Month: December 2023

Growing church in tiny town is experiencing explosive growth

If you’ve ever driven through Lingleville, you probably weren’t there long.

Located about 85 miles west of Fort Worth and 85 miles east of Abilene, this tiny Erath County town is home to fewer than 100 residents and features a small country store, a volunteer fire department, a post office—and not much more.

That’s what makes the work God is doing at Lingleville Baptist Church all the more exciting.

The church grew from the 55 people who called Ryan Hurt as pastor in 2015 to a congregation of 250 by late 2019. COVID hit in the spring of 2020, leading the church to temporarily meet online. Before long, in-person worship resumed, the church continued to offer its services online, and now, several hundred people watch via the web each week in addition to the explosion of people attending onsite, according to Hurt.

“We went from 55 folks in 2015 to now running 700-plus between two services. It’s been the craziest thing I’ve ever seen,” Hurt said. “We are building a 1,200-seat auditorium to accommodate the growth. Talk about the Lord moving on this little hill.”

Until construction is complete on the new worship center and education space, the church will continue to worship in its Family Life Center—where services were moved after it outgrew its sanctuary. Growth continues week after week, Hurt said, as members of the congregation use word of mouth to tell others about the gospel and the church.

“The Holy Spirit is in the building. It’s amazing.”

—Curtis Green Tweet

“We have a whole section of people out there because I’ve invited them,” said Curtis Green, a mechanic who has been attending for two years. “I tell them if you don’t know Jesus, you need to come to Lingleville Baptist Church. The Holy Spirit is in the building. It’s amazing.”

Rancher Gary Clayton, a member for six years, said he invites people to church everywhere he goes—grocery stores, gas stations, banks. Clayton said the church hosts events frequently, including crawfish boils, father/son campouts, crochet clubs, and family nights, making it a popular center of activity in such a small community.

The church offers the ministry for people in their 20s and 30s, a ministry called Overcomers for those recovering from life-limiting choices, a marriage ministry called Reengage that meets on Sunday nights, and vibrant opportunities for men, women, students, and children.

“It’s such an easy church to fall in love with,” Clayton said. “We have a pastor who is on fire for God and the Holy Spirit just moves in our church. It’s a phenomenal place.”

Lingleville Baptist Church has become a center of activity in such a small community, providing plenty of opportunities for people of all ages. Most importantly, the church is using its influence to deliver the gospel to people beyond its city limits. SUBMITTED PHOTOS

The church’s ministry area spreads out 11 miles south to Dublin, 10 miles west to Desdemona, and 10 miles north to Huckabay. Hurt said the church’s “come as you are” atmosphere has drawn people from all walks of life to hear the gospel.

Hurt was once one of those people. He had a 12-year career in country music before a near-fatal car crash redirected his life back to his early Christian roots. Though his wife, Melissa, was not raised in church, she knew their lives needed something different following the wreck. “We’ve got to do something different,” Hurt recalled his wife saying to him, suggesting they go to church.

God took care of the rest, calling Hurt to ministry and allowing him to lead a congregation in Lingleville that welcomes all comers.

“It’s as diverse as you can be out here in the middle of nowhere … famous rodeo folks, Dutch dairymen, recovering addicts, lawyers, college students, housewives, truck drivers, college professors, and lots more,” he said. “The gospel truly brings everyone together.”

“It’s as diverse as you can be out here in the middle of nowhere ... famous rodeo folks, Dutch dairymen, recovering addicts, lawyers, college students, housewives, truck drivers, college professors ... The gospel truly brings everyone together.”

—Ryan Hurt Tweet

Local ministry focuses on once-a-month meals for the faculty and staff at the Lingleville Independent School District. A live nativity production tells the whole story of Jesus, from His birth to the empty tomb, at Christmastime. The three-day production saw about 1,200 people come through this past December, the pastor said.

Reaching beyond Lingleville, the church has taken mission trips to do maintenance work at a small associational camp in Oklahoma.

“The main thing [we tell people] is who they are in Christ, how important our relationship with the Lord is, that we’re never so far gone God can’t meet us where we’re at, and the importance of going and sharing the good news,” Hurt said. “It’s the Great Commission. The people here, when they see—when they understand—what the Lord is doing, what He’s done, what He wants to do in and through us as faithful followers of Jesus empowered by the Holy Spirit, it changes everything.”

Iglesia en Brownsville aprovecha las fiestas para compartir el amor de Cristo con la comunidad

Llegó la temporada

lega la mañana de Nochebuena, y un grupo de familias de la iglesia Ecclesia Community está recorriendo una serie de estacionamientos visitando negocios, oficinas y restaurantes locales.

Los miembros de la iglesia llevan consigo dos regalos para cada lugar en el que se detienen: donas azucaradas y la dulzura del amor de Cristo. Antes de despedirse de cada lugar, cantan villancicos e invitan a la iglesia a las personas a las que han bendecido.

“La gente nos recibe con gran alegría, y algunos nos preguntan por qué lo hacemos o por qué los escogimos a ellos”, dijo el pastor James Martínez.

La respuesta es sencilla: Ecclesia Community Church quiere impactar vidas y aprovechar cada oportunidad para compartir el amor de Dios, incluso si eso significa salir a la comunidad en una mañana festiva.

Las temporadas festivas ofrecen una de las mejores oportunidades para que Ecclesia haga esto, según Martínez. En torno al Día de Acción de Gracias, la iglesia prescinde del tradicional servicio dominical y en su lugar organizan lo que denominan un “Friendsgiving”, donde se sirve una comida y los miembros invitan a sus amigos que no asisten a una iglesia a compartir con ellos el alimento físico y espiritual.

La Navidad trae consigo múltiples oportunidades de alcance. Los miembros de la iglesia colaboran en la preparación de cajas de regalos para niños desfavorecidos de todo el mundo a través de Operación Niño de la Navidad. En la semana previa a la Navidad, las familias de la iglesia se reúnen en el Chick-fil-A local para cantar villancicos a los clientes del restaurante e invitarles a su servicio de Nochebuena.

Martínez comparte que él se había puesto en contacto con varios establecimientos del área para cantar villancicos en sus locales, pero todos le dijeron que no. Un día, estaba comiendo en Chick-fil-A y decidió preguntar al gerente si estaría dispuesto a hacerlo. El gerente aceptó, diciendo que había estado buscando a alguien para cantar en una de sus actividades navideñas.

Tales oportunidades dan a Ecclesia Community Church más visibilidad en la comunidad, lo que, a su vez, proporciona a los miembros más oportunidades de compartir palabras de ánimo e invitar a la gente a la iglesia.

“La gente sabe quiénes somos por lo que hacemos en la comunidad para llegar a ellos”, dijo Martínez. “Muchos de los que llegan a la iglesia vienen porque saben quiénes somos y que estamos ahí para ellos”.

Todo para alcanzar todos

Ecclesia Community Church ha estado arraigada en el servicio comunitario desde que comenzó como una plantación en el 2020. Ese fue también el año en que algo más comenzó, COVID-19. Así que justo cuando la iglesia estaba empezando, todo comenzó a cerrarse.

Sin inmutarse, Martínez llevó a la iglesia a utilizar sus instalaciones para iniciar un ministerio de distribución de alimentos. Dios abrió las puertas para que Ecclesia recibiera un gran suministro de alimentos cada semana que no sólo abastecía a la comunidad, sino que también servía para que otras iglesias los distribuyeran.

“Cada semana, unas 3,000 familias venían a recibir alimentos y a escuchar el Evangelio”, dice Martínez. Hoy día, el ministerio de alimentos sigue funcionando, distribuyendo alimentos mensualmente e incluso uniéndose a una organización que provee alimentos de la ciudad de Waco, ubicada el centro de Texas.

El ministerio de alimentos fue sólo el principio de una iglesia que no ha dejado de hacer los cambios necesarios para adaptarse mejor a las necesidades específicas de su comunidad. Por ejemplo, Martínez plantó Ecclesia con la idea de que sería una iglesia en inglés. Sin embargo, Dios le mostró que, para ellos poder ser relevante entre la diversidad de familias en una comunidad fronteriza con México, la iglesia necesitaría ser bilingüe. Aun así, la iglesia ha aprendido que, aunque muchos adultos hablan español, sus hijos se comunican mejor en inglés.

“Vemos cada vez más familias [que hablan] varios idiomas y la iglesia está llamada a alcanzarlos”.

—James Martinez Tweet

“Vemos cada vez más familias [que hablan] varios idiomas”, dijo Martínez, “y la iglesia está llamada a alcanzarlos”.

Otro ajuste que Ecclesia estaba dispuesta a hacer para adaptarse mejor a la comunidad era celebrar su principal servicio semanal el domingo por la noche en lugar del domingo por la mañana. De este modo se adapta al gran número de personas de la comunidad que trabajan largos turnos los sábados por la noche o que trabajan los domingos por la mañana.

Alrededor de 80 personas asisten a Ecclesia cada semana, dijo Martínez. Él ora para que vengan más a medida que la iglesia sigue alcanzándolos fuera de sus paredes. Su último proyecto, la apertura de una cafetería, está previsto que comience este mes.

Martínez, que fue gerente de una conocida cafetería durante 10 años, vio la necesidad en la zona de un establecimiento similar, con una ubicación accesible y precios asequibles, que también abriera sus puertas para compartir a Jesús con cada taza de café servida. Su deseo es que la cafetería sea un lugar donde la comunidad pueda acudir en busca de oración, comida y provisión. El nombre de la tienda será 2:42 Coffee House, por Hechos 2:42, que dice: “ Y perseveraban en la doctrina de los apóstoles, en la comunión unos con otros, en el partimiento del pan y en las oraciones”.

“Existimos para ayudar a las personas a conocer a Dios, amar a Dios y servir a Dios”, dijo Martínez, “así que estamos dispuestos a hacer todo lo posible para cumplir esa misión.”

Brownsville church uses holidays to share Christ’s love with community

’Tis the season

It’s Christmas Eve morning, and a group of families from Ecclesia Community Church is working its way through a series of parking lots, making visits to local businesses, offices, and restaurants.

The church members are carrying with them two gifts for each place they stop: sugary-good donuts and the sweetness of Christ’s love. Before they leave each location, they sing Christmas carols and invite the people they have blessed to church.

“People greet us with great joy, and some ask us why we are doing this or why we chose them,” Pastor James Martinez said.

The answer is simple: Ecclesia Community Church wants to impact lives and take advantage of every opportunity to share God’s love—even if that means going out into the community on a holiday morning.

Holiday seasons provide one of the best opportunities for Ecclesia to do this, according to Martinez. Around Thanksgiving, the church forgoes a traditional Sunday service and instead hosts what it calls “Friendsgiving,” where a meal is served and members can invite their unchurched friends to share physical and spiritual nourishment with them.

Christmastime brings multiple outreach opportunities. Church members work together to prepare gift boxes for underprivileged children around the world through Operation Christmas Child. In the week leading up to Christmas, church families gather at the local Chick-fil-A to sing Christmas carols to those eating at the restaurant and to invite them to their Christmas Eve service.

Martinez said he approached several businesses about caroling at their location, but all of them said no. One day, he was eating at Chick-fil-A and decided to ask the manager if he would be open to the opportunity. The manager agreed, saying he had already been looking for someone to sing at one of their Christmas activities.

Such opportunities give Ecclesia Community Church more visibility in the community which, in turn, provides members with more chances to share words of encouragement and invite people to church.

“People know who we are because of what we do in the community to reach out to them,” Martinez said. “Many of those who are coming to the church are coming because they know who we are and that we are there for them.”

All things to all people

Ecclesia Community Church has been rooted in community service since beginning as a plant in 2020. That was also the year something else started—COVID-19. So just as the church was starting up, everything began to shut down.

Undeterred, Martinez led the church to use its facility to start a food distribution ministry. God opened the doors for Ecclesia to receive a large supply of food each week that not only provided for the community, but also for other churches to distribute.

“Every week, there were about 3,000 families who came to get food and hear the gospel,” Martinez said. The food ministry is still going strong today, holding monthly food distributions and even partnering with an aid organization in the Central Texas city of Waco.

The food ministry was just the beginning for a church that has continually made necessary changes to better suit the specific needs of its community. For example, Martinez planted Ecclesia with the idea that it would be an English-language church. However, God showed him that to be relevant to the diversity of families in a community on the Mexico border, the church would need to be bilingual. Even so, the church has learned that while many adults speak Spanish, their children communicate better in English.

“We see more and more families [that speak] multiple languages and the church is called to reach them.”

—James Martinez Tweet

“We see more and more families [that speak] multiple languages,” Martinez said, “and the church is called to reach them.”

Another adjustment Ecclesia was willing to make to better suit the community was to host its main weekly service on Sunday night rather than Sunday morning. That accommodates the large number of people in the community who work long Saturday night shifts or those who work Sunday mornings.

About 80 people are attending Ecclesia each week, Martinez said. He prays for more to come as the church continues to reach outside its walls. His latest outreach—opening a coffee shop—is scheduled to begin this month.

Martinez, who was the manager of a well-known coffee shop for 10 years, saw a need in the area for a similar establishment with an accessible location and affordable prices that would likewise open its doors to share Jesus with every cup of coffee served. His desire is for the coffee shop to be a place where the community can come for prayer, food, and provision. The name of the shop will be 2:42 Coffee House—named for Acts 2:42, which states, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.”

“We exist to help people know God, love God, and serve God,” Martinez said, “so we are willing to do all we can to fulfill that mission.”

What happens when Wichita Falls church reads the Bible aloud every December? ‘It changes people’

Members of Western Hills Baptist Church in Wichita Falls know firsthand the truth of Romans 10:17: “Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ.” For the third consecutive year, the church will read the entire Bible aloud between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

“The Word of God will not return void,” said Patricia Ackley, who spearheaded the original effort with her husband, Lee, the church’s associate pastor.

The reading begins on Dec. 26 and ends either late Dec. 31 or sometime Jan. 1, running daily from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and taking about 100 hours total. The church’s sound system amplifies voices so all can hear throughout the fellowship hall, where the reading occurs.

Participants sign up for time slots or to read certain books of the Bible, either using their preferred translations or Bibles supplied by the church. Members gather to support the effort. Visitors are welcome, too.

When certain time slots go unclaimed, others in the room step in, taking turns reading individually or in small groups, Ackley said. Those who feel less comfortable reading aloud may use Bible apps to read their sections of Scripture. Others simply sit quietly, listening and encouraging the readers.

“It’s important for a church undertaking this to be flexible regarding the needs of the congregation. We have some who cannot read due to vision problems or for other reasons,” Ackley said. “We never pressure anyone to read but encourage them to use audio Bibles or sit and listen.”

Sometimes whole families sign up for a chunk of time to read. The youth have a yearly midweek lock-in and participate, as well.

“That first year, we stepped out in faith … stressing that God’s Word will go forth as long as we have breath in our lungs.”

—Patricia Ackley Tweet

‘Great encouragement and great learning’

The Bible-A-Thon, as the church calls it, becomes a time of fellowship, with church members providing three free meals per day plus homemade snacks and treats. Churchwide response has been positive, with multigenerational participation, something member Jim Mitchell praised. Known to tear up at the event’s conclusion, Mitchell said the reading “crossed all generations—children, teenagers, middle-aged parents, and senior adults” and provided a “great time of fellowship.”

Reena Brookins brought her teen girls Bible study group to read for hours last year. Carl and Kym Thomas and their entire family attended most of the 2022 reading. “It was beautiful,” Ackley said of the family’s participation.

Methods vary. Some younger kids perform skits. Last year, member Ross Prebish even sang Obadiah to the tune of the Gilligan’s Island theme song, while his wife, Jennifer, not only paired up with another member to read Genesis but also prepared lunch.

Enthusiasm continues to grow, but the focus remains the same.

“That first year, we stepped out in faith … stressing that God’s Word will go forth as long as we have breath in our lungs,” Ackley said. Often in the early days, a solitary reader kept the narration going. God will bring participants, she added, but “even when you are tired or alone in the sanctuary or surrounded by 60 people, it is about His Word.”

Said Western Hills Pastor Richard Allen: “It benefits the members. They really enjoy listening to the Word being read audibly all day. There’s great encouragement and great learning.”

The effect can be hard to explain, Allen said, but “14 hours a day hearing the Word of God encourages you. It changes people. A week of hearing nothing but the Bible read changes you.”

Allen estimates that 70 percent of his congregation, which runs 75 on Sundays, participates at some level in the Bible-A-Thon.

‘A great movement for years to come’

Ackley said couples, youth, families, and Sunday school teachers began talking about the Bible-A-Thon in early fall.

“We are excited to read the Word this year, and seeing others tell new members and visitors about the event is a blessing,” Ackley said, adding that the church will again announce the Bible-A-Thon on the local Christian radio station. Members will prepare extra food, welcoming anyone who wants to “experience the Word of God in a powerful way.”

Ackley, a 52-year-old medical student, has long been involved at Western Hills, doing everything from directing vacation Bible school and authoring curriculum, writing Christmas plays and Easter programs, coordinating block parties, teaching adult Sunday school, starting the church’s Wednesday night meal program, and spearheading a special holiday meal and program for widows and widowers.

Now with a busy medical school schedule, she has passed on most of those duties to others, except the widows’ banquet and the Bible marathon—the latter of which she said she hopes catches on in other locations.

“It would be great if this year, between Christmas and New Year’s, there were a lot of churches reading [through] the Bible,” she said, noting that God’s Word has the power to “spark a great movement this Christmas and for years to come.”

5 Reasons to Attend SBTC’s College Discipleship Conference

Two years ago, a group of college leaders decided local church leaders needed a space to bring students for the purposes of helping them cast vision for being disciple-makers and to mobilize them with the gospel. Last year, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s collegiate ministry pulled this off and hosted more than 300 students, encouraging them to be inspired and equipped in the mission of God at our College Discipleship Conference.

This year, we want you and your students here. Here are five reasons you should bring your local church college ministry to the College Discipleship Conference:

1. It’s mission critical.

That’s a bit dramatic, but here’s what I mean: you’re leading the most moldable and sendable demographic, and the world is not becoming more Christian, but less. This generation has the potential to change that. You have the unique opportunity to empower this generation to make a difference!

2. It will reinforce the vision of your college ministry.

Sometimes it takes a secondary voice to reinforce the things you have already been saying and the vision you have been casting. This will be a huge support in doubling down on the vision of your college ministry. You preach to your students about the need to be disciples who make disciples. You want them to be missionaries where they live, work, study, and play. This event will reinforce those values.

3. It will help you raise up laborers in your ministry.

One thing I see in a lot of college ministry leaders is they feel like they are trying to accomplish the Great Commission alone. This conference will help inspire and equip college students to lead the college ministry you’ve been entrusted with. The hope of this event is that it will help distribute the weight of responsibility in the task and empower your students to make disciples like they never have before.

4. Your college students will meet other college students who are living on mission.

Students will get to collaborate with other college students, getting to know them on a personal level and learning from one other about how to make disciples on their campus and in their community. This gives students a greater vision and helps them realize they are not the only ones on this mission.

5. You will make friends with other college ministry leaders.

The silver bullet of a successful ministry is relationships. Getting to learn from other leaders will help you become a better leader. There is always someone you can learn from and there is always someone who can learn from you. You will get to meet other local church college ministry leaders who are doing ministry just like you.

Don’t miss out on this! We would love to see you and your students reach your campus and community like never before. If you have any questions, please reach out to me mtidwell@sbtexas.com.