Author: Russell Lightner

The gospel is available and at work!

A little over 15 years ago, I was a struggling seminary student. Money was tight, my family was growing, and financial opportunities were limited. In other words, I was broke. 

I’ll never forget talking to my mother during a commute via the train from my home to downtown Chicago. As I exited my stop and made my way onto the street, there was a man panhandling. Out of all the people leaving, he asked me for money. I told him the truth: “I’m sorry, but I don’t have anything to give you.”

My mom heard this exchange and told me, “Son, you always have something to give.” She then quoted Acts 3:6: “Silver and gold have I none: but such as I have, I give thee ….” It was such a poignant reminder. Although I may not have had any spare change, I would always have Christ to share.

In Acts 3, Peter and John have an encounter with a man who was born lame. The man begs for money, but Peter and John don’t have any. However, instead of ignoring the man’s pleas, they mimic their master. The Bible says they look at the man and say to him, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

This miracle does not just change this formerly crippled man’s temporary situation; it drastically shifts his eternal trajectory. We must not be short-sighted when eternity is within view. These two disciples remind us not to dwell on what we don’t have, but to rejoice in who we do have—Jesus. 

"My aim here is to encourage those of us who can experience burnout from trying to think outside the box. Look inside the book! The gospel is available and at work."

Caleb Turner Tweet

Every year, I am grateful for the Empower Conference and what it means for our convention. It’s great to see friends. I enjoy the speakers, breakouts, and worship. And there’s nothing like free swag from the booths. 

However, the intent behind this conference, which was held in late February, is to reignite and remind believers that the gospel is the greatest tool available. There is no other catalyst for conviction and conversion than to shine light into the darkness of this world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must preach Christ and Him crucified! 

We do not need to always look for the latest and greatest church trend. New lights, new buildings, and new music are well and good. However, new stuff bereft of new creations is no more valuable than a whitewashed tomb. 

My aim here is to encourage those of us who can experience burnout from trying to think outside the box. Look inside the book! The gospel is available and at work.

As urban growth reaches into rural spaces, Santa Fe church recalibrates and refocuses

Jake Bigford knows his town will likely become a suburb of Houston during his lifetime. Sandwiched between Houston and Galveston, Santa Fe—named after the railroad—boasts small-town charm and just over 13,000 residents. 

“We are quickly seeing Houston knock on our doorstep,” said Bigford, pastor of First Baptist Church in Alta Loma, a southwestern Galveston County neighborhood that became part of Santa Fe in 1978. 

For Bigford, Santa Fe and FBC Alta Loma have always been home. His mother still lives in town. He married Laurin Finley, a local girl from the church during college in East Texas.

“We grew up in youth group together,” Bigford said.

Following Bigford’s college graduation 15 years ago, the couple returned to Santa Fe when he accepted a position as youth pastor at their home church. There wasn’t a budget for the job, but church volunteers began mowing the lawn so the money that would have gone to landscapers paid Bigford’s modest salary. The church provided the young couple with an apartment and agreed to augment the salary once another staff member retired.

“We prayed about it,” Bigford recalled. “If this is what the Lord wants, then the money doesn’t matter. He made it happen.” 

When the church’s senior pastor left in 2019, the search team decided it didn’t need to look very far. Deacons approached Bigford to gauge his interest.

“It took me by surprise,” he admitted. “We started praying about it.”

By the end of that year, on the church’s 124th anniversary, Bigford preached in view of a call.

“It’s been wonderful,” he said. “It’s been a great journey.”

Pictured left to right and back to front are Brett Ford, Julie Mahoney, Nathan Berry, Jay Blackwell, Sherri Kuehl, Kristin Mayberry, and Jake Bigford. Submitted photo

Breathing new life

The journey has not been without challenges. Through COVID-19 and other circumstances, FBC Alta Loma experienced what Bigford called a “fairly drastic change in families and faces and attendance” after his arrival.

Bigford’s interest in the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention was piqued while attending the annual evangelism-focused Empower Conference. 

“I fell in love with what the convention stood for. I learned a lot,” he said. “A big part of it for me was the [SBTC’s stance] on inerrancy. … I got fully involved with the SBTC.”

Wondering if FBC Alta Loma needed revitalization, Bigford later attended a SBTC Regenesis One-Day intensive workshop in 2024 focused on church health and renewal and was sold on the idea of joining a cohort. 

“Even if our church wasn’t necessarily declining, there were ways the Lord could breathe new life,” he realized, concluding that most churches could benefit from similar help.

Among his favorite parts of the Regenesis process was gathering a team from the church and having conversations about where FBC Alta Loma was headed.

“We picked people from different walks of life, ages, and generations,” he said. This core group examined what the church was doing and why. “We were actually already talking about the issues, but Regenesis led us to think about our vision, our mission,” solidifying the direction they wanted to go to reach their town with the gospel. He added that his team was encouraged as it saw how God was faithful throughout the church’s history. 

Bigford said Regenesis was “challenging and affirming,” helping the church prioritize areas it had not considered—including the location, gifts, and abilities of the congregation. 

“Regenesis challenged us to look at our mission and come up with an initiative to accomplish it,” Bigford said. The team determined culture shifts needed in the church and set goals.

“Regenesis challenged us to look at our mission and come up with an initiative to accomplish it.”

Jake Bigford Tweet

Invitation to transformation

The weakest pillar in the church was engaging people with the gospel, they decided. Discussions ensued and resulted in the Invite 52 initiative with the goal of inviting 5,200 people to the church during 2026.

“It may sound too lofty. But that’s 100 people inviting one person per week to church,” Bigford said. They realized that even if they only invited 4,000, that would be a success.

Business cards with the church’s contact information and service times have been created to help members with the task. “We ordered 10,000 of these cards, 20 pounds [in weight],” Bigford said. After generating anticipation in late 2025, they began the project in full on the first Sunday of 2026.

“If you will invite people to come, I will preach the gospel every single week,” Bigford promised.

The congregation was encouraged to be intentional, not just leaving the card somewhere but handing it to individuals and inviting them to be their guest, promising to meet them in the parking lot and sit with them. Evangelism training scheduled for May will enhance the congregation’s comfort in witnessing to those they invite.

“The incredible thing is people have done it,” Bigford said. “So far, they have distributed more than 400 cards. Every single week we have had first-time guests, 40 in the first five weeks of the initiative.”

“Even the kids are doing it,” said church member Susan Ford, whose third grader has taken cards to school to invite her friends. “It should be easy for us to invite people to church but it’s not. Having a challenge to invite somebody each week is good.”

Megan Williams, a member since childhood who directs the church’s mothers’ day out and homeschool support programs, said she is inviting MDO teachers and parents. She explains to them that since her husband is a firefighter who often works Sundays, she sits alone in church and would love for visitors to sit with her.

Megan asks those who have expressed interest in visiting and sends gentle reminders to encourage them to give the church a try. Several have come, and some have stayed.

Attendance has risen by about 30, Bigford said. A typical Sunday will see 120-130, reflecting steady growth. All who have come even once have heard the gospel.

“So far, they have distributed more than 400 cards. Every single week we have had first-time guests, 40 in the first five weeks of the initiative.”

Jake Bigford Tweet

‘Seeing the first fruits’

Another change in the church began before Regenesis, Bigford said. Through meeting with SBTC prayer consultant Keeney Dickenson and after attending an SBTC pastors’ prayer retreat led by Texas pastors Nathan Lino and Todd Kaunitz, he realized FBC Alta Loma needed to be a house of prayer.

FBC Alta Loma started designating a time during the Sunday service to stop and pray, the process aided by prayer prompts on the screens. Names of lost people were added to a large bulletin board visible to everyone. Quarterly prayer meetings, prayer walks around the property, and other prayer events now occur.

“I am happy to say today that because of all these things, we are much more prayer dependent than ever before,” Bigford said, adding that prayer was essential before beginning Invite 52.

Word is spreading. Recently at a fast-food restaurant, an employee and church member introduced Bigford to an older couple seeking a church for their grandson. The young man has started attending. 

Cards have been distributed to the waitress at the local fish place, customers at the nearby convenience store, and local schools. 

“We are seeing the first fruits now and can’t wait to tell the stories later,” Bigford said. “We all need new life from the Lord in our churches. It only comes when we are dependent on Him.”

Here to serve

Each morning when I pull into the parking lot of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention building, I am reminded of how God has blessed me to be able to serve here. I would have never imagined this being my life’s calling, yet I am beyond thankful that it is. 

The SBTC has incredible churches seeking to make a difference across our state. Our staff is willing and ready to serve you every day. While our convention offers many areas of ministry assistance, I want to use this space over the next few issues of the Texan to highlight some of our incredible ministries.

Children & Family Ministry

Karen Kennemur leads our Children & Family Ministry. She has a wealth of knowledge and experience in these areas. She also serves as professor of Children’s Ministry at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Children are such a blessing for a church to reach, and Karen and her team are eager to assist you. If you are looking for help in reaching children in your community, contact Karen and let the SBTC serve you as you move forward. 

Women’s Ministry

As we see throughout Scripture, women play a crucial role in the advance of the gospel and the ministry of the church. Laura Taylor leads our Women’s Ministry and is passionate about equipping and encouraging women to serve the Lord. This ministry is also geared to serve pastors’ wives. These special ladies are such a blessing to the kingdom. They are a constant source of encouragement to their husbands as they lead. The SBTC seeks to come alongside these women and provide opportunities for networking and fellowship. If there is any way we can serve the women’s ministry of your church, or if you are a pastor’s wife looking to connect, give Laura a call.

"The SBTC has incredible churches seeking to make a difference across our state. Our staff is willing and ready to serve you every day."

Nathan Lorick Tweet

Disability Ministry

This ministry, formerly known as the Special Needs Ministry, is such an important part of how the SBTC can help churches engage and serve churches. Sandra Peoples is one of the top experts in the nation on this topic. She is a leader who desires to see churches serve families with special needs with excellence and understanding. If you are looking to start a disability ministry or have questions about how to serve families well, contact Sandra and she will walk with you through the process. 

The SBTC is full of ministries like these. This is why we are here—to serve your church well. Please reach out if we can be of assistance to you. I want you to know that I love you and I am so honored to serve you.

To connect with one of our ministry associates, contact the SBTC at 817-552-2500.

South Texas church’s devotion to God’s Word, the community drives its resurgence

When Pastor Nick Marnejon looks around Somerset Baptist Church, a 168-year-old congregation near San Antonio, he sees not only numerical growth, but spiritual growth.

That growth was facilitated by a church full of “generous, loving people” who hold a high view of Scripture and were willing to return to their roots upon Marnejon’s arrival a little less than a year-and-a-half ago. 

“Let’s get back to basics,” Marnejon said. “Let’s get in our Bibles. Let’s have a prayer life. Let’s get to church.”

Worship attendance at Somerset has grown to an average of 150, with about 125 of those also attending Sunday morning Bible study.

“I just think people have been hungry for God’s Word,” he said. “I’ve taught how-to-study-the-Bible classes recently, and that was well-attended and well-received. Our women’s ministry has been up and going. We’ve had various outreach things that the church has been doing historically that we’ve kept up.”

The student ministry has grown to about 70. Kasey Hobbs was hired to lead students about a year ago, Marnejon noted. Though he works full time in the oil field industry, Hobbs “gives himself as much as he absolutely can to these teens,” Marnejon said. “[He is] dogged about preaching and teaching God’s Word.”

“For this school year, he’s been just slowly working through the gospel of John with the teens on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings,” Marnejon said. “Just systematically going through the Bible has been reaping dividends, as well as I just think he loves the teens genuinely, and they’re responding to that.” 

Most of the influx of new teens is from the local school through connections, the pastor said: “Most of our kids are either non-Christian or maybe grew up Catholic or have some type of Catholic influence.”

Wednesday nights take on an evangelistic feel with “lots of kids coming who don’t know Jesus yet,” Marnejon said. They’ve done See You at the Pole, and Hobbs spoke at a worship night at the school organized by a student and attends as many football games as possible. 

The women’s ministry at Somerset Baptist Church near San Antonio hosted a painting party at Christmas and saw a great turnout. SUBMITTED PHOTOS
The women’s ministry at Somerset Baptist Church near San Antonio hosted a painting party at Christmas and saw a great turnout. SUBMITTED PHOTOS
The church’s student ministry has grown from 25 to 70 in recent months. SUBMITTED PHOTOS
The church’s student ministry has grown from 25 to 70 in recent months. SUBMITTED PHOTOS

A force for good

As for Marnejon, he grew up in Ohio in a Baptist church that changed to nondenominational during his teenage years. After earning his master’s degree, he moved to Seattle to serve as a youth pastor for six years. It was a healthy church, and he grew a lot there, he said. He met his wife in Washington, and his pastor trained him by including him on pastoral visits, giving him funeral and wedding opportunities, and generally teaching him how to shepherd a flock. 

Ultimately sensing God’s call to serve as a lead pastor himself, Marnejon found Somerset through the Southern Baptist Convention’s job board. He said he has been encouraged by his involvement in the SBC, agreeing with SBC Executive Committee President Jeff Iorg that “Southern Baptists are a force for good.” 

“On the whole, I’ve been just thoroughly impressed, and I’ve enjoyed getting into Southern Baptist life,” Marnejon said. “I’m really impressed with their seminaries—thriving seminaries. I’m looking at them for my Ph.D. in this coming year. I feel good and happy about being a part of the Southern Baptist Convention.”

What he particularly likes about the Cooperative Program—Southern Baptists’ primary giving model—is that until Somerset can “put some missionary faces to our dollars too someday,” their 5% already supports missions through the North American Mission Board and International Mission Board. 

Said Marnejon: “It’s encouraging to know that the thousands of dollars that we’re sending every year are going to really tangible things that I can see as a Southern Baptist.”

Finding joy in the face of the unthinkable

I came to pastor Tabernacle Baptist Church in Ennis about three years ago. Since then, God has been gracious to our church, giving us growth, more than 50 baptisms in 2025, and the opportunity to start Tabernacle En Español. I feel like I have the best job in the world. 

Before we moved to Texas, I was a regular runner, doing 15 or 20 miles a week to stay in shape. I moved down here and got out of the habit for several reasons. I gained almost 17 pounds and was just not healthy. Last September, I started running again. One day, I’d run two or three miles and started having some chest pains, and they didn’t go away for days.

A visit to the ER revealed I had a nine-centimeter mass in my chest. It was a rare form of leukemia that’s pretty aggressive. The doctors were thankful that it was basically my running and that mass hitting up against the fluid around my heart and causing chest pains that got my attention.

They say they found it sooner than it normally would have been found. While that was good, it went from, “Oh, I’m having some chest pain,” to receiving the leukemia diagnosis on Sept. 23. That was pretty difficult, especially with the fact that with leukemia, they do what’s called an induction phase—21 to 30 days in the hospital where you get pretty intense chemo and cannot leave. That was obviously a very, very challenging time. The Lord in His providence had led our church to read through the Psalms together, and that was very helpful for me to reflect on while going through that long induction phase.

The last couple months have been the most difficult and trying months of my life. It’s hard not to question and it’s hard not to doubt and ask the Lord, “Why?” But on the flip side, Tabernacle has been incredible. They did things like an orange-out Sunday [the color of leukemia awareness] for me. They have been such a tangible picture in my life of the hands and feet of Jesus.

I’ve been in the hospital about 50% of the time since the diagnosis. My church and our deacon body asked me what I really needed. I said, “I need to be at my kids’ games, but I can’t.” So, we had a friend who set up videos so I could watch the games live, and that was pretty cool. People just showed up and made signs for the kids and just had a good time. My two boys play football for Ennis. Isaiah, he’s running back and linebacker on the freshman team, and Caleb’s a linebacker and tight end on the seventh-grade team. Avianna [our 7-year-old] was playing softball. For people to show up and support them was great.

Isaiah and Caleb Crook play football in Ennis. In honor of their dad’s cancer battle, the boys were allowed by their coaches to wear orange, the color of leukemia awareness, on their uniforms in October. SUBMITTED PHOTO

I had a treatment this morning, and seven to 10 days after chemo is when your numbers, at least for me, are at their lowest. That has been a challenge for sure. And again, I am very blessed, I have a great staff, including an executive pastor, Carlos Gerke, who’s been preaching for me when I need him. Even last Sunday, our youth pastor stepped into the pulpit, so I am very blessed we have very competent staff members who have stood in the gap for me when I’ve been unable. I’ve enjoyed the times when I have been able to get up. That’s my plan. Sunday, I won’t have a lot of energy, but I’m still planning on preaching and I love it. If I’m out of the hospital, I’m planning on preaching.

Obviously, it’s physically hard on me, but I look at what my wife, Jill, is having to do—not only to be a support for me, but also be there for the kids. She’s got so much on her plate, and some of the ladies in our church have been just awesome in ministering to her. Jill has also gone to work for the school district as the special ed counselor. The district and her bosses have been very supportive. She also has a group of ladies at church and other friends who have ministered to her over the past couple of months. 

“Yes, He’s taught me some hard lessons. He’s also reminded me of the blessings He has given me.”

—Zach Crook Tweet

I remember—it was over a decade ago—I heard a message by Matt Carter. His whole message was about never trusting a man of God without a limp. He was preaching on that story of Jacob wrestling with the Lord. I would say that as I’ve been dealing with this, that has repeatedly come to mind. While we all know our time here is short … I’d always just thought, “I’m going to live a good, long life and I’m going to see my grandkids,” and all these other things.

I think that has definitely been a lesson for me. I’m a little bit of a control freak, and so there are many times I want to tell God what He should do rather than sit at His feet and listen and really follow after Him. The Lord has really humbled me in that way and shown me how much control is an illusion. 

Yes, He’s taught me some hard lessons. He’s also reminded me of the blessings He has given me. My church loves and supports my family. I’m very thankful that. My wife is my best friend. I’m so thankful for her and the way she pushes me to Jesus. And being Dad to these three kids is such an honor. What a blessing.

As I face this battle, pray for me that I’ll trust in God’s faithfulness and be full of the joy of the Lord.

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