Author: Russell Lightner

God uses the smallest moments in the biggest ways

everal years ago, our daughter was offered a chance to run cross country and track at a small Christian university in Oregon, where we were living and serving the Lord at the time. Our excitement for our daughter was greatly dampened, however, when the school’s business office informed us what our monthly out-of-pocket cost would be for her to attend—even after scholarships were applied.

Though we had prayed and asked God to provide an opportunity like this for our daughter, and watched Him open a door seemingly out of nowhere, the monthly payment was far more than we thought we could afford. It just didn’t make sense on paper.

We decided to take our daughter on an official visit to the university anyway. So we made our way west across the Cascade mountain range, made the visit, and started our trek back to Central Oregon later that evening. On the way home, as we drove back through the mountain pass, I grieved about having to tell our daughter she wouldn’t be able to attend this school.

Then a moment happened I know I will always remember. As I drove, God interrupted my silent pity party and confirmed my worst fears: trying to send our daughter to this school to pursue her dreams didn’t make sense, at least to a human mind like mine. But if my wife and I were willing to blindly trust the same God who created the universe from nothing, He might do something our human minds couldn’t imagine.

"My faith grew on the mountain pass that day, and as God has continued the work He and He alone started, that faith has only strengthened."

jayson larson Tweet

Right there on that mountain pass, I confessed my faithlessness to my wife and daughter and proclaimed that we would trust the work God had already been doing—even if it made no sense to move forward. Lord willing, I’ll see that mountain pass again next spring as we fly over it on the way to watch our daughter graduate from that university.

What are the marks of a growing disciple of Christ? I’d submit to you that among all the disciplines you can put on the list, none is greater—or harder to measure—than faith growth. My faith grew on the mountain pass that day, and as God has continued the work He and He alone started, that faith has only strengthened. Yet even now, I’ve got so much more room to grow.

Why am I telling you this? Part of me wants to encourage you. Every … single … day we are faced with so much that can discourage and blind us to the work God is doing around us—including the work we’ve asked Him to do! Another part of me is painfully aware that we live in a complicated world filled with people who don’t believe God exists at all and followers of Christ who struggle to sense the presence of God or the work of God in their lives.

That’s why sharing these stories matters so much. They’re so important, we dedicate a couple of pages in our magazine each month to allow you to tell your God stories in our “What’s Your Story?” section. They serve as proof of a living and active God who loves us and who is working all things together for good—whether we understand how He is doing that or not.

What are the significant moments that have happened in your life? Why were those moments so meaningful to you? And as you can see it now, how did God change you through those moments?

Set your mind on these things, and when you figure them out, go and tell the people in your church. Go and tell your neighbor and the lady at the grocery store.

Go and tell the world.

Generosity, heart for missions marks Texas Panhandle church

Connecting here, there & everywhere

A steady presence in the Texas Panhandle since 1914, First Baptist Church in Friona has seen success at reaching families in a modern context, and through the years it has been marked by a generous spirit toward missions.

“Some churches have more of a banker’s mentality when it comes to money—hang on, save,” said Brett Hoyle, pastor of FBC Friona. “It’s been amazing to see how generous the church is toward mission work.”

The church, which averages 150 in attendance, gives 13% of its undesignated receipts through the Cooperative Program, and its special offerings for state, national, and international missions are strong, too, Hoyle said.

“People see how they’re able to be a part of what God is doing, and it’s exciting to give,” Hoyle said. “When we send mission teams, the mentality is that those folks are taking off work and sacrificing to go, so we want to help take care of the cost.

“I’ve heard many of the folks who have been here for decades say the church has always had such a generous heart toward missions.”

FBC Friona partners with missionaries in Lesotho, Africa, and sent a team there last December. The church also has a partner in India, where its teams occasionally travel. They’re considering assisting a church in New Mexico with revitalization.

Locally, one of the highlights is a shoe distribution led by the church’s children’s ministry. Children who demonstrate a degree of maturity in Christ are eligible to serve on a children’s leadership team, which includes leading in outreach and reading Scripture during worship services. They also minister in special ways to homebound members.

The children’s leadership team hosted the first shoe distribution event at the beginning of the past school year. Any children in the community in need of shoes were invited with their families to receive them and also to hear a gospel presentation in English or Spanish. The church and school worked together to provide more shoes to children in January.

“Some churches have more of a banker’s mentality when it comes to money—hang on, save. It’s been amazing to see how generous the church is toward mission work.”

—Brett Hoyle Tweet

“That’s been a really neat ministry to make connections,” Hoyle said.

Recently, an immigrant mother whose husband left the family contacted the church.

“She didn’t know where to turn,” the pastor said. “She ended up texting me because my wife and I had delivered shoes a couple of months ago. I was able to get her connected with some other ladies at our church who speak Spanish, and they were able to minister to her and meet some immediate needs until she could get closer to some family that she has in the states.”

Within the past year, FBC Friona started a Spanish Bible study on Wednesday nights to minister to Spanish speakers whose children attend Wednesday night activities. The class began with three couples in the church who are bilingual and has reached a few newcomers.

Hoyle said the majority of residents in Friona now are Hispanic, drawn by agriculture jobs such as feed lots, dairies, and a beef processing facility. The population has remained steady at 4,000 through the last two censuses, and the town even has a housing shortage now, the pastor said.

“It’s definitely holding its own,” he said. “Friona is not drying up like a lot of small towns. People can find a job pretty quickly if they’re willing to work.”

Hoyle grew up near Abilene and went to The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Immediately after graduation in 2009, he became pastor of FBC Friona.

The church had hit a rough patch in the 1980s and ’90s, he said. “Twenty years ago, there weren’t any little kids or babies, really, in the church.” Now, the church is doing well and God is at work with lots of families.

“Biblical preaching is very important,” Hoyle said of what draws people there. “The church is so good to welcome new people in. It’s the culture of the church to reach out and invite their neighbors and new people that move to town. I think a big key is folks loving on others and doing life together.

“The biblical focus of making disciples is important,” Hoyle added. “Our ministry is not the nicest or the flashiest, but the Lord is working and moving.”

The pastor recounted the story of a woman who had been attending on Wednesday nights and sometimes on Sundays for six or seven years. She had a Catholic background, and at FBC Friona she had been growing in the Lord, he said.

“Recently she and her husband needed some help, and she humbled herself and said, ‘I’m going to go to the church for help and not anywhere else.’ She was able to see the love of Jesus through the church.”

Lone Star Scoop • September 2023

Mandrell encourages Equip crowd to be filled by ‘pouring into others’

HOUSTON Ben Mandrell, president and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources, challenged ministry leaders to remember the importance of caring about people during his keynote address at the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s Equip Conference held Saturday, Aug. 5, at Sagemont Church.

“Ministry is nothing short of showing people a visible picture of who God is,” Mandrell said. “If you are called to ministry, you’ve got to love shepherding. And to shepherd means you’ve got to smell like sheep, which means you’ve got to be close to them all the time, not locked away in some room developing homiletical schemes. You’ve got to love people.”

Equip drew more than 1,400 registrants this year. The conference, aimed at helping the local church develop and strengthen leaders, featured 70 speakers leading breakout sessions on more than 130 ministry topics.

—Texan staff

(From left) Pastor Javier Chavez, Peruvian Third Vice President Alejandro Muñante, and Cameron Bowman and Ronnie Mosley of Birchman Baptist Church are seen together after a meeting. SUBMITTED PHOTO

Missions team from Fort Worth
church meets with Peruvian officials

LIMA, Peru A missions team from Birchman Baptist Church in Fort Worth accepted an invitation from the National Congress of Peru for a private audience with Third Vice President Alejandro Muñante and Congresswoman Milagros Aguayo, leader of the pro-life coalition, on July 21.

The meeting came as the Birchman missions team traveled throughout the city of Lima to host worship and evangelism concerts. The trip was part of Birchman’s longterm partnership with local pastors and churches in Peru. On this most recent trip, more than three dozen people came to faith in Christ and were baptized by local congregations.

During the meeting, a formal invitation was extended to Birchman’s pastor, Bob Pearle, to address the Peruvian Congress and have a private audience with President Dina Boluarte. Cameron Bowman, Birchman’s minister of young adults and outreach, accepted the invitation on the pastor’s behalf.

Discussion topics included religious liberty, protections for the unborn, and family values.

—Texan staff

Reach Texas Week of Prayer scheduled for Sept. 17-24

GRAPEVINE The Reach Texas State Missions Offering Week of Prayer is scheduled for Sept. 17-24, serving as the kickoff for the annual emphasis that sees churches across the state partner to further the Great Commission.

All funds given through Reach Texas go directly toward ministry efforts aimed at delivering the gospel to the estimated 20 million people who are lost in Texas. Those efforts include missions and evangelism strategies such as disaster relief, church planting, and more. This year’s statewide challenge goal is $1.6 million.

For more information, including resources that can be used by churches to help promote the offering, visit sbtexas.com/reachtexas.

—Texan staff

Missions team from Fort Worth
church meets with Peruvian officials

Discussion topics included religious liberty, protections for the unborn, and family values.

—Texan staff

SBTC Resolutions and Exhibitor Qualifications

Resolutions give convention messengers an opportunity to express consensus on a current issue. While resolutions are non-binding on convention churches, they do add substance to current conversations in Baptist life and the culture at large. Any member of an SBTC church may submit a resolution to the resolutions committee for consideration. The committee considers these proposed resolutions when preparing resolutions to present to messengers at the Annual Meeting.

The 2023 resolutions committee will receive proposed resolutions from Wednesday, Sept. 20, to Wednesday, Oct. 18.

A proposed resolution must include your name, church membership, phone number, and email address. Please review the format of previous SBTC resolutions at sbtexas.com/resolutions. All proposed resolutions should be emailed to Jenna Griffis at jgriffis@sbtexas.com.

Only SBTC ministries and approved exhibitors may hand out material to the messenger body on the premises of the Annual Meeting.

Sharing the message of Jesus with children is a hallmark of FBC Jewett’s ministry

ach Wednesday for many years, vans from First Baptist Church in Jewett have been in the pickup line at the local elementary school, ready to whisk students away to a place where they would be loved, cared for, and taught God’s plan for their lives.

In fact, the practice was better known to the community than to the new pastor at one time. Seven years ago, Allen Crosby had only been at the church a few weeks when he received a call from the school asking where the vans were.

Surprised, the pastor replied, “We’re on the way!” He quickly learned how much locals in the town of 1,000 depended on the ministry that began through the church’s Royal Ambassadors and Girls in Action programs.

“I had never been in an area where they were so open to church involvement,” Crosby said.

‘All hands on deck’

For several years now, FBC Jewett has hosted Awana clubs for children. They pick them up from school and take them to church to help with homework, play games, feed them dinner, have a worship time, and teach them the Bible.

“It’s all hands on deck. We don’t do anything else on Wednesday but Awana,” Crosby said. “All our adults are involved.”

What helps with manpower for the task is that FBC Jewett is about 10 miles from Lake Limestone, where people from Dallas, Houston, and other areas move for retirement.

“A lot of the retirees that come to our church have come to serve,” Crosby said. “They’re not just pew warmers. They were looking for a church where they could get busy, get active. Awana is a great place to plug them in. Some of these folks are becoming like grandparents to some of the kids.”

For one former member of FBC Jewett, his testimony begins with being picked up in the church van at about 3 years old and taken to church with his sisters every week until he graduated high school. Now he is a student at Texas Baptist College and serving on staff at a church, Crosby said.

“God has just really blessed our church, and I’m thrilled to be here. That can happen anywhere as long as you know you’re right where God wants you.”

—Allen Crosby Tweet

“He’s very evangelistic and has reached so many people for Christ,” he said, adding that the young man’s mother and grandmother now are involved in the church.

Though FBC Jewett has a good number of older members, several young families have joined the church in recent years, including a family with seven daughters that started coming because of Awana and now is very involved.

More than 20 youth attend each week, and many of their parents are part of the church, too. On Sundays, between 100 and 120 people attend worship. One challenge, Crosby said, is that for some families, the father works on an oil rig and only gets to be home once a month.

Before moving to Jewett, Crosby was serving in Athens, Ga., where concrete was everywhere and the mall was around the corner, he said.

“Now we live in a place where we have to keep a cooler in the car in case we’re near a grocery store and we can buy things and bring them back home. It takes 45 minutes to an hour to get to Walmart. We have to plan our trips, and for people who live around here, that’s just a way of life.”

Jewett is about two hours south of Dallas and two hours north of Houston, just off Interstate 45. The pastor says there are more cows in the county than people.

“When I came here, I thought God had sent me to the most desolate place in the world. It’s so remote,” Crosby recounted. “When we first moved here, it was so dusty, so dry, and so hot that when I drove down the road I could hardly see because of the dust kicking up. I doubted at times and questioned God about why He did this.”

The Lord soon answered that question for the pastor. Crosby said he witnessed so many baptisms at his church, he wondered where the people were coming from. Though a small town, the need to reach people is great—and not just in Jewett.

Acts 1:8 is a focus of the church, and members recently traveled to the Mexico border for evangelism in partnership with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and North American Mission Board. The church has historically supported missions well financially, and now they’re getting involved with their hands and feet, too.

“My challenge to anybody would be just listen and follow God and don’t judge a book by its cover,” Crosby said. “This is a like a diamond in the rough. God has just really blessed our church, and I’m thrilled to be here. That can happen anywhere as long as you know you’re right where God wants you.”

Winning the world for Christ together

I was so excited. It was the end of the summer in 2001 and I had just been called to serve as a student minister. I had no clue the road God would allow me to travel to get to the place I serve today.

This church was where I first heard about the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. It was where I began to understand what the Southern Baptist Convention is all about. It was the place my eyes were opened to the effectiveness of the Cooperative Program.

Fast forward four years. I was now a senior pastor just three months after turning 24 years old. As I began to lead, I had to really think through how we wanted to partner and do missions. Soon after I arrived, we uniquely affiliated with the SBTC and set our Cooperative Program giving at 10%. I knew we could reach our community, but my heart was to reach Texas and the world. I felt like the Cooperative Program gave our small rural church the greatest opportunity to partner with other churches, the SBTC, the International Mission Board, and the North American Mission Board to accomplish that task.

"It is truly amazing that CP allows you to be in your local church and around the world at the same time."

Nathan Lorick Tweet

I know there is a lot of chatter on social media about the SBC and CP. I understand a lot of the frustrations people have felt and expressed. I get it, I really do. However, by God’s grace, I am in a unique position. I have the opportunity to travel all across Texas and the nation meeting with and ministering to SBC churches. I am constantly reminded that the overwhelming majority of Southern Baptists have the same heart—to reach the world for Christ. I am consistently encouraged at the focus of pastors and the people in the pews as I hear about their vision to reach their communities. It is always a joy to share with them stories of how God is using their CP investment to further His kingdom. It makes me so thankful for Southern Baptists’ cooperation and partnership through CP.

I have four kids, and it is expensive! I am always looking for ways to maximize our dollars, especially in feeding my teenage boys. In the same way, I love this about the Cooperative Program: Where else can a dollar help put more than 3,700 missionaries on the field, plant 700-plus churches per year, and train 20,000 people who will serve as the next generation of pastors, missionaries, Sunday school teachers, staff members, and lay people? It is truly amazing that CP allows you to be in your local church and around the world at the same time. I consider it a blessing to have that kind of impact.

I know social media gets a bit crazy and creates a lot of unnecessary noise. However, beyond the reach of our thumbs and 140 characters, there are 47,000 churches filled with people who simply desire to see every person hear the gospel. Let’s reengage with that reality and win the world together. I am so grateful for all the SBTC churches that cooperate to reach Texas and impact the world together through the Cooperative Program.

God is bringing the world to us. Let’s reach those people together. I love you and am honored to serve you!

25 years of answered prayer with Kie Bowman

In November, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention will mark 25 years of answered prayer at its Annual Meeting at Cross City Church in Euless. Each month leading up to the meeting, the Texan will feature a brief conversation with past SBTC presidents about how they have seen God answer their prayers for the convention over the past quarter century and how they are praying God will bless the convention moving forward. This month, we feature past SBTC president Kie Bowman (2019-2021).

What were some of your earliest prayers for the SBTC?

I was the new senior pastor of Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin when I heard the SBTC was forming. The conservative resurgence at the national level was making huge strides, but so many of us felt like that wasn’t the case at the state convention level. So honestly, my first prayer for the SBTC was a prayer of thanksgiving and praise to God that it was beginning! Later, I thanked God that Jim Richards would be the leader. Those were exciting days of big challenges and really unbelievable growth, so there was a lot of praise and thanksgiving.

How have you seen God answer some of your prayers regarding the convention?

When I became more involved with the SBTC, it was not organizationally connected to the larger prayer movement I saw emerging everywhere. Nathan Lino’s presidency was the first sign of a major focus on prayer I saw. … Much later, I was a member of the search committee that brought Nathan Lorick as the new executive director. Lino and Todd Kaunitz were also on the committee, and by that time both had experienced major spiritual awakening in their churches. Both outpourings were directly associated with prayer. When we interviewed Nathan Lorick, he had connected with [The Brooklyn Tabernacle Pastor] Jim Cymbala and was passionate about prayer. This has been the biggest answer to prayer I’ve had for the SBTC. These men are making prayer a central part of the convention’s identity and focus. I’m convinced it’s evidence of God at work.

During your service as president, how were you praying for the convention?

Serving as president of the SBTC was an honor and opportunity I will never forget. My presidency, however, was unusual for two reasons. First, I was president during the global pandemic when most of our churches were shut down or greatly restricted for a time. My prayers were constantly for our churches—many of them smaller with limited resources—and for the pastors carrying the leadership burdens we all carried. My prayers were also for our state convention leadership and our financial strength. Second, Jim Richards began confiding in me that he was seriously considering a transition process. That process was on my heart every time I prayed.

What is your prayer for the next 25 years of the SBTC?

We live in a time of radical social change. Texas is a mission field with some of America’s largest and most cosmopolitan cities. I pray the SBTC never loses the courage to build on our confessional foundations. Biblical inerrancy is always threatened by the gravity of a lost culture and the possibility of organizational mission drift. I pray we stay focused on reaching lost people, working together around our commitment to biblical inerrancy, and that we emerge as the premier leader in the growing prayer movement in the Southern Baptist Convention.

The power of presence

My wife and I recently returned from a trip to Hawaii to see our son, who serves in the U.S. Marine Corps, and his wife. We also saw our daughter, who traveled ahead of us to spend a few extra weeks with her brother after finishing her junior year of college in Oregon.

While in Hawaii, we saw many of the sights popular with tourists. We visited Pearl Harbor, ate fresh pineapple at the Dole Plantation, and of course, swam in the crystal-clear waters of the Pacific Ocean. It was a trip we’ll never forget.

Despite all the beauty we saw and experienced, our most cherished memories from the trip were made not on sun-bleached beaches or standing in the shadows of giant battleships, but sitting at a kitchen table laughing until we cried playing Uno and battling it out on the pickleball court late into the warm, breezy Hawaiian nights.

In the weeks leading up to the trip, I began to catch myself daydreaming about hugging my kids. We hadn’t seen our daughter since Christmas break and it had been almost a year since we’d seen our son and daughter-in-law. To have all our adult kids together—to be in one another’s presence—that was the real treat.

Now hold that thought for a moment …

While it may not get name-checked as one of the most important spiritual disciplines, I’m more convinced now than ever before that seeking the manifest presence of our Lord is, in fact, the most important thing I can do as a believer. Sometimes I can be so structured in my faith, with my Bible reading plans and extrabiblical study aides and prayer lists, that I forget that what my Father really wants is for me to spend time by His side and bask in the glory of His presence.

"I know the depth of love I feel for my children. How much more then must my God, who loves with a perfect love, feel about me as His child?"

jayson larson Tweet

How do I know that? Well, the Bible tells me so. But I also feel it in the deepest parts of me, where God has planted in my heart a desire to be in an eternal relationship with Him. And when He blessed me to be a father, He allowed me to experience just a touch of how He feels about me as a son. I know the depth of love I feel for my children. How much more then must my God, who loves with a perfect love, feel about me as His child?

I want the best for my children. I don’t want them to struggle. I want them to be successful in whatever the Lord leads them to do. But more than anything, I want to be in a constant, intimate relationship with them. I want them to reach out to me when they’re troubled. I want them to call me so I can celebrate their victories with them. And sometimes, I just want to sit with them, quiet and still with no particular agenda. I want to enjoy being in their presence, and I want them to enjoy being in mine.

The same goes when it comes to our Father in heaven. That’s what He wants with us. May we never forget that.

May I never forget that.

Third season of Vindication set to begin streaming Sept. 1

Jarod O’Flaherty, producer, writer, and director of the faith-based crime drama Vindication, understands cliffhanger endings. Fans of the PureFlix original series have awaited the premiere of the eight-episode third season since 2021, when season two ended with a shocking finale placing the fates of several main characters in jeopardy.

Vindication fans won’t have to wait much longer.

The first two episodes of season three are set to premiere on PureFlix Sept. 1. Episodes will be released every Friday through the end of the season.

The series is a production of Retta Baptist Church of Burleson. Throughout the first three seasons, church members have appeared as extras, served on crews, provided locations for filming, and otherwise been integrally involved.

“We’ve used almost everyone in our church. We have to wait for new members to join,” O’Flaherty said with a chuckle. He noted that many “rooms, corners, and paved surfaces of the church” appear in season three, albeit camouflaged.

Vindication offers story arcs which present the gospel during the narrative without such scenes feeling forced. Actors can look directly into the camera and share their faith as they speak to incarcerated felons or Bible study attendees.

Season three promises more of the same, with actors Todd Terry, Peggy Schott, Venus Monique, Emma Elle Roberts, and T.C. Stallings, among others, reprising their season two roles.

“To have a story about Texas cops with a powerful faith message, that’s what Vindication is all about.”

Jarod O’Flaherty Tweet

The series has been streamed in Turkey, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, South and Central America, and various Russian-language markets, O’Flaherty confirmed, adding that viewership has been in the millions, with more than 1 million YouTube views in Latin America alone.

Many of the lead actors are Christ followers, O’Flaherty said, but not all the crew or other actors are believers—yet. One crew member accepted Jesus after the filming of season three, he said. Another actor admitted there is “something different” about the set that was “shaking her up inside.”

“Our core has so many strong Christians,” O’Flaherty said. “So there were goosebumps everywhere when she said it.” They all knew the actor was referring to the work of the Holy Spirit.

“To have astory about Texas cops with a powerful faith message, that’s what Vindication is all about,” O’Flaherty added.

Even before season three premieres, Retta Vision inked a deal to begin production of season four, and filming began July 22. PureFlix, which recently merged with the Great American Channel, generally does only three seasons of any series, so Vindication’s fourth season will likely stream on Redeem TV or another outlet depending upon distribution agreements.

Fans wanting to catch up on the first two seasons before watching the third can see them with a subscription to PureFlix or for free on Redeem TV, a donation-based streaming service.

What’s your story? Even into my 60s, God is still growing me

When I was 11, a group came to our church to lead a lay witness weekend—that was a thing back in the late 1960s—and I made a profession of faith. Uncertain about that decision, I made a real profession of faith when I was 30.

My wife, Lori, and I lived in Georgetown and we loved it. We had friends there and raised our family there. I worked for ACME Brick and stayed in that desirable part of Texas until I was in my mid-50s. I retired from that job earlier this year.

Well, there was a management position that came open in Beaumont about 11 or 12 years ago. They kept asking me if I would take this position … and I was like, “I’m not interested in going. I am 54 years old. I’m not interested in making a move like that, going to a place where I don’t know anybody.” But we visited just to placate management. My wife and I came over to Beaumont to visit so we could check the box [and be able to say], “Hey, we visited, we’re not interested. Thanks for asking.”

End of the story.

But that was just the beginning of it.

We came here on a visit, and on the way back, both of us were talking about how we were being drawn to Beaumont. As we got halfway home, I said, “That wasn’t what I thought it was going to be, and I’m really kind of being drawn there.” My wife agreed. I didn’t know one person in Beaumont. Not one. I really think it was the Holy Spirit leading us to Beaumont to sit under Chris Moody’s leadership at First Baptist Church. He is a fabulous pastor.

I didn’t get discipled until I came to First Baptist Beaumont when I was about 54, 55 years old. I never heard of it until I came here. And none of the churches I was in had a discipleship program like what we have here. We’d have Sunday school or small groups, but nothing like this.

I think the ministry is important because Jesus was a small group guy. He had the throngs of people who followed Him all over the place, and then He broke it down into 12 people and then into three. He discipled those three on a very personal level. He focused on them in a different way than He did the other nine. Our goal is to follow the Scriptures and follow His lead in small group discipleship.

"What’s my story? We trusted God as he uprooted us and moved us to Beaumont."

Allan Higgins Tweet

It makes a huge difference that my pastor is very serious about this ministry. When I was pretty new to the church and to my new job, Chris called me and asked me to join him and another man in a small discipleship group. The pastor would lead our group. So I agreed to do that with them. The drill is, you meet once a week and there’s memory verses you’re supposed to be prepared for every lesson. Some of the verses were pretty long. We were meeting at lunch at a restaurant, and I didn’t always have the memory verse memorized. So after about the third or fourth meeting, I got a call from Chris and he goes, “Hey, Allan, how’s your discipleship training going?”

I said, “Well, you know how it’s going.” I had missed some meetings and I wasn’t prepared. And he said, “Well, I’ve got somebody to take your place. Why don’t you step away from our group and then we can get back together again later when your work situation settles down and you have more time?” That was his way of kicking me out of his class.

I didn’t know Chris that well at the time, but when I hung up the phone, I thought to myself, “He’s serious about Bible study. He’s serious about people growing their faith.” I wasn’t offended at all. I was very appreciative of him demonstrating his commitment to discipling people.

About a year later I went through the program with our executive pastor, Mark Adams. And I’m now in my third cycle of facilitating younger men in our discipleship process. These young men are the age of my children, but I learn more about following Jesus every time I go through the material. I’m at a different stage of life than they are. It’s just very cool. I really enjoy it.

What’s my story? We trusted God as He uprooted us and moved us to Beaumont. I believe that was the whole point of us moving, to meet Chris Moody and to sit under his leadership at First Baptist Beaumont. I really think that is the biggest thing in my life that I’ve done—stepping out in faith like that and doing something that God used to impact my life.

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

Share your story here

Maximizing your kingdom impact

How much is a billion? While most of us can quantify it numerically, few have conceptualized it quantitatively. If I asked you to count to a billion, and you spoke in a regular cadence, you would reach a billion in 95.1 years—assuming you counted 24 hours a day nonstop.

How about the volume of a billion? The following may help. Ten oranges would fill a large salad bowl, a thousand oranges the bed of a pickup truck, and a million oranges an Olympic-sized swimming pool. A billion oranges? That would fill up a modern-sized NFL football stadium to the brim.

In his book, The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World, Niall Ferguson offers a comprehensive overview of the evolution of money, banking, and finance. In 2007, the year leading up to the last major market correction and subsequent recession, Forbes magazine disclosed compensation packages for the top 10 leaders of major banks, investment houses, and hedge funds. Their compensation packages combined exceeded $5.2 billion. That is a lot of oranges.

I offer this introduction to pose a simple question: Have you considered the kingdom impact of the money under your control and your related investment strategies on those funds? I fully support and subscribe to a free market that determines compensation in response to performance. With that said, a significant amount of the liquidity on deposit in the commercial banking industry represents resources controlled and stewarded by Christians. The banks who, in turn, lend these deposits to a variety of borrowers have one objective—profits. Those profits fund salaries most of us cannot relate to in our everyday lives.

"Have you considered the kingdom impact of the money under your control and your related investment strategies on those funds?"

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The Southern Baptists of Texas Foundation offers competitively priced certificates designed to attract liquidity from churches, Christian individuals, and faith-based institutions. Those certificates are used to provide financing alternatives to churches that are building, acquiring land, or renovating existing facilities. In offering competitive rates to investors and redeploying those resources to growing churches, investors and borrowers benefit and God’s kingdom is advanced. The resources stay within the kingdom and all surplus amounts generated from the foundation are utilized to fund kingdom endeavors.

How much is your bank paying on your individual passbook savings account? Do you have money invested in bank CDs? Would you be open to investing those resources in a way that directly impacts God’s kingdom? If you perform an administrative function in the church, how much money does your church maintain in its operating account? Designated fund accounts? Would your church consider an investment strategy that puts those resources to work for God’s kingdom until they are needed for your operations?

The foundation has 693 certificates issued with investments totaling more than $120 million. Only God knows the kingdom impact those resources have through the 79 loans the foundation has made to churches throughout the state. Opening an account is easy and access to your investments is available through automated platforms that can quickly move money in and out of these certificates as you manage your cash position. The foundation regularly runs promotional campaigns to remain competitive and attract new partners who desire to steward their resources in a way that maximizes a kingdom investment impact.