Month: June 2025

From ‘Aha!’ to ‘Amen!’

East Texas church finds its footing through Regenesis revitalization process

When John-Daniel Cutler was called to pastor Emmanuel Baptist Church in 2021, the church began to experience growth after a season of decline. With that growth came new challenges, but all things considered, the church was trending up.

Yet something still didn’t feel quite right to Cutler and other church leaders.

“I felt like God was clearly moving,” Cutler said, “but we were without clear direction and purpose as a body.”

While attending a dinner during the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Annual Meeting in 2022, Cutler first heard about a revitalization process the convention had introduced earlier in the year called Regenesis. It seemed to offer help Cutler felt Emmanuel needed to “fully embrace what God had for us.”

Several years ago, a Lifeway Research study revealed that more than 80% of Southern Baptist churches are plateaued or in decline. Regenesis aims to reverse that trend, helping churches identify their unique purpose and determine their God-given vision to multiply disciples of Jesus.

“I felt like God was clearly moving, but we were without clear direction and purpose as a body.”

—John-Daniel Cutler Tweet

So far in 2025, 61 churches have completed Regenesis cohorts, which meet over a series of months, while another 92 churches representing 191 church leaders have attended Regenesis One-Day events. The process is also being piloted in Nevada and Puerto Rico, where the SBTC is engaged in strategic partnerships.

Emmanuel began its Regenesis journey in 2023 with a diverse leadership team of three men and three women from the church representing relatively new members and others who had been there more than 40 years.

“Perhaps the greatest ‘aha’ moment was simply the realization that we had no intentional process for replicating disciples who would make disciples,” Cutler said. “We were doing many wonderful things but had never truly considered if they were helping or harming our disciple-making process.”

Cutler said the Emmanuel team also identified “an unhealthy membership process” that led it to design a new members class to better help them understand what it means to be a church member. Sixty percent of the church’s current membership has completed the class, as well as visitors who decide to join the church.

The renewed focus on purpose has started to spread to other ministries of the church, Cutler said, making them more effective at accomplishing the Great Commission.

“As we continue walking through the lessons and tools we received through Regenesis,” Cutler said, “we are excited about what God is continuing to do and will do through us to reach our community with the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Grateful to be rich, willing to share the wealth

Over the past couple of years, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention has crafted and implemented a new vision that defines three strategic pathways on which our churches accomplish the Great Commission. The second pathway consists of networking leaders with relationships and partnerships.

It’s a critical piece of the vision. Without healthy leaders, churches risk floating in no particular direction or failing altogether. While answering God’s call to lead can be rewarding like nothing else, the unique difficulties and demands that come with it are often the biggest threats to putting pastors on tilt. They need networks of peers to relate to, share ideas with, and lean on.

This second pillar came to mind in early May while reporting on the SBTC’s Reach Europe vision trip that included pastors and leaders from 21 churches and three associations. Members of that group visited at least one of seven cities across Europe identified by the International Mission Board as having a great need for partnership with SBTC churches.

Most of those pastors and leaders arrived knowing they were visiting one of the most lost continents on the planet. As the trip wound down, however, many admitted they learned something nearly as heartbreaking—that Europe’s churches are led by faithful missionaries, planters, and pastors who are grinding for the gospel in isolation but with a fraction of the resources and support as their American counterparts.

Pipelines of young leaders being trained to reach their generation and guide the church into the future? They don’t exist here. These local pastors often work for years before seeing even one person come to Christ, and theologically sound seminaries are in incredibly short supply.

A stable of experienced mentors to model faithfulness and pass on practical wisdom? There are only a few, including IMB personnel who are spread thin covering multiple countries as part of their assignments.

Networks of like-minded pastors to offer their shoulders and support when the rigors of ministry press in hard? Not here. These pastors exercise their calling in environments hostile to the gospel and anyone proclaiming it.

That’s the picture painted by Trey Shaw, the IMB’s East Europe cluster trainer and a native Texan who has served in Hungary for 20 years. Speaking with part of the SBTC vision team one morning at an IMB ministry center in Budapest, he made an impassioned plea to those to whom God has entrusted much in Texas.

“You need to open your eyes to the phenomenal spiritual wealth that you live in,” Shaw said. “What you take for granted in terms of spiritual heritage, opportunities—you can bring that here. The spiritual wealth that you have and that you can share with the churches here? That is where we see the needle start moving in Europe—when these local churches in Europe start to see their brothers and sisters from across the ocean come in and say, ‘You know what? We can help you.’

“You have more to give than they can actually take in or fathom. What they don’t have is relationships.”

Reach Europe offers SBTC churches an incredible opportunity to literally change the world. In many of the cities visited on the vision tour, your church’s help in leading even one person coming to faith would provide an energy and an encouragement not often felt here. Imagine what God might do with just one …

At the same time, you may find that God connects you to a pastor or church leader who needs something also in short supply in this beautiful, yet dark, place.

A friend.

Interested in impacting Europe with the gospel the SBTC’s Reach Europe initiative?

A cut above

After retiring from the oil industry, Bellville man picked up a chainsaw and went to work for SBTC Disaster Relief

When Mike Phillips retired from a three-decade career in the oil industry, he faced the challenge of what to do next. Southern Baptists of Texas Disaster Relief provided the answer.

“I didn’t want to sit around. I always wanted to give back,” Phillips said.

He heard about SBTC DR even before retirement, when his Sunday school teacher at First Baptist Bellville told the class about his experience with disaster relief.

“We were tithing to the Cooperative Program through the SBTC, so we chose to be trained with SBTC DR,” Phillips said.

After a short retirement vacation, he got the call to serve in May 2013. An EF5 tornado had devastated Moore, Okla., and SBTC DR volunteers were needed.

Phillips hesitated. Was he ready? Did he know enough?

A family member encouraged him: “You’ve been looking at doing something like this for 15 years. Go.”

“I never looked back,” Phillips said.

The experience was transformative. He served among 90 volunteers from across the nation, including SBTC DR crews. “Chaplaincy, feeding, recovery, chainsaw. … We all had a common reason to be there helping people, spreading the Word, planting seeds.”

“I had a desk job in my career. My little world had nothing to do with people who were really hurting. At Moore and with DR, I was thrust out. It was something bigger than self. I loved it.”

—Mike Phillips Tweet

Seven children died when the tornado struck an elementary school in Moore. One of the families Phillips helped had lost a child.

“I had a desk job in my career,” Phillips said. “My little world had nothing to do with people who were really hurting. At Moore and with DR, I was thrust out. It was something bigger than self. I loved it.”

Phillips estimates he has deployed more than 60 times over the last dozen years, most recently to Brownsville in April 2025 to assist flood survivors. While there, he was a site director for a multi-state Southern Baptist DR team in addition to overseeing the SBTC DR recovery trailer maintained by First Baptist Bellville.

“At Brownsville, we had teams engaged in feeding, chaplaincy, assessing, shower and laundry, and mud-out and recovery,” Phillips said. He worked in the field each day in addition to his administrative duties. “Everybody knew what to do. They made it easy,” he said.

Phillips often does chainsaw work on deployment and will be leading a specialized chainsaw training offered by SBTC DR for its crews.

“I am right where the Lord wants me,” Phillips said. “We all want to understand God’s will. I am doing what I think is the Lord’s work.”

Strength in numbers

SBTC networks offer safe havens where people from all walks of life connect around a common purpose

A couple of months ago, a group of about 10 pastors gathered to have lunch in North Texas. They shared a meal, laughed, and encouraged one another—not exactly front-page news for most.

But for this group, and pastors across Texas, the gathering was significant. Why? Because they came away refreshed, and in this calling, that can mean everything.

These men were all members of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s Young Pastors Network, a collective of pastors age 40 or younger. YPN members are placed into cohorts and meet several times per year, including regionally, at the SBTC’s Empower Conference each winter, and during the SBTC Annual Meeting in the fall. The cohorts give young pastors an outlet to discuss current issues related to ministry, speak into one another’s lives, and hold each other accountable.

“What has made this network thrive is deep brotherhood and connections,” Spencer Plumlee, who serves as a consultant to the YPN, told the SBTC executive board last year.

Networks are so valuable to the SBTC, it has identified them as one of its three main strategic pathways by which its mission is accomplished. Its number of networks is growing and offers groups for student and collegiate ministers, women’s and children’s ministry leaders, ethnic pastors, pastor wives, executive pastors and administrators, and more.

“Over the past several years, I’ve developed some truly dear friendships. I’m never at a loss for brothers I can call when I need someone—and I have."

—Caleb Fleming Tweet

Caleb Fleming, senior pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Sherman, said the YPN has introduced him to many meaningful ministry relationships. He said he got connected with the group several years ago after meeting with Plumlee, who cast a vision for the network prior to its formation.

Fleming said he was sold on the value of the network immediately and has served on its leadership team since it began.

“For me, it’s been the fellowship,” Fleming said. “Over the past several years, I’ve developed some truly dear friendships. I’m never at a loss for brothers I can call when I need someone—and I have.

“What’s beautiful is that it goes both ways,” he added. “I’ve also been on the receiving end of those calls from brothers who were hurting and struggling. I’ve had the opportunity to offer encouragement, counsel, and prayer to men who’ve become like a brother to me.”

Change agent

Raul Rodriguez used to believe there was no hope—until a children’s Bible lesson convinced him otherwise

It was a simple children’s Bible lesson that hit Raul Rodriguez with a truth that was as promising—and as incomprehensible—as anything he’d ever heard.

Rodriguez sat in silence as he listened to a pastor read 2 Corinthians 5:17 during a Backyard Bible Club lesson attended by his children in 2009: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

For a man as battle-weary as Rodriguez, it didn’t seem possible. He’d battled a fierce drug and alcohol addiction for years that, at one point, left him separated from his wife and children. A fog of depression gripped him in an overbearing, inescapable fist, leaving him feeling suffocated and hopeless for more years than he could remember.

Change didn’t seem possible.

Or did it?

“I hated the fact that I couldn’t change. The people that I loved the most were my wife and my kids, and not even their love could change me,” Rodriguez recalled. “I had tried to change so many times, but when I heard that [verse], I said, ‘God, if you can change me—if you really can change people—please change me.’ And that day I gave my life to Christ.”

"I said, ‘God, if you can change me— if you really can change people—please change me.’ And that day I gave my life to Christ.”

—Raul Rodriguez Tweet

He soon began to experience victory over his addictions and healing in his relationships. With his lungs full of the fresh air of new life and wanting that for others, he almost immediately began telling anyone who would listen about Jesus. He eventually became an ordained minister and evangelist.

Rodriguez, a member of Sunnyvale First Baptist Church, said his faith has been deeply impacted by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s en Español ministry. This past February, Rodriguez led an evangelism workshop at Apoderados, a Spanish language event held in conjunction with the SBTC’s evangelism-focused Empower Conference each year.

Hombres de Impacto—a growing SBTC en Español men’s event that offers worship, fellowship, and equipping—has been particularly impactful on his life, he said. He attended his first one in 2010 and hasn’t missed one since.

“The room was full of like 500 men fully living for and worshiping Christ,” he said. “I had never seen that. I was used to men wanting to be tough and macho, but nothing like this. But this is what we were created for—to take care of our families and to be men who serve God.”

Five minutes with Samantha Calimbahin

A true pastor’s kid, Samantha Calimbahin got looped into ministry early. At age 12, she began serving on the worship team at Caprock Church in Arlington, where she played piano and guitar while singing backup vocals. By age 20, she assumed the role of worship leader and continues to lead Caprock’s music ministry. Calimbahin has a degree in journalism with a music minor. In addition to leading worship at Caprock, she works in marketing for a large healthcare provider. She also releases and performs her own music.

What’s one victory in Caprock’s worship ministry you have experienced recently?

One thing I’d consider a success is the stability of our current team. Having been in this ministry since age 12, I’ve seen many musicians and worship leaders come and go for various reasons. Our current band, though, has been the same four people for several years now. It’s a stability we haven’t really experienced before, and it’s a blessing. In addition to me, our team consists of a pianist, a guitarist, and a drummer who’ve all been faithful, available, and understanding of the purpose behind our performance.

What’s one challenge you are facing?

Being a small church with a small praise team, we don’t have the same resources you may find at larger churches. We don’t have in-ear monitors, backing tracks, or fancy lights. We don’t even have a bass player. But we have a big heart for worshiping the Lord! And that’s what matters most.

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

While I’m grateful for the stability of our team, I still hope we’ll be able to grow. I’d love to add some backup vocalists, especially people I can trust to take over if I get sick or go out of town. And, of course, we’d love a good bass player. I’d also like to see our team continue to build on our current talents and “play skillfully,” as Psalm 33 says. Even though I’ve been doing this since I was a kid, I still feel like I have a lot to learn.

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

You’re not that big of a deal [laughs]. It’s true. Church musicians are probably among the most susceptible to developing an ego. When you’re up there playing music on a stage, it’s easy to fall into that feeling like you’re some kind of rock star. Or even feeling like you’re so anointed and good at ushering the Holy Spirit. Trust me, it’s not cute. It’s a dangerous way of thinking that can lead to a person’s downfall very quickly. I have to constantly remind myself that I’m only up here by the grace of God—that I have an audience of one.

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

Please pray for the continued faithfulness of our current team, that we grow both musically and spiritually. If it’s God’s will, please pray we can add more members who are not just talented but also committed and understand what worship is all about. Please also pray for financial provision to improve our equipment, media, and other resources needed to enhance our ministry.