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AN ETERNAL INVESTMENT
Kason Branch would not describe himself as a self-made man. God has blessed him with too many mentors, supportive family members, and friends to say something like that.
Branch, senior pastor of Creekstone Church in North Richland Hills, is leading a growing congregation of more than 200 members. He also serves as a church planting catalyst for Send Network SBTC and recently completed a stint as second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
While Branch is living out his true purpose, his path to ministry was a long process full of challenges, surrender, and a lot of help along the way.
“I like to say I didn’t choose ministry,” Branch said. “Ministry chose me.”
Growing up as a pastor’s kid, Branch said his parents were faithful Christians who prioritized discipling their children. After graduating college, he chose not to pursue vocational ministry and instead took a job in the corporate world, where he was extremely successful and received several promotions over a decade of work.
Yet, he felt something was missing.
“I was doing well, but I burned out,” Branch said. “I was missing my family and my young kids. During that season, I was sacrificing my family [time], and what I was sacrificing for felt empty. Corporate just felt empty to me. I was doing well, but it just didn’t feel purposeful. I felt the tension there. I thought, ‘Will I give my whole life to this? Is this what I’m supposed to be doing with my life?’”
That tension reached a breaking point when one of Branch’s close friends and co-workers, a man he considered to be a mentor, died suddenly while at work. Branch remembers arriving late to work that day and wondering why several ambulances were in the parking lot.
“It was hurtful,” he said. “It was the first time I had lost a friend or a co-worker, and I hadn’t experienced much loss in my family. It was difficult for me.”
“During that season, I was sacrificing my family [time], and what I was sacrificing for felt empty. Corporate just felt empty to me. ... I felt the tension there. I thought, ‘Will I give my whole life to this?”
What shook Branch even more was what happened in the aftermath of the tragedy.
“We went to the funeral and did everything, and then within two weeks, they had someone else in his office doing his job,” Branch said. “I was highly upset. I was wondering, ‘How could you do this? This man just died. We just had his funeral a week ago and you’re clearing out the very office he died in and you’ve got somebody else doing his job.’
“Then someone at work said to me, ‘We did love him—that’s why we waited two weeks.’ That’s just the nature of corporate. It’s plug and play. They thought they were being kind and considerate waiting two weeks.”
That was the turning point that ultimately led Branch toward ministry.
“I knew in that moment I just couldn’t give my life to that,” he said. “I couldn’t give my life to something that, within two weeks, would be forgotten about. I realized what I was doing would not last, and I wanted to make my life count differently. I just began to pray, ‘Lord, what else do you have for me?’
“It was during this time of going through the emotions of that loss and the realization of how bottom-line corporate can be that my pastor, Bryan Carter, reached out to ask if I would consider leaving corporate to be the chief operating officer at [our] church.”
Carter had already been mentoring Branch even before he began to feel a call to ministry. Branch was a member of Carter’s Saturday morning Bible study for more than two years and had been serving as a deacon and then a lay elder before joining the staff in 2010.
“As my wife and I prayed about the offer, we realized this was God’s call,” Branch said. “That was the season where God drew me into ministry.”
Once in the role, it became clear to others in his life that Branch was a gifted communicator. He began taking classes at Dallas Theological Seminary and even started training other local church leaders in administration.
After serving at his church for several years, Branch was eventually asked by Carter if he would be interested in planting a church.
“I had no concept of church planting,” Branch explained. “I didn’t even know what that was. I didn’t even know that you could do that.”
Branch originally rejected the idea because he wasn’t confident in his ability to see it through. It felt like an intimidating task that too big for him, he said. But Carter persisted, asking Branch to continue praying about the opportunity. As Branch prayed and sought wise counsel, he ultimately felt led to plant: “ … My answer was yes.”
“My family sacrificed and changed everything because of the call of God on my life. ... Throughout this process, I’ve learned that God is faithful, and it’s not just a cliché. It’s something that I’ve really experienced.”
Branch would go on to plant Creekstone Church in North Richland Hills in April 2016. The church grew from about 12 people at the first service to about 40 in just a few months. While meeting in several locations over the first few years, the church experienced growth and momentum until a new challenge hit—the COVID-19 pandemic. The church was displaced and did not have a place to meet for 17 months, a season Branch described as stressful.
After navigating the pandemic, Creekstone began to once again seize the momentum it had before. The church purchased a permanent building, has now doubled in attendance since the pandemic, and baptized more than 60 new believers.
“That means more than anything, that we’re reaching new believers for the Lord,” Branch said.
Branch credits his ministry journey to the incredible mentors who have guided him along the way.
In addition to Carter, Branch said he has also been heavily influenced by Conway Edwards, who also pastors in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Branch said Edwards has especially been helpful with advice about planting a church.
“He’s a church planter himself, so he understands the struggle first-hand,” Branch said. “In terms of church planting, he’s been a main mentor for me because he’s seen it and done it and is able to coach me through.”
Edwards praised Branch and his character in ministry.
“Kason is one of my sons in ministry, and I’ve had the privilege of walking alongside him for many years,” Edwards said. “From the beginning, I saw a special calling on his life. He’s a gifted communicator with a deep passion for reaching people with the hope of Jesus Christ. His unwavering commitment to the call—even when it requires personal sacrifice—is a powerful testimony of faithful and courageous leadership.”
Even more than his mentors, Branch spoke to the influence of his family and the providence of God on his ministry journey.
“My family sacrificed and changed everything because of the call of God on my life,” Branch said. “Our family was in a sort of transition period for years, and the walls closed in on us a little bit, but the Lord was faithful. My family really sacrificed for this church plant.
“Throughout this process, I’ve learned that God is faithful, and it’s not just a cliché. It’s something that I’ve really experienced.”
