Church Starting retreat encourages church planters to remain faithful and support one another in ministry

A group of eighty-two church planters and spouses from Texas, Michigan, Indiana and New York converged on the convention center along Seawall Boulevard in Galveston, TX, Sept. 29-Oct. 1 for a conference “for church planters by church planters.” 

The Texas Baptists/GC2 church planters represented thirty-two church starts and replants nationwide.

Organized by Texas Baptists’ Church Starting & Replanting, attendees heard from speakers and church planters, worshipped, fellowshipped, shared their struggles and offered one another encouragement during the three-day “connection.”

“[Church Starting Connection] helps me to refocus and to reconnect and to know that I'm never alone,” said attendee Hermelinda Cuevas from Iglesia Bautista Comunidad de Fe in Farwell. 

Pressing forward in church starting 

Larry and Lindsey Mayberry, church planters from New York City, kicked off the event on Sunday evening with a conversation on rest and encouraging attendees to care for their marriages.

Mike Satterfield, founder of Field of Grace Ministries, opened the first full day of the event by challenging church planters to keep going or “plod.” He told attendees that in order to “plod correctly,” they must do more with the gifts God has given them, be committed to divine encouragement and look to God for clear direction. 

“Plodders are those who day and night will press forward, marking the prize of a high calling, which is ‘in God’…” said Satterfield. “Keep pressing forward in his name for his name’s sake.” 

Satterfield encouraged attendees that they will “reap a harvest in they faint not,” (Galatians 6:9).

“Tonight, you can run and not be weary. Tomorrow, if we see it, you’ll be able to walk and not faint,” said Satterfield. “You have a why and your why is Jesus. Because he is, you are [able].”

Darrell Sutton, a church planter with Mount Zion Baptist Church in Crane, Texas said the new resources and community he gained from Church Starting Connection were an answered prayer that will enable him to “keep plodding.” 

“God has [brought us] some people to be with us so we can keep ‘plodding,’ keep going,” said Sutton. “This is an answer to a long prayer request [we’ve had] for years of ‘God link me up with a church, link me up with an organization that can help us do the work of the Lord,’ because we've done so much out of pocket … There really are no big ‘I’s’ and little ‘you’s’, we're all striving just to advance the kingdom of God.”

Investing in discipleship  

In the second session of the day, Louis Crooks, church planter and pastor of Encounter City Church in Killeen, encouraged church planters to “set expectations with your staff, leadership and elders that your kids deserve just as much time and attention and discipleship as any other kid in church.” 

“The best thing I could ever do [is communicate to my staff that] my kids deserve just as much forgiveness and grace as any other kid there,” said Crooks. “When we give [our children] examples of what grace looks like … then they want grace, and they choose Jesus because they understand that they are saved by grace and not by anything they can or did not do.” 

Crooks challenged attendees to invest in discipleship for their kids because “if you’re not discipling them, the world will.” 

“Just because we have faith, just because we read the Bible, just because we went to Bible college or planted a church, doesn’t mean they understand how to be a disciple of Jesus Christ,” said Crooks. “So we need to not mix up the order. I once was told this: ‘Don't ever let church get in the way of your family, but don't ever let your family get in the way of God.” 

Leaning on the church for support 

In the third and final session of the day, Fermin Sifuentez, church planter and lead pastor of Lubbock Unified Church, encouraged attendees to lean into the community of their own church when hardship comes because “that’s the beauty of the body.” 

“Sometimes you are doing everything that God asked you, you’re doing it all the right ways, and it’s still going to go all the way wrong. So, how are you going to respond to this? … You’ve got to allow the church to build you up, too,” said Sifuentez. “You’ve got to use the resources in your community, you’ve got to use the resources from Texas Baptists, and you’ve got to be real about [your struggles].”

Sifuentez challenged attendees to be transparent and allow God to strengthen their churches.  

“It comes [down] to you being honest and transparent… guess what happens to the church? The church becomes stronger,” said Sifuentez. “If we are really living [our ministry] out, doing what the Lord says, he’s going to take care of the results of everything.” 

Remaining focused on preaching the gospel

Sammy Lopez, church planter and pastor from Orlando, FL, concluded Church Starting Connection with a message encouraging attendees to “ease your mind by not looking over your shoulder.” 

“For your own sanity, for your own mental health, for your own mental rest; don't start comparing your church and your ministry to someone else,” said Lopez. “Let me give you some good news. That guy over there did not have the anointing, the vision or the purpose that God has given to you.”

Lopez charged attendees to remain focused on God’s call on their lives to preach the gospel. “Just be faithful to God's calling on your life and preach the gospel. That's it. Don't look over your shoulder,” said Lopez. “And when you're more focused on God's specific task for you, then you'll be too busy to consider anything or anyone else.”

Church Starting Connection exists to encourage, equip and engage current Texas Baptists/GC2 church planters and their spouses. Church Starting Connection 2025 is set to return to Galveston on Sept. 28-30, 2025. 

To learn more about Church Starting, visit txb.org/churchstarting.