It's Unanimous: Faithwalking is Free!

Randy Schroeder, Chairman of the Board of Mission Houston, announces that Faithwalking will be offered for free: "We don't want money to be an issue for anybody taking Faithwalking." 

Contrast and Companionship: The Way of the Church With the World

Houston Graduate School of Theology will host Dr. George Hunsberger on Thursday, March 3, 2011. Dr. Hunsberger’s lecture is titled Contrast and Companionship: The Way of the Church With the World. Book signing will begin at 6:00 pm and the lecture at 7:00 pm. Houston Graduate School of Theology, in partnership with Mission Houston and churches in the Houston metropolitan area, is dedicated to advancing the missional movement in our city. For this reason, HGST has invited Dr. Hunsberger, a leading scholar of the missional church, to present its annual spring lecture. The public is invited.

Born in Pennsylvania, Hunsberger lived most of his early years in Miami, Florida. He received the B.A. degree from Belhaven College in 1966 and the M.Div. degree from Reformed Theological Seminary in 1970. In 1987, he received the Ph.D. degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in the field of Ecumenics, Missiology, and the History of Religions. His doctoral work focused on Lesslie Newbigin’s theology of cultural plurality.

He is Professor of Missiology and Director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, where he has taught since 1989. He is a member of the American Society of Missiology, serving as its Secretary-Treasurer from 1988-1997 and its President from 2004-2005. Since its inception in 1987, he has coordinated The Gospel and Our Culture Network in North America (GOCN). George is the author of Bearing the Witness of the Spirit and co-author of Missional Church and Treasure in Clay Jars. He is co-editor of The Church Between Gospel and Culture, A Scandalous Prophet, and Christian Ethics in Ecumenical Context.

Houston Graduate School of Theology is located at 2501 Central Parkway, Suite A19, in Houston. For more information about HGST go to: www.hgst.edu

Transformation is possible: don’t despise the day of small beginnings!

God is doing something amazing at the University of Texas! The Body of Christ, comprised of more than 60 campus ministries and churches, is working together as one united Church to reach all 50,000 students with the Gospel of Jesus. Campus ministries are working together, treating UT like one common mission field. They have broken the university population into 500-700 people groups and are equipping and sending students for impacting the group they are part of as missionaries. Already their influence is being felt broadly. As a result, for the past few years, an average of 500 students per school year have chosen to follow Christ. That’s 1% of UT’s population each year! Over the last 10 years the percentage of students actively participating in campus ministries has doubled, from 5% of the total UT student population to 10%. Mission Houston celebrates this unfolding story and gladly shares it as a current example of what God can do and wants to do through the Body of Christ working together. Here is a short excerpt from one of the college pastors involved in the movement.

It’s been said that 2 percent of an organization, if completely sold out to a particular vision, can change the entire organization. While I am not sure of the veracity of that fact, I can say from experience that just a few college pastors working together on a project (e.g., a mission trip or a campus event), attending a retreat, or uniting in prayer can have a marked effect on the direction of your entire campus movement.

Changing lives, changing marriages, changing schools!

Dear friends:


Mission Houston was birthed 12 years ago at the end of a three day prayer summit by 185 pastors convinced that unity in the Body of Christ would invite God’s presence and release His desperately needed blessings on our city (see Ps. 133:1). Our prayer since then has been for the spiritual and social revitalization of individuals, neighborhoods and communities across the city.


In 2010 Mission Houston continued to pursue “Changing greater Houston for Good” by offering ministries and resources that change lives, change marriages, and change schools. Here’s a brief snapshot of what your generous support and prayers helped us do.

… I had too much stuff going on with my family

In the Faithwalking ministry we often hear how the call to living missionally represents a great challenge for families with small children. No doubt the demands of raising young children limit some options for those who consider a call to do “ministry” in a sustained way. Brad and Natasha Sollenne provide us an example of a family that has wrestled with this issue, and have chosen a path that has them on mission as a family. We offer you their story, in their words, as an example of what can be.

“Saturday night church was awesome! Hearing what everyone is doing within their missional communities is very motivating (this includes those of you that weren't there and what you are doing in the community)! This is why we moved back to Houston. Brad would tell me about the extraordinary people here and what they were doing and we wanted to raise our kids with such extraordinary people.

Recently, as you know, we began feeding homeless people again. Brad and I have had a dialogue going as to what more might be needed. Brad has a more intimate understanding of what someone on the street might need and our conversations have been detailed, substantial, and rewarding. We also agreed that we wanted the kids to be directly involved in whatever we do. Then about a week ago Brad asked Sascha if he could have one wish, what would it be? Without hesitation Sascha said he wished we were rich so we could help the homeless and the hungry and no one would be hungry again. After being stunned about what amazing kids we have, we realized we wanted the kids to understand that we don't have to be rich to make a difference in someone's life.