Month: April 2025

Turner to be nominated for SBTC president

Michael Criner, senior pastor of First Rockwall, has announced his intention to nominate Caleb Turner, senior pastor of Mesquite Friendship Baptist Church, as president of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention at its annual meeting in October.

Turner has been Mesquite Friendship’s senior pastor since 2023, having previously served as the church’s equipping/teaching pastor, assistant pastor, and co-pastor.

Criner said Turner’s nomination was “years in the making and developed through sincere prayer and ongoing conversations” with a number of SBTC pastors. Through those conversations, Criner said it became clear that Turner—whom he called a “legacy Southern Baptist” and the product of a church plant—has led well on the denominational level, the local church level, and within his own family.

“If you were to visit [Mesquite Friendship] on a Sunday, you would find a church that is in love with the Lord, but a church that trusts their pastor,” Criner said. “ … I believe he has the strength of character, wisdom, and leadership experience to serve well as our president.”

Turner has held multiple leadership positions in Southern Baptist life, including his service as a trustee for the North American Mission Board. He was also the youngest and first African American to serve as chairman of the SBTC’s executive board.

“All were led and served with excellence,” Criner said.

Turner said he would be grateful for the opportunity to serve as president, if elected.

“It is my belief that the SBTC is the greatest state convention in the country,” he said. “God has used godly, capable, and gifted men to lead our convention, and it would be an honor to follow in their footsteps.”

After graduating from John D. Horn High School in Mesquite, Turner attended the University of Oklahoma on a track and field scholarship. Prior to graduating, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, working with its Special Operations Command while stationed at Hurlburt Field in Florida. He was also stationed at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan for a time.

While in Florida, Turner served several churches in youth and children’s ministry. Upon completing his active-duty commitment, Turner attended Moody Theological Seminary in Chicago, earning a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies.

Mesquite Friendship gave $205,100 through the Cooperative Program in 2023 and $181,650 in 2024.

Turner and his wife, Tamera, have three children: Caden, Cason, and Camden. Turner’s father, Terry—Mesquite Friendship’s founding pastor—served as SBTC president from 2011- 2013.

The SBTC Annual Meeting is Oct. 27-28 at Southcrest Baptist Church in Lubbock.

Easter remains high attendance day for most churches, study shows

Most pastors are expecting one of their largest crowds on Easter, but those expectations have tempered some in the past decade.

The three highest-attendance Sundays for pastors—Easter, Christmas and Mother’s Day—have remained the same since 2011, but each is now less likely to be among the top days, according to a Lifeway Research study of U.S. Protestant pastors.

“While many churches consider high attendance as something from their pre-pandemic past, seasonal changes have resumed,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “Church attendance is predictable again with periods of consistency in the fall and early spring, as well as holiday crowds at Christmas and Easter.”

Today, 90% of pastors identify Easter as the day their church has its highest, second-highest, or third-highest attendance for worship service. Four in 5 (81%) say the same for Christmas, and 51% identify Mother’s Day. But fewer pastors point to high attendance on those three days compared to 2011. Easter, down from 93% to 90%, and Christmas, down from 84% to 81%, dropped three percentage points, while Mother’s Day fell eight points from 59% to 51%. A day the church designates to invite friends is the only day to have a statistically significant increase in the past decade, climbing from 14% in 2011 to 20% in 2024.

An additional study finds several of the top days for church attendance are among U.S. Protestant churchgoers’ favorite holidays to celebrate.

Easter Sunday gatherings

More than half of U.S. Protestant pastors (52%) identify Easter as the day their church typically has its highest attendance for worship services, statistically unchanged from the 55% who said the same in 2011. Another 30% say Easter is the second most attended day at their congregation, while 8% identify it as the third-highest-attendance worship service.

“On any given Sunday, a large minority of a congregation may not be present for worship,” said McConnell. “Easter is the day when the most church members get to church—and for a good reason: No other theme is as profound to a Christian than celebrating that they died with Christ and as Jesus was raised to life, so too Christians are now alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Pastors of churches that exceed 100 attendees are more likely than small church pastors to say Easter is one of the highest attended services, if not the highest, at their churches. Those at churches with 250 or more for an average weekend worship service (67%) and those with 100 to 249 (60%) are more likely than pastors at churches with 50 to 99 on average (51%) and those with fewer than 50 (44%) to say Easter is their highest-attendance service of the year. Additionally, those at churches that average 100-249 for worship services (93%) and those at churches with 250 or more (98%) are more likely than pastors of churches with attendance of less than 50 (87%) to rank Easter in their top three high-attendance days.

Non-denominational pastors are more likely than Presbyterian/Reformed pastors to have their largest crowds on Easter (64% vs. 45%). Also, Lutherans (98%) and Methodists (95%) are more likely to have Easter near the top than Presbyterian/Reformed (87%), Pentecostal (84), or Restorationist Movement pastors (78%).

Among churchgoers, Easter ranks third among their favorite holidays to celebrate (10%). Those who attend worship services at least four times a month are more likely than those who attend one to three times a month to pick Easter (14% v. 5%). Also, churchgoers with evangelical beliefs are more likely than those without to choose the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection (13% vs. 6%).

Christmas crowds

Perhaps unsurprisingly, U.S. Protestant pastors say Christmas is also one of their most well-attended services. More than a quarter (28%) say they typically have their highest attendance for worship services as they celebrate the birth of Jesus, statistically unchanged from 29% in 2011. Around 2 in 5 (39%) point to Christmas as the second in their attendance rankings, while 14% place it third.

“Pastors may have been thinking of different types of worship services for Christmas since the question did not specify a Sunday morning or weekend worship service,” said McConnell. “Different churches have different traditional Christmas celebrations that may not land on December 25. The largest attendance may be on Christmas Eve, the nearest Sunday or the day of a concert.”

Mainline pastors are more likely than their evangelical counterparts to identify Christmas as their best-attended service (35% v. 26%). Protestant pastors in the Northeast are also more likely than those in the South to have Christmas at the top of their attendance rankings (33% v. 24%).

Additionally, pastors in the Midwest are more likely than those in the South to have Christmas in their top three (84% vs. 78%). The largest churches, those 250 or more, are more likely than the smallest churches, fewer than 50 in attendance, to say Christmas is one of their three most well-attended services (89% v. 79%).

Christmas is by far the favorite holiday of Protestant churchgoers (63%), but those at the smallest churches are least likely to agree. Those attending churches with weekly worship services that average 500 or more (69%), 100 to 249 (69%) and 50 to 99 (63%) are more likely than those at churches with fewer than 50 (53%) to say Christmas is their favorite holiday to celebrate.

Mother’s Day visits

While pastors identify Christmas and Easter as far and away their highest-attendance seasons, Mother’s Day remains the clear third, despite dropping in popularity in the past decade. Few Protestant pastors say Mother’s Day is their highest (6%) or second-highest attendance day (14%), but a plurality (31%) point to the holiday as their third highest.

African American pastors are more likely than white pastors to say they have their highest attendance for a Mother’s Day service (12% v. 5%). They are also more likely than white pastors to rank the holiday in their top three (66% v. 49%). Additionally, pastors 65 and older (55%) are among the most likely to say Mother’s Day is one of their three highest attendance services.

Non-denominational pastors (64%), Baptists (59%), Restorationist Movement pastors (59%) and Pentecostals (54%) are more likely than Presbyterian/Reformed (39%) and Lutheran pastors (30%) to place Mother’s Day in their top three.

Other days

U.S. Protestant pastors say the other days that make their three highest-attendance services include a day the church designates to invite friends (20%), homecoming or anniversary of the church’s founding (18%), Fourth of July (3%) and Father’s Day (3%). Around 1 in 8 say part of their top three includes no particular Sunday (12%).

Around a quarter of pastors (22%) said another specific day. The top choices offered among those included Thanksgiving, Palm Sunday, a baptism service, Reformation Day, Confirmation Sunday, Christmas Eve and All Saints Day. Each of those had fewer than 3% mention them.

The special day to invite friends is the only day that saw significant growth since 2011, with 20% of pastors now including it in their top three, compared to 14% in 2011. The special friend day is more popular in the Northeast (29%) than the Midwest (18%) and South (17%). Pentecostals (32%) are among the most likely to include this as part of their three highest-attended services. Pastors at churches with an average attendance of 250 or more are among the least likely (11%).

“Only the most visible church in the community is likely to get visitors who simply appear at church on Christian holidays,” said McConnell. “People who don’t think of themselves as Christians or who do not have a church typically need a personal invitation before they will show up at a church. Many are open to these invitations, as evidenced by higher attendance when they are emphasized.”

Large churches are also among the least likely to say homecoming or the anniversary of the church’s founding is one of their most popular services (8%). For African American (33%) and Baptist pastors (28%), however, this is more likely to be among their top three attended services.

U.S. Protestant churchgoers also have clear favorite holidays to celebrate, whether that includes a visit to church or not. Christmas (63%) and Easter (10%), along with Thanksgiving (14%) are the most popular holidays among churchgoers, followed by Halloween (4%), New Year’s Eve and Day (3%) and Independence Day (3%). Fewer choose Memorial Day (1%), Labor Day (1%), Juneteenth (1%), Columbus Day (<1%) and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (<1%), while 2% say they’re not sure.

Christian forgives would-be killer, leads her to Christ

Editor’s note: Some names have been changed for security reasons.

When Ruth visited Fran in summer 2023, Ruth didn’t expect to end up in the hospital, fighting for her life.

International Mission Board missionaries Wade and Catherine Hampton have seen God work in Southeast Asia, but they don’t always see Him work through an attempted murder. This story is one they shared with Southern Baptists, asking for prayer.

Ruth met Fran at a park earlier that year, and despite Fran’s initial friendliness, their relationship became complicated when Fran discovered Ruth was a Christian. Raised in radical Islam, Fran grew up hating Christians, and she began avoiding Ruth.

However, Ruth didn’t give up. She still occasionally saw Fran, always trying to steer their conversations toward God. Eventually Fran invited Ruth to her home, an opportunity Ruth approached with caution and prayer.

While visiting Fran’s home, Ruth felt nervous, but her husband, Matt, encouraged her to pray and trust God. The visit went smoothly, and Ruth shared more about the gospel with Fran. Days later, Ruth and her family stopped by Fran’s for an evening visit. As they were leaving, Fran offered them tea. Ruth, not wanting to reject Fran’s hospitality, accepted.

Three hours later, Ruth awoke with sharp pains in her stomach that kept getting worse. The pain made her dizzy and she could barely walk. At daybreak, Matt rented a car and took her to the hospital. Before they left, he asked other Christians to pray.

The first hospital wouldn’t serve Ruth because she was a Christian. Same for the second. This is unfortunately common for Southeast Asians who are living boldly for Jesus in a region hostile to the gospel.

Ruth was unconscious when her husband rushed her to a third hospital. Thankfully, they accepted her.

After three days in a coma, Ruth woke up in the hospital to sounds of her family praising God. They didn’t think she would live.

“The doctor was confident I was poisoned,” Ruth said.

The type of poison they found in Ruth’s body is commonly used in murder among a local tribe. The doctor asked if they knew anyone who wanted to poison her.

“Jesus taught to forgive and pray for our enemies … God had forgiven me so I could show love to others.”

Ruth was shocked. That was Fran’s tribe. The tea—it had almost killed her. And the woman had even offered some to Matt and their 2-year-old daughter. The girl’s small body wouldn’t have survived had she accepted it. Ruth was filled with anger.

“However, I remembered Jesus taught to forgive and pray for our enemies,” Ruth said. “I knew God had forgiven me and saved me so I could show love to others.”

Ruth contacted IMB missionaries, asking them to pray for her and for Fran. They shared Ruth’s prayer request with Southern Baptists in fall 2023 through IMB’s prayer channels, and soon, people from around the world prayed for Fran’s salvation.

As Ruth recovered, she and Matt struggled with doubts about staying on the island. They experienced persecution before, but this was different. They prayed with other Christians and ultimately felt led to stay, trusting God would strengthen them and provide for their needs. Ruth forgave Fran, but it wasn’t easy.

“At times things are still hard,” Ruth said. “I have side effects from the poisoning that will last a lifetime.”

Ruth’s forgiveness came from her love for Jesus. Over time, she became increasingly burdened for Fran, asking God to grant her salvation so Fran would know God’s love. Ruth was confident that if Fran knew such a love, her heart would break for her sin.

Over a year later, Fran’s adult daughter reached out to Ruth and Matt, asking for prayer because her mom was sick in the hospital.

Ruth and her family spent two days with Fran and her family, sharing the gospel. Fran seemed different. She eventually admitted to trying to kill Ruth. Fran also acknowledged that God healed Ruth. However, Fran still didn’t choose to follow Christ.

The next day, Fran’s daughter texted Ruth, saying Fran wanted to be cleansed of her sin and darkness. She wanted to follow Jesus. Fran’s daughter asked if Ruth could return quickly and bring a Bible because Fran’s son wanted to read it.

Ruth and her family rushed to Fran’s bedside, eager to share the gospel one final time. On the way, Ruth asked Christians around the world to pray for Fran to trust in Christ once and for all. The Hamptons shared the request with their prayer partners.

Fran died the next day, but not before repenting of her sin and placing her faith in Jesus. Like the thief on the cross in Luke 23, Fran entered paradise that very day.

This article first appeared on IMB’s website.

We opened our doors and hearts … God did the rest

Mike Watson: I’ve been the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church of Dumas for the last six years. Our city is pretty diverse as far as our economic base. We have cheese plants, a big beef packing plant, feed yards, and dairies. Through the years we’ve seen several ethnic groups come to Dumas looking for jobs. One year it might be Sudanese, and the next year Vietnamese, and then we might see Guatemalans or Hondurans. Everybody has to have a job and there’s lots of jobs here in Dumas.

More recently, I’ve seen Haitians in our community—we’ve had several attend our church. They were walking over to Calvary because it was close. Well, I have two close friends at First Baptist Church in Pampa, Byron Williamson [senior pastor] and Zack Greer [associate pastor, missions/administration], and their church had ministered in Haiti. It was through them that I met Brother Clief.

Clief Joseph: I was never thinking about moving to the United States. I was just trying to get a visa to come visit my friends here. But the problems in Haiti had become very bad. They were kidnapping people, even killing them. I felt it was God’s timing for my wife, Madialite, and me to leave Haiti and stay in the United States until maybe things would get better so we could go back. But God has opened a new ministry here, and I feel like it’s His calling to keep doing what I was doing in Haiti.

I was a pastor in Haiti for 12 years before coming to Texas. My father was a pastor, and he led me to the Lord. I connected with First Baptist Pampa because they ministered in Haiti, and that enabled me to help with that. I heard about Pastor Mike and learned this would be a good place to come and minister to Haitian people.

Many of the Haitians in Dumas started in Florida, but there are more jobs here, so they moved to Texas. Haitian people like to go to church. Many people from Haiti are Baptists. Baptist missionaries came to Haiti often and planted churches there. So when [Haitians] come to Dumas and try to find somewhere to meet, they see Calvary Baptist Church and go inside. Calvary said they had about 12 Haitian people coming on Sundays and they wanted a Haitian pastor to have a service so they can worship in their language. I believed it was maybe God’s plan for me to come and do ministry in this place.

“Doing ministry in Haiti is difficult, really difficult. But God also showed me many good things and opened a door for me to minister here, even as my church in Haiti continues.”

—Clief Joseph Tweet

Watson: Calvary has a large facility. We have a youth room on the second story of our add-on from the 1960s. The church was running about 250 back then, so now we’ve made that whole second floor—it will seat about 70 people—available to [Haitian attendees]. It has a full kitchen, bathrooms, and a wing off each side with rooms for Sunday school classes. I mean, everything they need is there, so it’s really good.

Joseph: Our first official meeting was March 2, but we met unofficially the previous two Sundays [Feb. 16 and 23]. We had 22 people at our first meeting and 24 at our second meeting. We had 46 on March 2. [I preached] out of Ephesians 4 for my first sermon on our opening Sunday—a message on being unified in Christ in the church.

Watson: This has been just like an infusion of fresh blood. Our people are excited. These Haitian people are wonderful, and their worship is wonderful, and it’s just been good. They’re still coming to our adult Sunday school classes … so that has really been good.

On the last Sunday in February, we had a singing Sunday night, so they joined us and there were probably 25 of them and about that many of us. We just had a really good night.

“All you have to do is be willing to open your doors and open your heart, and God will do the work. We try this and we try that and do all kinds of things, but it’s not about man’s efforts as much as it is what God’s going to do.”

—Mike Watson Tweet

Joseph: God is teaching me many things right now. Doing ministry in Haiti is difficult, really difficult. But God also showed me many good things and opened a door for me to minister here, even as my church in Haiti continues. Every day, God is teaching me to be patient, and He will do the rest.

Watson: Well, I think just for me, [I’ve learned to] never be discouraged, because God’s going to do something. All you have to do is be willing to open your doors and open your heart, and God will do the work. We try this and we try that and do all kinds of things, but it’s not about man’s efforts as much as it is what God’s going to do.

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

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Septuagenarian isn’t slowing down as she continues to faithfully serve the Lord

Sandy Dunnuck stays busy.

The 73-year-old works for a food delivery service (“It helps pay the bills and keeps me busy,” she says) and is an active member at Spring Baptist Church, which she has attended since moving to the area from El Paso in 1994 with her two sons following a difficult divorce. She chose Spring to be near parents and other family members.

“Spring was as far as I could get from El Paso without leaving Texas,” she recalled, smiling. Her parents and relatives all went to Spring Baptist, so joining the church was an easy decision amid many difficult ones.

“Both my parents are in heaven now, as is my brother. It’s down to my sons, grandkids, great-grandchildren, and a sister who lives in Corpus,” Dunnuck said.

No matter. Spring is home.

Dunnuck always wanted to work with teenagers. She spent a career doing just that, but not as she expected.

Work with troubled teens

Her lifelong dream of working with teenagers—she taught teens in Sunday school in El Paso—came to fruition in Spring as well, albeit via an unusual professional track. With a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, she embarked upon a career in juvenile probation in Montgomery County.

“And I loved it,” Dunnuck said.

Eventually, Dunnuck said she “got the bug to be a therapist.” She earned a master’s degree in counseling in 2000 and accumulated 24 hours toward a Ph.D. in juvenile justice when she got tired of school and opted to become a licensed professional counselor. She also became an LSOTP: licensed sex offender treatment provider.

“You learn you have to have a good sense of humor. It can be hard to understand why the kids do what they do.”

—Sandy Dunnuck Tweet

“In all my work with juvenile probation, I always ended up working with the sex offenders in one role or another, no matter what I did,” Dunnuck said. Following 16 years in the juvenile justice, she retired from probation but continued doing contract work for the system via her private counseling practice for a decade.

Dunnuck said she chose to work with juveniles and their families because of the potential for reform.

“You can do so much [to help] juveniles,” she said, praising the innovations and hard work done in Montgomery County. She conducted parent and juvenile groups.

“I loved working with the parents,” she said. “Most of them were doing the best they could with what they had. They were so grateful to be able to talk with somebody to deal with that stuff. I never went into parent shaming,” she added.

Dunnuck learned a lot in her years working with juvenile offenders.

“You learn you have to have a good sense of humor,” she said. “It can be hard to understand why the kids do what they do.” Her faith, she added, gave her discernment. She shared her beliefs in subtle, constructive ways. She prayed privately for the young people she counseled.

Occasionally, she could be direct about the Lord. One teen confided to her that he was confused about his sexuality, believed that behavior to be a sin, and thought he would never feel normal.

“Don’t paint yourself into a box that you cannot get out of,” Dunnuck told him. “God can change people.” She admitted she thinks about that young man with so much potential even today.

“I am hoping and praying he found the truth,” she said.

A changed life

Dunnuck knows about change. She is a changed person herself.

“I grew up in church. When the doors were open, we were there. Mom was a Sunday school teacher and Dad was a deacon. At eight, I accepted Christ as my Savior,” she said.

“I wish I could say I was always faithful in my walk. That would be a lie. I was not very faithful to God for a period. I fell … way too many times. My biggest concern was that God could never use me again,” Dunnuck continued.

Perhaps this recognition of her own shortcomings motivated her to work with young people on the fringes.

“My testimony is not that I was saved from the gutter, but that I was forgiven.”

—Sandy Dunnuck Tweet

“God used even the bad choices I made to enable me to be able to work with kids and families who were making bad choices in a non-judgmental, non-self-righteous way,” she said. “I cannot judge anybody.”

These days, Dunnuck serves the Lord in numerous ways. She is Spring Baptist’s orchestra pianist and orchestra librarian, joking, “They keep me on as pianist because nobody wants to be the librarian.” She also plays piano for the senior choir, doing so since she was in her 50s—then technically too young for the group.

After Hurrricane Harvey hit Houston in 2017 and Spring Baptist housed SBDR volunteers from Oklahoma, she became active in SBTC DR. As a credentialed SBTC DR volunteer, she has deployed to El Paso for a border crisis and Louisiana following hurricanes. She serves as the lead on the quick response kitchen unit housed at the church. Mark Estep, Spring Baptist’s senior pastor, calls Dunnuck “a wonderful servant of God.”

“My testimony is not that I was saved from the gutter, but that I was forgiven,” Dunnuck said. “God can use the bad choices that you made. I can relate to the people in trouble.”

Q&A: New SBTC network’s premise is simple: an effective executive is a connected executive

Q&A w/Mike Wierick

Executive pastors and administrators are often called to do a little bit of everything, from managing church staff and overseeing day-to-day finances to meeting the HVAC tech at the building on Saturday night to ensure the building is climate-controlled by Sunday morning. It’s a challenging calling that can often leave its servants feeling worn out and disconnected.

The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Executive Pastors and Administrators Network—also known as XPAN—aims to curb that trend, creating a space where leaders can be encouraged, share ideas, and form long-lasting bonds. Mike Wierick, who joined the Southern Baptists of Texas Foundation in ministry development after serving for nearly three decades at Fielder Church in Arlington—most of those as executive pastor—is helping lead the network with Phil Todd of the SBTC.

The Executive Pastors and Administrators Network is relatively new to the SBTC. Who is it for specifically?

Mike Wierick: The Executive Pastors and Administrators Network is a new initiative designed to support those who oversee church operations—areas like facilities, security, finance, and other administrative functions that support ministry. While the term “executive pastor” has broadened over time, this network specifically serves those in charge of operations, regardless of church size.

Did you have a network like this when you were a pastor? How did you benefit?

MW: I did, but it was a national gathering of SBC executive pastors from churches with an average attendance of 2,000 or more and a budget greater than $7 million. It was a gathering that met annually for multiple days and provided invaluable information, but I lacked an ongoing network of peers from my local ministry area.

After retirement from Fielder, I began working part time with the SBT Foundation in development. This role allowed me to travel across Texas, speaking with pastors and executive pastors in churches of all sizes. Through these conversations, I noticed a common theme. Many executive pastors felt disconnected, without resources to help navigate their numerous challenges. Recently, I met an executive pastor from a growing church plant in Waco. Despite the fact that they met in a local school, he faced the same issues I did at Fielder—finances, security, and facilities management—and he had no one to turn to for help or information.

This realization sparked the idea for the SBTC’s Executive Pastors and Administrators Network. There are national conferences and networks for larger churches, but I believe there is a gap in resources and relationships for Texas churches of all sizes. The goal is not only to share information and best practices, but also to foster meaningful, peer-to-peer relationships.

What kind of commitment are you asking from those who choose to be a part of this network?

MW: The network plans to hold two state gatherings per year and an additional two regional gatherings. There will be periodic webinars on selected topics, as well as a centralized repository of best practices and resources that can be accessed by the participants in the network.

The ultimate aim is to cultivate lasting relationships where pastors can reach out to one another anytime for additional support and advice. There are no dues or fees, just participation in the gatherings. However, the more committed the participants, the stronger the network will be.

What appeal might you make to the executive pastor or administrator who is concerned about adding one more thing to an already busy schedule?

MW: The network’s approach is designed to be simple and practical. Participants are only asked to attend the two statewide meetings per year, plus two area meetings, totaling about four to five gatherings annually. For those hesitant to commit more time to their already demanding schedules, I would offer this as a reason you need to participate: No matter where we are in life, we all need three types of relationships—people who are further along the journey than we are, people who are at the same stage to share experiences with, and people to mentor those who are coming behind us.

Most of the [network’s] 12 area leaders are serving some of our larger Texas churches and have years of experience. Guys like Jeff Young at Champion Forest in Houston and Scott Sanford at Cottonwood Creek in Allen have immeasurable knowledge that they are willing to share, but they also will discover valuable information from the gatherings. I am grateful to those who invested in me and my ministry at Fielder and now I have the privilege of learning from and investing in others.

Interested in connecting with XPAN?
Email your name, church, church address, email, phone, staff position to mwierick@sbtexasfoundation.com, call 682-347-4914

A transformational reminder

Every once in a while, I’ll have an opportunity to sit down with someone who has gone before me and has the ability to infuse leadership lessons into my life over lunch or a cup of coffee. These moments are special and can be transformative.

In February, I had lunch with a new friend who, unbeknownst to him, impacted me greatly. Gary Cook is the former president and current chancellor at Dallas Baptist University. I sat and listened to him share amazing stories of God’s provision and guidance as we ate. Anytime I get to sit and listen to men of God who have given their lives to leadership in ministry, I am blessed.

“If you could go back,” I asked him, “what would you do differently?”

His answer has remained on my mind every day since.

“I would have prayed more,” he said.

I wanted to know more, so I asked him to explain. He said he has always known that everything he has been called to lead has belonged to the Lord. Because of this, he said, “I learned to pray about everything—every decision, big and small. Every conversation I was to have, I took it to the Lord and said, ‘God, this is yours. What would you have me do?’”

That exchange may not sound like a big deal to many, but for me and the ministry the Lord allows me to lead, it was exactly what I needed to hear. You see, we often pray about the big decisions, the big conflicts, the big needs. However, this was such a good reminder that it all belongs to the Lord, and we should constantly ask what He wants us to do with both big and small things. Paul writes in Romans 12:12, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”

I have been meditating on that Scripture since I left that lunch meeting. I can be joyful because of the hope that is in Jesus! As trials and challenges come, I can be patient as He works them out while I am constantly in prayer and consistently seeking what He wants in my life and through my leadership. It was a strong reminder that I need to be praying without ceasing about all things, not just the big or immediate things in my life.

Conversations like that are such a blessing. They stretch us and challenge us to strive to be more like Jesus. I want to encourage you with a couple of thoughts. First, find someone who has gone before you—someone with more life experience—and, as you sit with them, listen and learn. It will shape you into a better leader.

Second, pray about everything. We are faced with challenges, conversations, and decisions every day. As a child of God, it all belongs to Him. I left that lunch more eager to seek the heart of God about everything. I believe in my life and yours, we will see what He wants more clearly as we seek Him. I love you and am honored to serve you!

Five minutes with Alyssa Whitehurst

Alyssa Whitehurst has served on staff at Mobberly Baptist Church in Longview since 2019 as minister to women, focusing on Bible literacy, multi-gen community, and intentional care ministries. Alyssa and husband, Kyle, enjoy spending their free time outdoors hiking, kayaking, BBQing, and enjoying good food, museum exploring, and landscape photography.

What’s one victory in the Mobberly women’s ministry you have celebrated recently?

One thing I continue to celebrate and thank God for is the foundation and longevity of our women’s ministry to one another and to the community. For example, we recently celebrated our Widow to Widow Ministry’s 20th anniversary. This group of women has experienced profound loss and yet finds the desire to serve and comfort other women with the comfort and generous love God has shown them. We have had women all over East Texas ask if they can join this group and others who have come to observe how to launch similar ministries in their churches

What’s one challenge you are facing?

Our church is very blessed to have a healthy cross section of many generations attending. One of the unique challenges is spending enough time observing how each generation engages with volunteerism, their communication styles/preferences, and their responsiveness to those outside of their peer groups. I find the most successful way to nurture a shared goal of multi-gen ministry is through one-on-one conversations and asking people directly to be a part of the solution.

What’s one thing you are praying will happen in the women’s ministry over the coming year?

We are in the process of launching our crisis pregnancy mentoring ministry to the community in partnership with Lifeline Children’s Services. I have been so encouraged by the overwhelming support of our congregation as we seek to step in as friends to women who need to know the impact of Christ. We have been able to help women begin healing from past unplanned pregnancies and abortions, and we are working with at-risk youth to prevent future unplanned pregnancies. We pray that this year we can become a beacon of hope to East Texas, that community agencies will call on us to partner with them, and that sister churches will join us in this work.

What’s one lesson you’ve learned to this point of your life and ministry you know you’ll never forget?

You cannot lead people where you are not willing to go yourself. You must dive in first if you want them to dive deep into His Word. You must let the potter do His shaping work in you if you want others to desire to be conformed to His image. You must learn to wait with increasing faith if you want them to enter seasons of suffering or waiting with steadfastness. Your life gives credibility to your message.

How can the churches of the SBTC be praying for you and your ministry?

My husband and I are stepping into a new season as first-time parents through domestic infant adoption. Pray that God’s name will be made known and all glory will be given to Him through our family and the ministry labors of Mobberly women.

We give so others can go

Editor’s note: In celebration of the Cooperative Program’s 100th anniversary, the Texan is including in each issue this year a testimony from a pastor explaining why his church gives through and believes in CP. The following was authored by Scott Maze, senior pastor of Cross Church DFW in North Richland Hills.

We give because of international missions.

Our church gives through the Cooperative Program because of three couples serving worldwide with the International Mission Board. Yes, thousands serve with the IMB, but these three are special to us. Each of these three couples has spent significant time being a part of our church family before living abroad. One couple serves in Central Asia, while two others serve in Southeast Asia.

I recently read an update where one couple shared the message of Christmas to a predominantly Muslim population. One of the other couples has recently shared significant gospel progress in a mountain village where Jesus’ name is little known. They have worked this area for over 15 years with little success, but that’s changing. Recently, a Buddhist father has finally embraced Christ by faith. He shares his testimony of his newfound faith in Jesus with arms spread wide as he speaks of Jesus on a cross. His enthusiasm is striking in a village where nearly every home has a small shrine to Buddha. Our church gives so they can share the good news of Jesus in these resistant areas.

We give to train future ministers.

Our church gives through the Cooperative Program so thousands of young people can be trained for ministry in one of Southern Baptists’ six seminaries. A quick comparison of Gateway, Southwestern, Southern, New Orleans, Midwestern, and Southeastern seminaries shows these are among the most attended theological schools in the nation. While nearly every other denomination’s schools declined in attendance, SBC schools witnessed a 14% increase between 2003-2022.

Besides their excellence in biblical training, one of the reasons these six seminaries are among the largest in the U.S. is because of the reduced cost of tuition provided by the generosity of churches through the Cooperative Program. These schools are among the least expensive seminaries because we all give. While no church could operate even one of these schools independently, collectively we can impact so many young lives. Churches need staff members, pastors, and missionaries who know the gospel well in order to start and build churches around the globe.

We give to plant new, evangelistic churches.

We give through the Cooperative Program so North American Mission Board church planters can give their lives to starting hundreds of churches across North America. Experienced Christians know new works are more effective at reaching new people for Christ. Many of our denominations’ recent baptisms are due to efforts by fresh new churches dotting the North American landscape. These churches freshly contextualize the gospel so that many people say yes to Christ. We need these new churches, and our church counts it as a privilege to give to provide salary, benefits, and costs so churches can thrive.

All these are reasons why our church family has more than doubled the amount of money we give through the Cooperative Program in the past decade.

What’s your Cooperative Program story?

Post your story to your social channels and use #cp100story.

‘Kindness outreaches’ are being used to help build bridges between planters, communities

Many of us have experienced it: the unexpected blessing when someone ahead of you in the drive-thru pays for your coffee or an unknown benefactor covers the cost of your restaurant meal.

Unexpected blessings. Random acts of kindness.

Since 1995, the U.S. has celebrated a national Random Acts of Kindness Day on Feb. 17. Today, churches are finding that acts of kindness need not be random at all, but rather, intentional acts to share the love of Christ.

Austin Cooper, outreach and connection pastor of Greenwood Baptist Church in Weatherford, has been leading kindness outreaches at the church for 15 years, even before he came on staff in June 2011.

As a college student, Cooper felt the call to ministry, but not as a youth worker, music minister, or lead pastor. A member of Greenwood since 2000, Cooper recognized the “outward-focused DNA” of the church and began small initiatives to reach the community through kindness in 2010.

“Simple acts of kindness show God’s love in practical ways … and lead to gospel conversations,” Cooper said.

The church started with small outreaches like dollar car washes. “People came in and we washed their car for free. Then we gave them a dollar,” Cooper said. “We told them that God’s grace is free but must be accepted like you are accepting this dollar. There are no strings attached.”

The kindness outreaches were a pretty big hit with the church right off the bat, Cooper said. Within a year, the church voted to call Cooper on staff.

Greenwood has found plenty of ways to show the kindness of Christ to its community. Raking leaves. Washing the windows of businesses. Handing out cold sodas at traffic lights. Giving away bottles of bubbles at the park. Even cleaning toilets at gas stations. Greenwood members have served Jesus by serving others, always making their purpose of sharing Christ known.

“We believe in getting churches outside the four walls,” Cooper said. Pastors and leaders of other churches heard about the kindness outreaches and asked for help in starting their own kindness ministries. Cooper developed materials and, with Greenwood members, offered training.

“We just started training churches as much as we could whenever we could,” Cooper said. “We trained churches in Weatherford, Tennessee, Florida, Louisiana, even New York City.”

“We learned some of the philosophy for outreach to care for people: how to serve them rather than getting them to serve you. It’s an outward focus to bless them, rather than getting them to bless you through attendance.”

—Bracken Arnhart Tweet

Kindness as a tool

Around 2019, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention approached Cooper to assist in training church planters in kindness outreach ministry. When COVID hit, in-person visits shifted to online video training.

“COVID helped people understand that if they don’t reach out, they die as a church. Outreach became foremost in people’s minds,” Cooper said.

Today, Cooper offers a four-week Kindness Cohort training via a series of 45-minute video calls. He provides written materials to cohort participants, including suggestions for kindness outreach events. To date, pastors and leaders from more than 450 churches have been through the training.

Greenwood has seen significant growth as well, with 450 baptized over the past two years.

“We have seen fruit,” Cooper said. “This type of outreach can get your people excited about outward focused things.”

Bracken Arnhart, founding planter of Hope Church in Robinson, near Waco, said the Kindness Cohort training has been helpful in starting a new congregation. Hope Church launched formally in December 2023, and Arnhart participated in the Kindness Cohort training in early 2024.

“We learned some of the philosophy for outreach to care for people: how to serve them rather than getting them to serve you,” Arnhart said. “It’s an outward focus to bless them, rather than getting them to bless you through attendance.”

Hope Church, which averages 70 in attendance, has seen steady growth. Among the kindness outreaches its members have conducted are distributing flowers to moms with kids at the park on Mother’s Day and going door-to-door to bless dads with a candy bar and a card for Father’s Day.

“We have dropped off donuts at local businesses,” Arnhart said. Hope members also distributed solar glasses during the last eclipse, handed out animal balloons at Robinson’s National Night Out, and sponsored a student lunch at the local community college.

On Feb. 22, Hope members spent a Saturday at Robinson’s only coffee shop handing out gospel cards and greetings along with free cups of coffee to customers.

Some beneficiaries have visited the church, but that’s not the only purpose.

“We’re new here. We are building a rapport with the community, so the community knows we are here to serve them and we are here to stay,” Arnhart said.

Kindness as a bridge

Kindness outreaches at Sweet Fellowship Church in Yantis, north of Tyler in East Texas, began early on since its founding in November 2021 as a result of livestreamed sermons preached by Pastor Perry Crisp during COVID.

Once pandemic restrictions eased, Crisp found enough online followers to begin Sweet Fellowship on Lake Fork, where the resort community was ready for in-person contact.

The congregation, which today numbers around 120, first met in parks and a vacant church building practically gifted to them and which they have recently outgrown. They hope to build on 13 acres they bought.

Crisp participated in a Kindness Cohort in spring 2022 and was immediately drawn to the concept.

“I was fascinated by it. Starting a new church, you find bridges to the community. You have to find a way to have conversations with people,” he said. Kindness outreaches provided opportunities.

“In our East Texas culture, kindness is one of the last bridges we have left to enter into gospel conversations,” Crisp said, explaining that most East Texans—raised in a heavily churched culture—claim they are Christians already.

“We are able to almost shock people with kindness. It gets them off their usual pattern of conversation and makes people more willing to listen. You are not asking anything of them. You are giving something to them.”

—Perry Crisp Tweet

“If that were the case, our churches would be full,” Crisp said, adding that Cooper’s counsel to “show God’s love in a practical way” resonates with people.

“We are able to almost shock people with kindness,” Crisp said. “It gets them off their usual pattern of conversation and makes people more willing to listen. You are not asking anything of them. You are giving something to them.”

Kindness outreaches have become one of the primary ways Sweet Fellowship does evangelism, Crisp said, adding that outreaches occur about once a month. They sometimes happen even on Sunday mornings during church time, which he said is a good time to reach the unchurched at home.

Sweet Fellowship kindness outreaches have included giving away bubbles at the park, Valentine’s cards with small chocolate candies attached in neighborhoods, flowers at the senior citizens center, and toys at Christmas.

“We go wherever we can find people,” Crisp said. Since the church is located at a lake community, they set up tailgate stations with cold water and soft drinks at boat launches, even offering to assist fishermen in getting their boats into the water. The helpful gestures ignite conversations.

“We want to show you God’s love in a practical way,” Crisp said. “It’s a soft pitch right over the plate so you can take a gospel swing.”