Did you know that the writer of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb” launched a campaign to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday? In 1827, Sarah Josepha Hale began writing letters to politicians and publishing editorials on behalf of the effort, which eventually culminated in President Lincoln granting the request in 1863, in the midst of the Civil War. 

Did you know that the first state to officially adopt an annual Thanksgiving holiday was New York in 1817? That should be easy to remember as many of us watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade on television. Unless you’re one of the 2-3 million people that view the parade live every year, then you might be distracted by other things. 

Giving Thanks Around UBA

There are so many things to be thankful for across UBA, it’s hard to know where to start, and I certainly won’t cover everything. God is going great things in our midst.

Multiplicative Sending

One year ago, we launched Sending Pathways, an initiative working with local churches to develop intentional systems that lead to multiplicative sending. In other words, churches working together to develop from within themselves crop after crop of those called to Great Commission tasks like church planting, leading revitalization, working with people groups, and international missions. After a lot of discussions and vision casting, churches are beginning to respond, cohorts are beginning to form, and curious questions are being asked. The beginning of an initiative is the hardest part, but we’re very excited about what the future holds.   

Part of Sending Pathways is an intentional focus on replanting churches. Over the last few years, UBA churches have collaborated together to do several different kinds of replanting, and as we tell the stories, more churches seek us out to start the process. One such church’s story is in the video below, and I think you’ll join me in giving thanks for what God is doing when people are humble, obedient, and cooperate together. 

We will also be working with NAMB's Send Network and Texas Baptist to host the Am I a Replanter? Conference here in Houston this January. This conference is designed to inform and equip potential church replanters and leaders in the ministry of replanting. So, if you want to learn more about church replanting or bring along others who are discerning a call to ministry, this conference is for you. There's also a track for church replanters’ wives.

Thriving Churches

Throughout this year, the African American Ministry Team comprised of Consultants (and Pastors) Michael Pender, Bryant Lee, and Lawrence Scott have led our effort to reconnect with churches and provide practical ministry training on Saturday mornings as part of the Thriving Church series.

Each month, between 40-70 pastors and staff gather to hear speakers and dialogue through topics that make a real difference in the life of their ministry. In addition to the training calendar, each member of the team meets with pastors individually and helping to produce the Pastors Gala coming up on December 6. If you hurry, you can still sign up and join us that night! 

Hispanic Leadership Development

One of the things that I give constant thanks for at UBA is that for virtually every service we provide in English, there is a counterpart service provided in Spanish that is equal or better. Consultants Campo Londoño and Victor Marté bring years of expertise and consulting to help our Spanish-speaking churches, along with providing leadership to Líderes Transformadores—a process of personal transformation that ultimately impacts their families and ministries.

This program, which involves a number of UBA pastors as instructors and facilitators, has been so successful that two other associations have asked to attend and be coached in how to start their own LT program. Please watch the video below and give thanks for what God is doing through your support.  

Giving Thanks Personally

A moment of personal thanks are in order. I couldn’t do this job without the loving support of my wife Valerie and my boys, who understand that I have to travel from time to time, who give up a couple of Sundays each month so that I can be amongst UBA churches, and who occasionally sacrifice weeknights so that I can assist churches in real time. 

I’m eternally grateful for the vocal support that I have received from so many UBA pastors and staff members over the last 18 months, my first as executive director. The UBA moderators have been a constant source of encouragement, and countless pastors seemed to have a knack for asking about my day at just the right time. 

Lastly, the association is the churches, but it is served by a tremendous staff team without which I would be lost in the tall grass. Just because I named a few of them throughout the course of this blog, don’t be fooled, they’re all invaluable. Every person, regardless of whether they are paid or volunteer and regardless of what state they live in (Marie, our communications specialist lives in North Carolina), is a high capacity professional that loves our churches and our city. But in addition to that, they care about each other. It’s such an honor to work alongside this team, and I hope I serve them well. As our friend Ron used to say, “I love what I do and who I do it with.” His words were never more true. I’m so thankful for my team. 

Thank you for indulging me. Thank you for supporting UBA and for praying for UBA. #BetterTogether.