Author: Russell Lightner

Texan Q&A w/ Drew Humphrey: ‘The garden from which everything else grows’

New SBTC collegiate mobilizer says his ministry was transformed when he doubled down on two things

Drew Humphrey is no stranger to ministry. The son of a Baptist minister, Humphrey gave his life to Christ at age 9, spent many of his formative years singing and playing instruments as part of his church’s worship service, and answered God’s call to ministry at age 17. Though he’s held a variety of ministry positions, God has given Humphrey a particular passion for collegiate and young adult ministry. He recently spoke with the Texan about his new role as collegiate mobilizer for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, the value of the annual Roundup conference, and the realization that changed the course of his own collegiate ministry.

How would you describe your role with the SBTC?

Drew Humphrey: The main calling I sense is twofold. It’s resourcing and equipping college ministries and young adult ministries to grow in healthiness and effectiveness, and the other part is to help them develop a sending pipeline. Really, the most sendable people in our state are the 18- to 25-year-olds. One of my goals is to help college ministries reignite some of the missional sending opportunities, leveraging spring break, summers, and graduation to be times of sending.

Based on your experience, what do you want churches to know about the importance of investing in collegiate ministry?

DH: I think churches sometimes struggle to see the kingdom impact college ministries have on the future of the church. I truly believe churches that want to have a strong kids ministry and a strong youth ministry should also invest in having a strong college ministry, because that’s a great place to develop volunteers who can help support and disciple and minister to those kids and younger adults. There are many churches that do see and understand this, that see college ministry not as a side ministry but an integral part of what we’re trying to do holistically.

You began serving as the college pastor at Highland Baptist Church in Waco in 2016. You saw many instances of God moving during that time, but you’ve also said you felt like something was missing. What was it that God impressed on you through that experience?

DH: I had been the college pastor for about six or seven years at Highland, and we had been doing a lot of great ministry, but it was not a prayer-centered ministry. There were a couple of events that God used to really start gripping my heart for prayer, in my personal life but also in ministry. One was the Collegiate Coaching Network put on by the North American Mission Board. The other was [the SBTC’s Collegiate Roundup]. At Roundup in 2023, we were doing tear-sheet exercises and charting some of the most central things we do in our ministries—whether that’s small groups or mission trips or weekly meetings or whatever else.

As we were doing that, we would assess the impact those things were having, and the Lord really led me into a new vision statement for our ministry based on Acts 6:4, where the apostles were described as being devoted to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. Those two things started to mark everything we were doing. If I couldn’t connect [what we were doing as a ministry] back to being devoted to prayer and to the ministry of the Word, I was going to probably de-emphasize it—even if it meant undoing things we’d been doing for years. I started preaching about prayer more, and then we would host prayer events more on-campus, weekly prayer meetings. Nobody pushed back on it because I think everybody felt the same thing, like, “This is right. We’re not praying enough. I’m not praying enough.”

If you want to grow in evangelism or salvations or baptisms or discipleship, all of that really grows out of the healthy soil of prayer.

—Drew Humphrey Tweet

How did that pivot impact the ministry?

DH: Over the last three years, we went from seeing fewer than 10 students a week in prayer meetings to anywhere between 150 to 200. That was a huge shift in terms of our weekly rhythms. We still have weekly small groups, and they serve in various ways in our church, but prayer has basically become a weekly rhythm for about 200 students.

I think the Lord has shown me that prayer is the garden from which everything else grows in the life of our ministry. If you want to grow in evangelism or salvations or baptisms or discipleship, all of that really grows out of the healthy soil of prayer. We baptize every Sunday. We recently had nine baptisms in one day—and that’s not strange anymore. I think over the last 14 months we’ve had 150 baptisms. I think that’s due, in great part, to the emphasis on prayer. There’s a deeper heart for the lost, and our students have self-organized and coordinate weekly outreach groups. They go out on campus and pray together for 15 or 20 minutes and then spread out and start to engage people in spiritual conversations. They ask people how they can pray for them or they invite them to church. All of that grew out of that garden of prayer and budded into something fruitful and healthy.

You’ve benefitted from the SBTC’s annual Collegiate Roundup. Why is this event so valuable to collegiate ministries and leaders?

DH: It’s a great way to network with other college ministers. Building friendships, getting prayer support, brainstorming, and all those kinds of things are really important. We have lead pastors, church planters, college leaders, and missionaries literally from all over the continent coming to Roundup to equip us. There are main teaching sessions and breakouts where you get to choose areas of your ministry you want to emphasize. Another thing I think is really helpful is the collaborative moments when we do tear-sheet exercises so you can workshop your ministry. Those kinds of opportunities are guided by collegiate coaching experts who help you take a lap around the car and assess what’s working and what’s not. That’s hard to do when you’re on your church campus or in your office and trying to get ready for the next sermon you’re going to preach or lesson you’re going to teach. This is for college ministers, leadership teams, and staff, but it’s also for lead pastors or anybody on a church staff trying to grow a collegiate or young adult ministry. Roundup allows you to pull up out of all the ministry fog and busyness to evaluate and get equipped.

Looking to attend Roundup 2025? Find out more about Roundup 2025, scheduled for May 14-16.

No fear!

Sharing with people that they are sinners and need to repent takes boldness. Instead of obeying the Lord and faithfully sharing His gospel, we often make excuses and decide we will not say anything or simply say a silent prayer for them and hope perhaps God will send someone else to be His witness. Fear of failure and fear of rejection have kept many would-be witnesses quiet.

Let’s talk about fear for a minute. God has not given the Christian a spirit of fear, but just the opposite. As 2 Timothy 1:7 states, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” When we are fearful, we are not powerful, loving, or thinking correctly. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:57, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

One of the seminars I attended at the Empower Conference in February was led by Pastor Levi Skipper. Levi is the senior pastor at Sagemont Church in Houston, and God is pouring out His favor and blessings upon the church and Levi’s ministry. He encouraged our group and motivated us to be ambassadors for God, inviting others to be reconciled to Him (2 Corinthians 5:20).

The title of his message was “No Sweat Evangelism.” When Levi was only 5 years old, his best buddy, his older brother, died from brain cancer at age 7. As you can imagine, it was a very hard time for Levi. He said he can remember having questions about life and death from an early age. Levi accepted the Lord Jesus as his Savior as a child, and he started immediately telling his classmates in school about Jesus.

“Fear of failure and fear of rejection have kept many would-be witnesses quiet.”

Danny Forshee Tweet

He said evangelism is simple but not easy. I agree. The devil will attack and seek to discourage us in any way he can to stop us from obeying Jesus and witnessing to others. But praise God, Jesus is greater than the devil!

Levi’s four points were:

1. Own your role as a missionary.

2. Choose to be super intentional.

3. Develop evangelistic curiosity.

4. Show them what you are telling them.

What if we obeyed the Lord and did what Levi has taught us to do? What if we realized the person who is meant to share Jesus with my neighbor is me? What if we woke up each day asking God to help us be intentional and share His good news? What if we developed a genuine curiosity about the people God puts in our paths and we actually ask them what the cross they are wearing or the tattoo on their body means? And what if we clearly presented the gospel to the lost using simple visuals or illustrations like the bridge analogy? What would happen would be a lot of people coming into the kingdom of God.

My favorite Christian contemporary song currently is John Reddick’s, “No Fear.” Google it, turn up the volume, and be blessed. He reminds the follower of Jesus that the devil has no power over our lives, our families, future, or any other part of us. Jesus reigns, and so we have no fear!

Couple finds common threads as they minister to multiple generations ranging from newborns to young adults

Andrea and Jay Hancock know kids.

Not only are they the parents of three adult children, but they also have ministered to multiple generations of young people at Parkway Hills Baptist Church over the last decade. The Hancocks say every generation, from preschoolers to youth to Gen Z and beyond, longs for the same thing: truth.

Andrea, PHBC weekday education minister, oversees the church’s preschool for kids ages 12 months to 5 years. It’s her 10th year in the role. About a third of the students are from Parkway Hills families; more than half attend area churches; 5% are unchurched.

“I work a lot with young kids and even more so with their parents and families,” she said, adding with a smile, “I don’t know when I’ll graduate.”

Jay, a software consultant, volunteers with the student ministry and is also involved with the PHBC Sunday preschool department.

In addition to these tasks, the couple just started a new life group for young single professionals on Thursday evenings in their home.

“That’s my older group I get to work with. Probably many of them will be the age of a lot of the parents of our preschoolers,” Andrea said.

Layers of ministry frequently intersect at Parkway Hills.

“There’s a lot of bleeding over among the generations at Parkway Hills,” Andrea said. “I work with preschool, but their parents are in their late 20s and early 30s. Then we have the new life group with young adults about the same age. … At our church, the generations intermingle a lot. We know all the families and their kids. There is a natural outpouring of opportunity to [do multigenerational ministry].”

“At our church, the generations intermingle a lot. We know all the families and their kids. There is a natural outpouring of opportunity to [do multigenerational ministry].”

—Andrea Hancock Tweet

‘Serious about their walk’

At their prior church, Jay taught adult classes and life groups. When they moved to Parkway Hills, student ministry became “the door the Lord opened.” Jay thought, “Why not?” Intending to help for a season, he has been doing it for 10 years.

“I never looked back. It has been the biggest blessing,” he said.

Three years ago, he saw another need and added working in preschool Sunday school to his list. “You go where the need is and you can expect a blessing to follow,” he said. Blessings have indeed followed as he has moved up with his original class of 3-year-olds who are now kindergarteners.

He also continues teaching the high school seniors he started discipling when they were sixth graders. Jay and Cy Casto, PHBC student and outreach pastor, co-lead the church’s high school guys life group on Wednesday nights.

“One of the church’s five faith habits is living in biblical community,” Jay noted. “There is a lot of connectedness among the people we serve and serve with.” A leader with whom Jay works in youth ministry has a child in Jay’s kindergarten Sunday school class, for example.

Even the new singles life group—actually more of a restart—is connected to a group Jay helped found earlier. As some members married and had families, dynamics changed, calling for a new class. Since many singles attending also serve Sundays at the church, the decision to meet on a weeknight made sense.

Fifteen are on the life group roll now, and the Hancocks said friends are welcome, too. Each Thursday gathering begins with a shared meal, followed by Bible study and prayer.

“If we could outgrow our home, that would be a good problem to have,” Andrea said, adding that the life group members have expressed a desire to engage in a deep study of Scripture.

“They want to really dig into the Word, grasp grace and truth in the context of the Bible,” Jay added.

Young adults want to know how to live in this world as Christians while making an impact, Andrea said. “The life group members are serious about their walk. They want to mature in their faith,” she said.

Truth as the backbone

The need to convey truth is not limited to adults.

“The need for truth is across the board. All ages need this,” Andrea said.

The revelation of truth forms the core of multigenerational ministry, the Hancocks said. Whether ministering to small children or 30-somethings, teachers must be concerned with imparting truth to those whose identity is in Christ and who find themselves pushing against culture.

“Preschoolers are different from kids about to leave for college,” Jay said. With young children, you have the “opportunity to make deposits in their spiritual bank at their young age.”

With preschool ministry, the impact may seem small, the results not apparent for a long time, but teachers can pour into young lives and be part of making disciples, Jay continued, adding, “After all, Charles Spurgeon was 3 years old once.”

“With young children, so much is about time. … It’s making time [for families] to be in community … to be in church,” Andrea said. “Time is limited. Being with fellow believers can give wisdom on how to live in this world and raise kids amid social media and other pressures.”

As kids age, introducing teenagers to Jesus in a true and authentic way becomes the heart of youth ministry, Jay said. “It’s easy for students in high school to love the youth pastor, the activities. It’s fun. Fun just happens. But if they don’t love Jesus, that’s when you hear the stories of young people falling away in college.”

“One of the church’s five faith habits is living in biblical community,. There is a lot of connectedness among the people we serve and serve with."

—Jay Hancock Tweet

The joy of community

Imparting truth while living in community motivates the Hancocks to keep going in their late 50s.

Jay knows his time to serve has an expiration date. “I don’t know how many more years I will be able to go on student trips, sleep in cabins in a sleeping bag, attend the fall youth leader retreat,” he mused, even as he mentioned a student mission trip to Ecuador he is scheduled to go on this year.

For Andrea, the motivation to minister also stems from the fact she did not grow up in a Christian home. “All that I missed, I don’t want these kids to miss,” she said.

To avoid burnout, they do say no occasionally. But serving kids is their main purpose and chief mission now that their own children are grown.

“We don’t take trips. We are not travelers,” Andrea said. “This fills our cup rather than drains our cup. We enjoy all the relationships in church.

“Community is a joyful thing.”

God uses small churches to do big things

God has promised that we have a mission field. That’s what I think small churches forget, that God gave them a mission field. We tend to jump to, “Let’s go overseas,” instead of going across the street to talk to your neighbors. I think every church has to ask, “God, how can we serve for Your glory, at the size that we are, to the community You planted us in?”

I came to pastor Wildwood Baptist Church in Mesquite 11 years ago. Our church needed to find its mission field. We were financially weak and small in numbers. By the time I’d been there two years, we’d cut 40% from our budget to make things add up.

One of the things we noticed, and even complained about, were the kids walking through our neighborhood all the time. Sometimes they would mess with stuff at the church, or they’d get into areas they weren’t supposed to. The Lord laid on my heart, instead of seeing those kids as a nuisance, why not see them as a mission field? I didn’t know what the Lord would do with that until He laid on my heart a way for us to be involved in our schools.

Through Alex [Gonzales, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s regional catalyst for Dallas/Fort Worth] I learned about Kids Beach Club [an evangelistic program for elementary school kids], and we decided to start with that, stepping through an open door and doing what we could. We also wanted a presence in the middle school and the high school, but we started with Beach Club nine years ago. We’ve seen more than 100 kids saved through that ministry.

We have connected with families in our community. Some of them have joined our church. Our church isn’t big—50 to 80 people—but we’ve been able to minister to those families.

About five years ago, the Lord opened a door for us to get into the high school. Mesquite High School hired a new head football coach. I found out it was a guy I had gone to high school with, so I contacted him to congratulate him and ask how we might serve the football program. He said, “Well, we need extra nutritional offset—food, Gatorade, things like that.” Our church wasn’t able to provide that, so I started making calls to a few benevolence ministries. Through those, we started weekly deliveries of food for the athletic programs and the student athletes.

That developed into them asking me to speak weekly to the football team, and then to be the team chaplain. It all developed organically and by God’s grace and providence. Fellowship of Christian Athletes came along afterward, since I was doing everything they wanted a “character coach” to do, and said, “If you come under our umbrella, you can be under our insurance and access some additional resources.” That has been a blessing.

The principals now ask me to speak at a few events. Sometimes I’m invited to speak to the teachers before the school year starts. I’m just referred to as “Pastor Rick” on campus, and I go to all their football games, trying to provide resources when students or families are in need.

It was a couple of years ago that we were able to start doing FCA at Agnew Middle School. We began there with about 30 kids, and that has grown to more like 250 participating in FCA at Agnew.

I think God prepared me for this ministry. In addition to being a high school football player, God brought me up in a tough background. We were so poor we hauled water for drinking and washing from a pond when I was a kid. My dad also had serious drug abuse problems. But it was seeing him saved and changed that led me to follow Christ when I was 17.

In all of that stuff growing up, now I look back and I thank the Lord for it because it has given me a heart and compassion for people in difficult situations. I am able to look past the symptoms and expressions of their anger, frustration, and struggles they’re going through, especially our school ministries—those kids do some wild stuff. I mean, some of these kids will cuss you up one side and down the other—they’re very difficult. They have operational and oppositional defiance disorders. But to have an adult in their life to say, “Hey, it’s not acceptable to act that way, but I’m still going to love you and you still get to be a part,” that’s radical for some of these kids.

Now we have a church full of people who love to serve, and they love to look for ways we can bless our community. Some of the people who are our most faithful volunteers and servers within the church have been reached through these ministries to the schools.

I’ve learned a couple of things. The first is to not make assumptions about people, positive or negative, based on externals. Everybody has to go through life. Everybody goes through the good and the bad. Everybody has hard things they’re worried about. The second is that God uses small churches—churches like ours.

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

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Why pastors should practice favoritism

Early in my first pastorate, I was advised to avoid favoritism by treating all my church members exactly the same. It took me several years to root this ministry myth out of my system.

Like any myth, there is a seed of truth within it. The dark side of favoritism is when injustice or prejudice stains a relationship. God’s children are forbidden to play favorites based on wealth, power, or appearance (Exodus 23:3, James 2). God does not show favoritism when He rewards or punishes us (Acts 10:34, Romans 2:11, Galatians 2:6).

Isolation is the dark side of favoritism that pastors must come to terms with or risk finishing their ministry poorly, if at all. We are called to prioritize some relationships by investing ourselves more intentionally into them. I propose that every pastor should practice favoritism with these three groups.

Family

For a decade, I was the pastor of my wife, her parents, and our two children. Your family members are your most important church members and should never have to wonder where they stand with you. While the rest of the world tries to figure out their work/life balance, we are not left with an option to fail here (1 Timothy 3).

Pastors need to sometimes practice favoritism at home. Our wives also do not need to compete with our parents, which is why Moses and Jesus told us to leave them (Genesis 2:24, Mark 10:7-8). This same principle applies to our kids. Jesus and my wife, Janet, are the king and queen of my life and everyone else needs to get in line behind them.

Friends

There are still too many pastors who are convinced they should not befriend church members because of a fear of favoritism. Although I concede there are risks to church friendships, my experience teaches me the danger of isolation far exceeds that risk.

For example, I recently celebrated my birthday with a house full of former church members. We laughed and cried together past midnight as we recounted fond and funny memories. Your call to ministry is not a sentence to solitary confinement for you or your spouse, so take a risk and let some of them into your inner circle.

Leaders

Wash their feet, kick their pants, but don’t ignore or neglect your staff. I have made that mistake too many times. Jesus often sequestered His disciples from the crowds to eat, worship, teach, encourage, or send on specific ministry assignments (Mark 3:13-14).

When the apostles were overwhelmed with the tsunami of souls at Pentecost, God sent a special ops unit of laymen who successfully helped history’s first Christian church avoid a split. They became commonly known as deacons. Deacons, elders, teachers, and other key leaders are part of God’s personal growth strategy for the pastor, who still needs to devote himself to prayer and the ministry of the Word. They are also part of your life, so love them like the sacred siblings they are. Prioritize your time with the leaders who serve on the frontlines of a holy war with you.

Love every person God puts into your path without the bias of prejudicial favoritism. Also, be intentional about who God has surrounded you with so you won’t marginalize those He has prioritized for your good.

Seeing beyond our assumptions

I recently read a book about a growing subculture in America—full-time RVers. You likely see them all the time without realizing who they are. Many drive tall, boxy luxury vans that literally cost twice as much as the first house I bought. Their ubiquitous reels on Instagram extol, in 15-second snippets, the virtues of living untethered from neighborhoods and 8-to-5 workspaces.

Me? I like showering at home too much to live in a van, but anyway …

This book exposed me to an entire culture that I previously knew nothing about. It challenged my assumptions—that all those who live on the road like this do so by choice or because it’s adventurous. It turns out many of these full-time wanderers have no other option, sometimes due to economic circumstances beyond their control, and sometimes as a result of a tragic series of bad choices that left them homeless.

It’s exhilarating to learn about things we don’t know, isn’t it? So here’s something else you may not know.

Ever heard of Dumas? It’s way up in the Texas Panhandle, with a population around 15,000. I don’t need Google to tell me that it probably gets pretty dry in Dumas during certain parts of the year, and during the winter, they get a little more of the cold stuff than we get down here in points south.

Based on its rural setting, I might also assume Dumas has a majority Anglo population—and it does; several groups that track such things, such as the U.S. Census Bureau, cite that number to be somewhere between 60-70%.

That’s why I found it fascinating when one of our Southern Baptists of Texas Convention regional catalysts recently told me about Dumas’ growing Haitian population.

Haitians? In Dumas?

It’s difficult to quantify just how many Haitians are in Dumas, but they’re there—just ask Mike Watson, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church. In this month’s issue, Watson, along with Clief Joseph, a Haitian pastor who is among those who have come to Dumas, gives a first-person account of not only the changing demographics in that city, but how God is working through those circumstances to reach people. As Watson explains, most Haitians are coming for work, but once they arrive, they’re hearing the gospel and accepting Jesus.

The opportunities to impact eternities for Christ are plentiful. Sometimes, all we need to do is look beyond our own assumptions and see what God is really doing.

Jayson Larson Tweet

These “unexpected” types of things are happening all over the SBTC. Hispanic churches are developing strategies to reach Muslims in their communities. Small churches are being mobilized to have a massive gospel impact. Young leaders are networking and supporting one another as they continually dispel the myth that the next generation isn’t ready to step up.

In other words, we are challenging assumptions.

One of the things I love about the SBTC is that we, as a family of churches, are highly intentional about reaching not only our neighbors, but the nations. Sometimes we do that through a record-number of churches being planted through Send Network SBTC (you can read several of their stories in this issue). Other times, it’s accomplished through providing opportunities like the SBTC’s new Reach Europe initiative.

The opportunities to impact eternities for Christ are plentiful. Sometimes, all we need to do is look beyond our own assumptions and see what God is really doing. When we see that, we just might see that He is inviting us into that work.

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!