Church sees a wave of baptisms

Texas Baptists churches are at work strengthening churches to fulfill the Great Commandment and Great Commission every day in Texas and beyond. I wanted to share a story with you about a person who was recently impacted by your church’s gifts to the Texas Baptists Cooperative Program.

Pave is a Texas Baptists ministry that helps churches evaluate their church health and engage their community with the gospel to grow God’s Kingdom. Wesley Brown, pastor of Cowboy Church of Collin County, participated in 2025.

Through Pave, Brown was challenged to do a sermon series on baptism to explore the “why” behind scriptural, believer’s baptism.

“Pave provided creative ideas for how to keep baptism at the forefront,” Brown said. “I’ve been in ministry for a long time. I don’t know why, but I had never preached on that … We covered the meaning and reason behind baptism as an expression of faith. That’s something I am planning to do on an annual basis now.”

This emphasis on baptism led to a wave of individuals expressing their faith through baptism. In a church of around 250 people, over 30 people were baptized in 2025.

“It was not just children or teens but lots of adults too. A husband and wife were baptized together. One family was baptized together—a father and two children, and the wife stood with them,” said Brown. “Another interesting thing that happened was a handful of church members came forward who were baptized as infants. They said after receiving Christ they were never scripturally baptized and wanted to be.”

Brown received other ideas for celebrating baptisms from Pave. For example, he began to spread out baptisms rather than performing several all on one Sunday. This allowed for an extended celebration of individual baptisms and a continual emphasis. The church also began recording brief testimonies from each person being baptized to play in both church services.

“This helped the whole church to be engaged and know who was being baptized. That is very important when you have two services,” said Brown.

The most important takeaway from Pave for Brown was viewing baptisms as an evangelism event.

“When someone is being baptized, they are excited. They invite their friends and family and neighbors to share in that excitement. Baptism really is evangelism,” he said. “We baptized a high school football coach. He said, ‘I want my children and grandchildren to know what I stand for.’ There were several rows of family, friends and neighbors, all there to witness his expression of faith.”

Baptisms at Cowboy Church of Collin County have continued strong in 2026—15 so far this year.

“It is so rewarding to watch these individuals grow in Christ and participate in the life of the Church after baptism too,” said Brown. “I hope other pastors join Pave and see how they can celebrate and grow baptisms in their church.”

This kind of impact only happens through local churches making a difference right where they are. Thank you for your generous gifts through the Texas Baptists Cooperative Program. Because of your gifts, we are able to strengthen churches to fulfill your calling to love God, love others and make disciples.

To learn more about Pave Pathways to Church Growth, visit: txb.org/Pave.