WACO—A bivocational church planter urged Texas Baptists to “believe God,” not simply “believe in God.”
“There is a big difference between believing in God and believing God,” said Tony Canady, pastor of Triumphal Christian Fellowship, a multicultural and multigenerational church in Waxahachie.
“Are you going to remain unwavering, steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of God? Are you going to actually believe God?”
Canady addressed messengers at the first worship celebration of the 2022 Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting on Nov. 14.
He brought a message from Numbers 14:20-24 about how to remain unwavering, reminding Texas Baptists to focus on God’s word rather than what they see and to trust in God’s heart for his church.
“Set your heart on obedience to the Lord, because when you do that … the chaos around you will no longer affect you,” he said. “Don’t just believe in God. Believe what God says. He has already promised you he would do it.”
Tom Howe, director of Texas Baptists’ church starting and replanting, emphasized Texas’ projected population growth and the importance of church planting.
By 2030, the population in Texas is expected to grow by 5.2 million people—adding to the already 15 million people who have no church affiliation in the state. If every Texas Baptists church that currently exists grew by 200 people over that time period, they would reach only 5 percent of those people, Howe said.
“We need church planters, but even more importantly, we need church sponsors,” Howe said. “Our system at Texas Baptists’ church starting is built on sponsor churches that help work with us as a convention and also with the associations across the state to start churches, and we need more.”
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Howe then invited church planters in the audience to join him at the foot of the stage for a time of prayer. Pastor Joseph Adams of First Baptist Church in Hughes Springs prayed a blessing over the gathering of church planters.
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