Author: Russell Lightner

Historic East Texas church is experiencing growth through evangelism, community connections

Mulberry Springs Baptist Church, about 15 miles northeast of Longview, doesn’t see a lot of traffic on a typical day. Yet the rural congregation—founded in 1892—is building a new worship space to seat nearly 800 people.

“We’re in a community of houses. We’ve got a little country store that just opened, but that’s it,” Pastor Danny Warbington said. “You’re not coming out here unless you live here, or maybe you’re going to make your way to Lake O’ the Pines, which is a beautiful place to camp and fish. Otherwise, we’re kind of in no man’s land.”

Before Warbington got to the church 18 years ago, attendance was a little over 100 and the discouraged congregation had moved back to its older, smaller meeting space. Things began to look up when the interim who preceded Warbington—an evangelist—started preaching the gospel and seeing people get saved.

“We began to implement the things that I know work—preaching the gospel, visitation,” Warbington said, noting he wanted to lead the church to build on those first signs of renewal. “I do believe people still want to know that you care.”

“We want them to know we want them to be a part of something great God is doing in the country.”

—Danny Warbington Tweet

After taking gift bags to the homes of visitors and getting involved in the community, including winning best float in a local parade, Mulberry Springs began to average 30 baptisms per year.

“We began to prosper and see God move mightily,” Warbington said. “About three or four years ago, we were number one in baptisms for churches our size in the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. It’s evangelism, evangelism, evangelism.”

The church now fills its 425-seat auditorium, and Warbington said the number of baptisms is a sign of health the church can continue to build on—literally.

“About seven years ago, we decided the Lord was calling us to build a new sanctuary because the house of the Lord was packed,” Warbington said. “We built a balcony and filled it up. We decided to turn our existing sanctuary back into what it was intended to be—a multipurpose gymnasium.”

The new worship space also will include six offices, five nursery rooms, and an upstairs mezzanine for children’s church.

“Our church is not rich. We have great givers, great tithers, but we’re just blue-collar people,” he said. “We prayed about a God-sized vision that only God can do.”

The church grows through children, Warbington said, noting that Mulberry Springs has a mother’s day out program twice a week with about 70 children and a homeschool co-op that meets Fridays with about 100 students.

A particular blessing to the pastor is that senior adults have told him that seeing people come to know Jesus has outweighed some of the changes the church has experienced, such as a new worship style.

“That adds to the growth of the church, because those who have been here so long are willing to give up the ground that is necessary,” Warbington said. “They’ve been so excited seeing new families and new faces. To see people saved and baptized, they’re going to rejoice no matter what.”

Each year, Mulberry Springs hosts an Engage conference where it displays the ministries of the church and encourages everyone to sign up to serve.

“We only have a few committees, and we have lots of ministries from missions to outreach to children,” Warbington said. “We constantly put before people that God has called them to serve and they need to find a place.”

The children’s director has a pool of about 45 people to draw from as workers, he said, and the church is known for a high-quality Vacation Bible School. The gospel is preached at VBS, and seldom are fewer than 10-12 children saved, he noted.

“Our people love VBS,” he said. “We go all out and the kids have the time of their lives.”

Something unique about Mulberry Springs is that every Sunday morning after the first song, men and their sons are called to the front to pray and ask God to anoint them to lead their families. Warbington said the church has been doing that for four decades.

Hallsville, the nearest community to Mulberry Springs, has an exemplary school system, which is attractive to parents working in nearby Longview, Warbington said.

“There are hundreds of homes. They’re going up everywhere. The number of people to reach is why we built the sanctuary. We’re talking about within 10 miles there are huge housing additions going up,” he said. “I really believe that we may have built too small. The potential is there.”

Mulberry Springs averages six to eight visitors per week, the pastor said.

“These are people searching for a church, and we visit them if they want. We want them to know we want them to be a part of something great God is doing in the country,” Warbington said. “Make evangelism and discipleship a priority. When you see people saved and the waters stirred, a lot of problems that people are focused on go away.”

How we’ve seen God raise up multigenerational disciples in our church

Over my first two decades of ministry, serving with students and as a lead pastor in New Mexico, my wife, Krista, and I experienced a consistent theme: we saw fruitful growth in the first generation of disciples in which we were investing as they studied the Word, memorized Scripture, engaged in personal evangelism, and connected through life-on-life communities that practiced vulnerable accountability. But we rarely saw those relationships create second-, third-, or fourth-generation disciples.

Don’t get me wrong—we saw several victories for the Lord and isolated examples of multigenerational reproduction, but nothing like the multiplication testimonies we were hearing from pastors like David Platt, Robby Gallaty, and others. Honestly, I was discouraged with the feeling of always seeming to trip over a hurdle I was never quite able to clear.

This is when we went to the white board. At a pastor’s retreat, we asked our whole team to write down the disciple-making tools they were using. We then prayed, agonized, and wrestled over letting go of some of our favorite tools in order to isolate only those we felt would be most effective at making multigenerational disciples.

From that process, we developed the following four principles that helped us leap over our non-multiplying hurdles. These principles became the catalyst for the discipleship strategy we adopted upon our return to serve in Texas.

At a pastor’s retreat, we asked our whole team to write down the disciple-making tools they were using. We then prayed, agonized, and wrestled over letting go of some of our favorite tools

Aaron T. Colyer Tweet

Create consistent language and tools

Curriculums come and go, but just like a master carpenter has specific tools he gives his apprentice, so too must disciple-makers equip others with lasting skills that remain consistent in future generations. At the front of every journal or workbook, we train disciple-makers to be proficient in the same four categories: tools for the discipleship meeting, gospel-conversation tools, Bible study/prayer tools, and spiritual growth tools.

Set the expectation to multiply from the beginning

Reproduction is greatly increased when the beginning of the relationship is started by saying, “This investment is not just for you, but also for the person you will disciple behind you, and the next soul, and the next soul.” We look for four traits in those we train through our disciple-making process: they must be faithful, available, teachable, and reproducible (2 Timothy 2:2). Clearly setting this expectation at the outset makes it easier when you launch them out to multiply.

Intentionally give away leadership sooner than you want

Structure meeting times in a way you can easily give portions of the meeting to those being trained. Most of us learn by doing, so we use the acronym MAWL (model, assist, watch, launch) to reinforce the idea that they will be leading others soon.

Be disciplined to check in on downline disciple-makers

As multiple generations are reproduced, we’re reminded of the importance of checking in on the growth of those we’ve launched. We have a pastor on our team devoted to mapping individuals using Coggle—a web-based tool that facilitates collaborative work—so we can pray, track, and check in.

I told our new church in Texas it could take up to three years to produce two dozen men and women equipped and participating in multiplying discipleship. By a miracle of God, we have six dozen already engaged and more than one example of discipleship to the fourth generation.

You may have different tools—and praise God if they are working in your context. Whatever you choose, always remember the priority Jesus gave us to make disciples who make disciples. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Let’s get to work for His glory!

San Antonio church discovers the tools, training needed to reach next generation of believers

To position itself for a healthy future, University Baptist Church in San Antonio set a goal of “growing younger,” placing a renewed emphasis on reaching young families even as it continues to treasure and involve older generations.

The church realized most families in the surrounding area “are not more than two generations removed from active church participation,” Pastor David Norman said, explaining that in a given family, the child may have never heard of Jesus, the parents may have attended church sporadically, and there is a strong likelihood the grandparents were active in church.

The nearest neighborhood to the church is largely filled with young families, so the congregation went to work painting, updating, and cleaning its preschool and children’s areas.

“Preparing a nursing mothers room was a big step for our church, utilizing that space for those that we’re trying to reach rather than for storage,” Norman said.

The idea of growing younger was spurred by the church’s participation in one of the first cohorts of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s Regenesis process for guiding churches toward health and renewal. Norman now serves as a trainer in the program.

“I’ve been subject to crafting more vision statements than I can count, and I breathed a deep, deep sigh when I saw that was part of the Regenesis process,” Norman said, “but this was a very helpful manner of going about it.”

Regenesis helped University Baptist Church develop a three-year vision of being “a church family surrendered and sent,” with 200 adults engaging in connect groups, 150 engaged in one-on-one discipleship, and baptizing at least one new believer each month.

“The beauty of Regenesis is that it helps you discern God’s vision for your church and the unique contribution to the kingdom your church has to offer.”

—David Norman Tweet

Though the numbers are just markers, Norman said, by comparison the church averages 135 in worship now with about 100 in connect groups. Along with growing younger and growing together, the church is emphasizing evangelism and leadership development.

“For our three-year vision to be attained, these are the four initiatives that we believe are necessary to that end,” the pastor said. “We have to grow younger, we have to go out, we have to grow together, and we have to grow up.”

Last fall, the church offered two Bible studies—one on evangelism and the other for young mothers who would otherwise drop off their children on Sunday nights and leave. Also, the children’s ministry focused on missions, while students learned to steer conversations toward the gospel.

To reach families in the community, the church started hosting a trunk-or-treat event in the fall. They ask for 100% participation from members: if someone is unable to sit out in the cool weather that night, that person can donate candy or help organize.

“We found shortly after I came here (in 2020) that there were a lot of really large Halloween events but that parents were really eager to bring their kids to a safe environment where they could go trunk to trunk with no traffic,” Norman said. “It was an opportunity for us to love them, to provide for them, to show them that we are a church that cares for them.”

One of the trunks was manned by an off-duty Santa Claus who gave out candy canes and invited children to Pancakes with Santa, an event hosted by the church in early December.

“My family has 22 years of Santa pictures with our children. We have spent a lot of time in line waiting on Santa,” Norman said. “We’ve spent a lot of money paying for those pictures. We decided we would provide an avenue for parents to come, eat pancakes, and take a picture of their kids with Santa—no stress.”

Church members had been training to share the gospel and their testimonies, the pastor said, and Pancakes with Santa provided an opportunity for them to engage their neighbors. Attendees were invited to the church’s Christmas Eve service, which was aimed at people who don’t know Jesus.

“On Christmas Eve, we saw probably twice our typical Sunday morning numbers,” Norman said.

Considering how God has used Regenesis to renew University Baptist Church to this point, Norman encouraged other churches to set goals tailored for their congregations.

“My encouragement would be revitalization is very difficult. It is something only the Lord can do,” Norman said, “but I think the Regenesis process provides an opportunity to discern how the Lord is leading your church.

“One of the things I constantly emphasize is that Regenesis is not a copy and paste. It’s not a program. It’s not something you just pick up and take on,” he added. “The beauty of Regenesis is that it helps you discern God’s vision for your church and the unique contribution to the kingdom your church has to offer.”

Regenesis is designed to help churches identify and overcome growth barriers. A Regenesis One-Day event is coming to your area soon.

I don’t want to do anything but this!

hen I was a 16-year-old back in India, my soccer coach led me to the Lord. From that time, I’ve been very passionate about sharing the gospel with anybody and everybody. I feel a great burden to do this because otherwise they will perish. I don’t want their blood to be on my head.

This passion continued as I became an engineering student in college and then moved to the United States to complete my education. My wife, Rachel, and I got plugged into an Indian church in the San Francisco area. I saw that the church was good, but I was not seeing an element of sharing the gospel to people who were outside the church. I started a group called EMT (Evangelism Ministry Team). We began to share the gospel with people who were recently released from prison, and we discipled them. But I still felt a pull to do something more when one of the men asked me to baptize him.

So, in summer 2007 I was crying out loud in my car driving on Highway 101 when I heard the Lord telling me, “Feed my sheep.” I said, “Lord, I don’t know how to feed sheep. I can share the gospel. I can lead people to the Lord, but I don’t know how to feed sheep.” But later I heard two messages on the radio by Chuck Swindoll and Chip Ingram. Both of them were talking about how men of God should be prepared in season and out of season to share the Word of God, to prepare people for God’s work. I loved it. I wanted to find out where these two pastors studied. Both studied at Dallas Theological Seminary. We prayed—my wife, my three kids, and I—and we left California and moved to Dallas to go to seminary.

I don’t think I’ll ever be tired of doing this. I don’t want to do anything else but this.

—Nitin Christopher Tweet

After enrolling at Dallas Seminary, I was struggling—no job, no finances—but God was still good. I went to a [church] nearby, ate food there because they gave free food … went to seminary, flunked Greek a couple of times, but those were good challenges. I did a church planting class with Aubrey Malphurs that God really used. I heard bikers give testimony of churches they started, of people who left [the profession of being] prostitutes. They started doing ministry among those women for their children, starting churches in San Francisco and other places. These testimonies enhanced my thinking: “You know what? Just evangelism won’t work. Church planting is the way to do discipleship.”

There were so many Asian Indians coming to Dallas around 2010 and 2011, and there were temples coming up everywhere. I used to go to every site and pray that God would never allow a temple to grow or be completed. But [later] I started thinking, “Why don’t I tap into all these Indians and start sharing the gospel?” In my church planting class, we wrote mission statements for a church plant. Mine was “Seek the lost, strengthen the weak, and send the strong.” With this mission statement, we registered our church, Church of the Way, on April 1, 2010. We still use that mission statement as we set priorities in our ministry.

Church of the Way planted its first church in Murphy two years later. That one didn’t last, and we’ve had a couple of other tries that didn’t stick. But we have congregations in Carrollton, Frisco, and Plano, along with two services in Tamil [a South Indian language] that meet each week. We have struggled sometimes to find places to meet, but now have a building we bought from an Armenian congregation and we just contracted to buy a second building from a Lutheran church.

I just love the Word of God and teaching people how to read the Word of God. I share this with everybody so they can understand. In 1 Timothy 4, Paul talks to Timothy and tells him to get into this habit of the public reading of Scriptures, exhorting people, and teaching people. That’s what I follow. It’s a joy. I don’t think I’ll ever be tired of doing this. I don’t want to do anything else but this.

Want to share a story of what God is doing in your life or your church?

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Never give up on anyone!

What a wonderful Empower Conference God blessed us with on Feb. 26-27 at the Irving Convention Center. I am so grateful for the inspiration and encouragement my wife, Ashley, and I received. I want to say a special thank you to our executive director, Nathan Lorick, and Tony Mathews, senior strategist of missional ministries at the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. We are so blessed to have gifted men of God full of integrity leading our convention.

In Luke 19:10, Jesus states, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Jesus sought and saved Zacchaeus, a tax collector deeply hated by most. Jesus first found him perched in a sycamore tree. Our Lord told him to come down out of the tree so He could come stay at Zacchaeus’s house. After encountering Christ and hearing the message of salvation, Zacchaeus surrendered his life to Jesus and started following Him.

After encountering Christ and hearing the message of salvation, Zacchaeus surrendered his life to Jesus and started following Him.

Danny Forshee Tweet

No one is ever beyond the reach of God. He can save anyone. Consider these other examples:

One of my favorite hobbies is reading biographies and autobiographies. I am currently reading the remarkable story of Mitsuo Fuchida, the Japanese fighter pilot who led the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. In his book, Wounded Tiger, T. Martin Bennett recounts the fascinating story of how Fuchida came to faith in Jesus.
In Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton, he chronicles the life of the greatest founding father of the U.S. never to have been elected president. Hamilton was a genius in the fields of politics, banking, and commerce. He was the first treasury secretary to serve under President George Washington. Some of his many accomplishments include writing most of the Federalist Papers, creating the first bank in America, and starting the U.S. Coast Guard and Customs Service.

But most do not remember him for these prodigious accomplishments. They remember Hamilton as the man who lost the pistol duel in 1801 to Aaron Burr, the U.S. vice president at the time. As he lay on his deathbed, Hamilton asked for a pastor to come and administer the Lord’s Supper to him. Chernow records the conversation Hamilton had with the Rev. John Mason: “As Mason told how Christ’s blood would wash away his sins, Hamilton grasped his hand, rolled his eyes heavenward, and exclaimed with great fervor, ‘I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.’”

Jesus is still seeking and saving the lost today. He invites you and me as His disciples to join Him in this wonderful adventure of seeking out the lost and sharing the good news with them. No one is ever so far from God that He cannot reach them.

Keep going, loving, helping, and sharing the wonderful message of salvation. I invite you to join me today to obey our Lord when He said in Matthew 4:19, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Let us not give up on anyone!

Pastor que respondió al llamado de Dios en su niñez, está invirtiendo en la comunidad hispana del este de Texas

El poder de un Sí

Fernando Mangieri hizo un compromiso de por vida para servir al Señor después de responder a dos preguntas que a la mayoría de los niños de su edad nunca se les pide:

“¿Estás dispuesto a morir por Jesús? ¿Estás dispuesto a dejarlo todo por Él?”.

Mangieri, que entonces tenía 9 años, respondió a esas preguntas, formuladas por unos misioneros que ministraban a los niños en un retiro, con un “sí” definitivo.

En ese momento, Mangieri dice que empezó a sentir una fuerte necesidad de compartir a Cristo con los demás, no sólo a su alrededor, sino en todo el mundo. Esa es la base de la misión a la que Dios le ha llamado hoy como pastor del campus de Green Acres Baptist Church en Español.

Green Acres en Español comenzó el 17 de septiembre de 2023, con un puñado de personas y un estudio bíblico en el campus principal de la iglesia. El número de asistentes creció rápidamente, y en poco tiempo el grupo se trasladó a un auditorio más grande y comenzó a planificar el lanzamiento de un servicio de adoración que se convertiría en un campus de habla hispana.

Seis meses después del lanzamiento, alrededor de 250 personas asisten a los servicios dominicales. Alrededor de 30 personas han sido bautizadas, respondiendo al lema de la iglesia de “Transformar vidas con la verdad de Jesús” y sus valores fundamentales de conectar a las personas con Jesús y su iglesia, crecer a su semejanza y multiplicarse para expandir el reino.

“Dios nos llamó a comenzar una congregación saludable que pueda impactar Tyler y el este de Texas con un enfoque multicultural y multigeneracional,” dijo Mangieri.

“Cuando Dios tiene un plan para tu vida, Él lo va a cumplir.”

—Fernando Mangieri Tweet

Poniendo su ‘sí’ a prueba

Mangieri nació y se crió en Argentina y creció en cuna de pastores. Su padre ha sido pastor por 60 años, sus tíos y sus tres hermanos también son pastores.

Pero a los 8 años, Mangieri comprendió que crecer en una familia de pastores no le salvaría. Fue entonces cuando su maestra de escuela bíblica le guió para que reconociera su propio pecado y recibiera a Cristo. Su encuentro con los misioneros tuvo lugar al año siguiente, lo que le impulsó al servicio del Señor.

En el 2000, Mangieri se trasladó a Juárez, en Chihuahua, el estado más grande de México. Sus años en Juárez marcaron una época importante en su vida: estudió en el seminario, sirvió en iglesias locales y conoció a su esposa, Marcela. Allí tuvieron dos de sus tres hijos.

En Juárez fue también donde se puso a prueba el “sí” que había dado al Señor muchos años antes. En un momento dado, algunos narcotraficantes empezaron a lanzar amenazas de muerte contra él y su familia mientras servían a la gente de la ciudad. Desesperado, Mangieri clamó al Señor. La respuesta que recibió de Dios fue en forma de preguntas, las mismas que le hacían de niño:

“¿Estás dispuesto a morir por Jesús? ¿Estás dispuesto a dejarlo todo por Él?”.

“Sí, Señor”, recuerda Mangieri reafirmando su respuesta a Dios, “estoy dispuesto a morir por ti. Señor, todo lo que tengo es tuyo”. Entonces recordó el Salmo 46:10: “Estad quietos y conoced que yo soy Dios; seré exaltado entre las naciones …”.

Cuando Mangieri y su familia aprendieron a esperar y descansar en la presencia de Dios en medio de la preocupación y la persecución, Él les abrió una puerta para servir en la Convención Bautista de Virginia. Fue evidente para la familia que Dios estaba obrando, ya que se les concedió milagrosamente la residencia estadounidense en 48 horas.

“Cuando Dios tiene un plan para tu vida, Él lo va a cumplir”, dijo Mangieri.

Del 2008 a 2018, Mangieri fue plantador de iglesias y catalizador en Virginia, desarrollando iglesias y líderes. Después de una década de servicio allí, Dios comenzó a plantar en los corazones de Mangieri y su esposa una nueva visión para el ministerio. Comenzaron a orar y a buscar la dirección del Señor, rechazando varias ofertas de ministerio antes de aceptar un llamado para servir como pastor asociado en español en una gran iglesia en el área de Dallas.

Allí permanecieron cuatro años, hasta que Mangieri sintió que el Señor lo llamaba a volver a plantar iglesias. En poco tiempo, Green Acres en Tyler se acercó para preguntarle si les ayudaría a iniciar una obra hispana en el este de Texas.

Un llamado más fuerte que la comodidad

Dejar la estabilidad de una iglesia fuerte y bien establecida por la incertidumbre de comenzar una desde cero, no tenía sentido para muchos, dijo Mangieri. Pero para él, dejar la comodidad por la posible incomodidad formaba parte del compromiso de su infancia de entregarlo todo a Jesús.

“Estábamos cómodos, felices y sirviendo con fuerza donde estábamos”, dijo Mangieri, “pero mi deseo de plantar iglesias era más fuerte que la estabilidad y la comodidad”.

Ninguno de los que Dios había llamado a la obra de plantación en Tyler estaba solo. Green Acres buscó orientación y apoyo de Send Network SBTC, una asociación de plantación de iglesias entre la Convención de los Bautistas del Sur de Texas y la Junta de Misiones Norteamericanas. Send Network SBTC proveyó recursos y entrenamiento para ayudar a Mangieri a convertirse en un plantador de iglesias certificado y comisionado. Ahora ayuda a la red a evaluar a posibles plantadores como parte de su equipo de evaluación.

Green Acres en Español desea ser lo que Mangieri llama una iglesia “glocal”, con la visión de alcanzar no sólo a su comunidad local, sino a personas de todo el mundo. Para ello, la iglesia sabe que debe multiplicar los líderes, por lo que recientemente ha puesto en marcha un instituto bíblico para la formación de líderes.

Desde el principio, la iglesia se ha esforzado por llegar a su comunidad. Cuando se preparaba para su lanzamiento, organizó un evento para repartir mochilas y útiles escolares, que atrajo a unas 3,000 personas. Tienen planes para impartir clases de inglés y organizar un programa de recuperación en español. Dios también ha abierto las puertas para que Mangieri hable sobre el ministerio de la iglesia en una popular emisora de radio local, y aparece una vez al mes en una conocida cadena de televisión hispana compartiendo palabras de reflexión.

“Queremos ser la iglesia de la ciudad y el pastor de la ciudad”, dijo Mangieri. “Dios nos está permitiendo ser de impacto para transformación de la comunidad hispana al tener una presencia fuera de las cuatro paredes para presentarles a Cristo”.

Pastor who answered God’s call at a young age is investing in East Texas Hispanic community

The Power of YES

Fernando Mangieri made a lifelong commitment to serve the Lord after answering two questions most children are never asked:

“Are you willing to die for Jesus? Are you willing to leave everything for Him?”

Mangieri—9 years old at the time—answered those questions, posed by missionaries speaking to a group of children at a retreat, with a definitive “yes.”

At that moment, he says he began to feel a strong need to share Christ with others not only around him, but around the world. That’s the foundation of the mission to which God has called him today as he serves as campus pastor for Green Acres Baptist Church’s Español campus.

Green Acres en Español began on Sept. 17, 2023, with a handful of people and a Bible study that met on the main church campus. The number of attendees rapidly grew, and before long the group moved to a larger room and began planning to launch a worship service that would become a full-fledged Spanish-speaking campus.

Six months after launching, around 250 people are attending Sunday services. About 30 people have been baptized, responding to the church’s motto of “Transforming lives with the truth of Jesus” and its core values of connecting people to Jesus and His church, growing in His likeness, and multiplying to expand the kingdom.

“God called us to start a healthy congregation that can impact Tyler and East Texas with a multicultural and multigenerational approach,” Mangieri said.

“When God has a plan for your life, He’s going to fulfill it.”

—Fernando Mangieri Tweet

Putting his ‘yes’ to the test

Mangieri was born and raised in Argentina and grew up in the cradle of pastors. His father has served as a pastor for 60 years, his uncles are pastors, and his three brothers are pastors, as well.

But at age 8, Mangieri came to understand that being raised in a family of pastors would not save him. That is when his Bible school teacher guided him to recognize his own sin and receive Christ. His encounter with the missionaries happened the next year, propelling him into the Lord’s service.

In 2000, Mangieri moved to Juarez, located in Chihuahua—the largest state in Mexico. His years in Juarez marked a significant season in his life: He studied at seminary, served in local churches, and met his wife, Marcela. They had two of their three children while living there.

Juarez was also where the “yes” he gave to the Lord many years earlier was put to the test. At one point, drug traffickers began lobbing death threats toward him and his family as they ministered to the people of the city. In desperation, Mangieri cried out to the Lord. The answer he said he got back from God came in the form of questions—the very same ones posed to him as a child:

“Are you willing to die for Jesus? Are you willing to leave everything for Him?”

“Yes, Lord,” Mangieri recalls reaffirming to God, “I am willing to die for you. Lord, everything I have is yours.” He was then reminded of Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations ….”

As Mangieri and his family learned to wait and rest in God’s presence amid worry and persecution, He opened a door for them to serve Baptist churches in Virginia. It was evident to the family that God was at work, as they were miraculously granted U.S. residency within 48 hours.

“When God has a plan for your life, He’s going to fulfill it,” Mangieri said.

From 2008-2018, Mangieri was a church planter and catalyst in Virginia, developing churches and leaders. After a decade of service there, God began to plant in the hearts of Mangieri and his wife a new vision for ministry. They began to pray and seek the Lord’s direction, turning down several ministry offers before accepting a call to serve as associate Hispanic pastor at a large church in the Dallas area.

They remained there four years—until Mangieri sensed the Lord calling him back into church planting. Before long, Green Acres in Tyler reached out to ask if he would help start a Hispanic work in East Texas.

A calling stronger than comfort

Leaving the stability of a strong and well-established church for the uncertainty of starting one from scratch didn’t make sense to many, Mangieri said. But to him, leaving comfort for potential discomfort was part of his childhood commitment to give everything to Jesus.

“We were comfortable, happy, and serving strongly where we were,” Mangieri said, “but my desire to plant churches was stronger than stability and comfort.”

None of those God had called to the planting work in Tyler were alone. Green Acres sought guidance and support from Send Network SBTC—a church planting partnership between the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and the North American Mission Board. Send Network SBTC provided resources and training to help Mangieri become a certified and commissioned church planter. He now helps the network evaluate prospective planters as part of its evaluation team.

Green Acres en Español desires to be what Mangieri calls a “glocal” church—one with a vision to reach not only its local community, but people around the globe. To do that, the church knows it must multiply leaders, which is why it recently began a Bible institute to develop leaders.

From the very beginning, the church has worked hard to reach out to its community. As it prepared to launch, it held a school supply drive that attracted nearly 3,000 people. Plans are in the works to offer classes to teach people to speak English, as well as hosting a recovery program in Spanish. God has also opened doors for Mangieri to talk about the church’s ministry on a popular local radio station, and he appears once per month on a well-known Hispanic television station.

“We want to be the church of the city and the pastor of the city,” Mangieri said. “God is allowing us to be impactful for the transformation of the Hispanic community by having a presence outside of the four walls to introduce them to Christ.”

Helping yourself so you can help others

After pastoring in a fog of clinical depression for several months, I came very close to walking away from the church I was pastoring and the ministry altogether. I had been pastoring for 22 years at the time and was burned out and fed up—mostly with myself.

At first, I was determined to figure it out and fix it myself. Fortunately, I instead sought counsel from my family physician and a local therapist who worked together to help me get healthy again.

Because most ministry leaders are not mental health professionals, we are typically unsure of how to help people—including ourselves—through dark seasons. Here are four lessons I learned through my experience that I pray will be helpful to you both personally and professionally:

1 Don’t self-diagnose

When I realized the dark clouds in my head had set in for too long, I naively asked my wife, Janet, if she thought I was clinically depressed. It occurred to me the next day that this question put both of us in awkward positions since neither of us was a mental health professional. So, I did something radical for a pastor—I asked a professional for help.

Our family physician asked me a few questions about my thoughts, feelings, sleep, concentration, eating, work routines, etc. He then diagnosed me with clinical depression, prescribed some changes in my routine, and some medication that I took for almost a year—all of which were very helpful.

2 Let others pastor you

Understandably, the perceived stigma of depression makes it harder for ministers or their family members to seek ongoing help within the community we serve. Just don’t let the stigma become an excuse to ignore your mental wellness.

During that season of depression, I met monthly with a therapist, three to four times a year with my physician, and quarterly with a handful of deacons who called themselves the Pastor Support Team. These deacons just wanted to know how I was doing personally, not professionally. Deacons have been a part of God’s plan for pastoral wellness since the day they showed up to help in Acts 6.

It is humbling to be on the receiving end of pastoral care, but it is not humiliating. Jesus surrounded me with caring, qualified people who were helping me get healthy again. He and His people will do that for you, as well, if you simply ask for help.

3 Trust the Lord for healing

Satan has a plan for your life, but so does Jesus, who has already won the battle for your soul. God obviously allowed Peter to go through a sifting and refining process (Luke 22:31-32) so he could grow in both strength and humility, both of which he would need later.

Jesus is the hero of your story and mine. The same God who called us promises to finish what He started, so let’s trust Him together.

4 Help someone else

I am so glad I did not hastily run away from my problems. Little did I know that right around the corner would be my favorite season of ministry as a pastor, then as a pastor-advocate at GuideStone for people like you in the ministry.

Pastor, please get healthy for the sake of your family and ministry, as well as for yourself and the kingdom. Self-care is not self-centered—it is strategic for pastors and ministry leaders. And once you have gotten healthy, help other pastors who may be experiencing similar struggles.

What’s your story? I’m willing to be made willing!

Before 1984, I was a carnal Christian. I had been a believer since I was 12, but I didn’t want to get involved in people’s messes because it was hard. I remember the moment when God began to change me, and it prepared me for so many things in the days to come.

A lot happened that year. I had begun a speaking ministry and was teaching First Place [a Christian fitness and discipleship program] at Houston’s First. I was on church staff at the time, but nobody knew what our family was going through. My husband, Johnny, had to declare bankruptcy in his forklift business earlier in 1984 after struggling to keep it open for years. The economy was tough and Texas was hit hard. It was a very tough time in which God brought me to the end of myself.

December of that year, our pastor, John Bisagno, preached a sermon on the will, and I remember exactly where I was sitting in the church as clearly as I remember the day I accepted Jesus. He said, “ … If you are not willing for Him to do the work that needs to be done [in your life], you can pray this prayer today: ‘Lord, I’m not willing, but I’m willing to be made willing.’”

I prayed that prayer that morning and said, “Lord, that’s where I am. I’m not willing, but I’m willing to be made willing. Please don’t let it hurt too bad.” As a kid, I knew if God got every part of you, He would send you to China or Africa, because I’d heard so many missionaries speak. As an adult, you learned to have control of your life, and God had totally stripped all control from me. I was ready to hear that message that morning, and He literally changed everything about me from the inside out. I wouldn’t have been able to go through the different traumas we went through if He had not done that.

“When God got ahold of me and got me totally for Him, He changed up all my lists of things [I thought] I wouldn’t be able to do for Him.”

—Carole Lewis Tweet

But the traumas did come. Johnny was diagnosed with stage four cancer in 1997 and lived almost 17 years after that. Those years were such a blessing. Our daughter, Shari, was hit and killed by a drunk teenager in 2001. God has given me grace to pray often for the salvation of the woman who hit her. We also lost our permanent home—along with everything we owned—to Hurricane Ike in 2008. So, people come to me who are suffering from things like I’ve been through, and God has been faithful all the way. He does not take it lightly when His children suffer, so everything I’ve gone through has prepared me not only to teach Bible study, but to share with the women God brings my way. I absolutely love everything I do. I love my life.

When God got ahold of me and got me totally for Him, He changed up all my lists of things [I thought] I wouldn’t be able to do for Him. Those are the very things He has me doing, and I love it. I love whatever He gives me to do. Now I consider mentoring the women He sends my way a primary calling. I never trashcan anybody. I always see results. Sometimes it takes years, but it is so worth investing our lives in the lives of other people. It’s just amazing; you seem to know when He sends you somebody.

Through the events of my life and through the people He’s sent to me, God has given the outlines for 15 of the 17 books I’ve written. I never ever felt worthy, but I can tell you—if I had not made that decision that morning in December of 1984, I would’ve never directed First Place for 30 years. I would’ve never written the first book. God has plenty of people He can call, but that day He spoke to my heart, and I said, “As scared as I am, I want you to do it.”

So, what’s my story? I recently spoke to a group of women after a kind introduction that told a little about my life. When
I stood up, I told them that my word for 2024 is “new.” I’m 82 this year and told them, “I am so excited that everything is going to be ‘new at 82.’” My verse for the year is Isaiah 40:31: “Those who trust in the Lord will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint.”

Want to share a story of what God is doing in your life or your church?

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Prioritizing spiritual growth over ministerial productivity

Remember Martha? She was industrious, illustrating the adage that no one works harder than someone trying to prove she’s the only one doing anything. She was a pioneer of competitive baking, petitioning Jesus to check the scorecard and note her lead over Mary.

And she was wrong, “worried and upset about many things” (Luke 10:41) instead of focusing on the only thing that mattered—connection with the One who matters.

If she were alive today, Martha might have made a good women’s ministry leader—on the outside, anyway. Her sign-up process would be seamless, her Bible studies perfectly timed, and her events impeccably hosted. Her sister, Mary, likely would have been eagerly in attendance. And yet, sitting in a well-organized, color-coordinated room with perfect lighting, the observant attendee might start to wonder: “Are we missing something here?”

I am no stranger to Martha’s struggle. My humanness is apparent when I hyper-focus on “what” and “how” at the expense of “why” and “who.” Maybe you can relate. While I find this temptation to be especially present when performing in a leadership capacity, God has graciously led me to embrace a few consistent practices that are helpful in prioritizing spiritual growth over ministerial productivity.

"In ministry, as in Martha’s home—even amidst overcooked food and wrinkled linens—Jesus’ visit is worthwhile if we simply take time to listen at His feet."

Tiffany Collier Tweet

Schedule (a little extra) time to rest at His feet

The importance of rest is a consistent theme in Scripture and its practice goes beyond basic wisdom. In a practical sense, this looks like setting the alarm 30 minutes earlier on a particularly demanding day for a little more time to connect with the Lord. It looks like asking a kind sister for assistance with logistical matters as you step away from the busyness with a Bible in hand. It looks like a to-do list that is a little more delegated and a little less weighted to allow for spontaneous, much-needed “be still” moments amidst juggling logistical demands.

Learn from the Mary in your midst

While setting up a past event, I can still remember my frustration at fruitless attempts to hang a color-coordinated backdrop while an onlooker remarked at the peaceful nature of the setup. Far from her sentiment, my thoughts entertained fantasies of ripping the entire thing down. Her ability to find greater meaning in an aspect I found cumbersome and tedious was a sweet reminder that there exists a purpose behind the planning. Similarly, with a focus rightly on glorifying God, the misaligned details pale in importance to the ultimate outcome.

Embrace and extend grace

God’s grace allows for imperfections in the planning process. It extends to those seemingly less productive in our midst. It covers the occasional slip into legalism. When we find that perfectionistic tendencies compel us to idolize perfect planning, God’s grace is eager to cover us.

While Scripture does not tell us what Martha did after Jesus reminded her of the importance of His presence, I like to imagine that she abandoned baking bread and neglected ironing tablecloths to join her sister on the floor. In ministry, as in Martha’s home—even amidst overcooked food and wrinkled linens—Jesus’ visit is worthwhile if we simply take time to listen at His feet.