September 9, 2002
East Texas volunteers have birthed 42 churches
___By John Hall
___Texas Baptist Communications
___As retired businesspeople, Billy and Sharon Whelchel understand supply and demand. As volunteer church starters, they set out to capitalize on it.
___The Whelchels have started 42 churches in East Texas in the past 15 years, with 38 churches still supplying the region with the gospel.
___The churches run the socio-economic gamut and are located in a variety of settings in East Texas. The Welchels have started churches in the richest neighborhoods and the poorest housing projects. Their churches are in trailer parks and among widespread people surrounding a lake.
___"They have a real desire to start churches in places most people won't go to start them," said Jules Soulé, executive director of Gregg Baptist Association. "They start churches where they need to be started. They understand the needs that are there."
MISSION SERVICE CORPS volunteers Billy and Sharon Welchel stand in front of two chapels they started in the same building to reach for Christ the 1,200 people in the trailer park where the chapels are located.
___Soulé has worked with the Whelchels since 1986, when Sharon Whelchel was a volunteer secretary and Billy Whelchel started churches under the director of missions in Enon County. Soulé brought the Whelchels to Gregg County shortly after he moved there.
___The Whelchels are Mission Service Corps volunteers. MSC trains and coordinates volunteers who pledge to work a minimum of 20 hours a week in ministry. The Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas missions undergirds Mission Service Corps and also helps fund church starts in Texas.
___While the Whelchels, who retired after selling their discount stores, have had great success in their work, success has not come easily. Welchel was consistently rejected by church after church when seeking his first sponsoring church for a new congregation. He remembers feeling God had forsaken him. Then, just as he felt lost, God provided a sponsor for Lake Country Baptist Church near Texarkana.
___Church sponsorship can be hard to find, he said. Some congregations do not understand the need for new churches when they see so many existing churches.
___"Yes, we've got churches on each corner, but they're happy with the status quo," Whelchel said. "They're not reaching out anymore. There are a lot of people dying and going to hell out there. There will always be a need for starting churches."
___The churches started by the Welchels have not grown into large congregations, confirming research that indicates people in low- and high-income areas tend not to congregate in large groups. That does not bother Whelchel. He isn't concerned with large congregations, just growing ones.
___"If I come up with one, I'm happy," he said. "I'm no different from other preachers. I'd like to see big numbers, but we'll get there one person at a time."
___There is no secret to church starting, Whelchel said. He "bathes the area in prayer" and does a lot of demographic research. He carefully chooses pastors who can easily identify with the people in the potential congregation, and then he nurtures a core group of believers to help start the church.
___At times, he and his wife--who have been nominated as North American Mission Board Mission Service Corps Volunteer Missionaries of the Year by the Baptist General Convention of Texas--have been the only teachers in the group for Sunday School and Wednesday evening activities. The couple has taught groups of all ages and backgrounds.
___Their united effort not only has led to successful churches but a stronger marriage rooted in faith, Mrs. Whelchel said.
___"It makes me glad we have the same goals," she said. "The Lord told us to go. It makes me feel like the Lord put us together for this purpose."
___Their achievements are all the more impressive considering the Whelchels are volunteers. They are paid only a stipend for the mileage they drive.
___"He doesn't have to do this," Soulé said. "He knows if he continues doing this, his churches will last and people will be added to the kingdom of God."
___The missionary work of the Welchels demonstrates the importance of Mission Service Corps volunteers and of financial support received through the Mary Hill Davis Offering, noted Charles Wade, BGCT executive director.
___"Planting 42 churches with 38 still active is an amazing ministry for a professionally trained, highly paid missionary," he said. "It would be an outstanding lifetime achievement for any person. With thousands of people saved because of these new churches, the total effect will continue far beyond what any of us will see."
___
The Baptist Standard
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