DICKINSON, Texas — The church plant Kade Pierce is leading is in its infancy, but already he knows the value of the collective support behind him — and it’s something Southern Baptists across the generations also have realized.

“Truthfully, the Cooperative Program (CP) is helping me make this happen,” Pierce, pastor of Eastside Community Church in Dickinson, said. “The Cooperative Program is allowing me to live out God’s call on my life.”

Pierce was trained at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS), and God used Matthew 9:37-38 to propel him to 10 years of student ministry leadership at Bay Area Church in League City, which is in Galveston County. 

When that church’s lead pastor, Brian Haynes, approached Pierce about planting a church, “It was a long process of me coming around to God warming my heart to that work,” Pierce said. 

Again, the Cooperative Program, Southern Baptists’ 100-year-old unified giving plan for national and international missions and ministries, came into play. Through the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC) and the North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) Send Network, Pierce was assessed and confirmed as a planter.

“The assessment process was actually a pretty integral part of my affirmation to plant,” Pierce said. “That wouldn’t even be available, I would assume, without the Cooperative Program. It’s all been a gift to me.”

‘Momentum through CP’ 

Pierce stepped out as a church planter last fall, and Eastside Community Church receives support from Bay Area Church, the SBTC and NAMB as it looks to reach a growing area of 600,000 people known as the “Space Belt.”

“I describe it a lot like astronauts meet Duck Dynasty. That’s kind of the culture,” Haynes said. “NASA is right here, and we have all of that and lots of business owners, educators, police officers, plant workers and oil and gas people. It’s an interesting conglomerate, but it’s a fruitful field.”

As Pierce seeks to lead a church plant to reach that ripe field, CP has his back.

“It certainly does calm an anxious heart to know a measure of the stress of planting is kind of muted or taken care of because of the partnership of North American Mission Board or SBTC or even another Southern Baptist church in our sending church,” Pierce said. “That generosity has been a big help to us.”

Haynes said Bay Area Church, one of the oldest Southern Baptist works in the region, traditionally has been a strong supporter of the Cooperative Program, consistently forwarding 8% of its undesignated receipts in recent years.

The church values kingdom partnerships, Haynes said, and CP is a tried-and-true way to partner in accomplishing the Great Commission. 

“We think the strategy is impactful when you collectively bring money from lots of churches, not just one church,” he said. “You make a solid global difference because you have momentum in cooperation that wouldn’t come by just one church doing one thing.

“… We see a lot of momentum for the kingdom through the Cooperative Program, and that’s why we continue to give.”

Bay Area, with about 1,200 in attendance on Sundays, recognizes the importance of investing in the next generation through CP-supported seminaries, as well as in missions in Texas, North America and globally, Haynes said. “Church planting is a big deal for us, too.”

Just as the CP-supported assessment process was key to Pierce following God to plant a church, it was something God used to give the sending church confidence.

“I was grateful as a pastor for the assessment process because it assured us of his and his wife’s fitness for planting,” Haynes said.

Bay Area continues with strong CP support even as God has opened up a significant new opportunity in the form of a counseling ministry. Through more than 20 trained biblical counselors on campus, the church helps restore individuals and families.

The church also partners with another church in a community-facing counseling center that logged 5,000 sessions last year. 

“That place where the gospel meets mental and emotional health has been a real mission field for us,” Haynes said. “The overarching theme of the Bible is that Jesus is the one who is bringing shalom to chaos. He’s the one who’s working the restoration of all things. 

“I think the uptick in depression and anxiety that we see in our culture is evidence of the chaos that’s caused by sin and the impact of other people’s sin on our lives, and we have the answers for that. We know the Prince of Peace, the One who brokers peace.”

Someone in search of peace may not show up at Bay Area Church, Haynes said, but he may show up at the counseling center.

Said Haynes: “We as churches really need to engage in the area where people are struggling mentally and emotionally.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — This article originally appeared in the Southern Baptist Texan.)