Christ Church | Brenham TX

• Justin Hyde
• Feb 8, 2010
• Series: Church Profiles

Planter Profile:

Briefly describe your story of your call to plant a church

"Woe to to me if I do not preach the Gospel" (1 Cor. 9:16)!

How did you build up your core? What advice would you give to guys in the core-stage?

Pray a lot. Try your best to keep in step with God's Spirit. Guard your own heart. Let the Bible do the heavy lifting.

What were the biggest challenges you faced in planting your church (and/or currently facing)?

I moved from an urban area to a semi-rural area. I was new, young, and from the big city. I took me (and our new community) some time to build credibility and trust with those born and raised in this area. My wife and also started with no one, and we knew no one in the area. Thankfully, God called other leaders early on that helped shape the culture of the church, but it took a long time to build a core, get a facility, engage the community, etc.

What advice do you have for men who are wrestling with the decision to plant?

Pray a lot. Go slow. Surround yourself with older godly men, seasoned pastors and planters. Trust your wife.

How do you pastor your family?

If I mess up in my family, I mess up everywhere. My ministry, authority, and responsibility flows from my place in my family. I pastor my small (yet growing!) tribe through daily reading of Scripture, prayer, catechism. And those things are fruitful only because they are woven into the larger picture of daily shared meals, lots of love, lots of talking, lots of praying, lots of instruction and discipline, and lots of grace from God.

How can we pray for you?

Pray that God would be patient, that God would be proclaimed, that God would speak, that God would act, that God would be shown for who he is ... and that we wouldn't stand in the way.

Church Profile: Christ Church
Launch Date: Sept. 2007 
Location: Brenham, TX 

Mission, Vision, Values of Church

We believe that the Christian faith is a call to Proclamation. Therefore, as we experience transformation through the Gospel, we are compelled to share God's story with the world, always pointing people to the sacred Scriptures as the final authority for faith and life.

We believe that the Christian faith is a call to Service. Therefore we submit our lives to Jesus as His servants and seek to imitate Jesus by serving others whom we value more highly than ourselves.

We believe that the Christian faith is a call to Community, not individualism. Therefore we embody the Gospel by living a shared life of intimacy, hospitality, and generosity as we establish a family of pilgrims on a journey of faith together.

What is your philosophy of community in your church and what does that look like practically in your church? Of evangelism?

My purpose and our church's purpose is to serve as a witness (martyr) for Christ's glory. We pour our lives out as witness in three primary ways: Proclamation, Service, and Community. We open our mouths to speak and proclaim God's goodness with every opportunity. We open our homes and our lives and embody the Gospel through service to our neighbors. We also live out the ramifications of the Gospel through life together which is marked by trust, intimacy, honesty, and love. Darrell Guder noted these as the Saying, Doing, and Being of our Gospel mission.

What are some examples of God's grace that you have seen in your life and/or the life of your church?

I am keenly aware that every breath I'm able to take in and exhale is a gift and grace from God. I have found favor with God and have been given an irreplaceable helper in my wife, Brandi. God has rewarded me richly through the birth of my three children. God has, by his grace and mercy and according to his pleasure, included me in his unstoppable work of proclaiming his goodness throughout the world. I am thankful and humbled and honored that I am able to serve in God's church. I am thankful and unworthy of the blessing of pastoring even a single soul.