Gather in person at the Downtown Campus on Sundays at 9:30a or 11a or online at 9:15a, 11a, or 5p at FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE, or CHURCH ONLINE
Houston’s First
Baptist Church

Church Partners & Missionaries

Meet Our Church Partners

Summit Life Church — Issaquah, WA

Prayer Requests

  • Summit Life Church would be anchored in the Gospel and unified in the Great Commission efforts in their community, region and beyond.
  • Clarity in their mission and that they would remain oriented and unified in their Gospel efforts.

To learn more about our church partner, visit http://summitlifeseattle.com.

Redeemer Queens Park — London, UK

Prayer Requests

  • Perseverance and endurance through the third national lockdown because of COVID-19, for both the church team and Thomas’ family (wife, Elizabeth and children, Perry and Shepherd).
  • Mercy for people living in London. There is weariness and loneliness that people are facing in the city. Ask God to use this season to soften hearts that will lead to spiritual searching and salvation for the people of London.

To learn more about our church partner, visit https://www.redeemerqp.com.

Meet Our Missionaries

Meggie Hixson

Current Houston’s First Downtown member serving with IMB in Tanzania

Prayer Requests

  • I am currently in the process of reapplying for a long-term position with the IMB. Please pray that all goes smoothly so I can return to Tanzania this summer.
  • We are getting new teammates, which is such a huge answer to prayer! There are two large families and three single women who will be arriving throughout the year. Please be praying for them as they go through language school and prepare to get to Kigoma.
  • Please be praying for our team as none of us are in country right now due to the COVID situation. Please pray that we will all be able to return in the Lord's perfect timing and that we will make the most of our time in the waiting.
  • Please be praying for our Tanzanian partners who are carrying on the work. Please pray for good health, wisdom, and strength to continue to press on. We are so thankful for their faithfulness and passion for reaching the lost!

John and Jessie Cheng

Former Houston’s First members serving with Cru City in Dallas, Texas

  • Pray for John and Jessie’s relationship with God and their marriage relationship.
  • Pray for creatively ways to engage the lost in Dallas and opportunities to share the Gospel with them.
  • Pray that God would use their aquaponics projects to teach sustainable food supply as well as build a bridge to share the Gospel to many.
  • Pray for relationships with like-minded ministries and nonprofits in Dallas.

Ricky & Courtney Bolander

Former Houston’s First Downtown members serving with Radiant Hope in Romania

  • Pray for Ricky and Courtney’s relationship with God and their marriage relationship.
  • Pray for the Radiant Hope Board, for unity and wisdom.
  • Pray for finances to support the ministry, their family, and local workers.
  • Pray for their ministry of fighting human trafficking in Romania.
  • Pray for the Romanian law to change to allow international adoptions. It has been banned since 2004. The reversal of the current law would prevent many young girls from being sold into trafficking.

Brennen Simpson

Former Houston’s First Downtown member serving with For All Mankind Ministry based in Houston serving the Middle East and South Asia

  • International sending looks very different during a pandemic, so pray that borders would remain open and regulations would lift to allow for the sending of short-term teams into our harvest fields in 2021.
  • The Lord answered our prayers and provided me with some much needed help through two new full-time team members for my department in 2020. Pray that we would continue to appropriately expand our bandwidth of creating creative content for our partners in the states and our indigenous pastors in South Asia in 2021.
  • FAMM has a big vision going into 2021, so please pray that I would stay diligent with my projects and for wisdom in managing my team well.
  • My position requires me to deal with numbers and metrics on a very regular basis, and it is easy to forget that there are eternal souls attached to the end of each number. Please pray that I would see our core metrics as more than just numbers on a spreadsheet, but that I would join with the angels in rejoicing over souls.

Steven Hiller

Current Houston’s First Downtown member serving with Cru at University of Houston

  • Please pray that every one of the 350,000+ college students in Houston would know someone who passionately follows Jesus and would have an opportunity to make a decision for Christ.
  • Pray for mobilized student leaders who love the Great Commission.
  • Pray for encouragement and God's provision for our staff team.

Joshua & Bethany Montgomery

Serving with Cru at Rice University

  • Pray for Joshua and Bethany, for their relationship with God, each other, and their kids.
  • Pray for creative opportunities to share the Gospel with every student at Rice University.
  • Pray that new Christians would choose to grow in this relationship with God—that they would choose Jesus over alcohol, parties, and slavery to work.
  • Pray specifically for our graduate students, Will, Josh, Kim, Kate, and Robin, as they trust God to develop life-changing small groups with the leaders around them.

Lucas Olivares

Current Houston’s First Downtown member serving with Baptist Student Ministry at University of Houston

  • Pray for obedient students to boldly share the gospel with their friends
  • Pray for international students to be open to our new apartment ministry as we go door to door offering chai and boba tea
  • Pray for safety and good health so that we can continue to operate out of our building on campus
  • Pray for unity amongst other evangelical organizations on campus as we pray and meet together for a common good

Avni & Maklen Menalla

Serving with Cru Momentum Europe in Albania

  • Pray for us as a family that we will always keep our eyes focused on Jesus and that we will be renewed, refreshed and regenerated by a vital relationship with Jesus our Lord and Savior. (Eph. 3:14-21)
  • Our ministry focus is reaching leaders and people of influence in Europe. Pray that God will continue to use us as we mobilize, network, bring short-term mission teams together and lead them to Europe to share the Gospel with European leaders. In May 2021 we are taking a team of caring Christian leaders form US to Albania to meet with Albanian leaders and share the Gospel. Please pray that the pandemic will not come in the way and that the Lord will use this time for many to come to Jesus.
  • Pray for our Above and Beyond campaign, a ministry plan to grow the ministry to leaders from 17 cities to 50 cities in Europe in the next three years. We are trusting God for a network of 1000 Kingdom-hearted leaders across Europe whom God will use to transform these cities for Christ. This of course requires mobilizing resources of different kinds. Please pray that God will continue to provide the needed resources to see this vision become a reality.

Hannah Rariden

Serving with Evangelism Explosion International online ministry based in Fort Lauderdale, FL

  • Please pray for the continued momentum in my job in social media. This past year, we have seen engagement and followers sky-rocket from having weekly Facebook LIVEs We have on average 30,000 viewers a week, with the highest number on a single week being 60,000. This doesn’t excite us because of the numbers though—it excites us because it means there are more people who are hearing the Gospel and more Christians being given tools in learning how to share their faith!
  • Please pray for me and the communications team, as we constantly seek to grow the online tools we have for discipling Christians in how to share their faith.
  • Please pray for me personally, as now those who work in the social media world have to navigate the many things happening with the different platforms in the wake of political and cultural unrest. Please pray for wisdom and guidance in this time.
  • Please pray for my family—for health for all of us and for Kevin’s shoulder to continue to recover from surgery.

Will Miller

Current Houston’s First Downtown member serving with Fellowship of Christian Athletes in Houston ISD

  • Pray for Will as he launches ministry to HISD coaches and athletes with FCA.
  • Pray for completion of a strong financial and prayer support team.
  • Pray for focus and prioritization as Will strategizes on which HISD schools to invest his time and efforts in ministry.
  • 42% of Houston students have failing grades during the Covid 19 pandemic. Pray for Will and FCA to effectively minister to students and coaches and share the hope of Christ.
  • Pray for God to use Will’s sports background, gifts, Dallas Seminary training, and experiences to help share the Gospel, encourage students and coaches, and coach them in their faith.
  • Pray for Will’s family: Katie, Hannah, Liam, and Luke.

Missionary Journeys

We are communicating with each of our missions partners about future mission trips, and will share more when we have any new updates.

CONTACT

Peter Lee, Minister of Connection & Mobilization
Peter.Lee@Houstonsfirst.org
713.264.4375