A Note from Phil Caturan | July 17, 2026

Summer. It's the season students and teachers eagerly anticipate - parents, perhaps not as much! But for me, as the Local Missions Minister, summer means one thing: mission trip season. I'm grateful to serve at a church whose heartbeat is not only serving our community but also taking the gospel to the nations. 

When people hear the word missions, they often think only of missionaries serving overseas. While that's certainly missions, it's only part of the picture. Missions is about wherever God sends His people to proclaim the Good News. It may be across the ocean, across the country, across the street, or across your dinner table. It can happen in another nation, your neighborhood, your workplace, your school, or your own home.

People need the gospel because the gospel transforms everything. Even in Tyler, often called the buckle of the Bible belt, there is still tremendous brokenness. Nowhere is that more evident than in our prison system. Since August of last year, our Men's Prison Ministry alone has ministered to 1,276 inmates and seen 15 professions of faith.  Not long ago, one of those men completed his sentence and was baptized at our church. Even more encouraging, his entire family was baptized with him. What a beautiful picture of God's redeeming grace!  

We've also donated and distributed over 500 Bibles through our Men's and Women's Prison Ministries, as well as through other local ministry partners. Our Shower and Laundry Trailer has also been regularly utilized toserve individuals experiencing homelessness and others in need within our community, serving over 200 people this year. 

We've also sent three teams to Kerrville, Texas, to help with the rebuilding efforts after the historic flood there last year. Each team has returned encouraged, inspired, and eager to serve again. In fact, one of the families whose home we helped rebuild recently reached out to invite our team to attend the dedication and house blessing of their newly restored home. What a meaningful reminder that serving others opens the door to lasting relationships and lasting gospel impact.

As I write this, we have three teams serving across the country: one in Washington and two in Colorado and still others set to leave next week.  It is encouraging to see God raising up faithful leaders and mobilizing our church to take the gospel wherever He sends us.

So far this year, we’ve mobilized 359 people on 25 mission trips, both nationally and internationally, with seven more trips still to come. Every trip is unique. The people, culture, food, weather, and experiences are different, but one truth never changes—there are broken people everywhere who need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.That's why Jesus gave us the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18–20).

This past May, I had the opportunity to lead a team to Malawi, Africa. On the first day, we visited a woman who was washing clothes outside her home. When we arrived, she immediately stopped what she was doing, brought out a mat, invited her neighbors, and everyone sat down to hear the message we had come to share. We simply shared the gospel. They listened with joy and thanked us for coming to tell them about Jesus. For many of those people, that may have been the first, and perhaps the only time they would ever hear the gospel. Another teammember shared that a lady he visited told him she had dreamed years earlier that a "white man" would one day come and tell her about Jesus. Whether she fully understood that dream or not, one thing was evident—God hadbeen preparing her heart long before we arrived.

During that single week, 771 adults and more than 1,200 children heard the gospel, and over 100 people were baptized. One month later, we sent another team to serve in other villages where more than 3,500 people heard the gospel and 76 people were baptized.

Only God can do that. Paul's words in Romans 10:14–15 came alive for me: "How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news."

Every follower of Jesus has been called to be part of His mission. Jesus said in Acts 1:8, "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Are you willing to be part of God's mission?

God is faithful,

Phil