GRAPEVINE—Every Great Commission-focused church wants to reach its neighborhood for Christ. Door-to-door visits, passing out flyers and tracts … such traditional methods still work, but may be less effective in today’s increasingly mobile society where neighbors often do not know the folks down the street.

Imagine being able to pray daily for neighbors by name, to care for them, to share the gospel with them.

To encourage that dynamic, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention is offering its affiliated churches the opportunity to learn about their neighbors and track evangelism efforts by making Bless Every Home’s Bless Partner service available.

Bless Partner facilitates one-on-one evangelism with those around you, said Bruno Molina, SBTC language and interfaith evangelism associate.

How it works

When a church joins the Bless Partner service, members sign up to be “Lights” in their neighborhoods, Molina explained. Members see a map of their area and determine the perimeter of their prayers.

“They decide,” Molina said. “Say, they choose 100 people … [they] can see on a map where those people live, their names, their addresses.” The Lights then record interactions with these neighbors.

Something as simple as helping your neighbor take out her garbage is an example of caring. The Bless Partner app allows church members to log such events and note times when they have prayed or shared the gospel with someone. The church can see the same information, Molina said.

The app even offers an optional prompt to remind members to pray for individuals. “Every morning, they’ll get a reminder to pray for five people in their area,” Molina said. “When they pray for these people by name, they can check them off on the app.”

With Bless Partner, churches need not wonder about the extent of their members’ evangelistic efforts. “You’re not guessing, hoping and praying that people are doing [these things],” Molina said. “If you’re on the app, you’ll know exactly where your people stand. The app is a good accountability tool to make sure you are living out the Great Commission and the Great Commandment.”

The information on residences and residents distributed by Bless Partner can all be found in public records, Molina said. The app simply consolidates the information to make it accessible to churches and members.

Start Bless Partner for free through the SBTC

The SBTC is providing affiliated churches a scholarship to cover the first two months of the Bless Partner service when they register under the SBTC umbrella, Molina said. Churches that choose to continue the service after the initial two months will pay only $15 per month for the entire church, regardless of size. Churches may unsubscribe to the service at any time.

The first 100 churches registering under the SBTC umbrella will receive a third month free of the Bless Partner service and a special bonus: three months of the New Movers service also offered by Bless Every Home.

The New Movers service provides churches with weekly lists of up to 25 households that have moved within a 15-mile radius of the church. According to the Bless Every Home website, the list includes the new residents’ names and address and notes how many miles they have moved from their last home. Church staffs can mobilize their member Lights who have opted to visit new movers. The Lights receive email notifications to pray for and visit the appropriate new movers. These contacts can also be logged.

Kudos for the app

Matt Queen, associate dean of the Roy Fish School of Evangelism and Missions at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, endorses Bless Every Home and said he has used the program in leading evangelism at Southwestern and at Lane Prairie Baptist Church.

“The features it offers, as well as the dynamic and current information it provides, makes it an excellent tool for SBTC churches as we cooperatively reach the 19-plus-million lost people within our state,” Queen said.

“The Bless Every Home initiative is a simple, yet powerful tool to mobilize church members on mission in their own neighborhoods,” SBTC Associate Executive Director Tony Wolfe added. “When everyday followers of Jesus begin strategically praying over, caring for, and sharing the gospel with their neighbors, the Great Commission advances, churches are strengthened, and souls are saved. The Lone Star State is home to 30 million people and that number is growing daily. Our network of churches must find ways to mobilize every Texan Christ-follower to intentional and organic daily witness for Christ. Bless Every Home is just that.”

To learn more about the various services offered by Bless Every Home, visit blesseveryhome.com. Churches that would like to sign up under the SBTC umbrella can do so here. Individual people can sign up here.

Although supply chain shortages have affected some ministries this Thanksgiving season, many churches are finding creative ways to serve their communities amid lingering COVID restrictions.

From sit-down meals to deliveries and drive-thru giveaways, congregations are using the holiday to share both Christ’s love and all the Thanksgiving fixings in cities and towns across Texas.

Rush Creek Church in Arlington continued its traditional Great Turkey Take Away by serving 400 families on Saturday, Nov. 20.

The church once distributed turkeys to clients but in recent years switched to grocery gift cards and boxes of seasonal non-perishable goods, said Eunice Cruz, director of compassion resources at the church.

“We gave them everything for the meal except a ham or turkey, which they can use the gift card to buy,” Cruz said. People started signing up in September to receive the boxes, telling the church how many people they expected for Thanksgiving. On giveaway day, church members and volunteers convey the boxes of food and gift cards to homes throughout the community.

“Purpose number one is to share the gospel with our community,” Cruz said, adding that the ministry allows recipients to host Thanksgiving in their homes without worrying about the financial burden. “We want to encourage a sense of belonging, that no one needs to be alone.”

In addition to sharing the gospel, volunteers also prayed with recipients. Each boxed meal contained a list of talking points that recipients could use to spur conversations about gratitude and spiritual things, also.

First Baptist Church of Swan, which has experienced revitalization through starting a food pantry, welcomed residents of its small community just north of Tyler to a sit-down meal in the church fellowship hall on Tuesday, November. 23.

Last summer, the congregation of 40 fed 40-50 families from the community each week. Numbers have increased in recent months, Pastor Jeremiah Dollgener said. On November 16, 83 families picked up food.

Clients register by filling out a simple form. “There’s no proof of residency or income required to get help,” Dollgener said. “People can get food when they need it.”

The church’s food pantry started almost two years ago, when Dollgener had a vision to do a food ministry and a benefactor who wished to remain anonymous eager to support it. The benefactor had grown up in Swan and wanted to give back to the community. He has remained a faithful, silent giving partner ever since.

In addition to the main donor, the FBC Swan food bank receives contributions from local grocery stores, church members, current and former Swan citizens. Tyler Pipe, just across Hwy. 69, is a major partner, Dollgener said. Members who volunteer are joined by members of other area churches who “love the vision and jump on board,” the pastor added.

On November 23, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, the church did more than distribute food. As it did last year, the church invited clients and community members to sit down for a Thanksgiving meal.

“It’s amazing, when you look through the New Testament, how many meals Jesus shared with others,” Dollgener said. “We want to get to know the folks we serve, pray with them, encourage them, get them to know Jesus. The clients are already on our property. The next step is to get them to come inside the fellowship hall and enjoy a meal.”

To prepare for the event, a church member smoked seven turkeys, as he did last year. Other members prepared green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, rolls, dressing, and gravy. Pies purchased from Sam’s Club in Tyler rounded out the otherwise homemade meal.

Fifty-four guests attended the community Thanksgiving meal, which was advertised on social media and through flyers. Seventeen volunteers representing five area churches assisted in putting on the event. Recipients took home about 70 boxes of food for the holidays, too.

COVID protocols remained in place, with hand washing areas and masks available and plenty of room to spread out in the 2,000-square-foot fellowship hall, Dollgener said.

FORT WORTH—When Pastor Jongsu Heo indicated his intentions to start a Korean Baptist Church in South Fort Worth, it seemed incredibly difficult to build up a strong and healthy missional church due to the small Korean population in that area.

From the inception of the church, Pastor Heo had a vision to reach out not only to Koreans, but to other ethnic people in his community. For that purpose, he named his church Hanmaum International Baptist Church instead of Hanmaum Korean Baptist Church. With the support of Willow Creek Baptist Church in Fort Worth, and of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and Tarrant Baptist Association, the first worship service was given at the education building of Willow Creek Baptist Church on Feb. 22, 2004.

After three to four years, the church reached around 150 members and the congregation began to pray and seek its own facilities. In 2010, God responded to their prayer through Willow Creek Baptist Church, which provided Hanmaum an education building and land.

The following year, Hanmaum was able to start Ethnic Groups Academy – an afterschool program that aims to reach out to the refugee children in Fort Worth. Every year, about 1,000 to 1,500 refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Bhutan, and other nations settle in the Fort Worth area. In partnership with World Relief, more than 120 refugee children come to EGA on Saturdays to learn musical instruments, arts, sports, and English. Every week, prior to their classes, they hear the Gospel message.

The result? Almost every semester, around 14 children accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Some Muslim parents who were initially reluctant to send their children to the school began to open their hearts as time passed due to the genuine love of the EGA teachers.

The primary purpose of EGA is the salvation of the precious refugee children. Additionally, EGA wants to see those children discover their God-given talents and develop their potential abilities to fulfill their God-given purpose in life. Harsh environments and circumstances may hinder the children to pursue their dreams, but EGA teachers encourage them to pursue them. The Hanmaum congregation, as well as EGA staff and volunteers, have a vision to see those refugee children, after 12 years of an intimate relationship with the Lord and the EGA teachers, become leaders among their people to impact their community with the Gospel and the love of Jesus.

It is praiseworthy that Hanmaum International Baptist Church has set an example and proved that a church does not have to be large to lead refugee ministries, but it can be done by any church that has a heart can do so. Pastor Jongsu Heo testifies that from the beginning of EGA, it was God who started, guided, provided, and accomplished the vision of making disciples of all nations in his community through the faithful people of God.