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LOVELADY Approximately 100 miles north of Houston, the small town of Lovelady, Texas, covers only 1.1 square miles of land and boasts a population of 600. Despite its size, God is doing some big things in the life of Antioch Baptist Church.
Tony Wolfe, serving in his first pastorate after a number of years as a music minister in Louisiana and Texas, came to Antioch four years ago and saw immediate growth. In his first year as pastor, the church outgrew its sanctuary and has been meeting in the gym ever since.
Wolfe said at times it feels like a church plant because each Sunday morning a team of people sets up and tears down for the service. Plans are in the works to build a new sanctuary and remodel older facilities to meet the needs of their growing faith community.
In the midst of this numerical growth over the past three years, Sunday morning attendance has grown from 80 to 220, with the church baptizing 140 people—55 of those in 2015.
“There is nothing that will do more for the forward momentum of your church than baptizing people nine Sundays in a row,” Wolfe said.
Lovelady is located in one of the more economically challenged counties of Texas, with about 21 percent living below the poverty line. Despite this reality and a major economic downturn in January and February of 2015, giving at the church increased during those months by 52 percent. Wolfe attributes this to a mighty work of God in people’s lives. Members are eager to give because they are seeing lives changed for the glory of God.
“Whole families are coming to Christ and many others we [Christians] would normally write off,” Wolfe said.
Creating a new mission statement is a seemingly small change, but the words “knowing Jesus and making him known through Christ-centered relationships” have become a rallying cry for Antioch members. Rather than develop new and innovative programming, staff encourage church members to build relationships with Christians and non-Christians as the most important way to disciple and evangelize. This simple, biblical approach is paying off in dividends in this small town.
“When it comes to church growth, there is just no substitute for consistent, faithful gospel witness,” Wolfe said.
Quick to say they are not solely focused on numbers, Wolfe understands that every number or percentage represents a man, woman or child.
“Other than the numbers, it’s amazing to see lives transformed, marriages saved and people with nowhere else to turn coming to our church,” he said.
Wolfe prays that during their successes and blessings that everyone, himself included, remembers that it is all for the glory of God. Antioch Baptist Church is proof that sometimes big things do come in small packages.
