An Open Letter to Our Missions Partner: The Lubbock Area Baptist Association

Written By David Rhoades

Dear Dr. Jerry Joplin and the Partnership Board of the LABA,

Inasmuch as it is the responsibility of the church—not a denominational entity or parachurch ministry—to set the boundaries of its relationships and stewardship of Kingdom resources, the Elders of Broadview Baptist Church in Lubbock, Texas, provide this update regarding our partnership with you for 2026.

A few years ago, as good stewards of all the Lord has given us, Broadview Baptist Church established ten biblical values we expect our missions partners to embrace and practice (click HERE for a fuller description of each value):

  • Scripture as God’s Word

  • Christian doctrine

  • Biblical distinctives

  • Sanctity of human life

  • Sacredness of sexuality

  • Multi-ethnic brotherhood in Christ

  • Regenerate church membership

  • Godly, male pastors

  • Priority of disciple-making

  • Financial transparency

We also established a Missions Council which, among other responsibilities, brings annual recommendations to the church regarding support for our missions partners.

We are grateful for the leadership of Dr. Jerry Joplin in his role at the LABA. He has provided impactful leadership during his tenure.

As we move forward together, we strongly encourage the budgeting of funds specifically for church planting.

We also desire that new churches be planted in cooperation with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, an organization that shares many of our core values and priorities for missions partnerships. To our knowledge, no active church-planting partnership currently exists between the LABA and the SBTC. If we are mistaken about this, please let us know so we can correct our understanding.

With projections showing as many as 150,000 additional residents in the Lubbock Metropolitan Statistical Area over the next 25 years, we believe church planting in our region is now essential. For this reason, we have already increased the church planting portion of our missions budget to help meet this critical need.

Our Missions Council has recommended to our church that we continue our support of the LABA, and our church unanimously agreed to do so for the year 2026. We pray that our modest gifts may be multiplied in service to God’s Kingdom, and we look forward to partnering with this vital ministry in the future.

God bless you in your endeavors.

In Christ,
The Elders of Broadview Baptist Church, Lubbock, Texas

David Rhoades

Dr. David H. Rhoades is a believer in Jesus Christ who is passionate about disciple-making. A gifted author and speaker, he is the Senior Pastor at Broadview Church in Lubbock, Texas. He is producing a growing number of biblically-based resources that can help Christians lead the people in their circles of influence to become fully devoted followers of Christ. David was called to the gospel ministry in 1987, and he has been a pastor since 1995. After finishing his Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies at The Criswell College, he earned his Master of Divinity degree at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where he received the 1995 C.C. Randall Award for Evangelism. In 2005 he graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with a Doctor of Ministry degree in Missions and Evangelism, writing a ground-breaking doctoral project designed to help churches engage their multiethnic communities in ministry. Since 1995, he has served as a pastor to churches in Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas. David enjoys cooking, reading books, cheering on the Texas Longhorns, and spending time with his beautiful wife Amy and their kids: Timothy, Jonathan, and Mindi.

https://davidrhoades.org
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An Open Letter to Our Missions Partner: Lubbock Impact