North Texas pastor employs PAVE principle to build coalition aimed at community revitalization

First Baptist Church White Settlement is a church with a “long and storied history” of more than 100 years in Tarrant County. When Kyle Nieman joined the church as their head pastor, he noted that the once thriving congregation went from broadcasting Sunday morning worship on television in the 1980s to members asking, “Why aren’t people here?”

Nieman stepped into the head pastor role in May of 2021. Recognizing that the church needed to undergo change, Nieman was pointed to PAVE, the Texas Baptists church revitalization strategy, by Tom Howe, associate director for the Center for Missional Engagement. 

PAVE is designed to help pastors customize revitalization for their context by equipping them with resources and placing them in cohorts to be trained by a coach and encouraged within a community of pastors. 

Nieman attended his first PAVE session in May 2022. He said PAVE taught him how to be aware of how church members were processing the grief of losing the church they felt nostalgic for and how to approach conversations about the future.

“The greatest ongoing benefits I've seen [from PAVE training] is probably the skills to continue to have those positive conversations about change, to lead out in casting vision while people are still mourning the loss of what their church once was,” said Nieman. 

Revitalizing the church and investing in the city  

As a part of the revitalization process, PAVE encourages pastors to conduct a series of interviews called the “Seven Interview Report,” where they will interview seven civic or community leaders such as police officers, firefighters, EMT, doctors, school administrators, another pastor, etc. face-to-face to get a pulse on the community’s needs. The interview consists of two questions: ‘What hidden problems exist in our community?’ and ‘What can our church do to address them?’

Nieman utilized this PAVE principle and connected with Tarrant County Police Chief Chris Cook for an interview and learned they had several things in common. 

“When I sat down with Chris Cook, [I found out that] he had been on the job for about five or six months when I'm doing this interview, and I'm like, ‘Well, I've only been here eight months, so we're kind of in the same boat here,’” explained Nieman. “What also was amazing to me is this guy loves the Lord, and immediately when I start asking these questions, he starts talking about how he wants to get involved with churches and see churches connected.’”

Inspired by their mutual passion for sharing Christ with the community, Cook and Nieman formed a partnership that they called the ‘Pastor’s Coalition,’ a network of area pastors “sitting around the table talking about what's going on in the city” and how they can help meet the needs of residents. 

Nieman brought this partnership to his congregation and challenged them to support city and police department functions, seeing it as a ministry opportunity. 

“I met this guy who is as passionate about revitalizing this community as I am and sees the church as a means to do that. And I see the relationship with the police department as a means to help our church revitalize,” said Nieman.

Nieman said he has been encouraged by the relationships forming from the ‘Pastor’s Coalition.’ 

“I love seeing from the Pastor’s Coalition more of these churches get involved because it's not all about our church and what we're doing; it's about seeing the kingdom of God is growing and going forth into a community, and Jesus' name being known,” said Nieman. “So, it's been awesome to see how that relationship has grown.” 

Over the past two years, FBC White Settlement has supported the city and police department by hosting ‘Faith & Blue Night,’ a national initiative to build more inclusive communities by engaging law enforcement officers and residents through the connections of faith-based organizations. 

Each ‘Faith & Blue Night,’ several police officers come before the community and have a conversation about the happenings of the city and allow people to ask honest questions. Nieman said the church saw this night as an opportunity to pray for and encourage police officers. 

Jonathan Smith, director of Church Health and Growth at Texas Baptists, said he is encouraged by Nieman’s creativity in using a PAVE principle as a means to get the church and community connected. 

“So [Nieman] took one PAVE principle and, from that, educated his people. His people now know more about what's happening around them. He's now more connected and he will be better known in the community because he took that seven interview report step,” said Smith. “So, now the church is more aware of the needs around them that only the gospel could solve.”

Experiencing ‘oak tree growth’

In return, the White Settlement Police Department has honored Nieman as both chaplain of police and citizen of the year. Nieman said receiving the award was unexpected but applauded the church for how they’ve invested in the community. 

“I realized it’s not really about me, it's about what our church is doing. You know, my name might be on the award plaque [but] I told my church, ‘this is y'all's award. This is all of us showing that we care and we value this community and that the community is noticing,’” said Nieman. 

Smith said he is proud of Nieman for practicing “oak tree growth,” remaining consistent in revitalizing his church. 

“Every church is going to go at its own pace, and the pace for the pastors can sometimes feel slow. Some revitalizations go really fast, and some go more slow,” explained Smith. “I'm proud of Kyle practicing oak tree growth, slow and steady. He's just been really consistent, and it's paying off for the congregation as it is growing in strength, growing spiritually and then growing in size.”

Visit txb.org/pave to learn more about Texas Baptists’ church health and growth ministry and find out if PAVE is the right fit for your congregation.