This has been a full and exciting week for your Texas Baptists staff as we’ve just concluded our January Staff Week. It is one of two weeks a year when all of our staff comes together to share what God is doing, talk about our vision and strategy and talk about how to move forward in God’s mission.

During these last few days, we have worshipped together. I had the opportunity to remind our staff about Texas Baptists’ missional theme for this next season, the seven values that are guiding our work, and the GC2 approach, which I shared at the annual meeting in Waco this past November.

I also shared with our staff that our three areas of focus moving forward are strengthening churches, connecting ministers and partnering for mission. Our Staff Week schedule included three panel discussions around these topics: ministerial leaders, churches and missions.

Our staff also heard inspirational and challenging messages from some of our Texas Baptists pastors. We listened to lectures on the state of the church at the national level and supporting data, Baptist identity, the history of Baptist confessions of faith and the 2033 project.

There is a movement of Christians and Christian organizations around the world who are talking about, praying, planning, partnering and strategizing on how to finish the Great Commission task by 2033. On the 2,000th anniversary of Christ’s resurrection, the giving of the Great Commission, the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the birth of the church, the global church has the opportunity to say, “Every people group in the world has access to the gospel.”

Our staff has been inspired and challenged as we step forward into 2025. Let’s work together with churches, ministries and institutions to win Texas for Christ and be witnesses to the end of the earth.

One of our staff members shared Acts 20:24 as a guiding verse for sharing the gospel in Texas and beyond. That is the kind of dedication and commitment we need for the task!

We will share even more about this time together in the coming days. Strengthening a multiplying movement of churches to live out the Great Commandment and the Great Commission in Texas and beyond implies starting new churches. We are committed to that. We need to increase our efforts.

One of our key partnerships in church starting is with the North American Mission Board. You may have heard or read about BGCT and NAMB’s recent conversations about this very thing. Our Communications Team published and shared a story about it last week.

This month, my friend Wesley Shotwell will be retiring from Ash Creek Baptist Church in Azle, Texas, where he has faithfully served for 27 years. I remember having a conversation with him when we served together in Tarrant Baptist Association about the benefits of cooperative giving. When others asked, “What does our church get in return for our giving to the association and the Cooperative Program?” he said, “The church gets to participate in God’s mission in ways it could not do by itself. The church gets more mission bang for its mission bucks.” I agree!

While cooperative missions giving is not about getting something in return, Kingdom partnerships are often mutually beneficial. That’s what we seek in our partnerships, and that is what we practice as well.

I mentioned in my weekly update last week that I would share with you one of these many secondary benefits of giving through the Cooperative Program. It has to do with our Church Matching Benefit Protection Program. This program provides benefits to pastors and staff ministers, including matching funds for retirement, disability insurance and survivor protection benefits. Make sure your church is taking advantage of this benefit.

Thank you for being a part of the Texas Baptists family and for your giving through the Cooperative Program. Let’s make 2025 a record giving and record gospel-breakthrough year.

Staff Week reflection: Finishing the race together