THE SENT CHURCH By Dr. Dennis Wiles Our theme for this year’s missions’ emphasis is: The Sent Church. I like it! It accurately describes who we are as a church family. We are sent! I want you to consider yourself as someone who is sent out by this church! You may be sent to your [...]

HOME TEAM SUPPORT By Diana Richardson Being able to minister to people who have never known Jesus has always been a childhood dream of mine.  I always imagined being able to go to third-world countries and sharing His love and His message.  Now as an adult, not only have I been blessed to visit other [...]

INTERNATIONAL FRIENDS By Sarah Dowdy Who are the internationals in our community?  They are… … university students far from home and family. … business people and their families sent to work in Texas. … scholars with Ph.D.s doing research in their fields of study. … people who came here as the spouse of an American [...]

JR. HIGH MISSION TRIP By Victoria Malone Overall, the Junior High Mission Trip was amazing― amazingly hot, amazingly eye-opening, and amazingly fun. I have never been so sweaty in my entire life, but I have also never seen so many smiles in my entire life over a period of four days. The kids at the [...]

HE’S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD IN HIS HANDS By Kerry Bankhead God is alive and at work.  And the week leading up to our small group of four leaving for New York, proved to us that there are other forces at work as well.  From stressful work weeks to a gruesome leg injury and strep [...]

DO YOUR BEST AND GIVE GOD THE REST By Jacque Bobker These words rushed to mind as we stood on the hot, windy and dusty site of the small mission in Venecia, Mexico. This was not my first Torreon trip but it was my first experience as Vacation Bible School leader. My spirit had been immediately renewed when our mission leader shared these words with me a [...]

POLISHING DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH By Chris Bowerman and Kurt Knapton You may have seen or heard of the movie, “Blood Diamond”, which was nominated for five Academy Awards for its portrayal of conflict diamonds in Sierra Leone.  While diamonds may be the most valuable mineral found in the West African coastal country of approximately [...]

RESTORING HOPE IN SIERRA LEONE By Cindy Wiles The African choir, swaying in smooth rhythmic soul, sang from the rich depths of wounded and tested  hearts, “I need you, you need me, we are together, a family…I love you, you love me, working together in God’s family,” as the friends and partners of Restore Hope: [...]

RELEASED TO SERVE By Miriam Plowman “To live under mandate is to be entrusted with a task of lasting significance. Mandates are not commands. A mandate releases authority and responsibility to pursue endeavors of historic importance. God has entrusted to Christ, and with Him to the Church, a mandate to fulfill His purpose for all [...]

ARE YOU THE MISSING PIECE? By Ben Stokes Have you ever worked a puzzle and gotten to the end only to realize you were missing some pieces?  The picture on the puzzle would never represent its intended meaning as long as there were missing pieces. You search high and low, but the pieces are not [...]