A burdened heart for the lost, Former FBC Shallowater pastor joins evangelism team

Texas Baptists welcomes Mitch Wilson, former pastor of First Baptist Church in Shallowater, as director of church evangelism.

In his 19 years of pastoring at FBC Shallowater, which is located just seven miles outside of Lubbock, Wilson developed a burden for the lost and felt a tug on his heart to research data in Lubbock County. The burden became heavier as he discovered there were 160,000 unchurched people in the county, and he began shepherding his church to engage in more evangelism opportunities.

"I really believe that God then expanded my heart and that burden for the lost in the whole state instead of just Lubbock County," Wilson said, which is why he pursued joining Texas Baptists' evangelism team.

In his new role as director, which began June 1, Wilson will seek to encourage Texas Baptists in evangelism among the 12 million unchurched people in Texas.

"I'd love to see us baptizing all these new believers and get to where we continue to see less and less unchurched in our state. It's a big task, but we have a big God," he said.

Through leading evangelism events such as ENGAGE regional conferences and [un]Apologetic conferences and spearheading the Pray 4 Every Home initiative, Wilson will help leaders develop strategies for intentional and relational evangelism.

Director of Evangelism for Texas Baptists, Scott Willingham, said, Wilson will be "strengthening churches in the Biblical mandate for reaching our generation for Christ."

"When I think of Mitch coming to our team, I get excited thinking about the heart he has for pastors, churches and for the lost." Willingham said.

Dr. David Hardage, Texas Baptists executive director, said he is excited about Wilson's willingness and enthusiasm to assist Texas Baptist churches in developing evangelism strategies.

"He will be an asset to our newly formed Great Commission Team," Hardage said. "Mitch is a dynamic believer and preacher and is passionate about seeing the lost come to Christ."

Prior to pastoring FBC Shallowater, Wilson served as pastor at River Road Baptist in Amarillo and was a bi-vocational youth minister in college. He attended Wayland Baptist University and Southwestern Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Mindy, have two children and four grandchildren.