Texas Southern Baptists Plant a Record 73 Churches in 2026
At the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC) annual meeting at First Baptist Church Forney, in Kaufman County, Texas, Executive Director Nathan Lorick told messengers on the evening of October 26 that the convention planted 73 churches in 2026, the most in a single year in its history. Forty new church planters were recognized on stage that evening alongside their spouses and families.
The planting work runs through Send Network SBTC, the convention's church-planting partnership with the North American Mission Board. Its director, Jason Crandall, who emceed the recognition service, said the planters had "hired moving trucks, signed leases on school cafeterias, and said yes when going later would have been easier." The figures he shared trace rapid growth: plants rose from 35 in 2022 to 67 in 2025 and 73 this year. Through those churches, he said, 30,000 gospel conversations have happened and 3,200 people have come to faith, an average of about nine people a day.
In his report to messengers on October 27, Lorick added that more than 1,000 people from 288 SBTC churches were equipped through personal evangelism training in 2026, the evangelism-focused Empower Conference in February drew more than 3,400 registrants from at least 475 churches, and 1,400 people made professions of faith through SBTC Disaster Relief efforts. The convention now counts just over 2,900 affiliated churches, which give around $27 million a year through the Cooperative Program.
This year's annual meeting theme was "Built on the Rock." Looking ahead to the convention's 30th anniversary in 2028, Lorick said he hopes to see affiliated churches reach 3,000 and Cooperative Program giving reach $30 million by that year's annual meeting, scheduled for San Antonio.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 达拉斯第一浸信会教堂（资料图）。Carol M. Highsmith 摄，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas (file photo). Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
