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Mobilized and making an impact
God is moving mightily through the family of churches known as the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.
In February, the SBTC’s annual Empower Conference delivered tools, training, and encouragement to a record crowd of nearly 4,300 people. In its second year, the Empower Student Rally drew nearly 750 students—double the number who attended the inaugural event the previous year. Included in those attendees were 18 students who made professions of faith in Jesus Christ.
It was an exciting year for SBTC student ministries, which reached 6,600 students through the rally, M3 WKND, and M3 summer camps. Of that number, 940 made professions of faith, expressed a desire to be baptized, or acknowledged a call to ministry, missions, or leadership in the local church.
SBTC En Español has seen engagement among Hispanic Texans vastly increase. Its men’s conference, Hombres de Impacto, drew 750 men while its Florece retreat attracted nearly 800 women—representing the largest attendance numbers in the history of both events. SBTC En Español’s Youth Week student camp had nearly 700 campers.
Another noteworthy first: In June, First Baptist Church Woodsboro became the first SBTC church to serve on mission in Nevada as part of the convention’s partnership with the Nevada Baptist Convention. The aim of the partnership is for the two state conventions to work together to strengthen existing churches and plant new ones in Nevada. A similar partnership has also been underway between the SBTC and the Convention of Southern Baptist Churches of Puerto Rico, and plans to do similar work in Europe through the SBTC are well underway.
“This is a daunting reality—one that ought to move our hearts to action. What we’ve seen time and time again over the past 25 years as a convention [is this]: What seems like an insurmountable mountain to the world becomes a God-sized opportunity to reach every person and place God sends us.”
In September, the convention announced SBTC churches gave $1,752,383 through the Reach Texas State Missions Offering this past year—the most collected in a single year. The offering period covered September 2023 to August 2024. The previous record was set only a year earlier, when $1,673,560 was given. Reach Texas funds a variety of gospel-fueled efforts, including church planting, disaster relief, missions mobilization, and the Empower Conference.
Throughout the year, the SBTC has continued to cast a renewed vision for the next decade: to see all its affiliated churches mobilized to multiply disciple-making movements in Texas and around the world. Twenty-five years ago, Texas was home to 19 million people. Today, 19 million people are estimated to be lost in a state that is now home to 30 million people.
“This is a daunting reality—one that ought to move our hearts to action,” SBTC Executive Director Nathan Lorick said during his report to messengers at the 2023 SBTC Annual Meeting. “What we’ve seen time and time again over the past 25 years as a convention [is this]: What seems like an insurmountable mountain to the world becomes a God-sized opportunity to reach every person and place God sends us.”
Through October, the number of churches affiliated with the SBTC stood at 2,786. That number was expected to rise following November’s SBTC Executive Board meeting, which happened after the Texan’s publishing deadline.
