Author: Russell Lightner

I have to depend on God to do this

I became a pastor when I was 40 years old. So, it was a 20-year training process, not through seminary, but through different pastors and churches. I can tell you more than a dozen churches and more than a dozen pastors who discipled me and mentored me.

My spiritual journey began when I was 16. I lived in the Philippines and a college student from Campus Crusade came to my campus—he was the first person to share the gospel with me. A Southern Baptist pastor discipled me when I was in college. He was a campus minister, and he really spent time with me. That was a turning point in my Christian life.

God really spoke to me through this preacher. We would meet every day because his ministry center was close to my dorm. I would hang out at his house, and we would be talking until sometimes three in the morning. We talked about the Word, discipleship, prayer, confession—all basic responsibilities of Christians.

After college, I was on fire. I wanted to share what I learned with my own church back home. So, I went back and started a ministry among the youth, and that was fruitful—some of the youth that came out of that are leaders in our church now here in Austin.

I started working in Manila and met my wife, Rela, there. We later helped plant a church in Cavite. That was my first time to be involved in church planting, just assisting the pastor, a worship leader, musician—all kinds of other roles, except being a pastor. My landlady was our first member. That church continues today.

I did want to attend seminary after that time in college because I was interested in being a pastor, but God closed those doors repeatedly, so I ended up being mentored by all kinds of pastors from different churches.

I know many pastors would say, “God called me to plant a church,” but in the case of our church, it’s different because it was not a single person who was called. It was my entire family. I had moved to Idaho where I was working as a semiconductor engineer. My brother moved to Memphis and my sister moved to Nebraska. Because we wanted to live close to one another, I think it was in 2007, we agreed to find a city where we could all be together. We all moved to Austin and joined different churches. My wife and I started a Bible study with my sister’s family and my brother’s family, and we met in South Austin. That small Bible study was just us at first.

There were two other families that started attending our group as well, so we ended up having five Filipino families. Then neighbors started attending. I called Dr. Kim [Asian ministries consultant] at the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and told him we needed a place to rent. He connected me with Gilbert Chavez. Pastor Gilbert was very encouraging and accommodating. He let us use his youth room for our Bible study. The first night we had 64 people. He said, “I don’t think this is a Bible study. Why don’t you plant a church?” I said “no” since none of us was in the ministry. My brother and I worked in the tech industry and my sister was a nurse. Pastor Gilbert still encouraged me, and that led me to begin training through the SBTC.

“It’s all part of God showing me that I have to depend on Him.”

—Al Manigsaca Tweet

But in our Bible study, we had three different pastors who were connected with us. Every time a pastor came in, we would all agree that we would defer to him: “OK, you might be the pastor of this church.” Three times we tried that and none of them worked out. It was just as if God was giving me this basketball, then every time a pastor came to our group, I would pass this ball to him. And each time, the ball was back in my court. The third time the ball came back to me, my brother said, “Al, I guess you’re the one.” I agreed. When I surrendered to that, things moved very, very fast. A year later, I was ordained as a pastor. Now, 12 years later, I’m the pastor of Riverlife Baptist Church.

On this long journey, I believe the biggest thing I’ve learned is full dependence upon Him. Just think about the struggle that I am going through every week. I don’t have any seminary training on which to base my sermons or my judgment whether I’m doing a good job or not. So basically, the thing is when we started, I really don’t know how to pastor. I was praying to the Lord, “Lord, I don’t know how to do this.” And I know that’s still my mindset even up to this point in time.

It’s all part of God showing me that I have to depend on Him.

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

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Stronger together

Iam grateful to God for our network of churches known as the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. God has been so gracious to us since our inception in 1998. We have 2,780 churches in the SBTC, and we are blessed to be guided by our executive director, Nathan Lorick.

Having served on the executive board and now as president of the SBTC, I have had a front row seat to view the many ways God continues to show His favor upon us. Take a moment and lift up a prayer of thanksgiving to God for allowing you to be a part of a dynamic partnership with brothers and sisters in Christ committed to proclaiming Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The theme for our annual meeting, scheduled for Nov. 11-12 at Sagemont Church in Houston, is “Side by Side.” Nathan and I, along with all the men and women serving in the SBTC, want our churches—especially pastors and staff—to know they are not alone. The devil likes us to feel isolated and removed from other believers. There is much strength and joy for ministry when we realize we are not alone.

"God has blessed us with many fellow ministers of Christ who are passionately pursuing Jesus and His gospel."

Danny Forshee Tweet

Being a Lone Ranger pastor removed from contact and encouragement from others is no way to serve the Lord. God has blessed us with many fellow ministers of Christ who are passionately pursuing Jesus and His gospel. We need each other. We are so much stronger when we are together.

Our focal biblical text for the annual meeting is Philippians 1:27, where Paul writes, “Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” The verb translated “striving together” in Greek is synathleo (notice the root structure for the English word “athlete” in this Greek word). This connotes toughness and tenacity. We are to exert the energy of a wrestler in his match for the sake of unity in the body of Christ. There will be many temptations to separate us. Let us determine to do all we can to stand fast, be of one mind, and strive together.

I look forward to sharing a message based on this biblical text during the Monday evening session. Also on Monday evening, we will have a prayer and praise service that is going to be powerful.

Be sure and join us in Houston as we celebrate what God has done and is doing through the churches of the SBTC. Each session will have uplifting messages and worship. Meals and gatherings will allow you opportunities to connect with others from around the state. I am excited to host the President’s Lunch on Tuesday, where we will look at some practical ways we can walk side by side with others for the gospel.

I am praying now for God to pour out His favor and anointing on every one of our 2,780 churches in the SBTC. You are loved and appreciated. Keep going strong for Jesus.

Just keep planting

One of my favorite features in each issue of the Texan is our monthly “Jesus Is Writing My Story” article. This article highlights the personal testimonies of faithful brothers and sisters in our Southern Baptists of Texas Convention churches who have learned a lesson about walking with God that they graciously agree to share with our readers.

I must admit, I’m a little biased about this month’s article featuring Nancy Simon. When I was a middle schooler growing up in East Texas, Nancy and her husband, Brian, played a huge part in my spiritual development. Brian was the youth pastor at a small rural church, and I was a kid looking for something to do and, let’s be honest, a girlfriend. Surely I could find one or both at the Baptist church down the street.

But as I got more involved in the youth group, God began to use Brian and Nancy to turn my attention to matters of faith as much as fun and games. They would invite me and other kids from the youth group over to their house to watch movies, or Brian would ask me to ride along with him as he picked up and then dropped off kids in the church van. We had lots of conversations in that van—some of them silly, many of them spiritual.

Ultimately, I strayed away from the church as high school approached. It wasn’t until after high school that all those spiritual conversations took root and, in my 20s, I gave my life to Christ. I’ve often wondered how—or if—that would have happened without Brian and Nancy planting seeds in me that took a long time to grow.

God calls us to be seed-planters. Scripture is clear that only He can draw people to salvation. It’s equally as clear that His followers have a role to play, as well:
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6).

"To you who have planted and watered until it hurts, who have tilled and turned with not even the hint of a sprout to celebrate ... just keep planting. God is absolutely at work, and you never know what He is going to do."

Jayson Larson Tweet

There are at least a couple of challenging things about planting seeds: it requires us to get our hands dirty, and once we’ve planted and watered, the final result is ultimately not up to us. Oh, that there were a Miracle-Gro for growing disciples of Christ! But there isn’t. All we can do is offer our emotions, invest our time, and wait to see what God will do with the ones to which we minister.

That’s often a deal-breaker for those of us raised in a results-driven, have it your way and have it now culture. We demand immediate outcomes. We want to know that whatever we’ve invested in will take root and become fruitful. The reality is, sometimes seeds don’t grow as fast as we’d hoped. Sometimes they don’t grow at all.

And yet our calling is the same.

I’m so grateful for people like Brian and Nancy who invested in me even when it may have appeared I was as clueless as a question mark. Though I claim to be nothing great today, I am saved, secured, and striving to pour out my life for Jesus.

To you who have planted and watered until it hurts, who have tilled and turned with not even the hint of a sprout to celebrate … just keep planting. God is absolutely at work, and you never know what He is going to do.

‘Advancing the mission together’: Churches top Reach Texas challenge goal, set another record

GRAPEVINE—Southern Baptists of Texas Convention churches are making a strong statement when it comes to the Reach Texas State Missions Offering: advancing the mission matters.

SBTC churches gave $1,752,383 to Reach Texas this past year—the most collected in a single year in its history. The offering period covers September 2023 to August 2024.

Last year, a record $1,673,560 was given by SBTC churches, topping the $1.6 million challenge goal that was set prior to the offering. Reach Texas has now received record giving in three of the past four years. The goal for the current campaign is $2 million.

SBTC Executive Director Nathan Lorick thanked churches for “advancing the mission together” and expressed gratitude for the record offering.

“We are excited about churches partnering together to see the gospel advance across Texas,” Lorick said. “We remain committed to church planting, missions, and evangelism as a top priority in practice and in principle.”

Reach Texas funds a variety of gospel-fueled efforts, including church planting, disaster relief, missions mobilization, and the SBTC’s annual Empower Conference. The need for evangelism is as urgent as ever, with 19 million of the state’s 30 million residents estimated to be lost.

For more information or to order promotional materials, visit sbtexas.com/reachtexas.

Reach Texas Prayer Guide:
Advancing the Mission Together

Forshee, Johnson, Hinote to be nominated at SBTC Annual Meeting

Byron McWilliams, senior pastor of First Odessa, has announced his intention to nominate Danny Forshee to serve a second term as president of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention at its annual meeting in November.

Forshee has served as lead pastor of Great Hills Baptist Church in Austin since June 13, 2010. He has been president of the Danny Forshee Evangelistic Association since it was formed in May 2004.

“I would be honored to serve a second term as president of the SBTC,” Forshee said. “God is working in powerful ways in and through our convention. I am excited about what the Lord will do in the future.”

McWilliams said he is honored to nominate Forshee for a second term, noting he has led Great Hills with “pastoral integrity and exceptional wisdom.”

“He has led the SBTC well this past year, and I’m confident he will lead us well in his next term as president,” McWilliams said. “I am also confident Danny will continue the theme of his life and ministry—to lift high the name of Jesus and make His name known wherever he goes.”

Great Hills gave $211,175.62 through the Cooperative Program in 2023 and $233,730.08 in 2022.

Forshee holds a doctoral degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, where he has served as a professor. He and his wife, Ashley, have three grown children, four granddaughters, two grandsons, and another grandchild on the way.

Ed Johnson III, lead pastor of Harvest Fellowship Baptist Church in Desoto, will be nominated to serve as SBTC vice president. Johnson, a bivocational pastor who also serves on the convention’s executive board, will be nominated by Caleb Turner, senior pastor of Mesquite Friendship Baptist Church. The convention vice president fulfills the duties of the president in the president’s absence or when requested by the president to do so.

Amy Hinote, a member of First Baptist Church Justin and the wife of its pastor, Beaux Hinote, will be nominated to serve as convention secretary. She will be nominated by Matt Kendrick, lead pastor of Redemption City Church in Fort Worth. Mrs. Hinote previously served on the SBTC resolutions committee. The convention secretary’s duties include receiving copies of motions offered for consideration at the SBTC Annual Meeting.

The secretary and vice president also serve on the credentials committee, as outlined in Article III of the convention’s constitution and bylaws.

In my sickness, I have found His strength

Things can change in an instant. When that happens, we tend to think we’re forgotten about. We’re not. God is so faithful, and no matter what happens—no matter what we’ve been dealt—He is there and we’re not alone.

I went for a wellness check [in 2018] and they found a mass on my thyroid. It was benign, but then it started growing and the doctor said, “Well, we’re going to take it out because when they start growing, there could be issues.” During the operation, they found a four-centimeter mass hidden on the other side of the thyroid. That one was malignant. They got out what they could, but it was kind of large.

I went in the hospital and swallowed radiation and stayed four days. And then when I came out, I had to stay six feet away from my family for two weeks and balance my thyroid with medicine.

In 2020, I was sick again right before the COVID shutdown. They thought I had pneumonia, but I wasn’t getting well. My doctors decided they would check my heart and lungs to make sure they weren’t missing anything. I was actually in heart failure and had three tumors in my lung.

During my lung biopsy, they ended up collapsing my lung and I was in the hospital for eight days. The cardiologist was able to stabilize my heart with meds. It was really kind of crazy because both cancers were found while treating something else. I felt like that was God’s way of letting them find what they needed to find so I could get the treatment I needed.

They saw the tumors in March and then in May [after the shutdown], they did the biopsy. That was hard because, after my collapsed lung, only one person could see me a day. But if Brian [Nancy’s husband, pastor of FBC Merkel] came and left, he couldn’t come back. We also have a 10-year-old that we adopted, so he was young and all he knew was Mom disappeared for a week.

When we got that first cancer diagnosis, I really had to just lean on the Lord. I didn’t know what that meant. I lost my mom to cancer, Brian lost his mom to leukemia—and I had all that in my head. But I didn’t ever panic. God just gave me this peace and He just kept drawing me closer to Himself.

People would say, “Well, aren’t you worried about this?” or, “Aren’t you worried about that?” I was like, “I can’t live waiting for the other shoe to drop. God has me on my feet, and He has me in a position where, yes, I’m sick, but I can still serve.” It has made my faith in Him stronger—relying totally on Him daily for my physical strength, for my spiritual strength. He’s just really drawn me in.

“In an earlier church, one of the sweet ladies had gone through colon cancer a year before and I would go and sit with her. We built a relationship and then she turned around and loved on me. I don’t know how people do it without their church family.”

—Nancy Simon Tweet

It’s weird, but when I was told about the thyroid cancer, I was more worried about the surgeon because he knew the mass he planned to take out was benign. So, when he came into the office with the lab results, he was panicking and he was like, “You’re OK. Well, you’re not OK, but you’re going to be OK.”

And I said, “Whoa, breathe. It’s OK. I’m the one who has it. You need to relax.” Brian and I, we went to the car, and we just looked at each other and we were like, “OK, let’s just hit this head on.” The lung cancer threw me a little bit, though.

When I was in the hospital during lockdown, I took some time and I just sat. Maybe it was a good thing that my lung collapsed and I had to be in the hospital primarily by myself, because I got to sit and pray and be by myself without having to tell my kids at that point or having to be strong in front of them, not knowing then what I was facing. God gave me a peace over it. I haven’t panicked. It’s been kind of a part of life. You just hit it and go.

When you see what others have gone through, you see those who handle it well and those who have a harder time, maybe this gave me a little more encouragement on how to deal with it without totally panicking. In an earlier church, one of the sweet ladies had gone through colon cancer a year before and I would go and sit with her. We built a relationship and then she turned around and loved on me. I don’t know how people do it without their church family.

I’ve also learned that God is faithful. You’re never alone. He is so faithful to walk through it with you.

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

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Reach Texas Prayer Guide: Advancing the Mission Together

Editor’s note: The following content was included in this year’s Reach Texas Prayer Guide and republished in the October 2024 issue of the Texan.

‘They know who we are and why we were there’

Gilbert Chavez • Fairview Baptist Church

ilbert Chavez, pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Austin, was delighted when a church member expressed a strong desire to reach women for Jesus in her apartment community. That led to ladies from Fairview knocking on doors one Sunday afternoon last fall, striking up conversations in the complex. As a result, several women accepted an invitation to attend a Sunday afternoon Bible study in the church member’s apartment.

“Even though she had already begun the work, we wanted to get some training for her and the rest of our church in evangelism,” Chavez said. The pastor turned to the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s People Groups department, which provided cross-cultural evangelism training and taught church members to use the 3 Circles method to win others to Christ.

“We were encouraged to go out as a church and teams. The training helped us understand the different pockets of people we would meet,” Chavez said. “We learned to be aware and not be afraid.”

The Fairview women continued to invite ladies to the Bible study and the group grew. Several women attended Bible study and two made professions of faith. One now attends Fairview regularly. A men’s Bible study also began at the apartment complex. Two of the men came to Fairview and one rededicated his life to Jesus, Chavez said. Eventually, that apartment Bible study transitioned to the church, although Fairview still conducts some activities at the apartments.

The church’s focus shifted in late fall 2023 to a nearby mobile home park, where Fairview members began knocking on doors and sharing the gospel. Several people came to faith in Christ, including a mother and her teenage son.

“Last Christmas, we followed up with Christmas caroling and treat bags for the kids,” Chavez said. “Large groups of families from the mobile home park joined us and sang with us. … We served hot chocolate and cookies. They know who we are and why we were there. This is the beginning of our reaching out to our community.”

Faithful giving, far-reaching impact

Scottie Stice • SBTC Disaster Relief

It’s a progression with which Southeast Texans are all too familiar. But because of Reach Texas giving, they are familiar with another accompanying sight: volunteers in yellow Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Disaster Relief shirts showing up in droves and ministering to the hurting.

Heavy storms led to another deluge in early April, leading officials across the region—including in Jasper, Newton, and Hardin counties—to enact disaster declarations. The city of Kirbyville was among those hard hit. Three churches there were flooded, including Central Baptist Church.

The call for help went out and SBTC Disaster Relief responded. A shower unit was sent to support Texas Task Force 1 in Kirbyville, then a second shower unit was sent there while a Quick Response Unit (QRU) was deployed to Port Arthur. QRUs are mobile kitchens that can quickly mobilize to feed hundreds of meals in a short time. A second QRU was later stationed at First Baptist Church in Kirbyville.

Such call-outs can also include requests for SBTC DR volunteers to assist in the exhausting task of mudding out flooded homes and buildings. Chaplains are mobilized to pray and share the gospel with people who are hurting, vulnerable, and in many cases, more receptive to the saving message of Christ than they have ever been.

When it comes to disaster relief, the practical impact of giving through the Reach Texas offering can’t be underestimated.

“The faithful giving of SBTC churches to Reach Texas is what funds our disaster relief ministry,” Stice said. “It is what pays for food that is prepared and served on the quick response feeding units. It covers the expenses of transporting and setting up shower units that support shelters, first responders, and disaster relief volunteers. Reach Texas helps with tools, safety equipment, and fuel for the cleanup teams that mud out flooded homes.”

Quiet—but powerful—moments at M3 Camp

David Baysinger • First Baptist Corinth

Student pastor David Baysinger has been bringing students from First Baptist Corinth to M3 Camp in Glorieta, N.M., every summer since 2015. At M3, lives can be changed in all kinds of circumstances.

Many students feel the pull to a relationship with Christ during the camp’s main worship times through songs and the preaching of God’s Word. But Baysinger has also seen students trust Christ in what seemed—at least in the moment—to be the quiet, ordinary times.

Take Jayden, who, with his family, had long been involved at First Baptist Corinth. He gave his life to Jesus in the quietness of his dorm at camp one summer and was baptized at the church last fall.

And there’s Braylon, a sophomore whose parents have also served at M3 Camp. Two summers ago, as the Corinth youth group prepared to load the bus at camp’s end, Baysinger noticed Braylon and an older student praying together in the parking lot as Braylon asked Jesus to be his Savior.

One summer, Baysinger urged students, including Izzy, during church group time not to wait for the next invitation in a worship service to place their trust in Jesus if they felt “that tug from the Lord.”

A short time later, just as he sat down at lunch, Baysinger felt a tap on his shoulder. Izzy wanted to trust Jesus. Baysinger, Izzy, and a female leader found a quiet place in the kitchen, and Izzy prayed to receive Christ.

Baysinger praised the “clear gospel invitations” given by M3 speakers but also commended the camp structure, where church group time is a priority.

“A number of our students have come to know Christ,” Baysinger said. “M3 has been part of that thread.”

Working together to reach a growing Asian population

Michael Wang • New Life Gospel

New Life Gospel Church sees the possibilities, but the struggles are real.

The church, founded 17 years ago by its senior pastor, Thomas Wang, focuses on preaching the gospel to Asian people flowing into Texas in massive numbers, including those from China and Taiwan. When they arrive, Wang says they know little about the gospel because they were indoctrinated with atheism by the Chinese government.

One of the church’s tried and true methods of sharing the gospel with Asian people when they come to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is connecting with them as friends through personal relationships. In this sense, the biblical words of Jesus have been a daunting reality—the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

One area the church has found to enlist workers is Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Through its Chinese student fellowship, New Life learned about the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s FIRE Initiative. The initiative—which stands for Forging Integrated Relationships in Evangelism—connects the SBTC’s academic partners such as SWBTS with its affiliated churches to increase gospel collaboration.

Through the initiative, a SWBTS student began serving as a FIRE intern in September 2023. The student serves the church in a number of ways, helping with evangelistic efforts and giving New Life another voice to effectively communicate with a younger generation that can feel difficult to reach.

“As a Christian of her age, she can help us approach more people who are similar to her age—especially young adults,” said Michael Wang, who serves New Life as an associate pastor. “Hopefully she can help them know who Jesus Christ is.”

He noted that God is, indeed, using the collaboration for kingdom purposes, as the church baptized three people who made professions of faith earlier this year.

“We believe God’s promise,” he added. “God is using this partnership to help us learn more about the SBTC. We work together and leave the results in God’s hands.”

Empowered to share the gospel with the next generation

Chawn Cummings • North Garland Baptist Fellowship

As Chawn Cummings pours his life into the next generation as youth director at North Garland Baptist Fellowship and at the school where he teaches and coaches, he loves to tell the stories of what God is doing through his students.

He loves to talk about a student in his youth group who has answered the call to serve with a missions organization and recently returned from an outreach in South Africa. Now she’s praying about going back to serve a two-year commitment there.

Another student was recognized for his boldness on Bring Your Bible to School Day—so much so that someone from the school emailed the student’s mother to tell her how encouraged he was watching the young man read his Bible during lunch.

There’s a culture Cummings wants to create among everyone with whom God has given him influence, and he credits the Empower Conference with fueling that fire.

Cummings attended Empower—an evangelistic conference hosted annually by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and funded through state missions giving—and came away equipped and inspired. He heard Shane Pruitt, next gen director for the North American Mission Board, talk about calling out the called—which, in turn, inspired Cummings to work hard to develop young Christian leaders. Cummings said he was particularly challenged by Nik Ripken, a longtime missionary and author of The Insanity of God who frequently speaks about the persecuted church.

“I was personally challenged to be more intentional about my own personal evangelism and about inspiring the youth of my church to evangelize and become more missions minded,” Cummings said.

Other sessions motivated the youth director to be more intentional about encouraging his colleagues at school to be more evangelistic—“to be a light within the law.”

“We have encouraged these youth and others as we have been equipped by the Empower Conference,” Cummings said, “and we are so grateful for the experience.”

Church planting and church partnership at its best

Willer Montesinos • La Carpa del Valle of McAllen

La Carpa del Valle of McAllen celebrated its first birthday in March 2024. The Rio Grande Valley church plant now has 60-70 in attendance each Sunday and is seeing multiple baptisms.

“We are seeing God’s blessings,” planter/pastor Willer Montesinos said. “God is moving us to train and equip our people to share the gospel with their families and friends. More and more people are coming to Jesus through our members.”

While the church often met in hotel rooms in its earliest days, La Carpa del Valle now gathers in a building belonging to First McAllen, which also supports the church plant. First McAllen Lead Pastor Steven Gaither said his church had been praying for vacant space on its campus to be used.

“We were thrilled to see people in that building again,” Gaither said, adding that La Carpa quickly expanded from using 3,500 to 7,000 square feet of space.

As La Carpa grew numerically and completed Send Network SBTC’s assessment process, First McAllen became La Carpa’s official sending church. Church planting is one of the many ministry efforts funded through Reach Texas giving.

“Our church joyfully embraced this opportunity,” Gaither said. “A relationship that started because a church plant needed some space to meet has become a friendship, a ministry partnership, and a wonderful kingdom-heart connection.”

The vision of La Carpa del Valle extends across the border, as well. In early 2024, the church started a home church in Reynosa, Mexico, on Wednesday evenings “to reach our neighbors there,” Montesinos said.

La Carpa del Valle, translated in English, means “the tent in the valley.” The church name is derived from Exodus 33, the account of Moses pitching the “tent of meeting” outside the Israelite camp. Here, “the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend” (Exodus 33:11).

“We want to be a place where people in the Valley can receive encouragement from God face to face,” Montesinos said.

Inspired, equipped & ready to reach

Nick Apperson • First Baptist Church of Malakoff

First Baptist Church of Malakoff student minister Nick Apperson knew he wanted to reach out to student-athletes at the community college in a neighboring East Texas town. He just wasn’t sure how to start. Until he attended Roundup.

Roundup, an annual event hosted by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and funded through Reach Texas giving, aims to encourage, equip, and network collegiate leaders across the state. Apperson attended Roundup for the first time in 2023.

Through information provided during several breakout sessions and with the encouragement of other collegiate leaders, Apperson said he gained the confidence to jump headfirst into making the campus ministry God had planted in his heart a reality.

“Being able to connect with other people doing college ministry, being able to ask questions and to hear from guys in the trenches, was incredibly eye-opening for me,” Apperson said. “Roundup allowed me to connect with people who are in my corner and willing to help me reach college students with the gospel and help them grow as disciples of Jesus Christ.”

Motivated by his Roundup experience, Apperson and his wife began to regularly set up a table at the community college and offer giveaways to connect with students. They also had a pickleball night and, before long, invited some of the student-athletes they met into their home for a Bible study.

Each week, students from a variety of backgrounds from around the country are having conversations about the Bible and who Jesus is—some for the first time in their lives. Not only that, but the gospel is proclaimed weekly, followed by an invitation for the student-athletes to trust Jesus.

“I can see the Lord working and stirring in the lives of these young men, and I am simply trusting Him with the outcome,” Apperson said. “I rejoice that these guys can come into our home, connect with me and my family, and hopefully leave with a better understanding of who Jesus really is and who they are called to be.”

For SBTC DR, crisis opens doors to gospel opportunities

Scottie Stice • SBTC Disaster Relief

Sometimes people need a hand after disaster strikes, as occurred when winter storms wrought havoc in Austin, prompting Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Disaster Relief volunteers to deploy in early February.

Multiple SBTC DR chainsaw teams rotated in and out, completing nearly 70 jobs in Pflugerville, Hutto, Round Rock, and Northwest Austin, according to Scottie Stice, SBTC DR director.

But that wasn’t the whole story.

Among the survivors assisted by SBTC DR was Larry, an elderly military veteran whose refrigerator broke during the storm.

“We removed tree damage from his home,” SBTC DR volunteer Mike Jansen said. Food shared by DR volunteers was the man’s first meal in two days.

Finding Larry was a divine appointment, said Debby Nichols, SBTC DR chaplain from DeKalb. Nichols and fellow chaplain/assessor Linda Mitter of Rockwall had completed their daily assignments and were driving around Round Rock neighborhoods to see if they had missed anything.

An enormous tree, split in half, caught their attention and they drove down the adjacent cul de sac.

“That tree was God’s sign to us,” Nichols said. “We found Larry’s house, with branches above his front door.”

The ladies knocked, explained who they were, and asked if Larry needed help.

“I am not worthy,” he replied. Nichols and Mitter visited with him and learned he had quit a college teaching job to care for his wife, who later died of cancer.

“He had been stuck,” Nichols said of Larry’s despair. The Vietnam veteran was entitled to some assistance, they realized. SBTC DR volunteer Ted Boswell, a retired pastor who teaches adult Sunday school at First Baptist Pflugerville, connected Larry with a VA advocate in his class.

But best of all, Larry accepted Christ as his Savior after the chaplain told him about Jesus.

Investing to ensure the gospel goes forward long after we’re gone

Since we planted Redeemer in 2008, we have reached many young people—which means we have had lots of young leaders. Roughly half our Sunday attendance is in college or just out of college.

We try to keep things as simple as we can. We have pretty straightforward services with worship, expository preaching, and weekly communion. Then, we have small groups during the week. Here are three principles I’ve observed along the way while we’ve engaged younger people in our church:

Young leaders need relationships

When I was a 22-year-old youth minister, an older church member took me out to lunch regularly. I valued those lunches more than he probably realized. Right before that, I worked as an associate in youth ministry while I was in college and the youth minister and his wife had us in their home regularly. I never turned down a chance to talk in the church office or come over to their house.

Pastors, don’t miss an opportunity to engage relationally with younger staff members. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a formal mentoring relationship or another meeting to add to your calendar. Working with an open office door and walking around the office and talking briefly can go a long way when it comes to building relationships with younger leaders. When I was on staff at the church that planted us (Southcrest Baptist Church in Lubbock), we had a weekly lunch after our staff meetings. That was a great idea.

Young leaders are drawn to opportunity

From the start, we had young people leading because they were our only people. If all you have are college students and young adults, you have to develop college students to lead other college students in groups and discipleship. It’s the same thing with young adults.

If you are at a place in your church life where you are trying to reach families and younger people in your community, the young people in your church will be your greatest asset to reach their peers. Call them to it and help them develop the character and competencies to not only share their faith and invite friends to church, but make disciples and grow as leaders.

Plant churches and be open-handed with your best leaders

When Southcrest planted us, we started reaching a younger, different crowd that was new to church and served as a good complement to the reach Southcrest already had in Lubbock. A strategic way to reach younger, unreached people is to plant new churches. For the sake of the unreached, we have to engage young leaders. Every church plant needs not only a lead guy, but a core team of members who will make disciples and engage people with the gospel.

Often, they are some of your strongest and most faithful leaders. You’ve likely invested in them deeply, and sending them out leaves you with some gaps in your church’s leadership. In fact, their best and most fruitful years of leadership and ministry might not directly impact your local church. I’ll be honest, it can hurt to send them out.

But it is also a reminder why we need to engage and empower young leaders—we want the gospel to go forward long after we are gone.

100 years of ministry, impact beyond measure

AMARILLO

It would be impossible to quantify the impact San Jacinto Baptist Church, which has been known as The Church at Quail Creek since 2004, has had throughout its 100-year history.

But as it prepares to celebrate a century of ministry on Sept. 21-22, it’s clear the church—which began through the vision and heart of a Sunday school class that saw a need to reach the lost in Amarillo—has left its mark on the kingdom of God and on Southern Baptists in Texas.

Stan Coffey, who served as the church’s pastor for more than three decades, faithfully led the church to reach the lost not only in Amarillo but around the world. During his years of service, he helped lead the charge to form the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, serving as its first president from 1998 to 2000.

In 2010, the church’s leadership, along with several other churches, launched the creation of the SBTC’s M3 Camp, which continues to serve churches in reaching students with the gospel of Jesus and commissioning them to live on mission.

After Coffey’s death in 2013, Kyle Clayton was called to serve as the church’s new pastor. Clayton has continued to advance the church’s mission to reach Amarillo through partnerships with local schools and parachurch organizations.

Even in difficult circumstances, the church persevered. It not only survived the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, but thrived, building a new worship facility to house its growing congregation. In June 1960, after losing part of its building to a fire, church members rallied, prayed, and washed the salvageable parts of the facility by hand so they could have a place to worship that Sunday.

Through it all, The Church at Quail Creek has stayed true to its mission of “Loving Jesus and Loving People” by launching countless ministries and seeing thousands come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior.

A question for us all to consider

I love traveling. There is something about meeting new people and experiencing new cultures that I get excited about. Often, when I travel for work, there is not much time to get out and explore different cities. However, I was able to get away and visit a couple of new places this summer.

One morning my wife and I decided to go visit a museum. This one was fascinating, as it held some of the oldest archives I have ever seen. As we walked through the exhibits, my wife made a statement that stuck with me. She said, “I wonder what kinds of things our generation will be known for in a hundred years?” For some reason that question lingered in my mind.

The more I thought about it, the more I began to think about our network of churches. I began to wonder what future generations will remember our generation for as it pertains to gospel advancement across Texas. Currently, there are almost 31 million people who call Texas home. Our best estimates point to at least 19 million of them being lost. This is today, in our generation.

When I think about the challenge of that reality, I feel a huge sense of responsibility while simultaneously feeling blessed the Lord has placed us here. Think about it: there have never been more people in our state and we have never had more tools for advancing the gospel.

As I continued to ponder that question, I began to hope we would be known in future generations for the following intentional kingdom-advancing things:

First, I hope we will always be known as a network of churches that stands firm on the inerrant and infallible Word of God. One of our core values is that we are biblically based. We want future generations to know we believe the Word of God and unashamedly stand for its truths.
Second, I pray we are always known as a network of churches that is serious about seeing people come to Christ and making disciples. The need is urgent and Jesus is the answer.
Third, I hope we are known for being a network that helps strengthen churches and encourage pastors. I am praying God continues to bless the SBTC to walk closely with churches and pastors so they know they are not alone.
Fourth, I hope we will be known as a network of churches that did everything it could to plant as many new churches in our state as possible. God is bringing the world here and we must plant new churches across Texas. This is a unique time, and we have an unparalleled opportunity.

This is not an exhaustive list of what I pray future generations know about the SBTC. They are just a few things that will create massive kingdom impact as we continue moving forward together.

I am so grateful my wife asked that question. It once again refreshed my heart to seek these things together through this incredible network of churches known as the SBTC. I love you and am honored to serve you.