoming parents, and First Baptist is becoming grandparents. There’s just this really rich heritage here in Boerne of church planting and cooperation among churches to move and to multiply.”

According to Free, even before the time came, it was important that Currey Creek make plans to resource their plant as much as possible, both with finances and with people. “By God’s grace our church is generous. We shared the vision that we were going to plant a church by 2021—we don’t know where yet, we don’t know who yet—but we’re going to start setting aside money and be deliberate about that,” Free said.

And when Patrick first presented his plan regarding staffing some months ago, Free insisted that instead of cobbling together a handful of part-time employees, the sending church would make available the resources for a full-time “right hand man.”

“Someone who can do all those things that either one, he’s not good at, or two, he’s not called to.” Free said.

Both Free and Patrick emphasized the SBTC’s help in the planting process, specifically with the assessment process Patrick went through with his wife, Meredith.

“It was something we were certainly nervous about, but it ended up being life-giving,” Patrick said, “Now we’re through the process and we are connected with great church planters around Texas that have become confidantes and, really, friends. We don’t feel isolated, we don’t feel like we’re on our own. We have found our tribe, which is really great.”

Patrick also added how helpful the commitment of resources has been.

“There is no doubt that we have the momentum we have partly because of the SBTC’s financial support and their commitment for three years for us, which is huge.”

The Reach Texas Missions Offering is one of the most important avenues by which the convention is able to provide such support for plants like The Bridge Fellowship. To find out more visit:
sbtexas.com/reachtexas.

Reach Texas Offering: TBHC ‘putting the kids first’

WAXAHACHIE Since its founding in 1910, the Texas Baptist Home for Children has cared for more than 3,500 children, and “none of those kids were cared for in a building all by themselves. They always had loving adults caring for them,” Jason Curry, the ministry’s president, said of God’s people stepping up to serve.

TBHC now supports about 60 foster parents throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area, providing a clothing allowance, ongoing training, counseling and sometimes even paying for extracurricular activities and summer camps for the kids.

“Our purpose is to glorify God by caring for children,” Curry told the TEXAN. “We want to do that with excellence and above reproach, always making sure that we’re putting the kids first.”

More than 400 children have been adopted through TBHC since that part of their ministry began in 2004, yet Curry said 3,500 children are awaiting adoption on a given day in Texas. Through a quick online search, he determined about 5,500 churches of various denominations are in the DFW area.

“If just a small portion of Texas stood up and said, ‘We’ll take care of kids,’ they’d make a huge difference,” Curry said.

About 30,000 children enter foster care in Texas each year. “A lot of kids are simply hoping that families will step up and become their mom and dad,” Curry said.

Curry’s own relationship with TBHC began in 2010 when he and his wife were searching for an agency to facilitate foster care and adoption. Even before they were married, both knew they would want to adopt someday.

“I have a journal entry many, many years old from my teens when I said, ‘My wife will want to adopt.’ My wife had a similar moment in her life,” he said.

TBHC initially helped the Currys welcome three little girls, a sibling group, into their home. At one point, their family grew to include nine
children.

“It is the hardest thing we have ever done, and it is the most rewarding thing we have ever done,” Curry said. “Constantly, what I come back to is that the gospel is God reaching down and adding me to his family in a way that I never deserved and I never earned.

“For the church, it’s the best picture of what God did for us. We are stepping into the middle of a child’s circumstances, and we are loving them and we are incorporating them into our family.”

Curry pointed to James 1:27, which says true and undefiled religion is caring for orphans and widows in their distress. Each time a child has been added to his family, Curry has realized the void they filled.

“When they showed up, they were the missing piece that we never knew was missing,” he said.

Amberly Walker and her husband Chris adopted five children through TBHC about four years ago. They began fostering the five, a sibling group, after years of infertility. At first they were overwhelmed by the idea of receiving five children.

“Once we stopped looking at them as five, they were individual people who needed someone to give them a chance,” Walker told the TEXAN.

The children had been split up into three homes at the time the Walkers learned about them, and they knew it was important for them to be together. TBHC walked with them “the whole way,” she said, adding, “We never felt alone working with TBHC.”

TBHC has a campus in Waxahachie with seven cottages where couples are raising about six children each, the maximum allowed by state law. Recently, some donations allowed them to repair a swimming pool and add a splash pad for younger children, something Curry said has blessed the families during the coronavirus pandemic.

Anyone interested in fostering or adopting can start by completing a brief inquiry form at tbhc.org, Curry said, and they can attend a general information meeting. One of the biggest myths surrounding adoption is that it is expensive, he said.

“Adoption, if you do that through foster care, is absolutely free,” he said. Some small fees, such as for a CPR class, might arise, but “fostering to adopt is an inexpensive way to help a kid join your family.”

Most people who want to adopt are looking for infants, Curry said, and it can take a long time to find that kind of match. But if people are willing to receive older children, the wait is much shorter.

Curry said it costs TBHC $32 per day per child to support fostering families, and “that’s above any kind of reimbursement we get from the state.”

“As people are considering giving to Reach Texas, we will be recipients of that, and it will make a huge difference in a child’s life,” Curry said.