Preaching on Sunday morning is a key part of a pastor’s duties, but certainly not the only one—and not the only area in which John and Garry shared responsibilities. Under their joint leadership, the church began to flourish through becoming active in a number of ministries.
Mini-Flocks
John describes implementing “mini-flocks,” which were the church’s early version of small groups or home groups:
Literally, our vision was mini-church—a smaller group within the church, each one led by one of the four elders. And Garry and I were simply overseers over the mini-flocks, and so we provided guidance to those elders, and the elders came back and reported. It was really effective in that.
We divided up the whole church among the elders….except that the mini-flocks met, and Garry and I did not lead one; we attended them.
John further elaborates on some of the purpose and structure of the mini-flocks: “We were trying to train our elders to be shepherds, right? They led mini-flocks, and each elder had responsibility for everyone. In other words, every one of the attendees — not just members, but the attendees to the church — were assigned to an elder.”
In at least one known instance, the mini-flocks made a profound impact on an attendee’s spiritual life. This was in the life of Bill Burdett, who would end up marrying Janis Bartel. Janie Reeves recalls, “They dated and came to our church. And he wasn’t a Christian, so she didn’t date him until he became a Christian. But he became a Christian from coming to our church.”
When I came back from college, I went there [to the church], and I got my first job out of college. I met my husband, and he was a new believer. And what I loved the most about the church, and I'll never forget, was we brought him to ... a mini-flock. They divided the church up into small groups. Now they're called community groups, life groups, all kinds of things, but back then it was called mini-flock. And an elder led it, and they were in the homes, but they were prayer warriors.
And when my husband was struggling—this was before we were married, when I [had] just met him—he was lost and searching. One of them [a mini-flock attendee] literally prayed him into the kingdom. And, from just them praying for him, he came to know Jesus, and then he was so hungry. And I told him about the group that had been praying for him, so he immediately felt connected. So he couldn't wait to come to the church and meet those people who had prayed for him. And then he met John Wecks, and John Wecks just discipled him, taught him basic doctrine, and really just set his whole spiritual journey on track.
True spiritual transformation can only come through the Holy Spirit’s power, and Bill Burdett’s case was no exception. But God clearly used the church, the elders, and the mini-flock ministry to facilitate lasting spiritual change in Bill.
John recalls, “That was a really special ministry and made sense at the time. And it was seemingly well-received.” He also adds that “through the small group program, the mini-flocks, we began to see steady, steady growth.”
Preaching
John and Garry continued to share preaching duties during their years as co-pastors. But a number of guest preachers would come to fill the pulpit as well.
John recounts, “We attracted a lot of missionary families and a lot of Dallas Seminary students. And neither one was usually long-term.”
Missionaries come and go, and seminary students attended and then ministered elsewhere….I welcomed Dallas Seminary students and invited some of them to preach while they were in school, and then I'd watch them leave. There they go! So I joked that we're kind of like a seminary, kind of a place of practical training for Dallas students, and sent them out. Same thing with missionaries.
Charles Smith, a longtime member who joined the church during this era, elaborates on the church’s relationship with missions.
Our church has always been closely associated with Wycliffe. There were many people within the body of the church who were Wycliffe teachers, returning missionaries. So many young people would come to go to the university there….So we've had several missionaries who we grew up within the church, who went out. And so several of the missionaries who we have right now still on the books, they went through seminary and attended our church, so we’ve always had quite a few DTS students as well as Wycliffe students within the church. And therefore we’ve had access to some well-educated educators.
Despite an abundance of guest preachers, many who didn’t stay long-term, the teaching was generally well received by the congregation. “I really loved the Bible teaching at the Bible Church,” Janis comments. “They had the DTS-trained pastors who were always good. All their pastors were just excellent Bible teachers.”
Of course, some families did stay at the church and were able to build community while there. And some missionaries remained connected to the church long-term.
Missions
Many of the church’s longstanding members have testified that missions has always been a major emphasis, from the early days of this fellowship. According to Earl Swain’s account, “The church budget in 1975 was $2,200/month, which included $180/month for missions.”
“We took a couple of missionaries and agencies on,” John says of his time as co-pastor. The church supported Craig and Barbara Prather in their mission work in Central America. Another mission they supported was CISTY (Christians In Service To Youth), the same organization that Earl and Cecil had already begun before the church’s founding.
The True Vine Ministry [which CISTY came out of] was what attracted people from First Baptist Church in Grand Prairie, and people from the Methodist Church in Grand Prairie, to common ground. And some of the Methodists got saved….And some of the Baptists really got fired up.
Charles continues explaining the church’s relationship with missions work and Wycliffe Bible Translators in particular:
We were an evangelical, expository teaching church closest to the Wycliffe campus. And so it just automatically migrated…. We just naturally drew quite a few people. So I think it's fairly natural that our mission program developed a high support of translators….
Earl Swain was the heart of missions. He drove missions for so many years. In the beginning I was the chairman, and then Earl took it over after I was only in it for a year or two. As the chairman, he took it over, and it just flourished. He was retired military, he was disciplined, and he loved missions. So he would actually go to where the missionary was. He and Louise were in a position in life where they could travel. [Earl] was a military pilot, jet pilot. Then he was a retired American Airlines pilot. So they had travel rights. So they would go to where the missionaries were and visit each one of them.
Judy Hogan also recalls, “We had wonderful missions conferences.”
“Mission conferences were a big deal,” Charles said. “They were like a week. We would have people come in….Our missionaries would come to visit. But it was a big thing in the old days where you literally were trying to ping the hearts of people in the congregation to move their life towards potentially going into missions. These were some strong speakers.”
Baptisms
With church growth and the addition of new members, many of them making either first-time or renewed commitments to Christ, came the opportunity for people to profess their new commitments through baptism.
John says, “Early on a lot of people wanted to be baptized when we were still at the YMCA, because they have a pool. That was very memorable for me as a young pastor. I practiced on my wife first. She got baptized 25 times at least….So that was a good memory.”
Other Activities
A church that’s just beginning can’t do everything in its first few years. John says, “We really didn’t have a lot of community engagement that I recall.” But there was at least one notable exception: “We had Boys’ Brigade [and] girls’ in the midweek.”
Pantego Bible Church (which the new church had come out of) had hosted a local chapter of the Christian Service Brigade, and Believers Bible Church soon followed suit. Charles Smith ended up running the Christian Service Brigade program for many years. His wife Vicki also led Pioneer Girls, a similar organization for girls.