Don’t miss out on the great things God is doing

What a great privilege we have as God’s people to be chosen and set aside as God’s special possession so that we can declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light! Our God is an awesome God! He has done great things!

This week, I had the opportunity to visit one of Texas Baptists’ endorsed chaplains at the Pentagon. While we pray for peace and the end of war, it is so good to know there are capable and committed chaplains ministering to our men and women in the military in Christ’s name.

Todd Combee is the director of Chaplaincy Relations. While Texas Baptists (BGCT) have been doing chaplaincy endorsement for 23 years, about 9 years ago, the ministry extended by establishing a partnership with Virginia Baptists (BGAV). Wayne Faison is the executive director.

There are currently 620 active chaplains endorsed through this partnership. Since its inception, the Office of Chaplaincy Relations has endorsed over 1,200 individuals to serve in the military, hospitals, correctional institutions and other settings. This places us in the top five military chaplain endorsement organizations in the nation. Praise God for this witness and ministry!

Speaking of partnerships, the Baptist Standard published an article last week giving an update on the agreement established a year ago between Texas Baptists and NAMB in regard to church starting. I’m thankful for our communications and church starting teams who provided the information the journalist requested.

The article is very thorough in providing an update. Nevertheless, I want to highlight a few items for your information that I believe are cause for celebration as well. While currently there are six church starts in the pipeline to be funded by the agreement between BGCT and NAMB, Texas Baptists currently has a total of 101 churches in the planting process!

We have streamlined our training and funding process so that, regardless of whether a church is started under the NAMB partnership or not, church starters receive the same level of training and funding. Over a year ago, the Executive Board approved an increase in funding for each  BGCT-supported church start.

In 2025, Texas Baptists invested $4,560,000 in church starting, including $2.8 million from CP budget, $1.1 million in donor-designated funds and $660,000 from the Mary Hill Davis Offering. We praise God for the increased number of church starts, the increased funding, but most of all the increase in the number of people who will come into the kingdom because of this witness!

I’m writing this update from a flight back to Dallas. Airports are overwhelmed with a shortage of TSA workers. While that is a minor inconvenience for me, it reminded me of the government shutdown this past October. With the interruption of SNAP benefits, some families and communities found themselves in a difficult situation.

I’m happy to report that because of the generosity of churches and individuals, we were able to allocate a special $100,000 relief grant to support food ministries at Texas Baptists churches through the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering so they could provide additional food assistance.

Because of the ongoing ministry of the Hunger Offering and the able leadership of Dr. Irene Gallegos, along with the CLC staff, 42 relief grants were distributed across the state, with half of them going to churches in counties where food insecurity exceeds Texas’ 17.6% average.

Through this effort, which disbursed these funds with the greatest expediency, 30,637 people were served, including 10,598 children, providing 44,571 meals in 29 counties, all in the name of Jesus, all through local Texas Baptists churches! 

This week, about 1,000 BSM students are giving up their spring break to serve in Brownwood, McAllen, Honduras, San Antonio, Galveston and South Padre Island (Beach Reach). I’ll give you an update on what God is doing through these students on mission next week.

In the meantime, would you rejoice with me in what God is doing as together we pray, serve, give and work to declare his praises! God has done great things, is doing great things and will do great things. Don’t miss out!