Stories of Impact

Ethan Hollis, Stephen F. Austin (SFA) State University graduate and active member of First Baptist Church (FBC) Nacogdoches, grew up with inconsistent attendance in church and little understanding of the gospel, but after a friend invited him to youth group, he became more engaged with both.  

Inspired by the students’ eagerness to engage, FBC Clarendon began holding a college-led Sunday morning once a semester, where the students get an opportunity to take ownership of their gifts and abilities in ministry, ranging from greeting to preaching.

In the spring of 2023, Hannah Hopkins, a senior at East Texas Baptist University (ETBU) and Texas Baptists’ 2024 Prestidge Endowment Music & Worship Scholarship recipient, transferred to the school with a passion to lead worship. She’d heard the original song “New Day” performed by Lampsato, ETBU’s worship band, and wanted to audition to be a part of the group.

When Nathan Adams joined First Baptist Church Hereford as their senior pastor in Nov. 2022, every area of the church was on a downhill trajectory. Adams was determined to get the church “thinking differently and on an uphill trajectory.” 

Sixteen years ago, Mark Lindsey, lead pastor at First Baptist Church Big Spring, and his wife Sherry, were new residents in Big Spring, home to a “bible college ministry and a two-year college,” but no established church. Their neighbor, whose late husband happened to be a basketball coach at Howard College in the 1950s and 1960s, encouraged them to get “involved with basketball and things at the college,” as she was ministering to the athletes at the time. 

“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.”

“God burnt a passion in me that week… to serve people, to share the hope that I found in Christ, the joy I found in Christ with other people. And really the work that started in my heart like 20 something years ago during that mission trip, it’s never stopped,” - Eric Hunter, WTAMU BSM director

“We’re no longer a 60 and older church, we’re actually a four-generation church, which is exciting but challenging that I’m preaching to the five-year-old in the room and I’m preaching to the 90-year-old,” said McNeal.

“Baptism always represents life, new life, transformation of life. A life that was going one direction but has turned around and is now going in a different direction.”

“So no matter how old you are, you haven’t arrived and no matter how young you are, there’s something I can learn from you,” said Curley. “I think that’s by God’s design that we can learn from one another, no matter how young or old we might be.”

“As you encounter all the different philosophies and religions there are in all the world, you don’t need to apologize that you represent the one true living God of the universe who created us all.”