Author: Russell Lightner

Empower speaker Luter shares how evangelism ignited his church through triumphs, tragedy

Fred Luter is senior pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans. He has experienced both triumph and tragedy during his nearly four decades of ministry service, including leading his congregation to minister to a devastated city following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to being elected the first African American president of the Southern Baptist Convention in 2012. Luter will speak at the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s Empower Conference in February. He recently spoke with Texan editor Jayson Larson about his calling and the impact evangelism has had on his church and city.

You surrendered your life to Christ after a motorcycle accident in 1977 and began preaching the gospel on a street corner in New Orleans shortly thereafter. That’s a bold way for a new believer to begin sharing his faith.

Fred Luter: I was brought up in church. My mom and dad divorced when I was six years old, but one of Mama’s rules was on Sunday morning, everybody in this house was going to church. She was a single parent with five of us. So, I was in church on Sunday morning, but in the club on Sunday night. I was doing a whole lot of crazy things.

When I got saved in 1977, it was such a traumatic event for me. It literally transformed my life. [After the motorcycle wreck], I was in the hospital and had a hole in my head, compound fracture in my leg, and I had a 50/50 chance of living. A deacon in the church I grew up in came to my hospital bed, put his finger in my face, and said, “You need to get your life together because you could have died and you’d have gone straight to hell.” He did not pull any punches.

That night, I cried out to God and said, “God, I don’t know if I’m going to live or die, but I’ll make a deal with you. If I wake up tomorrow morning, I’ll serve you all the days of my life.” I woke up the next morning … and the transformation for me was immediate. It was conviction. It was a moment when I just felt that God was giving me another chance.

So because of my newfound faith, and because of what God had done in my life, I wanted all those guys that I ran the street with to know the same Jesus that I knew. I was on the street corners sharing the gospel and they were laughing at me. They thought, “He’s going to get over it.” But the boldness came from the fact that because of what God did in my life, He could do the same thing in the lives of these guys I was running the street with. So every Saturday at 12 noon, I was on the street corner in the Lower Ninth Ward sharing the gospel.

Franklin Avenue started with 65 members when you arrived and has grown to a congregation that now reaches and impacts thousands. How have you led your church to mobilize through evangelism, and what role has that played in its growth?

FL: We tried all kinds of things to get more people involved in soul-winning and sharing their faith. But one [that has worked] is this concept I call FRANgelism. It’s not original with me. FRANgelism is an acronym for friends, relatives, associates, and neighbors. The concept is that everybody in the church has a boss, an unchurched friend, relative, associate, coworker, or neighbor. So I started having classes on how to share your faith in just three minutes. The first minute, you talk about your life before Christ. The second minute is how you got saved, and then the third minute, you tell about what Christ has done in your life since you’ve been born again. I tell our people to share their faith, share their testimony, and then invite those individuals to church. And man, it caught on like wildfire.

We started having FRANgelism months at the church. … Every first Sunday would be “Friends Sunday” where people would invite their friends. Every second Sunday would be relatives. Every third Sunday, co-workers, neighbors, associates. And every fourth Sunday would be neighbors. We make a big deal about it and I talk about it from the pulpit. It took off. People started spreading the word about their relationship with Christ and we never looked back. We’ve never been on TV, never been on the radio. Our growth happened as a result of people in our church sharing their testimonies with friends, relatives, associates, and neighbors, and then inviting them to their local church.

Sharing Jesus with others can often feel intimidating or make people feel fearful. Why do you think that is, and how can pastors lead their congregations to overcome those fears?

FL: I think the reason people are fearful, one, is because of the day and time we’re living in. We’re living in a crazy time. I’m 68, and when I grew up, you were in church whether you were saved or not. People had a healthy fear of God. But we live in a day and time … we’re living in a society where Satan is truly the prince of the power of the air. People can be mean, vindictive. They cuss you out. So, I think a lot of people are just fearful of approaching total strangers to share their faith. That’s why the FRANgelism thing is so effective—because these are people you already have relationships with.

Pastors are charged to do two things: preach and teach. I think we need to preach sermons on evangelism, teach lessons on evangelism, and just remind the people that this is a charge that’s been given to us by Jesus Christ Himself. Matthew 28:19-20—go unto all the world and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Acts 1:8 says you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you. The thing I want to encourage pastors to do … is to equip the saints. One of the ways you equip the saints is to equip them in the area of evangelism by teaching, preaching, and living evangelism, sharing with them how God did it in your life and how they’re expected to do the same.

Pastoring is a challenging calling. How might you encourage those pastors who are on the front lines of a spiritual battle that can incredibly rewarding but also heartbreaking and exhausting?

FL: Pastoring is not easy. My word to pastors is that, No. 1, you’ve got to never, ever forget who called you. God called you. The deacons didn’t call you, the trustees didn’t call you, your mom and your dad didn’t call you. You got to realize God called you. And, No. 2, if God called you, then He equipped you to handle any situation you need to handle. The fact of the matter is, spiritual warfare is a reality in every pastor’s life, because the devil knows if he can get the head—the leader—the body will follow.

And then No. 3, when those difficult times come—and they will—that’s when you’ve got to do what my wife told me one day when I was having a pity party about the ministry. My wife looked at me and said, “Boy, you need to go listen to some of your sermons today. What you’re telling other people, you need to listen to it [yourself] right now.” Bro, during those tough times, we’ve got to continue to lean on God, be faithful to what God has called us to do, and understand that God has equipped us and empowered us. That’s the time we need to put on the whole armor of God and stand firm in the midst of the attacks of the enemy.

For Austin church with strong ties to seminary, giving to CP is receiving

More than three dozen people from Acts Fellowship Church in Austin have gone to seminary, including 20 who have trained at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary—a testament to the vitality of a Cooperative Program partnership.

“Part of our CP dollars go to the support of our seminary institutions, and it’s a great way to take part in equipping the next generation of Christian leaders and to partake in the expansion of God’s kingdom,” said Charles Lee, pastor of the predominantly Asian American Acts Fellowship.

“As one of the smaller churches, we can have an even greater reach and impact for God’s kingdom as we take part in the Cooperative Program,” Lee said of Southern Baptists’ unified giving plan for national and international missions and ministry, which marks 100 years of effectiveness this year.

Acts Fellowship, with a Sunday attendance around 250, began as a church plant 20 years ago and ministers largely to the University of Texas at Austin. The church’s demographics are about 25% college students, roughly 25% single adults, 25% married, and 25% under the age of 18, Lee said.

“I really do believe that through the Cooperative Program we can do more together,” Lee, a Southwestern graduate, said. “I don’t think [churches] should function in isolation, but especially with a likeminded network of churches, unite for things greater than ourselves.

“I really do believe that through the Cooperative Program we can do more together."

—Charles Lee Tweet

“It’s been a blessing to us to be able to participate in the Cooperative Program and also to take advantage of various gatherings that we have here in the state of Texas and to benefit from conferences and other opportunities that are made available to us.”

Acts Fellowship supports some missionaries directly but also prioritizes CP giving to partner with the International Mission Board and North American Mission Board “to take part even in areas that we may not be aware of,” Lee said.

“For us, I don’t think it’s one or the other. We can do both. We can take part in supporting specific individuals that we might know very well and believe in, and at the same time not neglect the greater kingdom work that we can also participate in through the institutions that we have set up,” he said.

The congregation offers several mission trip opportunities each year and subsidizes about 60% of the total cost. Each summer, they travel to Puerto Rico for a week to minister on a college campus and in some communities there. They travel to New Mexico to lead Vacation Bible School and door to door evangelism among Navajo Indians, and they send volunteers to Camp Blessing, a special needs ministry in Texas. So far, 20 people have signed up for summer mission trips this year, and the number is expected to double.

One of two associate pastors at Acts Fellowship is devoted to the college ministry, and the church offers small groups for college students in various locations, Lee said. They also take part in on-campus evangelism regularly.

“ … Hopefully, that vision [of CP] will not diminish but escalate as we see our society drifting further away from God, that in those moments we realize that we need each other.”

—Charles Lee Tweet

Acts Fellowship provides evangelism training, and people go out on a biweekly basis to share the gospel while supported by a prayer ministry.

Two ministry interns at the church were college students who sensed a call to the ministry and are enrolled at Southwestern, and another church member started at the seminary this semester, Lee said.

“It is our duty as a church to train up young people to serve in God’s kingdom, whether that be as volunteers or those who will eventually be called to the gospel ministry and be equipped in seminary and be able to lead churches. We need all of them,” he said.

“When you think about it, even Jesus—the way that I understand Scripture is that many of the disciples were around college-aged people. They were relatively young, and Jesus discipled them to be movers and shakers for the movement called Christianity.”

Churches must invest in the next generation starting in the children’s ministry to make a difference for the kingdom, Lee said.

“It’s a lot of work. Sometimes it’s a lot more investing than counting returns because they are young, but nevertheless it is our mandate and duty to tell the good news to our children so they will tell it to their children and their children.”

The steady partnership available through the Cooperative Program undergirds the work of the local church visible at Acts Fellowship.

“We are definitely accountable to God in what we do as an individual church, but at the same time, I believe there is also another responsibility [to] work in cooperation with likeminded churches to be involved in greater things for the kingdom of God,” Lee said.

“I don’t think it’s ever a good idea to work in isolation. That’s true for individuals. No one should be a lone ranger Christian. They need the body of Christ. Even churches should never seek to be isolated by themselves.

“ … Hopefully, that vision [of CP] will not diminish but escalate as we see our society drifting further away from God, that in those moments we realize that we need each other.”

Focusing on what truly matters in 2025

I lead a small group at our church. It is a great group of people in different stages of life who desire a close community to do life with. We are currently diving into Ecclesiastes together. This has been such a great challenge for us as we think about what kind of life is really worth pursuing.

C.T. Studd once wrote, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” This statement, paired with studying Ecclesiastes, has caused me to rethink my priorities for 2025. If you are like me, life gets super busy. Living with the pressures that come along with work, family, kids’ activities, and all other aspects of life can feel daunting. Often, while the intentions of the heart are good and postured correctly, life happens, priorities get rearranged, and we find ourselves spending time pursuing good things more than the great things we should pursue.

Allow me to suggest three key priorities in our lives to diligently keep in focus in the coming year:

1. Walk closely with God

In the fast-paced, ever-chaotic pursuit of life, we must remember to walk daily with God. We all have challenges, busy schedules, work demands, and family obligations. These things close in on you and take every moment you have. While they are all necessary, prioritize spending time daily with Jesus. You will be a better person, friend, spouse, parent, and leader if you are consistently walking with God.

2. Be intentional about living on mission

Ecclesiastes is a good reminder that most of what we pursue has no eternal value. What would our lives look like if we decide this is the year in which we sell out to living on mission where God has put us? I know most who read this are believers who love Jesus and His church. However, I also know we can lose sight of the mission for things that don’t really matter. I encourage you to ask the Lord to help you live on mission this year like never before.

3. Practice generosity

Throughout the year, God will likely bring unexpected opportunities to you. These will come in many different shapes and forms. There will also be opportunities in which you can be joyfully generous. 2 Corinthians 9:7 says, “God loves a cheerful giver.” As you walk with God this year, ask Him to make you aware of opportunities to invest in people generously for His glory. It will change you!

Having the right priorities is essential. They help us stay focused on the real reasons we exist. They give us the chance to capitalize on opportunities to make an eternal difference. We are not guaranteed tomorrow, so we must make today count. I challenge you to re-evaluate your priorities and, if needed, align them with the things that truly matter. I love you and am humbled to serve you!

Five minutes with Corey Paul

As the storytelling director of The West Church in Alief, Corey Paul captures and shares stories of God’s work within the church and the community. His mission is to illuminate how the church seeks to transform lives by making disciples of Christ. A former Houston firefighter, Paul is married to Summer. The couple has two daughters, Journee and Amani.

What does a storytelling director for a church do?

My role revolves around capturing and conveying the heartbeat of our community through compelling narratives. This involves creating content that highlights God’s work in and through His people, ensuring our stories inspire faith, hope, and action. I oversee initiatives like sermon production, social media strategy, and the West Creative Collective, where we translate biblical stories into hip-hop-inspired audio and visual experiences. My job is to ensure these stories resonate deeply, glorify God, and engage both our congregation and the Alief community.

What’s one thing you’d like to see God do through your ministry this year?

I’d like to see the West Creative Collective fully flourish. A key goal is advancing our flagship (audio and visual) project: translating the Bible audio and visual experiences. By fostering community and providing resources, we aim to inspire culture with impactful faith-based content. I also aim to equip our team with systems and training to ensure the ministry runs smoothly and continues to grow.

What’s one challenge you are facing in your ministry?

A key challenge is balancing creative innovation with operational efficiency across the entire media department. … It’s a constant effort to ensure everything runs smoothly while staying focused on our mission. At the same time, we’re working to cultivate a culture of love and encouragement, ensuring that we come alongside God’s people with grace and purpose rather than becoming overly systematic or transactional.

What’s one thing you’ve learned in ministry or life you know you’ll never forget?

Faithfulness to God’s calling always outweighs immediate results. Ministry is a marathon, not a sprint, and trusting in God’s timing is essential. Anytime I’ve submitted to God in obedience, I’m often unsure where He’s leading me at first, but it always ends up far better than I could have imagined with my limited perspective. Perseverance, fueled by faith and the support of community, often leads to outcomes beyond what we envision.

How can SBTC churches be praying for you this year?

Pray for clarity, wisdom, and strength as I juggle multiple roles in ministry, family, and creativity. Pray for The West Church and the West Creative Collective, that we would continue to glorify God through our work and reach people effectively with the gospel. Specifically, pray for the Alief community we serve, that hearts would be transformed, needs met, and God’s presence powerfully felt.

SBTC pastor’s book on Spurgeon underscores the primacy of prayer

As he has mentored pastors at varying times over the past four decades, Keeney Dickenson said he has noticed something often missing from their sermon preparation—prayer.

It’s a realization that spurred Dickenson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Crockett and prayer ministry specialist for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, to write his latest book, Spurgeon: The Prayer-Powered Pulpit of the Prince of Preachers. Gleaning examples from the life of Charles Spurgeon—the 19th century church leader known as the “Prince of Preachers”—Dickenson’s book aims to encourage pastors to make prayer foundational to their sermon preparation, ministries, and lives.

Dickenson said researching Spurgeon’s life deepened his own desire for a Christ-centered life and ministry and underscored the biblical truth found in John 15:5 that apart from Jesus, we can do nothing.

“Spurgeon’s desperate dependence upon God superabundantly compensated for any lack of formal theological training,” Dickenson said.

“ … If the pastor as shepherd becomes disoriented to the ways and the will of God, the flock he leads will quickly do the same. We have seen what we can do for God, but that is nothing compared to what God can do through us.”

In endorsing the book, Tom J. Nettles, senior professor of historical theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote, “This book relentlessly pursues the premise that the preacher must first and foremost be a man of God before he can be of any use to his people. He must be a God-saturated person in his personal life and must inject prayer into every phase of self-examination and sermon preparation if he is to be a vessel ‘unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use’ (2 Timothy 2:21).”

Donald Whitney, professor of biblical spirituality at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote in his forward to the book, “[This book] is especially for those pastors who have a deep hunger to be godly men, to shepherd the flock of God faithfully, and to preach the Bible truthfully and in the power of the Holy Spirit.”

The book is being distributed through Dickenson’s Prayeridigm Publishing label, as well as through other online booksellers.

Through a half-century of ministry, Hyde Park’s Gardner has been a faithful, steadying presence

AUSTIN—1975 was a milestone year for Dan and Mary Gardner. On Jan. 1 of that year, Dan answered the call to serve on staff at Hyde Park Baptist Church. A lot has changed in the world since then, but the Gardners are still faithfully serving the church a half-century later.

Hyde Park honored the Gardners during a Sunday morning worship service on Jan. 5. Dan serves as the church’s senior adult and pastoral care pastor.

John Turner, lead pastor of Hyde Park Baptist Church, said the Gardners are the embodiment of the Great Commandment through their example of loving God and others.

“He helps in secret, like visiting shut-ins, those in the hospital, or just having one-on-one conversations,” Turner said of Gardner. “He is a wealth of knowledge about ministry, life, and the diverse history of Hyde Park.” Turner added that Gardner has been a steadying presence through both good times and seasons of struggle. “Through it all,” Turner said, “Dan and Mary remained faithful.”

“If you look in the dictionary under ‘Christian servant,’ there should be a picture of Dan Gardner,” added Kie Bowman, Hyde Park’s pastor emeritus who led the church for 25 years before retiring in 2023. “He defines the word ‘faithfulness’ in ministry.”

“If you look in the dictionary under ‘Christian servant,’ there should be a picture of Dan Gardner.”

—KIE BOWMAN Tweet

‘Never a worry’

After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with a business degree, Gardner enlisted in the U.S. Army. He served in Vietnam, receiving a Bronze Medal, and spent 26 years in the Army Reserve before retiring as a lieutenant colonel.

In 1974, the church’s minister of education, Bob Shotwell, asked Gardner to serve as Hyde Park’s business coordinator. The next year, Gardner answered the call to serve as the church’s minister of business administration.

Gardner remained in that position for the next 30 years, during which his exemplary service was recognized by his induction into the Southern Baptist Church Business Administrators Association Hall of Honor. He also received the Taylor Daniel Award of Merit for outstanding contribution to Baptist business from the Southern Baptist Business Officers Conference.

“I think it’s so important to know ministry doesn’t stop at 40 hours a week. On Jan. 1, I started my 51st year. I’m not retired till the Lord tells me He’s through with me.”

—DAN GARDNER Tweet

Ralph Smith, who died in 2017, pastored Hyde Park for many of the years Gardner served there. Smith’s daughter, Diane Love, remembered fondly the friendship her father had with Gardner. She said her father used to tease Gardner about the condition of his office.

“Dan’s office used to be a mess,” Love recalled. “My dad would tell him to get it organized, and no matter what was requested, Dan knew exactly where it was in the pile of letters, bills invoices, etc. It was a running joke within the office at the church … [but] there was never a worry in the financial office while Dan [was] in charge.”

One of ministries dearest to Gardner’s heart at Hyde Park is its food pantry, which he started as a way to minister to a growing number of homeless and hungry people in Austin. The problem? The church did not have much available space to house a food pantry at the time. Undeterred, Gardner—relying on a military background that taught him to use what was available—started the ministry out of an old telephone closet.

“We outgrew that space,” Gardner said, “so we had to find another place down the street to serve everyone. We never turn people away.”

As for the future? Only God knows, Gardner said.

“I think it’s so important to know ministry doesn’t stop at 40 hours a week,” Gardner said. “On Jan. 1, I started my 51st year. I’m not retired till the Lord tells me He’s through with me.”

FBC New Braunfels member didn’t intend to lead women’s ministry, but God had other plans

When she learned that a bus crash had claimed the lives of 13 First Baptist New Braunfels senior adults returning from a Hill Country retreat in March 2017, Marcia Dean responded as she always had: She went to church.

The former financial secretary at FBC New Braunfels heard about the disaster through a friend’s text. As Dean switched on the news, she told her husband, Charlie, “I don’t know why, but I’ve got to go to church.”

Dean and another former employee stepped in to help at the short-handed church office. Dean answered phones and provided support to members and staff.

“They’ve gone home,” she told a journalist about the victims, a comment that resonates still.

Church has provided a this-side-of-heaven home for Dean since childhood.

“I want to get [women] to understand that you can read a million books or do a devotional every single day, but if you don’t get into the Word of God, your life will never change.”

—Marcia Dean Tweet

An early call

Dean recalled sitting “on the piano side of the church” as her mother played while her father led worship at their church in tiny Haskell, Okla. One Sunday as her father led the singing during the invitation, Dean, almost 8, felt the call to go forward.

“God just really touched my heart and called me,” she said, remembering leaving her mom at the piano and going straight to the pastor.

Her love of missions began in childhood, with involvement in Acteens and Girls in Action and contact with a family friend and missionary to Argentina serving with the Foreign Mission Board (now known as the International Mission Board). These early experiences would later motivate the adult Dean to take mission trips to Southeast Asia, Germany, and India.

Dean started college in Oklahoma, but when her father fell ill, she returned home to assist her mom in caring for him. Dean’s older brother also left the university to run the family hardware store until it could be sold.

“I crammed four years of college into seven,” Dean said with a chuckle.

While a college student, she attended First Baptist Church in Moore, Okla. Her accounting major prepared her for a part-time job as a financial assistant at the church, the first of her staff positions at churches. Not only did she love that job, but Dean discovered another passion: the study of Scripture. She credits her pastors at FBC Moore and subsequent churches for inspiring her to dig into the Word of God.

The stint in Moore brought another bonus. Mutual friends introduced Marcia to Charlie Dean, then stationed at Tinker Air Force Base, and the two were married in 1980. As Charlie completed his 20 years of service in the Air Force, they lived in Iceland, Massachusetts, and Ohio before retiring to New Braunfels.

Dean began teaching young single adults at a small home mission church in Massachusetts. “I’m not sure how much they got out of it,” Dean recalled. She did not see herself as a teacher.

God had other plans

In Ohio, Dean became involved with the Bible studies of Precept Ministries. Even though she was pregnant with her second child, she signed on for the fall semester and committed to doing the work. She toted her newborn daughter to class.

“I thought it was gonna eat my lunch,” Dean said of the rigorous study. She has been a Precept studies teacher or student since 1986.

The in-depth study of God’s Word for nearly 40 years “has changed my life,” Dean said. “God has given me [opportunities] to impact and change other women’s lives.”

In Ohio, she attended Precept Ministries training for her own benefit. After relocating to New Braunfels, she joined the Precept group there. Shortly afterward, the leader moved out of town.

“I was the only one who had been trained,” Dean said. She had already signed up for additional Precept training in San Antonio, so she reluctantly went.

At that San Antonio class, the leader told the group to turn to the person on their right and express their greatest concern so that person could pray for them.

“I am scared to death that I am going to have to lead my Precept Bible study this fall,” Dean admitted.

“Oh honey, I have the gift of prayer,” her new friend replied.

“I had turned to a gal who loved praying and who was faithfully going to pray,” Dean mused. “I turned to the Lord and said, ‘Oh Lord, I am in really big trouble now,’” she said.

Despite her reservations, she began teaching the studies, which moved to First Baptist in September 1993, stepping down for a few years in the early 2000s before reassuming the role in 2008.

Women changed by the Word

Also in the 1990s, Dean became aware of women’s ministries developing in other churches, something she had a desire to start at her own church. She became among the first to attend Southern Baptist Convention women’s leadership training in Nashville.

With the pastor’s support and blessing, Dean and a team, including some who had accompanied her to Nashville, began a women’s ministry at the church. The ministry would not be event-driven but would focus on Bible study, discipleship, and prayer, Dean determined.

It flourished, from mentoring programs to book clubs to Bible studies.

“We began offering a variety of things,” Dean said, adding that most women participated at some level.

Dean, who also spent 18 years as the church’s financial secretary, had found her calling.

“I want to get [women] to understand that you can read a million books or do a devotional every single day, but if you don’t get into the Word of God, your life will never change.”

She refuses to accept excuses. “Don’t ever say that you don’t have time. You have time,” she tells women she teaches. As a young mother with two small children at home and a husband who constantly traveled, she learned to get up early to work on her Bible study lessons before the kids woke up.

What’s next for Dean? She is not through teaching yet, but with grandkids in North Carolina and Charlie retired for a second time, travel to visit family factors into the schedule.

At 68, she remembers her mother asking herself, “How did you get so old?” and remembers the answer: “One year at a time.”

Dean knows how to make those years count.

Tragedia convertida en Triunfo

Cuando una muerte espantosa amenazó con romper su corazón, Dios redimió la vida de Maribel Chávez y cambió la eternidad de algunos en el proceso.

24 de julio de 2024.

Ese fue el día en que el mundo entero de Maribel Chávez cambió.

Su esposo, José, había salido de casa un lunes del pasado mes de julio para hacer lo que ella esperaba que fuera un encargo relativamente rápido. Pero a medida que pasaban las horas y él no había regresado a casa, ella empezó a preocuparse.

Pasó un día. José seguía sin aparecer. Un día se convirtió en dos. La familia denunció su desaparición a la policía. Pasaron tres días, luego cuatro y nada. Siguieron buscando desesperadamente entre amigos y conocidos para ver si alguien le había visto.

Finalmente, tras cinco días de búsqueda, Edwin, el hijo mayor de Maribel, que ahora tiene 19 años, localizó a José en un hospital de la zona, adonde lo habían llevado después de encontrarlo inconsciente en una calle tras sufrir un derrame cerebral. Cuando la familia llegó al hospital, encontró a José conectado a máquinas que lo mantenían con vida.

“Cuando lo vimos conectado a tantas máquinas, nos quedamos muy sorprendidos», recuerda Maribel. «Lo primero que hice fue abrazarlo y decirle que por favor no me dejara”.

Él estaba inconsciente, pero ella sabía que podía oírla; porque lágrimas comenzaron a brotar de sus ojos mientras ella hablaba.

José falleció el 24 de julio de 2024.

Un testimonio poderoso

Maribel, miembro de la Iglesia Bautista Travis en español, sabe que Dios ha estado con ella y su familia mientras han navegado por el dolor provocado por la muerte de José. Incluso dijo que siente que Dios la había estado preparando desde principios de año.

Aunque había estado asistiendo a Travis en español durante dos años, dijo que no se había sentido muy conectada con la iglesia o con el Señor. Ella estaba, en sus propias palabras, «sólo usando una silla».

“Había dejado de orar y clamar a Dios, pero en enero de este año, tenía la urgencia y la necesidad de sentir la presencia de Dios”, dijo, “así que empecé a buscarlo en oración con todas mis fuerzas”.

Mientras José estaba en el hospital, lo único que Maribel recuerda haber hecho es orar. A través de sus intercesiones, el Señor le ayudó a darse cuenta de que el deseo que tenía de empezar a buscarle con urgencia era un llamado que Dios le hizo para que volviera a Él porque se acercaba una época de adversidad.

Se dio cuenta de algo más: la familia de la iglesia, a la que anteriormente no se sentía unida, en cambio se acercó a ella, proporcionándole lo que necesitaba material y espiritualmente y dándole ánimo continuamente.

“No tenemos familia cerca, pero tenemos una familia de fe que no nos ha dejado “, afirmó.

“En enero de este año, tenía la urgencia y la necesidad de sentir la presencia de Dios, así que empecé a buscarlo en oración con todas mis fuerzas”.

—Maribel Chávez Tweet

Maribel dijo que el ministerio de la iglesia hacia su familia hizo que una amiga suya, que no era cristiana, notara algo diferente. Esa amiga vio cómo los líderes y los miembros de la iglesia amaban incondicionalmente a Maribel y a su familia. El pastor principal de enseñanza de Travis Avenue, Ben Bolin, se mantuvo en contacto. También lo hicieron el pastor de la congregación en español, José Rodríguez, y su esposa, Lea. Bobby Bridge, el ministro de atención pastoral de la iglesia, también estuvo allí, mostrando una compasión y preocupación que le hacen sentir una profunda gratitud.

La amiga, francamente, no entendía lo que estaba viendo.

«¿Quién es toda esta gente que viene a visitarte?», le preguntó repetidamente a Maribel.

La respuesta de Maribel era siempre la misma: «Son mis hermanos [y hermanas] de la iglesia».

La amiga tampoco entendía cómo, incluso ante la tragedia, Maribel era capaz de mantener la calma. Maribel dijo que eso le preparó oportunidades para testificar sobre la paz que sólo Dios puede dar a través del don de la vida eterna por medio de Jesús.

“Estoy tranquila porque sé que mi esposo está con Dios”, le dijo Maribel a su amiga, girando la conversación hacia el propio estado espiritual de su amiga.

“Y tú, ¿estás preparada para ir con Dios?”, le preguntó a su amiga. “¿Sabes a dónde vas a ir [cuando mueras]?”.

“No lo sé”, respondió la amiga, “pero quiero estar con Dios”.

La amiga ahora ha escuchado el evangelio y asiste regularmente a Travis en español.

El Señor ha seguido usando a Maribel para hablar a otros de Jesús. Ella ha llevado a dos familias a Cristo, así como a sus tres hijos. Su hija Amy de 11 años fue impactada al ver la paz que Maribel tenía al saber que su esposo está con el Señor. Esto hizo que Amy viera su propia necesidad de Dios, así que aceptó a Cristo como su Salvador. Una semana después, Amy, Edwin y su otro hijo, Joshua, de 15 años, fueron bautizados.

Maribel dice que aprovecha todas las oportunidades posibles para hablar a los demás del Señor, dejando que sus momentos de dolor y ansiedad por «perder un pilar tan importante de su hogar” desencadenen conversaciones evangelísticas que calman su tristeza.”

“Cuando estoy muy ansiosa, voy a la calle en mi vecindario y evangelizo a la gente de la calle, incluidos alcohólicos y drogadictos», dijo. “Hacer eso me quita todo lo que estoy sintiendo en ese momento.”

Una iglesia, una misión

Para Rodríguez, el pastor de Travis en español, fue impactante ver cómo Maribel y sus hijos han estado testificando de Cristo y cómo Dios está obrando en sus vidas.

Él ha pastoreado Travis en español desde agosto de 2022, cuando comenzó a servir como pastor interino antes de ser instalado oficialmente en octubre. Él dijo que una cosa que le encanta de su iglesia es que el ministerio en español de Travis tiene la misma visión que la iglesia principal.

Desde que comenzó su ministerio allí, el enfoque ha sido en el discipulado. Como resultado, Travis en español ha visto un grupo de unos 45 asistentes florecer llegando a recibir hasta 140 asistentes por la gracia de Dios. La iglesia busca proyectar una visión en su comunidad de fidelidad bíblica, servicio y expansión del reino, enviando personas en misión al otro lado de la calle y alrededor del mundo.

Personas como Maribel y su familia.

“Uno piensa que una familia no volverá por un tiempo después de una experiencia tan difícil”, dijo Rodríguez, “pero ha sido maravilloso ver al Espíritu obrando en ellos, testificando de Cristo y perseverando en la fe”.

Tragedy, meet triumph

When a shocking death threatened to crush her heart, God redeemed Maribel Chávez’s life and changed eternities in the process

July 24, 2024.

That’s the day Maribel Chávez’s whole world changed.

Her husband, José, had left the couple’s home on a Monday to run what she expected would be a relatively quick errand. But as the hours passed and he had not returned home, she began to worry.

A day passed. Still no sign of José. One day turned to two. The family reported his disappearance to police. Three days passed, then four—nothing. They continued to desperately reach out to friends and acquaintances to see if anyone had seen him.

Finally, after five days of searching, Maribel’s oldest son, Edwin, now 19, located José at an area hospital, where he was taken after being found unconscious in a street following a stroke. When the family arrived at the hospital, they found José connected to machines that were keeping him alive.

“When we saw him plugged in to so many machines, we were very shocked,” Maribel recalled. “The first thing I did was hug him and tell him to please [not] leave me.”

Though he was unconscious, she knew he could hear her; tears began to stream from his eyes as she spoke.

José passed away on July 24, 2024.

A powerful witness

Maribel, a member of Travis Avenue Baptist Church En Español, knows God has been with her and her family as they have navigated the grief brought on by José’s death. She even said she feels God had been preparing her since the beginning of the year.

Though she had been attending Travis Avenue En Español for two years, she said she had not been feeling very connected to the church or the Lord. She was, in her own words, “just using a chair.”

“I had stopped praying and crying out to God, but in January of this year, I had an urgency and need to feel God’s presence,” she said, “so I began to seek Him with all my heart in prayer.”

While José was in the hospital, the only thing Maribel remembers doing is praying. Through her intercessions, the Lord helped her realize the desire she had to begin urgently seeking Him was a call for her to return to Him as a season of adversity approached.

She noticed something else: the church family to which she didn’t feel close instead pulled close to her, providing for her material and spiritual needs and offering continuous encouragement.

“We don’t have family close by, but we have a family of faith that has continued to keep us,” she said.

“We don’t have family close by, but we have a family of faith that has continued to keep us.”

—Maribel Chávez Tweet

Maribel said the church’s ministry to her family caused a friend of hers, who was not a Christian, to take notice. That friend saw how leaders and church members loved Maribel and her family unconditionally. Travis Avenue’s lead teaching pastor, Ben Bolin, stayed in contact. So did En Español Pastor José Rodríguez and his wife, Lea. Bobby Bridge, the church’s minister of pastoral care, was there, too—showing compassion and concern that made her feel a deep sense of gratitude.

The friend, quite frankly, didn’t understand what she was seeing.

“Who are all these people that come to visit you?” the friend repeatedly asked Maribel.

Maribel’s answer was always the same: “They are my brothers [and sisters] from the church.”

The friend also did not understand how, even in the face of tragedy, Maribel was able to remain calm. Maribel said it gave her opportunities to testify about the peace that only God can give through His gift of eternal life through Jesus.

“I am calm because I know that my husband is with God,” Maribel told her friend, turning the conversation to her friend’s own spiritual state.

“And you, are you ready to go with God?” she asked her friend. “Do you know where you are going [when you die]?”

“I don’t know,” the friend replied, “but I want to be with God.”

The friend has now heard the gospel and regularly attends Travis Avenue En Español.

The Lord has continued to use Maribel to tell others about Jesus. She has led two families to Christ, as well as her three children. Her 11-year-old daughter, Amy, was impacted by seeing the peace Maribel had knowing her husband was with the Lord. It caused Amy to see her own need for God, so she accepted Christ as her Savior. A week later, Amy, Edwin, and her other son, Joshua, 15, were baptized.

Maribel said she takes every opportunity possible to tell others about the Lord, letting her moments of grief and anxiety over “losing such an important pillar” of her home trigger gospel conversations more than sadness.

“When I’m very anxious, I go out on the street in my neighborhood and evangelize people on the street, including alcoholics and drug addicts,” she said. “Doing that takes away everything I’m feeling at that moment.”

One church, one mission

For Rodríguez, Travis Avenue’s En Español pastor, it was powerful to see how Maribel and her children have been witnessing for Christ and how God is working in their lives.

Rodríguez has pastored Travis En Español since August 2022, when he began serving as an interim pastor before being officially installed that October. One thing Rodríguez said he loves about his church is that the Spanish ministry at Travis Avenue En Español has the same vision as the rest of the church.

Since his ministry began there, the focus has been on discipleship. As a result, Travis En Español has seen a group of about 45 attendees blossom into about 140 by God’s grace. The church seeks to cast a vision into its community of biblical faithfulness, service, and kingdom expansion by sending people on mission across the street and around the world.

People like Maribel and her family.

“You think a family will not come back for a while after such a difficult experience,” Rodríguez said, “but it has been wonderful to see the Spirit working in them, testifying of Christ and persevering in the faith.”

Some of our favorite God stories of 2024

As we hunt for stories to fill the Texan each month, we are driven by our main mandate: tell the stories of what God is doing in the churches of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.

Sometimes we do that by reporting about how God is moving at a church. Sometimes we tell stories about the individuals who make up the body of Christ. Still other times we stumble on a story where God uses a squirrel to impact His kingdom (more on that in a minute).

As we say goodbye to 2024 and anticipate what God will do in 2025, here are some of our favorite stories from this past year:

Lobs for the Lord (April 2024)

God can use anything to reach people—including the burgeoning sport of pickleball. Jane Rodgers, one of our longtime Texan contributors, found out several churches across Texas are leveraging the sport’s popularity to build community and share the gospel. She specifically profiled the outreaches of two churches: Coggin Avenue Baptist Church in Brownwood and First Baptist Church Dallas. A couple of weeks after our article published, Fox News picked up on the story and broadcast a pair of interviews featuring the gospel pickleball outreaches happening at those same churches—amplifying the message of Christ and a pretty unique way to tell others about Him.

Making an eternity of difference a world away (May 2024)

Earlier this year, Bruno Molina, the SBTC’s language evangelism associate, received news that our 1Cross app had been used to share the gospel with someone in India. In response, the person who heard the gospel made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. The app contains brief gospel presentations in more than 70 languages—including one in English. If you don’t know about the 1Cross app, you’re missing out on what may prove to be an incredibly useful tool in helping you and others in your congregation share the gospel.

‘God is going to heal her’ (June 2024)

Correspondent Arlene Sanabria’s account of the near-death experience of Irma Ramos, wife of longtime SBTC pastor Marcos Ramos, compellingly uses dialogue to take the reader directly into some of the harrowing moments experienced by the family—from Irma’s fall and subsequent head injury to the hospital where doctors questioned her ability to fully recover. It’s a story of bold faith and a family that stubbornly clung to the belief that Jesus would restore Irma to health.

Salvations, squirrels & stability (September 2024)

How can you not like a salvation story that includes a wild squirrel running amok through a church? First Baptist Church in Timpson has seen God move in some amazing ways, not the least of which happened when the pastor, W. Dee Daniel, shared the gospel with a man dispatched to the church to catch the aforementioned crazed squirrel. That man decided to follow Jesus that day. The next week, that man’s son accepted Christ. Two weeks later, his daughter followed suit. Somewhere, Ray Stevens is smiling. If you know, you know …