Author: Russell Lightner

Givers—and recipients—testify to the impact of Operation Christmas Child

The Gift of the Gospel

In every church that Paul Beam has served, he has seen people rally around packing Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes with gifts for children to be distributed around the world.

“Our people enjoy simply filling a shoebox and letting the gospel go and do its work,” said Beam, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Pampa. The 2022 National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child is November 14-21.

OCC is a project of the Christian international relief organization Samaritan’s Purse, reaching more than 198 million children in over 170 countries and territories since 1993.

The Pampa church also serves as a drop-off point for boxes packed by churches in half of West Texas. “This gives us some new opportunities in being able to provide joy to the hearts of boys and girls all over the world,” Beam said.

Across the state at Calvary Baptist Church in Nacogdoches, Wanda Hightower is helping members gather hygiene items, toys, and school supplies to pack in boxes this fall.

“Besides helping a child with physical items, it enables them to hear the gospel,” she said. Some of their folks have crocheted small purses or pillowcase dresses for the boxes designated for girls.

Sunday school classes of all sizes, individuals, as well as families continue gathering supplies for the boxes that will be prepared at packing parties in churches. Samaritan’s Purse offers online resources explaining how to pack a box, as well as giving the option to assemble a box online.

After being transported from local churches to regional drop-off stations, the boxes will go to Colleyville—one of eight national processing centers where volunteers inspect and prepare the shoeboxes for international shipping, stopping work every hour to pray for the children who will receive the gifts.

In addition to hearing the gospel shared by local church leaders who have been trained by OCC, kids are given The Greatest Gift, a storybook about Jesus that features the apostle John as narrator. This resource makes its way into the homes of the children to share with family and friends, as they read 11 Bible stories and are invited to follow Christ.

Later, those children are invited back to participate in a 12-lesson discipleship course called “The Greatest Journey.” It features Bible stories and Scripture memorization to help them follow Christ in their daily lives. Over 30.9 million children have enrolled in the program since 2009.

Andy Castillo serves as the regional manager for the north and central areas of Latin America where he sees the impact of the boxes on the local level.

“Normally, we focus on the blessing of the child to hear the gospel message and receive that tangible demonstration of the love of God through the box where they will find items that will make a huge difference in their lives,” Castillo said. “Additional elements that bring passion to why we are involved include the impact the ministry has on our volunteers and local churches,” he added, sharing stories from local participants in the distribution of OCC boxes.

Castillo translated for Rosa Mills, who coordinates mobilization for La Paz, Honduras, describing the first OCC distribution event sponsored by her church in 2016. Traveling for more than six hours to reach families up in the mountains, the volunteers rode on horses and donkeys to areas that are difficult to access.

“The first person that gave his life to the Lord was a man of 83 years of age,” Mills shared. “And from that moment we came back again to the same community and more than 100 people showed up. Our meeting for the distribution event took place beneath a tree, but one of the attendees donated a piece of property so that we could build a church in that community.”

“What a privilege and responsibility we share in advancing the gospel.”

Ross Robinson Tweet

The church has seen children “grow in their knowledge of the Lord” from that first encounter, now serving as musicians, Bible school teachers, and leaders implementing projects in other areas.

Mayer Murillo, a strategic regional coordinator for Intibucá, Honduras, has seen children live out their new-found faith in the community. “These kids are growing and sharing,” he said by way of Castillo’s translation, adding that several youth who gave their lives to the Lord eventually attended seminary in Mexico and returned to serve in a local congregation.

Castillo is grateful for the way pastors who come together to train as volunteers with OCC “strengthen one another and push forward with the gospel message.”

“This is a big reminder to me of how truly big God’s arms are,” added Ross Robinson, senior ministry strategist for church partnerships at Operational Christmas Child. “What a privilege and responsibility we share in advancing the gospel.”

For more information on how to participate in Operation Christmas Child, contact Ross Robinson at rdrobinson@samaritan.org

Lone Star Scoop • September 2022

Tyler church rallies around family of fallen sheriff’s deputy

TYLER—Smith County Sheriff’s Deputy Lorenzo Bustos was killed in the line of duty during a routine traffic stop in July. Following his death, Friendly Baptist Church—of which Bustos, 29, was a member—stepped up to minister to the Bustos family, establishing a memorial fund to benefit his wife and their three children (ages 4, 5, and 8).

A 21-year-old driver was arrested for intoxication manslaughter in connection to Bustos’ death.

His pastor, Dan Lewis, said Bustos is remembered for his big smile and positive attitude. Bustos had a significant “impact on our church family,” Lewis said, noting that the deputy and his wife, Gloria, started actively serving in GAs and RAs shortly after joining the church in May 2015.

SBTC enters into partnership with Nevada Baptist Convention

GRAPEVINE Underscoring the cooperative work that is foundational among Southern Baptists, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention announced on August 9 that it has entered into a multiyear ministry partnership with the Nevada Baptist Convention. The partnership, SBTC Executive Director Nathan Lorick said, will provide financial support and various resources to help Southern Baptists in Nevada strengthen existing churches, plant new churches, reach the lost, and develop leaders. In July, the SBTC Executive Committee approved funding of up to $150,000 to be disbursed to the Nevada Baptist Convention in three annual installments of up to $50,000 each beginning this year. A fourth installment may also be given with Executive Committee approval.

Cooperative Program Sunday set for Oct. 2

Each year, the Southern Baptist Convention sets aside one Sunday to promote giving to the Cooperative Program, the mechanism by which the convention funds missions. Sunday, October 2, has been designated as this year’s “Cooperative Program Sunday.”

As churches are preparing for services, they are asked to prayerfully consider playing CP promotional videos, use provided resources, preach a related sermon, or invite a guest speaker from the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention to come and share about the Cooperative Program.

Leading forward in humility

I n July, I had the privilege of leading a group of 128 pastors and their wives to Israel. I must admit, it was one of the highlights of my ministry.

One day while visiting Bethlehem, we stopped at a gift shop. While our group was shopping, the owner of the tour company we went with asked me to find a small gift to take back for my office. As I perused the store, I really wanted to choose something that exemplified my calling. I really wanted one of David killing a lion with his bare hands, but that’s not what I do. I then found one of Jesus carrying a sheep on his shoulders—a picture of the Shepherd carrying His sheep. I loved it, but that is not what I do (that is a more accurate picture of a pastor).

After searching for a while, I found the one that best represents my calling. It is a beautiful carving of Jesus on his knees washing the feet of Peter. This was it. This exemplifies what I live for—to serve with humility.

If there is anything I have learned about leadership, it’s this: success makes you a more confident leader, failure makes you a more cautious leader, but humility makes you a better leader. Serving in any leadership capacity can be challenging. The stress and anxiety of day-to-day decisions often weigh heavy on the hearts and minds of leaders. The ever-changing culture adds to the complexities of leading. However, with the right mindset and posture of heart, leaders can excel in advancing the mission.

I want to suggest two principles to live by in leading with humility:

"When you lead with humility, you desire to honor those in your life. Paul challenges the church in Rome not only to honor others but to outdo each other in showing honor."

Nathan Lorick Tweet

Realize our position

It is easy as you progress in your calling to become more self-confident and less self-aware. Oftentimes, success brings great things into your life: expanded influence, job promotions, salary raises, and a lot of affirmation. These are all good things. However, if we are not careful, it also brings pride, arrogance, a lack of concern for others, and a loss of gratitude.

We must remember what 1 Peter 5:6 says: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you.” As we lead forward, it is imperative to realize our position. Humility comes from a heart that is postured in submission to God. It comes from people who know they are nothing apart from the hand of God on their lives.

Honor others

One of my favorite verses is found in the second part of Romans 12:10: “Outdo one another in showing honor.” Leaders excel in this principle when they are secure in who they are in Christ. When you lead with humility, you desire to honor those in your life. Paul challenges the church in Rome not only to honor others but to outdo each other in showing honor. What a principle to live and lead by! As you lead forward in humility, find ways to honor the people God brings into your life.

Leading is challenging, but doing so with humility is fulfilling. I encourage you as you lead to position your mind and heart to do so with humility. It will change your life and allow you to serve with joy and gratefulness. I love you and am humbled to serve you!

Satisfied only by the Savior

Carrollton pastor walked away from lucrative investment banking career for something far more compelling—God’s mission

Ryan Lee wasn’t expected to live long as an infant.

“He’ll be gone within a few weeks,” the doctor told Lee’s parents of the baby born in Suwon, South Korea. Despite the prognosis, Lee’s parents signed paperwork instructing the hospital to preserve their infant son’s life, even if he remained unconscious for the rest of his days.

Dr. Billy Kim, the prominent Korean Christian leader and the Lees’ pastor, prayed with Ryan’s mom in the hospital hallway. “If the baby is safe and well,” he asked Mrs. Lee, “will you give this baby to the Lord, so that the Lord can use him as His servant for the rest of his life?”

Mrs. Lee said yes.

“They were very eager to save me,” Ryan said recently. “Really, God touched my body and He healed me.” Within a month, against all medical expectations, Ryan was sent home healthy. He not only survived, but today pastors a sizeable Korean American congregation, Semihan Church in Carrollton, focused on planting new churches.

Before arriving in Carrollton, his journey took him from Korea to the corporate world of New York City and through the oldest and one of the most prestigious Ivy League universities in the country, Harvard. Through it all, Lee has learned that riches fade, but God’s Word endures.

From college to global financial crisis

As a youngster, Lee attended the Christian school founded by Pastor Kim, also a former Baptist World Alliance president who assisted Billy Graham during the evangelist’s Asian crusades. The rigorous curriculum, which Lee likened to that of the most competitive college preparatory schools, readied him for further study.

He subsequently earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Carleton College in Minnesota.

Although Lee had become a Christian in middle school after viewing the Jesus film, the pastorate was a long way off. He returned to Korea after college and worked as an investment banker specializing in mergers and acquisitions. By his mid-twenties, he was earning a six-figure salary with deals, such as his firm’s planned acquisition of a percentage of Lehman Brothers, promising much, much more.

Had the Lehman Brothers deal gone through, Lee’s bonus might have been $15 million, he estimated. But the subprime mortgage crisis hit; financial institutions collapsed; and the acquisition fell through. Lehman Brothers would soon crater.

“Had I made that deal, I might never have become a pastor,” Lee said. “But fortunately, by the grace of God, that didn’t happen.”

He left banking for Manhattan in August 2008, where a deferred admission to graduate school at Columbia University awaited him.

That September, Lee learned that Bank of America acquired the last company he had worked for. Equally shocking, one day later he saw former employees—the “best and the brightest”—of Lehman Brothers’ New York office streaming into the subway, carrying boxes of personal items.

“Their faces were hopeless; their eyes lost focus,” Lee recalled. God brought Isaiah 40:8 to mind: “The Word of our Lord endures forever.”

“The living and active Word of God struck my heart, my mind, my soul. I couldn’t move,” he recalled. He told God, “I will work for that everlasting Word of God, your Scripture, your kingdom. All other kingdoms—the money mountain, the political mountain, the power mountain—they’re all collapsing. The Word of God, the gospel, the Jesus message stands forever.”

On that subway train, he once again gave himself to the Lord.

"We often say we have to multiply disciples, make more disciples of Jesus Christ, but we don’t really say we must multiply church. Church should multiply church."

RYAN LEE Tweet

From Cambridge to Carrollton

Fast forward: within a year Lee finished his master’s at Columbia. He met and married his wife, Sarah, in New York in 2010. The couple has two children.

While serving in a Korean church in Manhattan during his studies at Columbia, Lee led the welcome team. Using evangelical tools, he presented the gospel to newcomers who were not believers. Many accepted Christ as Savior, and Lee experienced another life-changing moment through what he calls the “true joy” of preaching the gospel.

Even as a successful investment banker, he was not satisfied. Seeing people trust Jesus, confess their sins, and accept Christ as Savior, brought real joy. Lee became wholly committed to a new “life-saving ministry, the gospel ministry.”

Sensing the call of God, he entered Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, earned a Master of Divinity, and was admitted to a doctoral program in systematic theology under the direction of Malcolm Yarnell, his advisor.

Instead, Lee chose Harvard—for a few reasons: a full-ride scholarship and he wanted to understand theological liberals and liberalism.

His professional friends, he said, were not friendly to conservative theology or evangelical society, but they were open to liberal Christians, theologians, and churches.

“I really had to deal with liberals at some point,” Lee said. “I knew I had to go to more liberal schools so I could expose myself to liberal theology but still steadfastly hold on to the truth of the Word of God.”

While he encountered well-known secular thinkers there, Lee said he “became more Southern Baptist at Harvard than at any other place,” engaging in debates and discussions, presenting the evangelical perspective.

After studying religion at the Harvard Divinity School and politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, Lee returned to Southwestern Seminary for a Ph.D. in World Christian Studies.

Semihan Church

In 2018, Lee succeeded founder Lloyd B. Choi as pastor of Semihan Church in Carrollton. The church’s name means bringing the world, America, and Korea to Jesus Christ. The congregation is mostly Asian: primarily Korean and Korean American.

Choi started Semihan in 2000 with 14 people. By 2022, registrants to the church’s YouTube channel numbered 6,800. Traditional membership, meaning those active in the church’s core small groups, numbers 2,000. Between in-person and online attendees, weekly attendance runs over 3,000. The Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex has about 100,000 Koreans and Korean Americans.

The church budget has grown substantially, too.

“It’s all the grace of God,” Lee said.

He added that Semihan is at its core a church-planting congregation, planting churches in Houston and Irvine, Calif., and expanding to a second campus in Frisco to accommodate those coming from that city, McKinney, Plano, Prosper, and Celina. Semihan is also preparing to plant a church in Austin.

The Semihan philosophy is partly adopted from theologian Leonard Sweet’s four stages of church life: mission, ministry, maintenance, and museum—a model describing how churches move from creation to stagnation. To Sweet’s paradigm, Lee and Semihan have added a third “M” between “ministry” and “maintenance” to keep the church on mission: multiplication.

“The only way for a mega or bigger church to survive and maintain a healthy church is to multiply,” Lee said. Multiplication becomes an energizing movement.

“We often say we have to multiply disciples, make more disciples of Jesus Christ, but we don’t really say we must multiply church. Church should multiply church,” Lee said.

Thus Semihan’s focus, and what keeps its congregation engaged, is a firm focus on multiplication.

And growth continues as a result.

East Texas planter discovers compelling— and surprising—need in hometown

When God called Teddy Sorrells to plant a church in 2020, he expected to be sent to San Francisco or Denver, one of the popular church planting cities. Instead, a quick demographics study led him to plant in the small East Texas town he’d been trying all his life to leave.

“I was born in Gladewater. I joined the Army to leave Gladewater. I came back to Gladewater and raised my sons here. I pastored a little country church just south of Gladewater. I thought, ‘Now is the time for me to leave Gladewater,’” Sorrells said.

At his wife Marilyn’s prompting, Sorrells requested demographics data on Gladewater from the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. “I didn’t think I was going to read through it and find anything surprising because I’d been in Gladewater my whole life,” he said.

God used two statistics in particular about the town of 8,000 to grab Sorrells’s attention: half of the town’s residents are millennials or Gen Z, and a quarter of the homes are led by single mothers.

“Marilyn was raised by a single mom. I was raised by a single mom. These families are next-generation families that need a church that will love them and care for them and minister to them,” said Sorrells, who was saved and called to the ministry 20 years ago at age 29.

He was surprised to learn of so many younger residents because he doesn’t necessarily see them around town, he said. Maybe that’s because 83 percent of homes in Gladewater are rentals housing laborers who commute to nearby Longview or Tyler.

With a strong motivation to plant in Gladewater, Sorrells began building a core group and casting a vision. “I put the word out, and real fast God started bringing folks that were either in my past or folks that I had known just by acquaintance that wanted to be a part of what we were going to do.”

Living Water Church launched in September 2021 with 122 people attending the first day.

Something unique is that they started with a building and with two services. Sorrells had driven by a Family Video store in Gladewater and mentioned to Marilyn that he didn’t see how they could stay in business with so few people renting videos anymore.

Days later, a “going out of business” sign appeared, and Sorrells was able to lease the building for his church plant. Now the church has a prime location on the main road in Gladewater.

“God has met and exceeded every expectation we’ve set in planting Living Water Church.”

Also, the worship space accommodates 70 chairs, so two services allow room for growth. Living Water is averaging 70 people between the two services now, and they’ve baptized eight people.

“One of the things I wanted to do was partner with our city,” Sorrells said. “I wanted people to come to our church on Sundays, but I wanted people to know us by what we’re doing in our city.”

They’ve had multiple block parties, and for teacher appreciation week they provided food for teachers at the local middle school and gave them gift baskets. Sorrells was invited to be the chaplain for the high school football team.

“It just blows me away how many students we have in Gladewater that have no idea who Jesus is,” he said. At the end of football season, the church hosted the players and coaches and offered games, food, a worship time, and a gospel presentation. Four students were saved and six rededicated their lives to Christ.

"I wanted people to come to our church on Sundays, but I wanted people to know us by what we’re doing in our city."

Teddy Sorrells Tweet

Sorrells contacted the local code enforcement office to ask if any residents were having trouble getting their homes in compliance. A missions team from a partner church helped an elderly couple clean up their home and yard as “the hands and feet of Jesus.”

“Our city is impoverished, so there are like five housing projects in our city, and low-income earners live in our city,” Sorrells said. “There are not a lot of churches that are excited about reaching that demographic, but I am.”

Church planting is important even in a church-saturated small town like Gladewater, Sorrells has come to realize, because it’s biblical. God has called the church to advance the gospel, he said, and that means churches need to multiply exponentially.

The apostle Paul traveled to communities planting churches, Sorrells said, and that’s the model.

“That’s why it’s important to plant churches in places like Gladewater, Texas, where in the middle of the Bible Belt you have 100 churches in our area that are either plateaued or dying because there hasn’t been a new work of God come through here in forever because we’ve quit multiplying,” Sorrells said.

“That’s small town and big town, rural and urban. All of those have the same problem: Lost people need Jesus, and God has called the church to go tell lost people about Jesus.”

Lone Star Scoop • August 2022

Author Witt to serve as keynote speaker at Equip

FORT WORTH Author and ministry leader Lance Witt will be the keynote speaker at the SBTC Equip Conference on August 13 at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Equip is designed specifically to train leaders in the local church. This year’s conference will include over 25 areas of ministry specific breakouts and more than 70 speakers.

Witt is the founder of REPLENISH ministries, which is dedicated to helping people in ministry live and lead from a healthy soul, and the author of “Your ONE Life: Own it, Live it, Love it,” “Replenish” and “High Impact Teams.”

For more information and to register, visit sbtexas.com/equip. Cost to attend is only $10 until August 8, when the registration price will increase to $15.

55+ Adults Ministry Trainings set for Conroe, Corpus, Odessa

GRAPEVINE Three 55+ Adults Ministry Training sessions are scheduled in September. The trainings are for all church staff and lay leadership who work with 55+ aged adults.

The trainings are scheduled for September 1 at West Conroe Baptist Church in Conroe; September 8 at Yorktown Baptist Church in Corpus Christi; and September 15 at First Baptist Church of Odessa. Seniors and boomers are one of the fastest-growing segments in our society, and your community is full of unreached seniors. The trainings are meant to offer solutions to help churches prepare for the growing tide of retiring Boomers.

Cost of each training
is $15. For more information and to register, visit
sbtexas.com/55+.

Trio of Disciple-Making Forums to be held in September

Three Disciple-Making Forums are scheduled for September in three different regions of Texas: September 19 at Living Water Christian Fellowship in Canyon; September 20 at Immanuel Baptist Church in Odessa; and September 22 at First Baptist Church of Brownsville. Each forum will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Glenn Underhill from discipleFIRST Ministries will share Jesus’ proven strategy to make and multiply disciples that will help launch sustainable discipleship in your church. Our Great Commission mandate is to make disciples of Jesus of all nations. While the mandate is easily understood, it is often difficult to know where to start.

Registration is $10 and includes lunch and all training materials. For more information and to register, visit sbtexas.com/discipleship.

SBTC’s Molina to serve as SBC Hispanic Council president

ANAHEIM, Calif. Bruno Molina, language and interfaith evangelism associate for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Hispanic Council during the SBC Annual Meeting in June.

The council exists to provide unity and facilitate communication among Southern Baptist Hispanics. At the June meeting in Anaheim, the council appointed two new committees to develop a criteria list for those who wish to be members of the council and to investigate becoming a legal entity.

With the SBTC, Molina—who has served as a pastor and church planter—partners with churches by encouraging, equipping, and resourcing them to evangelize the people of over 300 language groups and many faiths in Texas. He earned his bachelor’s degree from New York University in international relations and Spanish, and both his Master of Arts in Theology and Ph.D. in world Christian studies from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The 5: A new school year brings with it great ministry opportunities

I knew I wanted to teach when I was five years old, and the Lord has granted me opportunities through local churches and seminaries for several decades now. At this time of year, my heart still leaps when I see school buses running and hear classroom bells ringing. I know, too, that local schools are great mission fields. Here are five ways your church might take on the task of ministering to schools in your area as a new school year nears:

1

Enlist a separate prayer team to pray for each school within your ministry area
Start here, seeking the Lord’s wisdom as you plan your ministry. Many of the folks in the schools don’t know Jesus. Some students deal with tough home lives. Public places can also become dangerous places. You will likely need several prayer warriors to cover all the schools in your area, but you can never have too many people praying. Pray … and then pray some more.

2

Pray over and commission the teachers in your congregation as they start a new year
The teachers in your church have opportunities every day to be light in the darkness, hope for the hopeless, and consistency for kids whose adult relationships are sometimes inconsistent (in fact, I’ve often thought about spending the last years of my career in the public school system for this very reason). Pray over your teachers—and send them out as an extension of your church’s ministry.

3

Talk with the superintendent and school principals
to see what needs your church might help meet
Think like a missionary. Don’t assume you know what the needs are; instead, investigate and ask. You might be surprised by the ethnic makeup, the languages spoken, the needs unmet in schools within walking distance of your church building. I’ve seen churches paint halls, clean classrooms, offer tutoring, do landscaping, and provide breakfast for teachers.

4

Provide school supplies for students and classes
Many teachers I know buy supplies with their own funds. Every class likely includes students whose families cannot provide basic supplies for them. Build relationships with local business leaders (which would also be good for your church’s witness), and work together to provide some of these supplies. Surprise the teachers and students at the beginning of the year, and the start to a new academic year will be filled with encouragement.

5

Don’t forget universities near your church
Their students are different. Their needs are unique. But, ministry opportunities to influence a generation making life decisions abound on university campuses. Connect with Baptist Collegiate Ministry leaders and other evangelical leaders on campus, and help them. Meet with administrators to learn about needs your church might meet. Do something to make a difference among adult learners, too!

Chuck Lawless is dean of doctoral studies and vice president of spiritual formation and ministry centers at Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. For more from Lawless, visit chucklawless.com.

What’s your story? Trusting God when the world is turned upside down … literally

It was a typical March day in Granger. Living in Central Texas, we were used to changes in the weather. Although some was severe, none had impacted us up to this time. We seemed always to be between the severe weather issues and just out of reach of tragedy.

Until March 21. That day was stormy, but nothing we hadn’t seen before. There were forecasts of severe weather in the area, but I wasn’t worried. My mom and I were watching TV together at her house, which is located about 50 yards in front of my house. Mom was in hospice care, and being close allowed us to see her every day.

That day we got a call from my brother warning us of a tornado heading our way. He urged me to get out of my chair and look. Now, my brother has always been a weather alarmist and had called me many times in the previous 20 years about disasters that never happened. So I meandered out the back door and looked. What I saw was about to change my life.

I ran inside to get my wife to look. She came outside and we looked at it together: a tornado, headed straight for us. We ran back into the house, and about the time we reached Mom in the living room, it hit.

At first, it was just a lot of wind shaking the house. But when the windows blew out, I knew we were in trouble. Glass and debris were blown all over my wife, Mom, and me. My wife and I got on the floor to find some cover, but Mom was helpless on the bed in the middle of the living room.

Mom’s bed was lifted into the air, then the house was lifted and began to move. My wife called my name and we looked into each other’s eyes. I saw no fear in her eyes and I felt no fear in my heart. I simply remember thinking, “We are about to meet Jesus face-to-face.” But then, as quickly as it blew in the house, it was over. It lasted maybe 15 seconds.

We suffered not one scratch from the glass and debris. But when I looked out the back door, I beheld a horrifying sight: my grandchildren were at home and in the debris field I saw. My house was totally gone except for a small room in the middle of the house.

"Some things in life are insurmountable in the flesh, but with God all things are possible."

Rick Hertless Tweet

I told my wife to take care of Mom; I had to get to my grandchildren. As I ran, I yelled, “Is everyone OK?” Hearing no answer, my heart was stilled. I called out again, still no answer. Standing next to the wreckage I called again, “IS EVERYONE OK?” I heard the sweet sound of my baby’s voice, “Grandpa, everyone is OK! We are all OK!” At this point I nearly broke, but it was a time for action.

I told my grandchildren, “The only thing standing is the room you’re in. The rest is gone, and I don’t know how stable the walls are. Stay put and we will get you. Do not try to climb out!” They remained where they were and, for once in their lives, they listened to Grandpa.

Shortly after that, my son-in-law Danny arrived. There was a wall blocking the rescue, but we used a Bobcat to move the wall. Danny pulled away the debris blocking his way into the room where the grandchildren were trapped. He lifted three of the four who were in the room through the roof and the fourth was carried out by a rescue worker who had arrived on the scene.

Everyone was safe. Mom was taken to a hospital and later to my sister’s house. She died a few weeks later of natural causes. My grandson suffered a concussion but is all right now. The eldest granddaughter saved the life of my great-granddaughter by throwing herself on top of her to save her from debris.

The community of Granger came together to help in amazing ways and my church, First Baptist Church of Leander, was miraculous in its support. My wife and I stayed with my pastor, Tim Moore, and his wife. The rest of the family stayed with friends. We are now waiting to rebuild.

I have not always been faithful, but since 2004, the Lord restored me and I have been a faithful servant. I have always tried to trust God first before doctors or anyone else. I have always trusted God for protection and have never doubted that He would protect me.

So why did our family get hit with a tornado and lose practically everything? I don’t know. It never occurred to me to ask God why. The most important time to trust is when we don’t understand. The true test comes when adversity comes. When your faith is tested, that is the time you know of your walk with God.

I still have problems breathing from my bout with COVID; this only serves as a reminder that I must trust God to breathe. My place still looks like a debris field, and I have to be careful where I step so as to not get hurt, but that only serves as a reminder that I must trust God. If you call yourself a believer, you must trust God and allow Him to guide your next step, and then your next, and then your next. If you try to guide your own steps, you will fail.

So what’s my story? Some things in life are insurmountable in the flesh, but with God all things are possible.

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

Share your story here

Never let your planning become a priority over your praying

E very detail matters! That is the mindset of those who plan well. When I was a pastor, I recall spending a ton of time planning out every single moment of every worship service. I also recall spending hour after hour of laborious advanced planning for every event. I wanted everything we did to make an impact. Gospel advancement was the goal and excellence was always the standard.

Strategic planning is a necessary component to every church and organization. In order to maximize the talents and resources of your people, a clear plan must be properly thought through and implemented. However, as good as strategic planning is, it should never take priority over prayer. As I have grown as a leader, I have learned that spending more time in prayer than planning helps you to be better prepared for what God wants to do in and through you.

Prayer is hard work. It is something in which we must choose to invest our time. It is one of those disciplines that easily finds itself being pushed out of the priorities of our day. However, prayer can be the avenue in which God chooses to move among you in a new way!

"We must be diligent to never let our planning become priority over our praying."

Nathan Lorick Tweet

Allow me to encourage you to pray for three things as you lead your church or organization forward:

1) Pray for God’s favor and blessing. There are a lot of good things that come from being a strategic planner. However, when God chooses to bless our efforts, greater things happen.

2) Pray for God’s guidance and protection. This may sound like a strange way to pray when engaged in planning, but we desperately need God to lead the way and protect us from making the wrong decisions. If we are not careful, we can allow our creativity to lead us to a place where we are more dependent on our abilities than we are on God moving among us.

3) Pray for those you are seeking to impact. While we certainly want to lead and plan with utmost excellence, the ultimate goal is to glorify God and impact people with the life-changing message of the gospel. Therefore, we must pray that God will use us to advance the gospel.

As a leader, it is satisfying to develop a plan and see it come to fruition. It is a joy to see people utilize their talents and resources to further the kingdom of God. Strategic planning is a major part of that. However, we must be diligent to never let our planning become priority over our praying. I love you and am honored to serve you!

Keep the main thing the main thing

Prior to God calling me to my role as editor of the Texan, I was pastoring a church in Central Oregon. Though I’d served on a church staff previously, this was the first time I had ever led an entire church.

Like many men who find themselves called to this position, I had a million thoughts and ideas about the direction I wanted to lead this church. Big picture, I wanted what I think all pastors want—to lovingly shepherd the people to whom God had called me and to guide them toward a more intimate relationship with Jesus that, in turn, would catalyze them to invite others into that same relationship.

But on the micro level, there were literally hundreds of critically important issues that needed to be addressed for us to be able to achieve the macro vision. Our church had a constitution and bylaws that hadn’t been updated much since they were written in 1970. Though the bylaws called for the pastor to make decisions alongside a deacon body, the church had no deacons because it had never replaced the ones who had died or moved away.

Feeling overwhelmed by tasks I had no idea how to tackle, I decided to focus on other challenges that would be easier to accomplish and, hopefully, get checked off our to-do list faster. So what did I do? I went all in on creating a website for the church and nit-picking the volunteer leading worship about starting the Sunday morning service on time.

It’s not that those latter tasks weren’t important. They just weren’t the best uses of my time and they certainly weren’t the most important things the church needed accomplished to move forward. The church could survive in the short term without an online presence, but not having solid, biblical leadership in place was setting us up for trouble down the line when COVID arrived and put a strain on churches across the nation.

"Assess regularly where you’re at on the road to achieving your goals this coming year, be flexible where you can, but be firm where you must."

Jayson Larson Tweet

As I think back to those times, I realize I had fallen victim to a trap all of us struggle with at one time or another: I gravitated toward that which was easiest. When we feel overwhelmed, when we are exhausted, when we don’t know what to do … we will naturally try to take the path of least resistance. In my experience, that path rarely leads to a desired destination.

Two significant events are on the horizon: a new school year will begin in August, and many churches also consider September the start of their new “church year” when their next budget cycle begins. With these events come great opportunities for churches to take steps toward achieving the big-picture goal of reaching people, discipling them, and, in time, molding them into community missionaries who reach and disciple others..

As your church is executing a strategy to accomplish these things, the big-picture plan will almost certainly find itself competing with a swarm of pesky urgencies that threaten to siphon time, resources, and focus. Only you, as a pastor or a church leader, can decide which of those urgencies you must address, which you can offload to someone else, and which ones can wait.

But the point is, that swarm is coming. Take time to regularly and prayerfully process priorities alone, then go through that same process with other key leaders. Assess regularly where you’re at on the road to achieving your goals this coming year, be flexible where you can, but be firm where you must.

Satan would love nothing more than for your church to have the best website in Texas (so to speak) if that means the main thing—proclaiming the truth about Jesus to a world desperate for hope—gets lost in a dizzying, unwieldy swirl of distraction.