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Jake Bigford knows his town will likely become a suburb of Houston during his lifetime. Sandwiched between Houston and Galveston, Santa Fe—named after the railroad—boasts small-town charm and just over 13,000 residents.
“We are quickly seeing Houston knock on our doorstep,” said Bigford, pastor of First Baptist Church in Alta Loma, a southwestern Galveston County neighborhood that became part of Santa Fe in 1978.
For Bigford, Santa Fe and FBC Alta Loma have always been home. His mother still lives in town. He married Laurin Finley, a local girl from the church during college in East Texas.
“We grew up in youth group together,” Bigford said.
Following Bigford’s college graduation 15 years ago, the couple returned to Santa Fe when he accepted a position as youth pastor at their home church. There wasn’t a budget for the job, but church volunteers began mowing the lawn so the money that would have gone to landscapers paid Bigford’s modest salary. The church provided the young couple with an apartment and agreed to augment the salary once another staff member retired.
“We prayed about it,” Bigford recalled. “If this is what the Lord wants, then the money doesn’t matter. He made it happen.”
When the church’s senior pastor left in 2019, the search team decided it didn’t need to look very far. Deacons approached Bigford to gauge his interest.
“It took me by surprise,” he admitted. “We started praying about it.”
By the end of that year, on the church’s 124th anniversary, Bigford preached in view of a call.
“It’s been wonderful,” he said. “It’s been a great journey.”
Breathing new life
The journey has not been without challenges. Through COVID-19 and other circumstances, FBC Alta Loma experienced what Bigford called a “fairly drastic change in families and faces and attendance” after his arrival.
Bigford’s interest in the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention was piqued while attending the annual evangelism-focused Empower Conference.
“I fell in love with what the convention stood for. I learned a lot,” he said. “A big part of it for me was the [SBTC’s stance] on inerrancy. … I got fully involved with the SBTC.”
Wondering if FBC Alta Loma needed revitalization, Bigford later attended a SBTC Regenesis One-Day intensive workshop in 2024 focused on church health and renewal and was sold on the idea of joining a cohort.
“Even if our church wasn’t necessarily declining, there were ways the Lord could breathe new life,” he realized, concluding that most churches could benefit from similar help.
Among his favorite parts of the Regenesis process was gathering a team from the church and having conversations about where FBC Alta Loma was headed.
“We picked people from different walks of life, ages, and generations,” he said. This core group examined what the church was doing and why. “We were actually already talking about the issues, but Regenesis led us to think about our vision, our mission,” solidifying the direction they wanted to go to reach their town with the gospel. He added that his team was encouraged as it saw how God was faithful throughout the church’s history.
Bigford said Regenesis was “challenging and affirming,” helping the church prioritize areas it had not considered—including the location, gifts, and abilities of the congregation.
“Regenesis challenged us to look at our mission and come up with an initiative to accomplish it,” Bigford said. The team determined culture shifts needed in the church and set goals.
“Regenesis challenged us to look at our mission and come up with an initiative to accomplish it.”
Invitation to transformation
The weakest pillar in the church was engaging people with the gospel, they decided. Discussions ensued and resulted in the Invite 52 initiative with the goal of inviting 5,200 people to the church during 2026.
“It may sound too lofty. But that’s 100 people inviting one person per week to church,” Bigford said. They realized that even if they only invited 4,000, that would be a success.
Business cards with the church’s contact information and service times have been created to help members with the task. “We ordered 10,000 of these cards, 20 pounds [in weight],” Bigford said. After generating anticipation in late 2025, they began the project in full on the first Sunday of 2026.
“If you will invite people to come, I will preach the gospel every single week,” Bigford promised.
The congregation was encouraged to be intentional, not just leaving the card somewhere but handing it to individuals and inviting them to be their guest, promising to meet them in the parking lot and sit with them. Evangelism training scheduled for May will enhance the congregation’s comfort in witnessing to those they invite.
“The incredible thing is people have done it,” Bigford said. “So far, they have distributed more than 400 cards. Every single week we have had first-time guests, 40 in the first five weeks of the initiative.”
“Even the kids are doing it,” said church member Susan Ford, whose third grader has taken cards to school to invite her friends. “It should be easy for us to invite people to church but it’s not. Having a challenge to invite somebody each week is good.”
Megan Williams, a member since childhood who directs the church’s mothers’ day out and homeschool support programs, said she is inviting MDO teachers and parents. She explains to them that since her husband is a firefighter who often works Sundays, she sits alone in church and would love for visitors to sit with her.
Megan asks those who have expressed interest in visiting and sends gentle reminders to encourage them to give the church a try. Several have come, and some have stayed.
Attendance has risen by about 30, Bigford said. A typical Sunday will see 120-130, reflecting steady growth. All who have come even once have heard the gospel.
“So far, they have distributed more than 400 cards. Every single week we have had first-time guests, 40 in the first five weeks of the initiative.”
‘Seeing the first fruits’
Another change in the church began before Regenesis, Bigford said. Through meeting with SBTC prayer consultant Keeney Dickenson and after attending an SBTC pastors’ prayer retreat led by Texas pastors Nathan Lino and Todd Kaunitz, he realized FBC Alta Loma needed to be a house of prayer.
FBC Alta Loma started designating a time during the Sunday service to stop and pray, the process aided by prayer prompts on the screens. Names of lost people were added to a large bulletin board visible to everyone. Quarterly prayer meetings, prayer walks around the property, and other prayer events now occur.
“I am happy to say today that because of all these things, we are much more prayer dependent than ever before,” Bigford said, adding that prayer was essential before beginning Invite 52.
Word is spreading. Recently at a fast-food restaurant, an employee and church member introduced Bigford to an older couple seeking a church for their grandson. The young man has started attending.
Cards have been distributed to the waitress at the local fish place, customers at the nearby convenience store, and local schools.
“We are seeing the first fruits now and can’t wait to tell the stories later,” Bigford said. “We all need new life from the Lord in our churches. It only comes when we are dependent on Him.”
