Author: Russell Lightner

Come on! Let’s go!

My wife, Jenna, and I have some close friends who have continuously blessed us over the years. This couple has two teenage daughters who are incredible tennis players. They have excelled in the sport, winning a state championship last year.

One of the things I love about watching their daughters play tennis is that after every winning volley, one yells, “Come on!” quickly followed by the other shouting, “Let’s go!” It is so fun to watch—not only because they are good, but because their passion leads them to know why they are there. These two young ladies remind each other after every successful shot to stay focused and move forward on their mission.

There are things we can learn from that as a network of churches. At our annual meeting this past November, we presented a new mission focus for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention for the next 10 years. We crafted a new mission focus statement while standing firm on the values we have always had.

To put it simply, we are not changing who we are. However, we will be shifting some of how we do what we do to better serve our churches.

This new mission focus identifies five markers of what a disciple-making movement in a church looks like. The list is certainly not exhaustive, but these are five markers we desire to help churches move toward as they reach their communities:

1. Prayer Energized

We would love to see all churches incorporate a culture of prayer. These gatherings will look different and there is no one way of doing them. However, we believe if churches are intentional about praying, we could experience a move of God across our state like never before.

2. Evangelism Prioritized

God is bringing the world to our state. We must recapture a burning heart to reach lost people. We have to equip and send our people out to be intentional gospel-bearers. We want to help churches strengthen evangelism in their context.

3. Disciple-Making Normalized

Our culture is discipling people in all arenas. The church must step up its efforts in making disciples of Jesus. We want to help churches think strategically about creating discipleship avenues in and outside the church.

4. Sending Maximized

We are seeing an incredible movement of church planting in Texas. God is doing a unique work in our partnership with Send Network SBTC, and we believe it is going to grow exponentially. We want to see SBTC churches partnering to plant churches in Texas. We also have missions partnerships outside Texas that we want to mobilize SBTC churches to engage in.

5. Partnerships Maximized

There are so many great opportunities to partner with other churches in the SBTC. One of the greatest ways to partner is through the Cooperative Program. It is our prayer that all 2,749 SBTC churches will partner together with the 47,000 Southern Baptist Convention churches through the Cooperative Program.

Think about what could happen if all SBTC churches are engaged together in these five areas. As we look into 2024, I pray we, as a network, can begin running hard toward these markers. In fact, as we begin this year, close your eyes and envision the five markers in your church and hear me cheering you on by saying, “Come on! Let’s go!”

I believe we can do it because I believe we are in this together. I love you and am grateful to serve you. Let’s do this together!

San Antonio’s Freedom Hill Church is making gospel inroads through practical outreach

One relationship at a time

Freedom Hill Church has been the beneficiary of at least two significant, unique blessings God has placed before it in its short existence: an established church campus and a BMX bike track that attracts thousands.

The church started in Pastor Ryan Napier’s home in 2019. Within months, an older, struggling congregation donated 10 acres and 32,000 square feet of building space. The church plant grew to about 120 before COVID hit.

During COVID, the owner of USA BMX built a track on the church’s property.

“In the seventh-largest city in the country—San Antonio—if you’re going to race BMX, you’ve got to come to Freedom Hill to do it,” Napier said.

About 150 people meet at the track four times a week, and more than 1,000 people come for the state race each year. Freedom Hill members have developed “a great relationship with them,” Napier said, and church volunteers man the concession stand during the state race, setting up, tearing down, and giving the proceeds to the BMX organization.

“We have people cooking burgers, doing sides, getting ice cream, getting popcorn, getting drinks together—stuff like that,” Napier said.

“In the seventh-largest city in the country-San Antonio-if you’re going to race BMX, you’ve got to come to Freedom Hill to do it.”

—Ryan Napier Tweet

As for the congregation, attendance is around 150 now, and the pastor believes they’re on a steady growth track. They’ve started ministries for kids and students, and last year when the church took 18 students to camp for the first time, six committed their lives to Jesus.

This year, the amazing work God did at camp was mostly on the Sunday when they returned. They were planning to baptize three students, but the student pastor felt led to offer the opportunity to anyone who needed to take that step.

“He made the plea and we ended up baptizing 17 people that day,” Napier said. “We had men taking off their boots and emptying their jeans pockets and getting in fully clothed, women in dresses and jewelry with makeup and hair done, and they’re climbing into the water, just being obedient to the Lord.”

Also this year, Freedom Hill hired a Spanish-speaking pastor from Venezuela who is building a launch team for Freedom Hill en Español.

“He’s got an ESL class started and they do a dinner on Friday nights to gather people and build community [and] cast vision,” Napier said, adding that in the past year, more than 100,000 Venezuelans have migrated to San Antonio.

Within a five-mile radius of Freedom Hill are 289,000 residents, and that number is expected to grow to 320,000 in the next five years, the pastor said. He emphasized that Freedom Hill already is a multigenerational, multiethnic church aiming to look more and more like worshipers in heaven.

“We had men taking off their boots and emptying their jeans pockets and getting in fully clothed ... climbing into the water, just being obedient to the Lord.”

—Ryan Napier Tweet

“Our vision is to raise up leaders and future church planters where we can go and plant more churches in San Antonio and around the world,” Napier said.

To impact the thousands right around them, Freedom Hill members participate in various outreach opportunities.

“We’ll do a free car wash and just pray for people,” Napier said. “We’ve given away free sodas at the light in front of our church while people are driving, just doing things in Jesus’ name. [We tell them], ‘No strings attached. We just want to let you know that we love you and that if you ever need anything, this church is here for you.’”

Freedom Hill hosts a three-on-three basketball tournament, which is meaningful to people in San Antonio who love basketball because of the NBA team in town, the Spurs. “Parents are watching, and our church is loving on them while their kids are playing basketball,” Napier said.

As an example of God using Freedom Hill to change a life, Napier mentioned a young woman who “just kind of stumbled in” the church not long ago. She had some exposure to church as a child but had encountered hard times and strayed from God.

One Sunday, at the end of the service, the woman went to the altar to pray, and she was weeping and crying out, “I’m just so sick of sinning!” She had made a lot of bad choices, Napier said, but the woman got to the place “we want to get to, that we’re just so fed up with our sin that we just turn from it.”

Now she is a beautiful story of redemption, he said. Another woman in the church is discipling her, even as her string of better choices led her to move away from the area. “She’s growing. She’s gotten a job. She’s on her feet,” the pastor added.

Looking back, Napier remembers having a calling on his life at a young age to be a pastor, “but I ran from that calling for a long time.” Now that he is living that calling, he respects the importance of the local church.

“That community can surround you when you go through something hard in life and provide accountability to grow as a Christian,” he said. “When you have that community around you, that’s when you see real growth.”

History’s first Christmas gift

One Christmas, my wife, Janet, had a necklace made from a broken piece of my grandmother’s china. These necklaces were made by broken women in a local women’s shelter that our church supported financially. Their jewelry is a wonderful reminder of how God can bring beauty into brokenness. These necklaces remind us of history’s first Christmas gift.

For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

One of the first people to hear about this gift was a top-level leader in Jerusalem named Nicodemus. He was an expert in religious and civil law, but tensions were high between the authorities and Jesus, so he visited Jesus at night to ask Him about eternal life. Nicodemus had a hard time wrapping his sharp mind around this simple, generous gift—and so will some of our lost friends, family, and neighbors. Nevertheless, our job is to share the gift, not sell it.

We are all objects of God’s love and the intended recipients of history’s first Christmas present. The Christmas story is a true love story of rescue and redemption that deserves to be both celebrated and shared this month with anyone who is willing to listen. “For God so loved the world” means that every person in our family, neighborhood, school, and or workplace is someone worth saving.

Janet and I live in a very diverse international city, which makes sharing history’s first Christmas gift a challenge. Manger scenes are great reminders for me of the diversity of people who eventually came to visit the newborn King—Jewish shepherds and Iranian magi. Even today, as hostilities rise between Iran and Israel, the Prince of Peace came to rescue all their people from sin and death.

As recipients of this grace-filled gospel gift, we have the privilege and responsibility of regifting it. This month provides us with many organic opportunities to do this. Some families celebrate Christmas each year by singing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus and baking a cake. At one such home, as Christmas day was winding down, someone asked a 5-year-old if she had gotten everything she wanted for Christmas. The little girl paused and then said, “No, but it wasn’t my birthday.” Christmas is a birthday party for Jesus, yet this party is unique in that the guest of honor brings the gifts. More accurately—the guest is the gift.

Nicodemus found out that night that his works just weren’t working. As a Pharisee serving on the ruling Sanhedrin, he was used to fasting, giving, praying, and memorizing Scripture. He was very religious, yet he was sitting on death row. Nicodemus could try to serve out his sentence on parole, but what he really needed was a pardon. So do we. Jesus took our sin by taking our place on the cross.

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23)

God did more than simply send an angel or prophet; He sent His only begotten Son to rescue us. So, what are you going to do with that gift? If you have personally received history’s first Christmas gift, December is a great time to regift it.

What’s your story? In my weakness, God has proven Himself strong!

ack in 2012, I felt like I had hit rock bottom. I’d suffered from serious back pain for years, and it was diagnosed as herniated discs in my lower back. I did all the things they told me to do, but the pain always returned.

In 2011, my husband, Michael, and I moved to Lewisville. During the move I damaged my back even more. I was only able to walk short distances at a time and was entirely dependent on pain medications to function in a job that required that I move around a lot. As I moved around less because of the pain, I’d gain weight, and that made the pain worse. All that, in addition to moving away from family and friends back in Lubbock, brought on a dark pit of depression like I’d never experienced before.

I felt like a complete failure and my mind was swirling with terrible thoughts about how I was of no use to anyone—that there was no reason for me to exist. For too long, I listened to all those lies that the enemy wanted me to believe, including the one that said, “Hey aren’t you a Christian? Christians shouldn’t have depression!”

I believed in God, and I was saved through faith in Christ Jesus, but I was not joyful. I had little peace, and my spiritual life was suffering from a lack of prayer and a lack of being in God’s Word. By 2012, I had undergone back surgery, and while much of the pain subsided, I was still in that dark pit that I could not climb out of.

In 2016, I got to attend a Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Women’s Ministry Forum, a forerunner of the She Stands conferences. During one of the sessions, a passage in Psalm 51 began to speak directly to my heart and it became my desperate prayer: “Lord, restore to me the joy of your salvation!”

“In my weakness, He is strong. My depression and sadness were lifted and replaced with peace, patience, and joy. The joy of the Lord has become my strength.”

—Lindsay Scott Tweet

So, I began to pray, I got back into the Word, and I asked God, “How do I have your joy restored to my life? Lovingly and gently, the Savior began lifting my face so I could see others who needed help, who needed prayer, who needed to be ministered to. It was as if I was having a conversation with the Lord:

“Lindsay, do you love me?”

“Yes Lord, I do love you.”

“Feed my sheep.”

We were members of Lakeland Baptist Church in Lewisville at that time, and God surrounded me with wonderful Christian women—just dear friends, great encouragers. And one of them really encouraged me to get back into Scripture and to start serving in the church in different ways. For me, the thing that helped most with my depression was helping other people and not focusing on myself. When I started to focus on my own problems, that was just a downward spiral. As I began to get out of myself and focus on God—what He has given me and what He’s gifted me to do and how that can be used to help other people—all of that just lifted so quickly.

In 2020, my husband’s company moved him to South Texas. We found out about a week after the pandemic took hold. Even though my company had no work-from-home policies, as most companies didn’t, I was basically able to keep my job. Now I work as a senior financial analyst in the same department, but I work from home in San Antonio.

When we moved to San Antonio, and as soon as we found a church home [Mission City], it was like, “Let’s put down roots, let’s start serving.” That was just not even a question. It was funny and ironic to me that the first ministry I served in was with kids because we don’t have children. A lot of people who know me know I wouldn’t look for that kind of ministry, but that’s kind of how God works. Sometimes He puts us in places we would never expect or choose to be, but I was able to serve our kids.

I was in the kids check-in area, an administrative role. I checked families in and helped them feel that their children were safe when they entered the church. I was the first face of hospitality as they came in. I so loved that.

About three months ago, our church launched a new campus location. My husband and I are on the trailer team. Our team drives in four 24-foot portable church trailers to a middle school where our new church meets every Sunday. That’s where I help now.

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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 minutes with Scottie Stice

Scottie Stice has headed Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Disaster Relief since 2014, when he became interim director. In January 2015, he assumed the position permanently. Previously, Stice served as an SBTC DR volunteer, a senior pastor, missions pastor at First Baptist Dallas, an International Mission Board missionary in El Salvador, and director of missions for the Del Rio-Uvalde Baptist Association. A graduate of Criswell College, he has earned a Master of Arts in Missions and a Master of Theology from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Stice and his wife, Judy, have four adult children and five grandchildren.

Where has SBTC DR deployed this year?

We have had a relatively slow year with 19 deployments. Among these, volunteers have served in migrant ministry in Brownsville, responded to Hurricane Idalia in Perry, Fla., assisted storm survivors in Millington, Tenn., and served tornado survivors in the Texas communities of Perryton, Winnsboro, Bloomburg, and the Gulf Coast, plus Little Rock, Ark., and Shawnee, Okla. Volunteers have ministered to the homeless in Texarkana, responded to fires in Jasper County, assisted victims of storm and wind events in Spring and Kountze (Jefferson and Hardin counties), and ice storms in Round Rock and Austin. They have removed mold from a flooded church in Sheffield and participated with the Salvation Army in a training event in Grand Prairie.

What has been the most meaningful moment for you as DR director in 2023?

It is hard to choose a single event. What is meaningful to me is when SBTC DR volunteers go to a disaster-stricken community and meet the needs of the survivors. The tornado near Little Rock does stand out this year, as SBTC DR teams responded at the request of Arkansas Baptist Disaster Relief. The Arkansas teams were busy serving in Mississippi when the storm hit Little Rock. Our teams deployed very quickly, traveled to Little Rock, and went operational within 24-36 hours.

What are some of the blessings of involvement in DR ministry?

Ministry to survivors of storms. We minister to many believers who grow stronger in their faith after a disaster. We are also able to share the gospel with and minister to many unbelievers.

What are the most pressing needs of SBTC DR?

We always need more volunteers who will deploy and the resources to support them while they are in the field. Transportation, food, and equipment are expensive. God has been faithful to provide what we need just as we need it.

How can the churches of the SBTC pray for SBTC DR this coming year?

Pray for more workers for the harvest. We are perpetually shorthanded. Pray for the resources to send the teams of volunteers that make a difference in disaster-stricken communities.

Ennis family prepares to spend Christmas with adopted daughter they’d always prayed for

Brent and Michelle Bratcher love their two sons, but they also wanted a daughter … or two.

So the Bratchers turned to the foster system, seeing God grow their family through a whole lot of prayer and the assistance of the Texas Baptist Home for Children.

Michelle and Brent’s journey to faith is as inspiring as their willingness to help children. Both grew up in Ennis, although Michelle moved there from Duncanville before sixth grade.

“I was not allowed to attend church as a child,” Michelle said. Friends kept inviting her to church, which finally led to her salvation at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Ennis as a high school senior. Shortly after, Brent rededicated his life to Christ.

The pair began dating as high school sophomores and married in June 2001. They were blessed with two sons: Andrew, now 15, and Nathan, 13. Life was good. They longed for more children, yet Michelle’s health precluded this.

“Coming from a big family myself, I knew I wanted four kids,” Michelle said, explaining that she had undergone five hip surgeries. The couple considered adoption, but a financial crisis hit.

“We were scammed by a builder and lost over $100,000 [trying to build] a home in Ennis,” Michelle said. “We knew we’d never have the funds to adopt.”

Discouraged, they learned from friends about fostering to adopt, which can often be a lower-cost alternative to traditional adoption.

“We gave all glory to God, that even in the tenuous waiting, insane stress, constant prayers, He still came through like our knight in shining armor! It wasn’t in our timing; it was in His.”

—Michelle Bratcher Tweet

A battle to adopt

The Bratchers became certified to foster in 2021 and had their first placements—including Isabel, the daughter they would eventually adopt—in July of that year. For a short time, they also fostered Isabel’s biological sister.

Counselors warned the family the sisters would fare better if they were split up and that separation might help with healing, but because the Bratchers were “adoption-minded,” both sisters were allowed to stay with the family. For a variety of reasons, Isabel’s biological sister eventually went to live with another family.

Meanwhile, the Bratchers started the process of adopting Isabel—who is lovingly also called Izzy. “This began our fight,” Michelle said. The process stalled in court. The couple’s attorneys eventually sought a trial, hoping a jury might see the “common sense” behind allowing the adoption of a girl who was already so loved.

“The system refused to listen to what was best for Izzy, until one month prior to trial,” when the district attorney intervened and allowed the adoption petition to proceed, Michelle said.

“We gave all glory to God, that even in the tenuous waiting, insane stress, constant prayers, He still came through like our knight in shining armor! It wasn’t in our timing; it was in His,” Michelle said.

“TBHC was right there with us the entire time, holding our hands, and staying steadfast in prayer. We waited over two years to adopt Izzy,” Michelle said. The adoption was formalized in September 2023.

Love of a family

The Bratchers also currently foster another girl, age 11.

“We adore [our foster daughter] and will adopt her if … it’s God’s will. Our human nature thought we would adopt sisters, but the love of a family, no matter what it looks like, will always win,” Michelle said.

Isabel’s biological sisters—the older one fostered by the Bratchers and a baby sister—have fared well, adopted by other families in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Michelle said the families will keep in contact and the girls will see one another regularly.

Challenges remain. The stresses of regular family life and too little time are to be expected. But Isabel and her foster sister have suffered past trauma and need plenty of rest. The family frequently declines invitations and curtails plans because Izzy, in particular, must be in bed by 7:30 p.m.

Andrew and Nathan also have made adjustments to the changes in their family dynamic. The Bratchers seek help when needed and keep the doors open for honest conversation.

They have run into criticism from some people advising them to quit fostering, as many families do, after a year. “We have to remind ourselves that we aren’t living for those people, even though we love them dearly,” Michelle said. “We are living for God. He has called us to this, and He calls all His children to spread the gospel to the world.” To date, they have fostered four children, including Isabel. They have seen two trust Christ as Savior.

Tabernacle Baptist and fellow parents have been a great source of comfort and help, Michelle said. Likewise, she credits TBHC as an integral part of their successful adoption.

“They never judged,” Michelle said. “They provided support with books, groups, and training to help us. Our case manager checked on us all the time. If it weren’t for TBHC, we most likely would have quit.”

This Christmas promises to be “amazing,” Michelle said. “We have an official daughter to celebrate His birth with. Izzy is so thankful to be a Bratcher at last. She doesn’t have to fear moving anymore. We get to spoil and love on our foster daughter this year, too. We will help her see her family as she wishes for the holidays and support her in any way we can.

“Life is so full,” she added. “We are so thankful for God’s love and His expanding His kingdom. Our house is full, our hearts are full.”