SBC Church Plant In An Area of "Great Need" - Fort Worth, Texas

[illinoisguy]

"You will recall that Ben Lacey stated in his bio that he was 'burdened to return to the Fort Worth area to see more healthy churches established.'

"Ben (ben) Robin said that he and Anna (uh-nuh) 'are eager to see healthy churches established elsewhere, particularly in areas of great need, such as Fort Worth.'

"Hold on there, Ben and Ben. Are you guys serious? I did a search of a 50-mile radius of the DFW metroplex to ascertain how many Southern Baptist Churches there were. The result? 1,800!

"Great need, you say? . . .

"Just a thought, but I believe I could think of a few places in North America that could use a Baptist church more desperately than the DFW area. . . . Here is a map showing the location of Trinity River and its proximity to SWBTS. Talking to Dee, a former resident of the Dallas area, I am told any area around water in the DFW area is pricey. So it would appear that Trinity River has done its homework on where to locate. It never ceases to amaze me how so many churches seem to find the greatest need for the gospel in upper-middle-class neighborhoods. Ahh, the Lord works in mysterious ways! . . .

Why is it that these guys never see a need in the inner city.

"Folks in the inner city don’t have much money."

1800 SBC Churches in the DFW Metroplex But Hard to Find a Healthy One | The Wartburg Watch 2024

thewartburgwatch.com

 

[Baptist Renegade]

"You will recall that Ben Lacey stated in his bio that he was 'burdened to return to the Fort Worth area to see more healthy churches established.'

"Ben (ben) Robin said that he and Anna (uh-nuh) 'are eager to see healthy churches established elsewhere, particularly in areas of great need, such as Fort Worth.'

"Hold on there, Ben and Ben. Are you guys serious? I did a search of a 50-mile radius of the DFW metroplex to ascertain how many Southern Baptist Churches there were. The result? 1,800!

"Great need, you say? . . .

"Just a thought, but I believe I could think of a few places in North America that could use a Baptist church more desperately than the DFW area. . . . Here is a map showing the location of Trinity River and its proximity to SWBTS. Talking to Dee, a former resident of the Dallas area, I am told any area around water in the DFW area is pricey. So it would appear that Trinity River has done its homework on where to locate. It never ceases to amaze me how so many churches seem to find the greatest need for the gospel in upper-middle-class neighborhoods. Ahh, the Lord works in mysterious ways! . . .


"Folks in the inner city don’t have much money."

1800 SBC Churches in the DFW Metroplex But Hard to Find a Healthy One | The Wartburg Watch 2024

thewartburgwatch.com

I like the 9 Marks ministries but if they are bent upon starting new Churches where there is already a glut of other good Churches that (maybe with a little bit of help) could become GREAT Churches, there is a problem! I usually refer to the 9 Marks church locator as a starting point to find good churches in particular areas.

With that said, DFW is basically the "Buckle of the Bible Belt" and it seems their main area of Church Growth would be (perhaps) students from SWBTS and other SBC Churches where people are either disgruntled or looking for a place where they have opportunity to climb the "Ecclesiastical Ladder" to bigger and greater things!

And yeah, why doesn't anyone feel led to start a new work in the south side of Dallas?

"Church Planting" pretty much anywhere in Texas is the least of my priorities! Let's work on what we already have and help struggling congregations! This is wherein my burden lies.

 

[ALAYMAN]

Yes, I think the motives of where to plant a church (in only affluent areas already saturated with “good Churches”) is worthy of critical analysis, but, the obvious bias against 9Marks (“9Marxist” et al) in that website leaves me very leery of their perspective/opinion.

 

[AverageJoe]

We need more churches here in the South like a flooded area needs more rain! LOL UGH!

 

[Baptist Renegade]

We need more churches here in the South like a flooded area needs more rain! LOL UGH!

The good Churches need support and encouragement. The bad Churches need to be closed PERMANENTLY!

And BAPTISTS need to find a way to get along better rather than getting disgruntled and splitting Churches or feeling they always need to start a new Church that is not "Apostate" or to utilize some newfangled gimmick invented by Hybels or Warren!

 

[abcaines]

And BAPTISTS need to find a way to get along better rather than getting disgruntled and splitting Churches or feeling they always need to start a new Church that is not "Apostate" or to utilize some newfangled gimmick invented by Hybels or Warren!

The issue isn't with just Baptists; ALL believers need to quit squabbling over things that don't matter. And that would include many issues folks on this forum love to squabble over.

I'm listening to J Vernon McGee teaching through 1Kings right now. The kingdom is divided and the kings of Judah and Israel are locked in civil war which is depleting their resources. The kings of Syria, Assyria and Egypt are taking advantage of the instability and attacking both Israel and Judah. Sounds like the Church today doesn't it?

 

[Baptist Renegade]

The issue isn't with just Baptists; ALL believers need to quit squabbling over things that don't matter. And that would include many issues folks on this forum love to squabble over.

I'm listening to J Vernon McGee teaching through 1Kings right now. The kingdom is divided and the kings of Judah and Israel are locked in civil war which is depleting their resources. The kings of Syria, Assyria and Egypt are taking advantage of the instability and attacking both Israel and Judah. Sounds like the Church today doesn't it?

A couple of years ago, I encountered some street preachers at a stoplight (very rare occurrence these days) and wanted to give then a word of encouragement if possible so I asked "What Church do y'all go to?" and they told me "They didn't go to Church because they are all Apostate!"

Needless to say, my "Word of Encouragement" turned into a necessary rebuke! I told them I could sympathize as many Churches have left off the preaching and teaching of sound doctrine but when it came down to it, if you cannot get along with ANYBODY, then it is time to take a good look at yourself! As the light changed, I told them "There are many out there who have not yet bowed their knee to Baal! Obey the Lord and FIND THEM!"

 

[abcaines]

A couple of years ago, I encountered some street preachers at a stoplight (very rare occurrence these days) and wanted to give then a word of encouragement if possible so I asked "What Church do y'all go to?" and they told me "They didn't go to Church because they are all Apostate!"

Needless to say, my "Word of Encouragement" turned into a necessary rebuke! I told them I could sympathize as many Churches have left off the preaching and teaching of sound doctrine but when it came down to it, if you cannot get along with ANYBODY, then it is time to take a good look at yourself! As the light changed, I told them "There are many out there who have not yet bowed their knee to Baal! Obey the Lord and FIND THEM!"

There is no room for tolerance in matters of being apostate.

 

[illinoisguy]

Statement in 2010 by current SBC President Bart Barber (he was not SBC President at the time he put this on his blog). This is "telling it like it is:"

"If younger Southern Baptists are serious about getting resources out to where lostness is, then we will witness some stanching of the flow of young seminary graduates out to plant new churches throughout the Southland. If it is wrong for a local congregation to keep the preponderance of its money and if it is wrong for a state convention to keep the preponderance of its Cooperative Program receipts within a state, then it is equally wrong for seminary graduate after seminary graduate to cram their new church starts into wealthy Southern suburbs tighter than sardines in a can.

"The guy who just planted a church in suburban Atlanta? I don't need to hear word one from him about the pressing need to get more resources out to the darkest areas of lostness. Every one of those church plants increases the staff overhead, marketing overhead, and equipment overhead incurred for kingdom work on that area. Many of them increase the facilities overhead.

"If the Southern Baptist Convention's leaders are really serious about getting more resources out to reach the most lost areas of the world, they ought to reject entirely the notion of widespread church planting (apart perhaps from language work) within the strength areas of the SBC and labor hard to curtail it—and yet a steady stream among our seminary graduates eschew established churches and choose to create yet another local church bureaucracy in communities already served by multiple congregations, reducing with each new work the funding available to send to the nations. . . .

"The multi-site movement and the preponderance of domestic SBC church planting is focused like a laser upon those areas where people with lots of money live in church-friendly cultures—places where it is easy to fill a church with rich people. . . .

"Of course, rich people need to go to church, too. I'm in favor of our having churches in rich areas. If we see things rightly, we recognize that every Southern Baptist church is situated in a rich area. But most of those areas being targeted already have churches in their midst. Most of them have had churches in the community for a long time. Indeed, if Prosper, TX, already has 8 Baptist churches within 10 miles of the town center, is the cause of the Great Commission really best served by another Prestonwood campus locating there? Forget the fact that this multi-campus business is nothing more nor less than the concoction of an ecclesiology from someplace other than the New Testament and just look at the economics of the thing. Yes, there are some lost people left in Prosper. Yes, the churches already there will not reach them all (nor will 1,000 churches if we plant them all there). But comparatively, can we really say that the wealthiest fringes of the urban South are the highest priority for the Great Commission?"

Praisegod Barebones

The online musings of Bart Barber

praisegodbarebones.blogspot.com

 

[abcaines]

A couple of years ago, I encountered some street preachers at a stoplight (very rare occurrence these days) and wanted to give then a word of encouragement if possible so I asked "What Church do y'all go to?" and they told me "They didn't go to Church because they are all Apostate!"

Needless to say, my "Word of Encouragement" turned into a necessary rebuke! I told them I could sympathize as many Churches have left off the preaching and teaching of sound doctrine but when it came down to it, if you cannot get along with ANYBODY, then it is time to take a good look at yourself! As the light changed, I told them "There are many out there who have not yet bowed their knee to Baal! Obey the Lord and FIND THEM!"

Interesting because a couple days later I listened to McGee talking about Elijah and the 7,000 who had not bowed the knee. McGee asked, "Where were they? They were hiding in the mountains. Elijah never knew about them."

 

[Baptist Renegade]

There is no room for tolerance in matters of being apostate.

No argument from me and if all the churches in the area actually were "Apostate," they should feel responsibility to start a Church (but please don't, hear me out on my point) that was not but the fact of the matter is that not all Churches in the North Houston/Tomball area (where I was living at the time) were apostate! They just (truth be known) refused to submit themselves to the authority of ANY Local Church and would rather just do their own thing!

You may not agree with EVERYTHING a Church teaches or believes and there may be disagreements regarding ecclesiastical and philosophical matters but guess what; not everyone AGREES WITH YOU!

I found myself headed down this very path! When I left the "Model IFB Church," I was HARD-CORE KJVO, IFB Fundamental Baptist and taking such a stand attracts all sorts of kookiness (ask me how I know) and cultivates extremely critical attitudes to where you cannot get along with anyone and they cannot get along with you. If you think "Ruckmanites" are nutso, they are just the tip of the iceberg! I did not abandon the KJVO position because I was convinced it was wrong, I abandoned it because I came to the realization that it was the only way I could escape the lunacy and actually find a good, sound Church that I could otherwise accept!

Had I not made the decision to abandon the extreme KJVO view, I probably would have been the gentleman I was confronting or worse, I could've abandoned the whole mess and turned atheist or something!

I know of what I speak! If you cannot get along with ANYBODY, you had better take a good look at yourself!

 

[sword]

Regarding starting good churches, can I recommend New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont), it has a population of 16 million people and less Baptist churches per capita than any other region of the country. Throw in the state of New York and you have 35 million people to minister to within 200 miles of Boston, Mass.

People seem to want to start churches in Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Texas where we already have so many good churches.

 

[Dr. Huk-N-Duck]

Regarding starting good churches, can I recommend New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont), it has a population of 16 million people and less Baptist churches per capita than any other region of the country. Throw in the state of New York and you have 35 million people to minister to within 200 miles of Boston, Mass.

People seem to want to start churches in Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Texas where we already have so many good churches.

You’re exactly right. Everyone gets “called” to open churches where it’s easy pickings. Go to the NE where you’ll be battling the liberals and lifelong Catholics.

 

[AverageJoe]

Regarding starting good churches, can I recommend New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont), it has a population of 16 million people and less Baptist churches per capita than any other region of the country. Throw in the state of New York and you have 35 million people to minister to within 200 miles of Boston, Mass.

People seem to want to start churches in Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Texas where we already have so many good churches.

My wife and I have many good friends and even a former pastor in the New England area. Pastor Woody Proffitt is a pastor in the Big Apple, and has been there a few years now. His church is "inner city." Another friend of mine is a pastor in New Jersey. We have several more who are pastors and have started churches in the New England section of the country. We used to want to start a Baptist church in Connecticut, but the Lord closed the door on that.

 

[ALAYMAN]

Regarding starting good churches, can I recommend New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont), it has a population of 16 million people and less Baptist churches per capita than any other region of the country. Throw in the state of New York and you have 35 million people to minister to within 200 miles of Boston, Mass.

People seem to want to start churches in Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Texas where we already have so many good churches.

I had a church experience that was weird up around Boston while on vacation long ago. I hadn’t scouted a church of like faith we could attend ahead of our trip so I scoured the net and did the best I could to find something suitable. We showed up early and found our spot in the back of the Baptist church. As people started matriculating in and sitting down it became more and more apparent as the crowd gathered that the women sat down on opposite sides of the church from the men. We felt pretty weird but figured their custom wasn’t our conviction so we stayed right where we had sat down.

 

[Dr. Huk-N-Duck]

I had a church experience that was weird up around Boston while on vacation long ago. I hadn’t scouted a church of like faith we could attend ahead of our trip so I scoured the net and did the best I could to find something suitable. We showed up early and found our spot in the back of the Baptist church. As people started matriculating in and sitting down it became more and more apparent as the crowd gathered that the women sat down on opposite sides of the church from the men. We felt pretty weird but figured their custom wasn’t our conviction so we stayed right where we had sat down.

What kind of Baptist church is that? I’ve heard the Amish do that practice.

 

[sword]

I've heard stories of churches who had a non-member section and even a sinners section for the unsaved in some cases.

I would not have believed them except every story came from people I trusted implicitly.

 

[ALAYMAN]

What kind of Baptist church is that? I’ve heard the Amish do that practice.

Not sure what their heritage was, but Primitive Baptists practiced this segregation, as well as many colonial Protestant denominations . And the habit is often theologically traced back to the church fathers such as Augustine via developmental thoughts of piety and focus during the corporate gathering of the Church.

 

[Baptist Renegade]

You’re exactly right. Everyone gets “called” to open churches where it’s easy pickings. Go to the NE where you’ll be battling the liberals and lifelong Catholics.

Practically "Pioneer Missions" in what was once a Puritan stronghold! I'd make double-sure I was "Called" and then remove all expectations of building a "Mega" Church and perhaps expect to spend several years holding services in your living room before getting to the point where you could rent a storefront.

EDIT: I just pulled out a name (Northampton, MA) and did a search on the 9 Marks website and only two Churches came up so if there are any "Church Planters" here, this may be where there is a need for more Churches.

 

[AverageJoe]

Not sure what their heritage was, but Primitive Baptists practiced this segregation, as well as many colonial Protestant denominations . And the habit is often theologically traced back to the church fathers such as Augustine via developmental thoughts of piety and focus during the corporate gathering of the Church.

We've got some Primitive Baptists here in our area. They practice women on one side, men on the other from what I've been told.