Author: Russell Lightner

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

Irecently 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!

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.”