The Legislative Budget Board estimates the cost of the Texas Senate’s school voucher bill could increase from $1 billion in 2027 to more than $3.75 billion in 2030.

But some Christian advocates for public education told a Senate committee the cost could be even greater in terms of the damage school vouchers would do to the principle of separation of church and state.

In a Jan. 28 fiscal note, the Legislative Budget Board reported the estimated impact of Senate Bill 2 would create an education savings account program designed to help parents pay for their children’s private-school education with public funds.

Both Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have expressed strong support for the education savings account program.

Jerry McGinty, director of the Legislative Budget Board, reported the Senate bill could have a cumulative $11 billion negative impact on general revenue funds over four years.

McGinty directed the fiscal note to Sen. Brandon Creighton, chair of the Senate Committee on Education K-16 and sponsor of Senate Bill 2, shortly before his committee heard about eight hours of testimony on the bill.

The fiscal analysis of the program projects half of Texas students currently in private schools would apply for the education savings accounts.

Senate sponsor insists program promote ‘education freedom’

Creighton dismissed the Legislative Budget Board estimate as a “fairy tale” projection, insisting lawmakers would have the power to control costs of the education savings account program through the appropriations process.

The proposed education savings account program would offer “expanded education freedom to our students and our families” in Texas, Creighton asserted.

The program differs from school voucher programs in many states since funds would not go directly to parents but would be disbursed through the state controller’s office directly to eligible education providers, he insisted.

“This is an education savings account with the strongest anti-fraud provisions in the country,” he said.

Of the $1 billion allocated for the program in the proposed budget, $200 million would be available to any students, and $800 million would be earmarked for special-needs children and “low-income” families.

The Senate bill broadly defines “low-income” families as those making five times the federal poverty level. That means a single parent making $105,000 a year—or a family of four making more than $150,000 a year—would qualify.

Violates ‘bedrock constitutional principle’

“Vouchers subsidize the wealthy at the expense of the poor,” Charles Foster Johnson, a Baptist minister and executive director of Pastors for Texas Children, stated in testimony before the Senate Committee on Education K-16.

Johnson characterized the bill as providing “a handout from the public treasury that flings the door wide open to misuse, greed and corruption.”

A program that would redirect public funds to private religious schools violates the separation of church and state, said Johnson, interim senior pastor of Second Baptist Church in Lubbock.

“The state of Texas has zero authority to underwrite religious private schools, nor to intrude into the operation of those schools. Vouchers do both,” he said. “All genuine faith is voluntary and neither needs nor should accept public funding.

“Universal education for all God’s children is a basic human right according to all people. It is provided and protected by the public and is constitutionally guarded by Texas law. The responsibility of this Senate is to ‘public free schools,’ not private schools.”

Charles Luke, coordinator of the Coalition for Public Schools, similarly asserted the education savings account program “violates the separation of church and state by allowing the transfer of taxpayer funds to private religious schools.”

“This is a bedrock constitutional principle, which protects religious freedom in our country by ensuring that the state does not establish a favored religion through funding or any other means and guarantees the free exercise of religion without government intervention,” Luke continued.

Luke, the director of advocacy with Pastors for Texas Children, also pointed to the fiscal costs of similar programs in other states, pointing to Florida, Indiana and Arizona as examples.

“Arizona’s voucher experiment has since caused a budget meltdown,” he said. “The state this past year faced a $1.4 billion budget shortfall, much of which was the result of the new voucher spending.”

Three-fourths of the “universal empowerment savings account” vouchers in Arizona go to students who already were attending private schools and never previously attended public schools, he added.

An immigration enforcement guideline change that allows officers to make arrests in “sensitive locations” including churches means Hispanic churches are “susceptible to disruption and intrusion,” the executive director of Convención Bautista Hispana de Texas stated.

“As a family of churches committed to serving vulnerable populations and ministering in our communities, we are deeply grieved by the recent decision to revoke the policy prohibiting immigration enforcement actions at sensitive locations, including places of worship,” Jesse Rincones said in a statement from Convención.

Benjamine Huffman, acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, issued a directive Jan. 20 rescinding the Biden administration’s guidelines for Customs and Border Protection and for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

The directive removed a prohibition on officers taking immigration enforcement actions in “sensitive areas” such as churches, schools and hospitals.

“This action means that our congregations are susceptible to disruption and intrusion during worship services, Bible studies, community ministries, outreaches and other ministries that serve the community,” Rincones stated on behalf of Convención.

On Jan. 26, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers took into custody a man attending worship services at a Hispanic church in Tucker, Ga., Pastor Luiz Ortiz told CNN.

‘Continue ministering boldly and faithfully’

“While we affirm the importance of public safety, we reject any action that undermines the ability of churches to provide spiritual, emotional and physical care to vulnerable individuals,” Ricones stated.

“This policy shift risks driving immigrant communities further into the shadows, cutting them off from essential spiritual, social and physical support that churches and other sensitive locations provide.”

The Convención statement calls on the Trump administration to “reconsider this harmful policy and to reinstate the sensitive locations guidelines that have allowed churches to remain safe and accessible to all, regardless of immigration status.”

The statement also encourages churches to “continue ministering boldly and faithfully.”

“Do not allow fear to deter you from serving the vulnerable, the marginalized and the stranger in our midst,” the statement reads.

“Together, let us advocate for a more compassionate approach that honors the dignity of every individual and safeguards the church’s ministry and the sanctity of our spaces of worship and service.

“We will continue to pray for wisdom for our leaders and for protection and provision for the communities we serve.”

JT Norcross considers helping students develop as Christian leaders an important part of his role as director of Baptist Student Ministry at Navarro College in Corsicana, but he knows the clock is ticking.

He recognizes leadership development takes time and experience, and serving at a two-year community college inherently limits how much he can accomplish.

So, when he met Preston Cave at Conclave NextGen last October and learned about LeaderTreks, he saw the opportunity for a partnership enabling student leaders to “accelerate their growth.”

As Cave and Norcross talked, they discovered a shared passion to develop the next generation of Christian leaders for service in God’s kingdom now and in the years ahead.

Intensive hands-on summer experience

LeaderTreks offers a variety of resources, curriculum and training opportunities to help students discover their leadership potential and grow as leaders. Norcross particularly became interested in its Leadership Residency Program, an immersive summer experience.

“It’s an opportunity for students to flex their spiritual muscles and work out some of the kinks in a hands-on leadership laboratory,” said Cave, who served as missions and discipleship coordinator for high school and college students at Texas Baptist Men, now Texans on Mission, before joining the LeaderTreks staff.

“It offers a safe place to fail, while setting them up for success in the future.”

Students who are accepted for the program begin at a base camp, where they undergo a series of leadership assessments, attend workshops and participate in mentoring sessions.

After completing training, they are assigned to one of 14 ministry sites around the country. They spend most of the summer working as leaders with a series of visiting short-term church mission teams, planning and facilitating those mission experiences.

 “They leave with a personalized leadership profile unique to them, identifying their strengths and areas for growth, leaving them better equipped for a life of ministry,” Cave said.

Norcross acknowledged the LeadersTreks approach and the summer program is “not for everybody.”

Even so, he looks forward to seeing the impact it has on a select group of students he plans to recommend for the Leadership Residency Program—students he already recognizes as leaders among their peers.

“In the short season I have with them, I want to do as much as I can with them,” he said.

Norcross views the summer program as offering students opportunities to gain leadership experiences beyond what they could get at the BSM or through short-term mission trips.

“It’s more than just going somewhere and serving. They will be setting up an experience for others to serve—planning, organizing and doing the dirty detail work of administration,” he said.

BSM fertile ground for leadership development

Norcross considers BSM fertile ground for developing leaders. During his years in church youth ministry, he observed many students participated because they were compelled to do it—by peer pressure, parental insistence or the prodding of a boyfriend or girlfriend.

“BSM is vastly different. Students genuinely don’t have to be here,” he said. “It brings out students who are naturally leaders and willing to make a commitment.”

Norcross purposefully identifies students with leadership potential and gives them opportunities to lead in the BSM’s ongoing programs.

“These are students who want to grow,” he said. “They already are stepping up and being leaders.”

Norcross sees the LeaderTreks summer program as an opportunity for them to “accelerate their growth” through intensive, hands-on experience.

“I like the practical ministry component,” he said. “In that kind of setting, they’ll learn a little about the pain and stress of being a leader in ministry. In the process, it offers an opportunity for them to learn to rely on the Lord.”

Cave and Norcross believe the partnership between Navarro College BSM and LeaderTreks not only will make a long-lasting impact on students at the Corsicana campus, but also at other schools.

Participants in the residency program become part of a supportive community and network of young Christian leaders dedicated to making a difference in the world, Cave noted.

Norcross anticipates the students who participate in the residency program inspiring other students to seek out opportunities to grow as leaders.

He considers the potential impact even greater at four-year universities, where underclassmen can be led by trained and experienced student leaders over an extended time.

“It gives them something to aspire to,” he said.

Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission filed a legal brief urging the Texas Supreme Court to refrain from overly narrowing the scope of the Religious Service Protections amendment to the Texas Constitution.

The CLC filed the amicus brief Dec. 30 in response to oral arguments on the religious freedom case Perez v. City of San Antonio.

John Litzler, CLC director of public policy, explained the case involves the Religious Services Protections amendment to the state constitution.

Voters approved the amendment in 2021 in response to restrictions imposed by local governments on religious services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background

The lawsuit concerns the City of San Antonio’s development plan for Brackenridge Park—a city-owned park surrounding a bend in the San Antonio River where Native Americans have an ancestral connection and have worshipped for hundreds of years.

The suit, brought by Gary Perez and Matilde Torres, asserts the city’s plan would prevent the free practice of their religion by preventing them from performing ceremonies essential to their beliefs.

The original opinion in the case was filed April 11, 2024. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held the appellants’ argument lacked merit, affirmed the district court’s judgment and denied an emergency injunction pending appeal to stop the city’s public improvements in the Lambert Beach area of the park.

The Fifth Circuit Court later withdrew its opinion and certified a question to the Supreme Court of Texas to interpret the Religious Services Protections amendment for the first time.

Perez and Torres—ceremonial leaders of the Lipan-Apache Native American Church—sued the city citing the free exercise clause of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Texas Constitution.

The suit sought to require the city to grant them access to the area for religious worship, minimize tree removal and allow birds to nest there.

“Following a preliminary injunction hearing, the district court ordered the City to allow Appellants access to the area for religious ceremonies but declined to enjoin the City’s planned tree removal and rookery management measures,” a report on FindLaw explains.

At issue is access to the Lambert Beach area—which will be limited during renovation to the San Antonio River retaining-wall—and the removal of many trees in that section of the park to allow for construction and discourage cormorant nesting in the area where people frequently concentrate.

The Lipan-Apache Native American Church—which blends Native American and Christian beliefs—consider the waters, trees, birds and constellations above the bend in the river a “sacred ecology.”

Perez and Torres contend relocating the birds and removing the trees will prohibit them from performing religious ceremonies dependent on the “sacred ecology” of the riverbend—“the only place in the world” where the practices can be performed, according to Notre Dame Law School’s Lindsay and Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic.

John Greil, an attorney and professor at the University of Texas law school’s Law & Religion Clinic, represents Perez and Torres in Perez v. City of San Antonio. He told a reporter last month Perez and Torres are the first claimants to bring a suit under the Religious Services Amendment. So, the decision in the case will carry significant weight as a precedent.

Concerns about oral arguments

In an email Litzler noted, “while I didn’t ‘take a side’ of either party in the case, I did write to the Court asking them not to agree with an interpretation of the amendment presented during oral argument which we feel would have unnecessarily limited the scope of the amendment.”

The brief points to oral arguments offered by the State of Texas given by Deputy Solicitor General Billy Cole, in which the state suggested the right to take communion “was not within the scope of the amendment.”

The state’s argument relative to these points begins at 3:04:55 in the linked video.

When asked about the right to sing during a worship service, the brief points out, the state suggested “the amendment’s scope was designed to protect the right to gather,” but suggested the amendment’s protections did not extend to the acts of worship taking place at religious gatherings.

The state suggested questions about worship practices, including singing and communion, would be handled under the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act and are protected by the First Amendment, but Cole asserted they are beyond the intended scope of the 2021 Religious Services Protections amendment.

However, the CLC brief notes Rep. Jeff Leach and Sen. Kelly Hancock—authors of the amendment—specifically addressed efforts to prohibit singing in worship when they talked about the impetus for introducing the amendment. They told a gathering of pastors the amendment was designed both to protect the freedom to assemble and the freedom to worship.

“The distinction between the Amendment only protecting the right to gather as opposed to the right to gather and freely engage in worship practices is not merely academic, but essential to protecting religious freedoms of Texas Baptists,” the CLC brief reads.

Using as an example the Baptist ordinances of believer’s baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper as core practices of all who identify as Baptist, Litzler argued Article 1, Section 6a of the Texas Constitution should extend to protecting these practices, not merely the freedom to gather.

The amendment reads: “This state or a political subdivision of this state may not enact, adopt, or issue a statute, order, proclamation, decision, or rule that prohibits or limits religious services, including religious services conducted in churches, congregations, and places of worship, in this state by a religious organization established to support and serve the propagation of a sincerely held religious belief.”

Litzler said the CLC is not siding with either the city or the appellants in Perez v. City of San Antonio, but emphasized, “However the Supreme Court decides this case, they should definitely not decide it doesn’t protect singing and the Lord’s Supper, especially on private property.”

Texans on Mission volunteers spent about two-thirds of last year—235 days—in the field, ministering to survivors of a variety of disasters.

Volunteers deployed 18 times to 25 sites. At one point in 2024, teams worked 131 consecutive days with eight overlapping deployments, offering help, hope and healing to people in need.

“The many disasters last year stretched us,” said David Wells, Texans on Mission disaster relief director. “But our volunteers didn’t bat an eye. They would work hard, think they were about to get some rest and then have to go right back out again.

“That’s commitment. It’s commitment to our Lord and to serving people who are experiencing terrible needs. It is amazing to watch these men and women at work.”

Texans on Mission volunteers contributed more than 15,000 volunteer days—about 128,000 volunteer hours.

They presented the gospel about 350 times, resulting in 63 recorded professions of faith. Volunteers distributed 1,125 Bibles and more than 100 evangelistic tracts, and they made more than 4,800 personal contacts.

“We’ve had great years of service in the past,” said Mickey Lenamon, Texans on Mission chief executive officer. “But last year stands out for the cumulative impact accomplished in helping people and leading them to Christ.”

Volunteer teams prepared more than 200,000 meals and distributed 54,000 bottles of water.

‘We made ourselves available to God’

Heavy equipment operators logged more than 4,850 hours, and chainsaw crews completed 1,157 jobs.

Texans on Mission volunteers completed more than 100 tear-out jobs—removing soaked sheetrock and damaged flooring—after floods, as well as 120 mold remediation jobs. They sifted through the ashes of homes consumed by fire more than three dozen times, helping homeowners reclaim lost keepsakes.

They performed more than 50 structural demolitions and cleared 87 sites after disasters, in addition to covering more than 50 buildings with temporary roofing.

Texans on Mission teams washed about 3,600 loads of laundry for volunteers and about 2,000 loads for the public. They provided access to showers to more than 6,400 volunteers and 5,600 others at disaster sites.

“Some people like to talk about the good old days,” Lenamon said. “But these are the good old days for us.

“We have made ourselves available to God and for service through his churches, and that willingness to serve means God keeps raising us up to help others.”

With additional reporting by Ferrell Foster of Texans on Mission.

When Serenity Center, a residential 12-step rehabilitation center in West Texas, experienced extended power outages in 2021, Primera Iglesia Bautista in Plainview stepped in to help, not fully realizing they would be forging a long-term partnership that would benefit both organizations.

Pastor Jonathan Silva explained the owner of Serenity Center, Paul Walker, is a member of the congregation. Walker reached out to Silva when it became apparent an extended power outage from an ice storm in 2021 would require alternative accommodations for the residents.

Approximately 35 men, women and children would need a place to stay. The church stepped in to provide them a place for about three weeks.

Additionally, church members cooked for their guests and brought food and clothing items, as needed, while powerlines to the center were being repaired.

While the residents only temporarily called the church “home,” the Serenity Center has continued an arrangement of shuttling residents to Primera Plainview on Sunday mornings for worship and on Wednesday nights for a discipleship group.

“They take about two trips, back and forth” Silva said. “One for the men. Then they’ll go back for the women with the children.”

The cooperation between the two organizations has been fruitful, Silva explained. Last year the church observed 24 baptisms. Twenty of those were of individuals from among the group who attend from Serenity Center.

Some choose to stay

Some who have completed the 12-step program, have chosen to remain in Plainview so they can continue to serve with the church.

One of several newer members who came to the church by way of Serenity Center, Xandrea Pierce, has become a vital member of the church. Silva said he tries to give her plenty of opportunities throughout the year to share the story of how God is working in her life.

“Now she’s about three years strong,” coming to the church, he continued, explaining she lived in Lubbock before, but decided to stay in Plainview.

Pierce, whom Silva noted the congregation lovingly calls “Sister X,” said she’d made six attempts with Serenity Center in 2022 to beat her addiction. But on the seventh attempt, she noted, “God went with me,” meaning she allowed God to go with her that time, she explained.

All of the first attempts, she didn’t really want to be there, but wanted to give up and leave, Pierce noted. Eventually, her mother had told her she couldn’t come back home.

Serenity Center offered her several extensions to complete the program. Pierce recalled every time an extension was offered, she sensed God asking, “Will you trust me?”

The first time she got an extension, and she heard God ask, “Will you trust me,” Pierce said, “I just blew it off.”

The next time she got an extension, when she heard God asking if she trusted him, she ignored it again.

The third time an extension was offered, Pierce recalled when she “heard God ask, ‘Will you trust me,’” she gave him a different answer. This time, “I thought, ‘You know what, God, I’m going to trust you,’” Pierce explained.

Not long after her decision to stay until she completed the program, Pierce began going with the group to church at Primera Iglesia. A man from Serenity sang in church the first week she visited.

She’d always loved to sing, she said, so Pierce began singing at the church, too.

But after she sang a few times, Pierce said, “Something in me said, ‘I should get baptized.’” Silva asked her if she wanted to become a member, and she joined the church, she fondly recalled.

“And in March, it’ll be three years that I’ve been clean and three years that I’ve been attending the church. And I sing at the church,” she said.

Pierce noted at other churches she knows, there’s always been at least one person in the church who “turns their nose up” at addicts. But she’s never felt like her past had any bearing on her treatment at Primera.

“Everyone there welcomes them (addicts) with open arms. They welcomed me with open arms. And everyone that goes there, they welcome them with open arms. And they don’t treat anyone any different.”

Pierce said she loves that about her church, noting that quality of being welcoming and the ministry of the church are what has kept her there.

Observable impact

Silva, who has pastored the church since 2020, said the partnership with Serenity Center has made an impact on his congregation.

“I believe the desire for servanthood has really hit another level compared to where we were at,” he noted.

“Seeing the growth that each individual member has had and their contributions—we have individuals who sign up for donuts or breakfast burritos on Sunday mornings, and we never have a problem looking for help.”

Silva noted everyone in the congregation is eager to help and to serve. After baptisms, the congregation hosts a church meal.

“That desire has really built over the years. So, I would say that growth has really come from these encounters that we’ve had over the years,” Silva said.

The community has noticed Primera’s commitment to Serenity Center, too. The first two years of the partnership, “things were pretty quiet,” he said, with the congregation just going about its regular commitments to ministry.

But as Serenity Center residents have completed their stays with the center and reentered the workforce in the past year and a half, word has spread about the church’s care for this population.

Silva estimated at least five first-time visits a year are a direct result of the church’s ongoing partnership with Serenity Center. He’s spoken with community members who’ve shared how their new employees who’ve completed the 12-step program and remained active in their churches are excitedly sharing their faith.

 “There’s a spark beginning to take place,” Silva said. “That’s what I’m really focusing on next year is really just bridging—that you go out and make disciples. I’m really excited about that.”

Primera is a small congregation, with about 25 members, Silva noted. But with Serenity Center, worship services run about 55. They are a big part of the church, Silva noted.

Hannah Hopkins, a senior at East Texas Baptist University and Texas Baptists’ 2024 Prestidge Endowment Music & Worship Scholarship recipient, transferred to the school in spring 2023 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.

Chris Smith, director of Lampsato and professor of worship leadership at ETBU, said Hopkins “impressed us with her audition.” That same day, she was invited to sit in on a Lampsato practice, where she said she “felt really at home.”

Encouraged by her experience at the band’s practice, Hopkins inquired about changing her degree plan from music education to worship. Smith said it was “the Lord’s providence” that Lampsato provided her an opportunity to pursue her passion for worship.

“She [joined Lampsato] the next spring, and she just fit in immediately with our culture, with the friend group,” Smith said. “She’s just an extraordinary student, an extremely talented musician, and so even though she was a transfer student … it feels like she’s always been here.”

Creating “Clothed”

Each academic year, Lampsato works on a recording project, complete with “a couple of covers, maybe an original or two,” that is recorded and released on music streaming platforms in the spring. Smith said the purpose of the recording project is to allow students to exercise their creativity.

“We really encourage students [that] this is a place to write original music, to be creative. When we think about scientists saying the universe is constantly expanding in all directions, I think it’s because being a creator is an attribute of God. He cannot not create, and when we create, we are acting in the image of God,” said Smith.

“So while we certainly don’t shy away from covering other great worship songs at all, I really try to push a creative element into this [project].”

In March, the band started to toss around ideas for an original song to add to their most recent project.

“I just started thinking to myself, ‘Man, I really wish I could write a song.’ I’ve always wanted to do that. And I’ve always prayed that that would be something that the Lord might gift me with, but I’ve just never been able to. So, I just thought to myself, ‘I’d really like to write a song,’” said Hopkins.

She started brainstorming song ideas and remembered one she’d written down previously. This idea would become “Clothed,” the original song she led at Texas Baptists’ 2024 annual meeting in Waco.

“When I got the idea for ‘Clothed,’ I was reading this daily Bible reading plan … and I was in Genesis three, and when I read Genesis 3:21, it said that the Lord took garments of skin and clothed Adam and Eve.

“This was after they sinned in the Garden, and I was like, ‘Man, that’s amazing that God—we turned away from him and we made ourselves enemies to him—and literally the first thing he did was seek out Adam and Eve in the garden and clothe their shame … and gave them that grace that they needed,” said Hopkins.

Hopkins noticed a theme of being clothed throughout Scripture.

“I feel like I hear that a lot in the Bible that God clothed us in different ways, and I started thinking of, you know, he clothed the lilies, and he clothed us in righteousness. And, he clothed us in glory in Revelation. I was thinking through all those things, and I just thought, ‘Man, that would make a good song,’” Hopkins recalled.

She said she had never written a song before, so she “didn’t think anything of it.”

“I heard my friend [who was a songwriter] say one time: ‘If you ever have an idea, just write it down. You might come back to it one day.’ So I did. I wrote it down, and I wrote the Scriptures down that I thought of, and I left it alone for a couple of months until the song kind of came to fruition later,” said Hopkins.

Since “nothing had really come up” for an original song for the recording project, Hopkins decided she was going to try to write “Clothed.”

“I just started typing it out on my notes, trying to figure out the words to this song. I spent that day in class and the next day in class, and I wrote the whole thing in my Notes app on my phone while people were chatting back and forth,” Hopkins explained.

The next week, Hopkins played the drafted song for Smith. He said, “There was so much potential from the very beginning,” and suggested that it be added to the project.

 “It wasn’t long after that we played it for the band, and they were just in love with it, but we had to refine it a little more. So we’re in rehearsal, we got out a big whiteboard, and we’re writing down lyrics. ‘What’s another way we can do this phrase’ or those kinds of things,” explained Smith.

“We spent several weeks just tracking the song in our rehearsals, and then several weeks into the summer creating some final mixes until we felt like we got it just right so we could release it on Spotify and YouTube. Then, we debuted it at our student-led night of worship back in the spring on campus, where all of our worship bands come together.”

A reminder of God’s provision

Lampsato was invited to lead worship at Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Dallas in April, where Hopkins first led “Clothed.”

In February, Tom Tillman, director of Music & Worship at Texas Baptists, had extended the invitation for the band to lead worship at Texas Baptists’ annual meeting in Waco.

Tillman heard “Clothed” at Cliff Temple and spoke highly of the song, so Smith was confident it had to be included in their setlist for annual meeting.

Hopkins said she was “excited and touched by people’s engagement” with her song at the annual meeting.

“I never expected people to enjoy it this much or relate to it this much. You know, you’re your own worst critic, and so I didn’t ever expect it to get the exposure that it got. I just expected it to be Lampsato’s recording song and then move on from there. But people just really grabbed onto it, and I was shocked,” said Hopkins.

Hopkins said she is “so glad that the Spirit is working through that song,” and she’s “impressed with how God is using it,” because it was “the Spirit who gifted [her] with the song.”

“I tell everyone that it was not me who wrote that song. I’ve never written a song before, so I’m pretty convinced that it wasn’t me who pulled this song out. I’m pretty convinced that it was just the Holy Spirit speaking through the Scriptures to me and giving me those words,” said Hopkins.

Tillman said annual meeting attendees were “obviously really moved by the song,” as he received positive feedback after Hopkins led the song.

“It was a proud moment for me, since this was the year Hannah had received the Prestidge music scholarship that helps worship studies majors at Baptist universities prepare for leading in the church,” said Tillman.

Smith said the reception and feedback from attendees who connected with “Clothed” is “one of the highlights of [the song’s] existence.”

“We heard so much positive feedback,” both in person and on social media, Smith said. The song has been streamed more than 1,000 times on YouTube and Spotify.

Hopkins’ hope is that “Clothed” would serve as a reminder of “God’s provision for us and how he keeps his promises from the very beginning.”

“He’s going to provide for our spiritual needs, and he has since the beginning of time. He hasn’t failed to do that yet, and he won’t,” Hopkins said.

Smith said he hopes the song communicates the “unbelievable message of the gospel” and shows that “God is still inspiring creative people.”

“You know, the Scriptures say sing a new song. So, to let people know that God is still inspiring people of all ages, of all genders, to write for his glory, I would love for people to take that away,” Smith said.

He said the song’s creation shows the fruit of Texas Baptists’ investment in the worship program at ETBU. Smith hopes Texas Baptists recognize students “are learning the gospel, and it is being proclaimed through our program.”

Hopkins said her Lampsato bandmates were a “very integral part of making this song” and of her “journey as a worship leader.”

“If I had to [summarize] what Lampsato is into one sentence, it’s really just a family of believers with a common goal of leading God’s people into worship, and I think that it’s a really special thing to be a part of,” Hopkins said. “To get to do that is such a privilege.”

AMARILLO (BP)—South Sudanese attending All Nations Worship Church, a ministry of Paramount Baptist Church in Amarillo, know the pain of those displaced by the war in Sudan, which has created the greatest humanitarian crisis globally.

Paramount Missions Pastor David Preston, who copastors All Nations with Paramount Missionary in Residence Danial Habte, heard the families’ stories long before he heard of Empower One, a gospel humanitarian outreach aided by Southern Baptist Send Relief to help those fleeing the war.

“Through my ESL (English as a Second Language outreach) I just remember … South Sudan becoming a country on its own (in 2011), just the war and the torture, it has really never ceased.” Preston said.

“A lot of them have had family in that area that are from South Sudan or just across the border, some in Sudan. They’re feeling that weight because of family still in the area, or close relatives that have dealt with it directly.”

Preston met Matt Jones, Empower One’s director of biblical education and pastoral care, who told him of a connection with Send Relief that would allow him to provide aid directly to the location he had in mind, impacting those at the center of the Sudanese families’ concern.

“We sent some money to do some food relief. Went through Send Relief, and yet Matt was able to guide that,” Preston said. “I’m so thankful for that connection and I’m thankful for what we’re doing.”

Grant benefits families in several refugee camps

Empower One secured a $100,000 grant from Send Relief in December 2024 in support of a proposed $336,000 project to support households in several South Sudanese refugee camps for six months, said Zach Potts, Empower One’s South Sudan liaison.

With the $100,000 grant, Empower One will support 1,460 households through February, Potts said, providing sorghum, beans and mosquito nets, hopefully helping the families rebuild their lives.

Empower One encourages churches to support outreaches to Sudanese refugees, either through Send Relief or directly through Empower One.

“It’s been forgotten,” he said of the war in Sudan, “and national and international attention is going to Ukraine and Israel. This is not just another small tribal skirmish in Africa. This has impacted well over 10 million people, predominantly mothers and children.”

Send Relief gave $68,000 to Empower One last year for food distributions, Potts said, citing three church plants, 392 professions of faith and 173 baptisms among the nearly 20,000 people the money supported with food and nonfood items.

Potts will visit Malakal, South Sudan, in February, he said, for the grand opening of an Empower One church multiplication center, where the ministry will work to train 30 church leaders and plant five house churches every year until Jesus returns.

“The fact that it’s right there in the middle of this refugee situation seems like a good opportunity,” he said.

In the civil war that broke out in April 2023 between the Sudan Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces, President Joe Biden accused the RSF and their allied militias of genocide Jan. 7.

The Biden administration cited systematic murders of men, boys and infants based on ethnicity; targeted rapes and brutal sexual violence against women and girls based on ethnicity; and the targeted murders of innocent civilians fleeing for safety.

Estimated death tolls vary widely in the ranges of tens of thousands. Nearly 700,000 face the worst famine in Sudan’s recent history, and more than 30 million need humanitarian assistance, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in announcing sanctions against the RSF.

Of the estimated 12 million who are displaced, based on numbers from the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, about 1 million of them have sought refuge in South Sudan. There, the U.N.’s 48 aid partners have received only 24 percent of what is needed to adequately serve those in need, the refugee agency said last month.

Preston is thankful for Empower One’s work in South Sudan not only to support refugees, but also train ministers, plant churches and spread the gospel there. He and Habte hope to travel to South Sudan to witness the work, he told Baptist Press.

Anansi Flaherty, a backup fullback on Katy High School’s 2000 State Championship team, gave his life to Christ in prison. On Dec. 19, 2024, he was baptized—“raised to walk in new life”—outside those walls.

In the presence of the First Baptist Church in Burleson’s Primetimers senior adult ministry and Don Newbury, retired HPU president and retiring co-director of senior adults at the church, Flaherty participated in the luncheon program—featuring his faithful coach and him. Then he climbed into a metal trough to make his faith commitment clear.

Flaherty’s high school coach, Jeff Dixon—who has provided support and familial care since first seeing reports of the terrible crime that led to Flaherty’s incarceration—knelt beside the trough. Jack Crane, pastor of Truevine Missionary Baptist Church in Fort Worth, dipped Flaherty beneath the water.

“God is at work here,” Dixon noted at multiple points in his presentation leading up to the celebrated redemption symbol. Those who could stood and clapped after the baptism.

Many in the room, Newbury noted, had followed Flaherty and Dixon’s story along with him, praying and supporting the young man whose life had taken such a tragic turn, now bearing witness to his redemption this Christmas season.

It was in the Christmas season of 2002 when the Fort Bend County sheriff’s department received a call about a “suspicious male walking down the street.” A witness described large amounts of blood on this clothing and body, a 2003 article reported.

That day was not discussed in the Primetimers’ luncheon program, apart from the handout, and little about it is publicly available or clear. According to several reports, Flaherty remembers few details of that day.

Reports say he recalled being high on drugs, and when he was approached by officers, the 19-year-old said he had killed his mother.

In a plea deal, Flaherty was sentenced to 40 years for first-degree murder, eligible for parole in 2022.

The hero of the story

“God’s the hero of every story,” Dixon began his message to the Primetimers’ luncheon. “And he is most certainly the hero of this one.”

Dixon—whom Newbury described along with his wife Mandy as being among the most notable Howard Payne graduates—explained in his early coaching career, he was “in hot pursuit of me,” rather than attuned to God’s leading.

His early years as an assistant coach, under Bob Ledbetter at Southlake Carroll, led to assisting Coach Mike Johnston in his hometown of Katy. Then he moved to Ennis, where he and his family intended to stay.

In Ennis, the Dixon family lived within walking distance of the church, and, Dixon noted, he and Mandy became more serious about prayerfully listening to God.

When Johnston called him about returning to Katy to assist, which, Dixon explained, would have been seen as a coveted opportunity under a highly respected and successful coach, he initially turned Johnston down.

The family loved Ennis, and Dixon loved to teach. The position in Katy was for P.E. and assistant football coach, but Dixon taught math and didn’t want to give that up, he said.

Johnston understood but “asked me to remain in prayer over it,” so Dixon and his wife did.

Johnston called back just before the end of the year to explain a math teacher unexpectedly was leaving, so if Dixon came to Katy, he’d be able to coach and teach.

“We were convinced because of prayer that God called us to Katy,” Dixon said, noting when “you find yourself in God’s will, he turns you to where he wants you to be.”

They still cried when they pulled away from Ennis, the little town they’d loved so much, but “God was at work,” he said.

Back in Katy, Flaherty played a position Dixon coached, fullback. He recalled Flaherty being a kid everyone liked. Even during disciplinary-type drills designed to “get your attention,” Flaherty kept smiling when anyone else would have been miserable, Dixon said.

Dixon explained assistant coaches were held responsible for the eligibility of the players in their position. Flaherty struggled with math, so he spent many days in Dixon’s office for tutoring. At this time, Flaherty lived by himself in an apartment near the school.

His family would come to check on him often. But at 16 years old and recently released from juvenile detention, he was essentially on his own. Dixon noted if it wasn’t for football, Flaherty would have been in a lot of trouble, musing, “Can you imagine being by yourself like that?”

Sometimes coaches would buy him groceries. Weekly, the Dixon family hosted a meal for running backs at their home. The family got to know Flaherty and care about him, Dixon recalled.

When he graduated, Flaherty went to Texas A&M in Kingsville to continue playing football but came home for Christmas break in 2002. Dixon and his wife, on break themselves, turned on the news—where in the mugshot accompanying a tragic story, they saw a familiar face, Dixon said.

The impact of faithful friendship

Dixon went to see Flaherty in the Fort Bend County jail and continued to visit him weekly for a year. Dixon noted he was present in the courtroom when Flaherty was sentenced to 40 years.

Then the Dixon family went to work praying for Flaherty. Flaherty refers to his time in the penitentiary as being “in the belly of the fish” in a reference to Jonah. All during Flaherty’s incarceration the two men exchanged letters.

Dixon often traveled to visit Flaherty, as he was moved around the state to various penitentiaries. For 22 years, the men stayed in touch, and Flaherty shared in his letters how God was working in his life, signing the letters with “In His grip” and “Your Second Son, Anansi.”

When Dixon asked Flaherty whose grip that was, his answer was, “Yahweh’s.”

For 22 years, Dixon said his conversations with Anansi were through thick glass by a phone with a bad connection.

When he got word in November of Flaherty’s parole and that he was being released to a halfway house in Houston, the family headed there, not realizing there still were restrictions that normally would prevent them from seeing him.

When they arrived, they were permitted to see him and hug him. God was at work there, too, Dixon said, because the parole officer happened to be there and explain Flaherty needed a plan for when his remaining 20 days in the halfway house concluded.

They made a plan, and Flaherty now lives in the Fort Worth area.

Crane, who baptized him, has been handling Flaherty’s transportation to weekly Bible studies at Truevine, until Dixon teaches him how to drive his first car, a standard transmission, gifted to him through a ministry that provides cars to parolees.

Dixon sees that story too as proof “God is at work here.”

In the question and answer with Dixon, Flaherty explained he began to understand the power of forgiveness as an adult in prison.

Flaherty noted in his youth he had anger issues, believing he had to fight back against “the man” and racial injustice. But he learned in prison if he could “let it slide” when a guard upset him, that guard might stick up for him when he needed it.

“You know when someone is really for you,” Flaherty said, when Dixon asked him about friendship. True friendship should be unconditional, not circumstantial, Flaherty asserted.

Just before the baptism Flaherty asked, “Can I leave with an acrostic? G-O-S-P-E-L—God’s Obedient Son Providing Eternal Life.”

THE COLONY—Since launching a new Texas Baptist church plant in September and holding worship services inside a state-of-the-art office and meeting space area, Jamael Graves, lead pastor of Cultivate Church in The Colony, realizes the mission field surrounding his congregation.

“When I realized that 40,000 people come to Grandscape and walk through this destination each day, I realized that it’s a mission field and thought about Matthew 9:38, ‘Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field,’” Graves said. “We are believing God for the laborers.’”

The church plant is strategically placed inside Grandscape—a distinctive outdoor entertainment, dining and shopping destination that includes world-class restaurants, family-friendly experiences and technology-driven entertainment and events.

“We didn’t choose Grandscape for our location. Grandscape chose us,” Graves said. “We thought we’d be in the Galleria square and called to find out how we could host an interest meeting. That’s when their leadership asked us if we’d be interested in using the Grandscape facility.

“We never thought we’d be able to afford it, but they took a drastic decrease off the rent to negotiate with us. That’s a God-thing right there.”

Since feeling called to establish Cultivate Church, Graves notes how God’s hand was guiding and providing in preparation for the new church plant.

Word to the wise: ‘Don’t give up’

However, he acknowledges the journey of planting a church certainly hasn’t been easy. Graves said if he could offer church planters a piece of advice, it would be: “Don’t give up.”

Throughout the church-planting process, Graves noted he often felt inadequate for the task at hand, and some situations seemed impossible. But that is when Graves said God showed up the most.

Graves said church planting has been on his heart for some time, but the timing hadn’t been right—until now.

“Nine years ago, my mom died from HIV because of drug abuse. And the week that she died, I met my father and discovered the reason she never wanted him to be around me was because of his drug addiction,” Graves said.

“I was a school principal, and my dad that I had just met suffered a relapse and was back on drugs. Even though I was sensing that the Lord was calling me to start a church back then, I remember being filled with so many questions, doubts and uncertainties surrounding my life.

“I remember asking the Lord: ‘How am I supposed to lead? Why do you want me to do this?’ I’m coming from a dysfunctional family, and I felt disqualified to plant a church. I felt like I was going through a midlife crisis. So, I needed some time away from the idea of planting a church.”

God gave a new vision

Over the past year, Graves sensed God was stirring in his heart and giving him a new vision.

“I was at a conference and texted my wife that I felt called to plant a church,” Graves recalled. “I didn’t hear anything back from her. So, I assumed she thought I was crazy.”

Later, he discovered the Lord had already been working on his wife’s heart and preparing her for this moment.

“My wife said: ‘God already told me that he called you to this, but I knew you were too hard-headed. So, I didn’t say anything to you. I was just waiting for you to realize when the time was right.’”

Last February, Graves took a giant leap of faith as he quit his job and started putting the plans into motion to launch the church.

By sharing his testimony and life experiences, Graves hopes it will help connect with people from all walks of life and remind those who are hurting about God’s redemption story.

“I’ve learned to trust God and trust the process,” Graves said. “This is God’s plan, not ours. You know it’s from God when it seems impossible. That’s when it shows his power and his plans that are not our own.”

The church takes the inspiration for its name from 1 Corinthians 3:6-9, where the Apostle Paul wrote: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.  So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.”

“We want to see hearts turn back to God,” Graves said. “Through the storms and pain of life, God has been faithful every step of the way. There have been so many hard times, but without a doubt, I know this is what God has called me to do.”

 “We are believing God for the laborers.”

For the 10th consecutive year, death sentences in Texas remained in single digits—a historically low use of capital punishment, a year-end report from the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty noted.

However, “Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2024: The Year in Review,” released Dec. 19, points to continued racial bias and wrongful convictions in the state’s administration of capital punishment.

“Even as use of the death penalty remains historically low in Texas, it continues to be imposed disproportionately on people of color and dependent largely on geography,” said Kristin Houlé Cuellar, executive director of the coalition that produced the report.

Texas executed five prisoners in 2024: Ivan Abner Cantu on Feb. 28, Ramiro Felix Gonzales on June 26, Arthur Lee Burton on Aug. 7, Travis James Mullis on Sept. 24 and Garcia Glen White on Oct. 1. Two were Black, two were Hispanic, and one was white.

Individuals receiving death sentences in 2024 were Victor Godinez on Jan. 31, Paige Terrell Lawyer on April 24, Jerry Elders on May 2, Gregory Newson on Nov. 13, Christopher Turner on Nov. 20 and Jason Thornburg on Dec. 4.  Five of the six who were sentenced to die are people of color.

‘Inequity based on race’

John Litzler, director of public policy for Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission, called the information in the report “disheartening but not surprising.”

“The adage ‘justice is blind’ is a common way to refer to a sense of fairness in our judicial system, but since its inception, capital punishment in Texas has been fraught with issues of inequity based on race,” Litzler said.

The disparity is based not only on the race of the perpetrator, but also on the race of the victim, he noted.

“A defendant is four to five times more likely to receive a death sentence when the victim is white than when the victim was Black,” Litzler said.

The report notes of the 591 executions Texas has carried out since 1982, 115 involved Black people convicted of killing white victims. Only six have involved white people convicted of killing Black victims.

“Overall, 411 of the 591 executions in Texas have involved white victims,” Cuellar noted in response to a question from the Baptist Standard.

Litzler commented: “These statistics and those in the report are in direct contrast to the values and beliefs of Texas Baptists who have repeatedly affirmed that all life is inherently valuable and precious.”

“We should be compelled by both our Christian faith and the American pledge of ‘liberty and justice for all’ to take action,” he said.

“The CLC encourages all Texas Baptists to be knowledgeable and informed about the criminal justice practices in their district, to vote, to participate in jury duty, and to advocate for legislation aimed at removing racial inequality from our system of justice.”

‘Arbitrary nature of the system’

While both the number of death sentences handed down and the number of executions carried out in the state dropped precipitously in recent years, Texas has executed more than any other state since 1982.

Texas was one of nine states that carried out executions in 2024, with Alabama accounting for the most, with six people put to death. Alabama, Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma were responsible for more than three-fourths of the executions. The other states that performed executions were Florida, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah.

Texas juries sent six individuals to Death Row in 2024, with three of those sentences handed down by Tarrant County juries. Since 1974, Tarrant County juries have sentenced 76 people to be executed.

One-third of all death sentences in the past five years have come from Tarrant County and Harris County. Juries in only 13 of the state’s 254 counties have imposed new death sentences in the last five years.

“The TCADP annual report for 2024 makes me wonder when the state of Texas will finally decide that maintaining the machinery of death is just not worth it. It is not worth the threat to innocent life, the racially unjust application of the system, and just not worth the cost,” said Stephen Reeves, executive director of Fellowship Southwest.

 “While I’m glad there are so few death sentences handed down, and so few executions, it only highlights the arbitrary nature of the system.”

Wrongful convictions

The report also highlights the problem of wrongful convictions.

In death penalty cases involving Melissa Lucio and Kerry Max Cook, courts made determinations of “actual innocence.” Cook was exonerated by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals nearly 50 years after his conviction. In Lucio’s case, the appeals court is considering whether to accept the trial court’s recommendation to overturn her conviction.

Ivan Abner Cantu was executed in spite of recanted testimony by a key witness and evidence another witness lied at his 2021 trial. Questions about the case prompted the foreman of the jury that convicted him to call for a halt in his execution.

However, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously denied Cantu’s clemency application, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied his request for a stay of execution.

James Harris Jr., who was scheduled for execution in March, received a stay of execution from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. He and his attorneys asserted the jury selection process was tainted because it dramatically reduced the likelihood of Black potential jurors being called to serve.

Ruben Gutierrez received a last-minute stay of execution from the U.S. Supreme Court in July. Gutierrez and his lawyers assert DNA testing will confirm he did not kill Ecolastica Harrison in Cameron County in 1998.

The most high-profile case involved Robert Roberson, who faced execution in October before receiving a last-minute temporary stay from the Texas Supreme Court. Roberson was convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter Nikki, based largely on the discredited “shaken baby syndrome” hypothesis.

Roberson’s attorneys point out new medical and scientific evidence indicates the chronically ill child died of serious health issues, including undiagnosed pneumonia, not homicide.

The case drew attention from a bipartisan group of state lawmakers who took the unusual step of issuing a subpoena for Roberson to appear before the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence.

“The fact that two former death row inmates were declared actually innocent this year alone ought to be enough to stop the march towards state-sponsored killing,” Reeves said.

“The Roberson case proves that even when laws are written to try and stop executions based on bad science, the system still fails the innocent.

“It is well past time that Texas ends this barbaric and unjust practice.”

BROWNSVILLE—Texans on Mission assembled a “dream team” of volunteers to bring Christmas—and its Christ-focused message—to the Rio Grande Valley Dec. 13-19.

“This year’s annual Christmas in the Rio Grande Valley really featured a dream team of volunteers,” said Sabrina Pinales, director of missions and discipleship with Texans on Mission.

“We had a group of 11 students from Go Now Missions, a six-person team from Watermark Health, eight members of Grapevine’s First Baptist Church, and a group of new and repeat volunteers.”

The volunteers concentrated their efforts in the Brownsville, Mission and Donna areas. They also partnered with local churches Iglesia Bautista Horeb and Casa de Oracion Church to reach into several communities, many of them with underserved families.

Billye Rhudy of Coryell Community Church in Gatesville noted it was her second time volunteering with the Christmas in the Valley event, along with her husband, Sam.

“Part of our purpose is to serve the community,” she explained. “And we want the community to know that Jesus loves them.”

The group held several events designed to benefit the communities they served.

Volunteers:

• Painted the interior of Casa de Oracion and built a new fence on its property.
• Served lunches to teachers and staff of local schools.
• Distributed Christmas gifts such as toys, warm blankets and food donated statewide through Texans on Mission.
• Built and assembled beds for families.
• Held medical clinics.

All of these ministries, Pinales said, “worked together to bring the Christmas message and our Texans on Mission brand of help, hope and healing to the Valley.”

Olber Roblero, pastor of Iglesia Bautista Horeb, said the team also magnified the efforts of his congregation to reach into their surrounding community.

“Texans on Mission is helping our church and the community in different ways. First of all, they are helping us build relationships with the schools and the community and the church itself. So, by doing that, we are showing Christ’s love to the people who don’t know Christ yet.

“The other way they’re helping us is to strengthen the relationships that we already have with the resources they’re bringing all the way from the north, from all over the place and from different churches, and putting together a team to be able to come here.”

Providing for those in need

During one of the community distributions, the team gave toys, blankets and food to children determined to be unaccompanied immigrant minors from two area shelters.

For Billye Rhudy, it was an opportunity to speak her faith to this special group.

“Our heart is always with those who are disenfranchised and those who come across and don’t have a home,” Rhudy said.

The Watermark Health team provided health clinics two days at Iglesia Horeb. Team member and physician assistant Megan Landon, who provided consultations to families, said the team sought to “provide the community with resources to navigate the U.S. healthcare system.”

The team dealt with “complaints that patients might have, such as pain or chronic conditions that patients need to be followed up with, such as diabetes or high blood pressure. We’re also seeing things like viral illnesses, coughs, colds, flus.”

The team saw more patients than the clinic’s daily capacity, she said, leading her to believe “that the people here need access to healthcare that is affordable or free, and it’s difficult to get that in the U.S. sometimes.”

The Christmas in the Rio Grande Valley effort fit the mission of Watermark Health, a ministry of Watermark Church in Dallas, Landon said.

“We exist to glorify God and make disciples. So, we want to make disciples of all nations,” she said. “By serving here, we want to share the hope we have in Jesus Christ, and so we’re hoping to tell people about the salvation and joy they can receive from knowing Jesus.”

Serving the community

Go Now Missionary Angelica Martinez, a student at the University of Texas–Rio Grande Valley, paused from her duties serving brisket lunches to teachers at Senator Eddie A. Lucio Jr. Middle School to share her perspective on the Go Now Missions team experience.

“We’re serving our community and the teachers, showing our faith and expressing to them how much Christ loves them,” she said.

Cal Vande Zande of Grapevine’s First Baptist Church was part of a team that built and distributed beds and mattresses to families in need “on the very first day. And that was by cutting lumber to dimension, cutting it all to size, and then building a bed to make sure that it worked, and then practicing putting it together.”

The team distributed and assembled the beds the next day, Vande Zande said, explaining conditions in the homes “varied quite a bit.”

“Some of the homes were nice, other ones not so much. There was one room that we got into where there was just barely enough space for the bed, and it was very difficult for the people to put the bed together, but they got the job done,” he said.

Claire Golema, another Grapevine’s First Baptist member, helped assemble and distribute the beds as well.

“I got to go out and give out two of the beds to the children, and they were just so excited to have a bed,” she said. “I can’t imagine not having my own bed or even my own room, and these beds were going into basically the first room you walked into in the house, but they were so excited that they had a bed, that it was theirs.”

Golema also helped serve lunches to school teachers, an act she said “really opened the conversation between them and the church that is across the street, that perhaps they pass every day and didn’t realize was there. And so, that’s been a really good way to reach out to them and to help them to know that God isn’t just in a building. God is outside of the building.

“I hope that they would see that God can change things—that he’s relevant for their life. I think that’s my prayer—that people would see God differently because of what we’ve done this week.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: The 3rd and 4th paragraphs were updated, along with the 4th paragraph in the “Providing for those in need” section, when additional information was made available.