TEXAS

The Texas State Association of Free Will Baptists met last week outside of Houston in the church of former home missionary, Randy Puckett. Their new building was beautiful! With 12,000 square feet, they had plenty of room.

Here is a picture of Randy and me in front of their building:

This is their lobby:

Right off the lobby, they have this room to gather for coffee, etc. Randy said it is a favorite spot.

Here is Shelley Puckett getting some snacks ready:

I'm happy for Randy and Shelley and their church.

Everyone at the Texas meeting was very friendly. Free Will Baptists have nice and good people all over and it was good to be in their meeting.

It was also good to see former home missionaries, Paul Hammons, who now pastors in Conroe, TX and Nick and Angie Stewart, who are still in Victoria, TX.

And it was good to see the present home missionaries in Texas.

We saw Jeff and Sondra Cates there, but forgot to take a picture.

So here is a picture of them in front of the canyon that Canyon, TX is named for.
(Jeff said they should be pouring concrete for their new building next week!)

Sandy and I rode over to San Antonio after the meeting to see the 2 FWB church planters there.

Jeremy and Jill Lightsey and Don and Sonya Bailey are both on the north side of town and still are 30 minutes from each other. We could ring the city with 10 more FWB churches and they wouldn't bump into each other.

Jeremy Lightsey's church is doing well with a Sunday attendance in the 60's. A big prayer request for them is to be able to afford a permanent location.

Here is Jeremy and Jill and their 2 daughters, Adria and Hope.

I asked them to pose for an action shot:

Here is Don Bailey and me in front of their new building. They hope to get it finished this summer.

This is a picture looking into the auditorium. Don said it should seat 160 people.

Don and I made sure we had a picture of us working.

Here is Don and Sonya with 3 of their children: Crista, Calyn, and Carson. Carra and Caleb were out of town.

Surprise! Chaplain Richard Anderson and his wife Faith and their 2 sons, came to Don's church on Sunday. Chaplain Anderson is based in San Antonio, but he travels as a recruiter of chaplains. The Andersons are friends with the other couple in the picture - Don and Marie Wilbanks. The Wilbanks brought their camper to live by the church and help Don with the new building. They have been there 3 weeks already and have been a great help!

We really enjoyed our visit to Texas! It is the second most populated state in the US and could use plenty of more good churches.