I’m often asked what I’m excited about or what's new in UBA. The storyteller in me hates that question because I want to sit that person down and tell them the ins and outs of the great stories I have. The executive leader in me knows that I should be prepared for that question at all times and have a ready answer. 

So here are three things I’m excited about and hope to celebrate with you. As with anything worth celebrating, I want to extend a big thank you and ask for your continued help.

1. No other network in Houston does as much ministry training and development across various ministry settings and contexts as UBA.

We have cohorts of African Americans and second-generation Hispanics meeting around the needs of urban ministry; Liederes Transformadores continues to train pastors and lay leaders in Spanish regarding spiritual and congregational transformation; and Hispanic church planters both here and in the Golden Triangle Association are being trained to effectively plant churches.

In total, more than 100 pastors received training this spring. 

2. Event attendance is way up.

We’ve had fantastic speakers, meetings, and conferences on a range of topics—preventing burn-out, improving your preaching, successful discipleship, and more. A few of these events had more people interested than our building could hold. Experts within our own UBA churches spoke at many of these events, which shows the association functioning at its best.

3. Big things are developing for the fall.

We are about to launch the first phase of one of the most audacious plans for city-wide mission collaboration anywhere in the country. I will tell you more at the Annual Celebration, so don’t miss it.

Our Annual Celebration is a night of worship and praise for all that God is doing in our city and region! Make plans to join us on November 5, 5-7 pm. 

A Big Thank You

UBA couldn’t do everything it does without churches supporting the ministry. We regularly celebrate two categories of top givers—total sum and per capita. Obviously, we love both categories! Some churches are in both.

Our total sum givers are our major contributors, and more than half of our budget every year comes from this category. But almost 10% of our budget comes from the per capita category, where churches are giving at least $36 per worship attendee to UBA. Some of those churches are giving as much as $90 per person. One of those churches doesn’t even exist anymore; they set up an endowment for UBA when they closed some years ago. 

Thank you so much to all of our churches for investing in this collaborative effort to strategically advance the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I Still Need Your Help

UBA does a lot of great things. The programs I’ve mentioned above are just the tip of the iceberg. We also do a whole host of vital, Kingdom work that isn’t so easy to put in a newsletter. 

We answer the phone when a church needs a mediator for a staff issue, help with their bylaws, advice on a pastor search, or information to understand their community better. We sit with pastors as they wrestle with burnout. We have hard conversations with church members about replanting and how best to use a building when a congregation can no longer afford it. 

A lot goes into being an association. The staff that serves you is one of the best, most professionally-trained and cross-disciplined of any staff that you will find at any state convention or association nationwide. By the number of churches, UBA is larger than half of the state conventions, but it serves with a much smaller staff and budget. And that’s why we need your help. 

Most churches experience the summer slump of giving, and UBA experiences it right along with you. For whatever reason, however, UBA came into the summer already behind budget. So this summer and fall, I’m asking you to please consider increasing your giving to the association.

If your church is giving less than $100 a month, consider doubling that amount. Consider making UBA a 3% recipient of missions giving from your church. Whenever churches ask how much they should give, I always answer by saying, “Invest in the work and share the burden.” Now I’m asking that you invest deeply and share a little more of the load. 

If you’ve been around the association for any amount of time, you know we believe that we’re “Better Together.” Whether we’re pulling together for resilience training, disaster relief, missions sending, or healthy church planting, it takes each one of us to make our association work.

Let’s keep it strong together. 

Josh Ellis is Executive Director of Union Baptist Association. He has a PhD in Leadership Studies and has served on the UBA staff since 2005. With both practical and scholarly knowledge, he leads the association into innovative collaboration for the sake of strategic gospel advancement.

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