Mission extends beyond walls, Cornerstone pastor says

“I think the days of ‘if we build it, they will come,’ is over,” said Chris Simmons, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Dallas.

After 30 years leading the congregation, Simmons believes the church’s mission extends beyond its walls and into the surrounding South Dallas community, where Cornerstone Baptist Church seeks to meet physical needs, share the gospel, and help residents build a stronger future.

“We can see that a lot of those buildings sit empty because the work is not within the four walls of the church. The work is outside and unless we let people know that we care, they could care less what we know.”

Simmons was recently awarded the Texas Baptist Legacy Award for his service to Cornerstone Baptist Church and the surrounding community.

For 30 years, Simmons has encouraged his congregation and volunteers and leaders in Baptist life to unify in serving the Lord by serving others.

“We need to have a kingdom mindset, view the church not only as a local body of believers, but a universal body of believers working collaboratively with our local association, with other Baptist churches, and with our state and local conventions,” Simmons said.

“Baptist churches get it … because of their understanding of the cooperative program. It really doesn’t matter whose name is on it, as long as God gets the glory,” he said.

He also said that same cooperative spirit extends beyond traditional mission projects.

“In light of the challenges we face and the economic conditions we are in, we just choose to look at it as half-full and using the challenges as an opportunity to be able to share Christ, to meet needs, and to love our neighbors the best we can,” Simmons said.

“The church has a number of ministries that are designed around meeting the felt needs of those in our community as a way of building a bridge to share with them their real need which is a relationship with Jesus Christ.”

Meeting felt needs in order to share gospel

Simmons outlined a range of community outreach programs hosted on the church’s campus, including housing for about 100 formerly incarcerated men and similar assistance for women.

The ministry also operates a pregnancy resource center and a maternity home offering safe housing for homeless pregnant women aged 18 to 24.

The campus also features after-school programs and a private Christian school serving pre-K through seventh grade. The school operates on a sliding-scale tuition system to ensure affordability for neighborhood families.

The church provides nearly 10,000 meals a month through a kitchen ministry, a free medical clinic on campus to assist those without health insurance and high deductibles, and summer learning programs for kids to fight summer learning loss.

Cornerstone Baptist Church also started a community garden to battle food insecurity.

“Individuals and the community work [the garden], and our fresh fruits and vegetables are sold at our community market, because we realized that we were in a food desert,” Simmons said.

A food desert is an area where residents have limited access to convenient grocery stores for nutritious and affordable foods.

Simmons said these ministries aim to meet the community’s immediate, felt needs while serving as a bridge to share the gospel and a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Need for volunteers

The need for volunteers and ministries willing to partner with Cornerstone Baptist Church is great as many ministries and nonprofits are facing higher food and service costs and a challenging economic climate, Simmons said.

Volunteers who choose to serve are able to participate in serving meals, donating clothing, caring for infants, and mentoring children, as well as through practical assistance like campus landscaping and bicycle repairs.

The church also utilizes volunteers for specialized services, including facilitating literacy classes and offering professional counseling.

“It’s important for individuals in the church, who understand and who get it, to really mobilize other church members just to come on a fact finding mission—to come down one day to feed the homeless, to work a clothing closet, to read a book with a kid, to visit one of the local elementary schools, to go into a nursing home, and just play bingo,” Simmons continued.

“What we’ve discovered is when individuals come down, then they found out it’s a win-win situation. They are blessed just as much as they are a blessing to those to whom they’re coming to serve. A lot of times overcoming that fear or hesitation, to really get outside of the walls of the church, to go and to serve, really is transformational,” he said.

Churches can connect with Cornerstone Baptist Church through the church’s website, but Simmons said they’re looking for more than volunteers to host Vacation Bible School or distribute food and clothing.

“We need people who are in the finance industry to help us to help people start businesses. We need people to help do financial literacy. We need volunteer groups to come in and do construction,” Simmons said.

“Somebody can come in and do VBS, somebody can come in and feed the homeless, which are all good—it’s OK to give a man a fish. But we’re thinking, ‘How can we teach people to fish and even move further, say, about ownership?’” he continued.

Leaving South Dallas better

Simmons said the church also offers programs and training through economic initiatives for those who are looking to give back to the community and step into entrepreneurial roles.

Simmons said those efforts have become increasingly important as South Dallas has changed over the past two decades.

“On the positive side, we’ve seen tremendous development, a significant reduction in crime, and a stronger sense of community pride,” Simmons said. “A lot of great things have happened in the neighborhood.”

Success within the community has given rise to new concerns, however. “As crime has declined and people have recognized the neighborhood’s value because of its proximity to Fair Park, Oak Cliff, and the Trinity River corridor, the community has experienced gentrification,” Simmons said.

Affordable housing has become one of the community’s greatest challenges, he said.

“Many longtime residents feel they are being pushed out of the community they love. As property values rise, so do property taxes, making it increasingly difficult for some residents to afford to stay.

“Developers are purchasing homes from elderly and longtime homeowners, often for what seems like a good price, demolishing those homes, and replacing them with two houses that sell for $400,000 to $500,000 each. Those higher home values also drive up neighboring property tax assessments,” he continued.

“I think Dallas, across the board, has an affordable housing crisis, where people who love the neighborhood or love Dallas … cannot afford to live in their communities,” Simmons said.

To foster local economic growth, Cornerstone Baptist Church is opening a coworking complex to provide affordable workspace for startups and nonprofits, offering guidance on questions like: “How do I start a business? How do I grow my business? How do I write a business plan? How do I get funding for my business?”

The church is tackling housing instability by renovating purchased apartment buildings and acquiring vacant lots left behind from years of neglect.

“We are working with architects with the goal of building affordable housing for people who want to stay in the neighborhood,” Simmons said.

Driven by a vision to bring peace and prosperity to the area, Simmons noted the ultimate goal of these combined initiatives is simple: “We want to leave South Dallas better than we found South Dallas.”