I recently traveled to Houston, Texas to worship at our two Seventh Day Baptist Churches. Houston is home to the Johnson Space Center, the Texas Medical Center, and two fantastic Seventh Day Baptist Churches. The First Seventh Day Baptist Church of Houston as well as her branch church, Jesus Es Tu Solucion, are reaching out into Houston, the fourth largest city in the United States based on population.
The demographics of Houston raise an awareness of opportunities that we have as Seventh Day Baptists. A full 20% of the Houston Metro population are spiritual “nones”—they do not affiliate with any religion. On the one hand, that can be discouraging—the size of the “nones” continues to grow in the United States. On the other hand, this can be seen as a tremendous opportunity. 8% of the Houston Metro population states that while they do not ascribe to any religion, they consider religion to be very important.[1] For the Houston area, that means that over 500,000 people do not have a religion, but recognize that it is important. That sounds like a lot of people who are potentially hungry to hear about Jesus. It is not Houston alone that has this hunger—this is an opportunity we have throughout the United States.
One outstanding way to pray for church planting and revitalization efforts in places such as Houston is to be a member of Team 21. The Team 21 initiative facilitates prayer for new SDB groups and yet-to-be planted SDB groups. The prayer initiative also provides prayer support for planters, leaders, and people yet to be reached by SDB’s. If you would like to invest in Team 21, this is your opportunity. Simply click here for more information and follow the sign-up process to engage. The next prayer focus launches on March 1st—right on time to join up and pray.
Grace and peace,
Carl Greene, Executive Director of the SDB General Conference of USA and Canada
[1] https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/metro-area/houston-metro-area/
