[1]WACO, Texas – Over the past 12 years, revitalization and a renewed vision at Highland Baptist Church in Waco have served as the catalyst to help bring revival among their community and a desire to reach “a new and next generation with the Gospel.”
“Highland is 102 years old, but it is filled each Sunday with 18 to 25-year-olds,” said lead pastor John Durham. Since Durham began serving at Highland in 2013, the church has seen tremendous growth as it strategically shifted its efforts toward reaching this demographic.
“Revitalized churches are the wave of the future if the American church is going to continue to reach others for the Gospel,” Durham said. “Highland has grown from 1,400 to 4,400 in 11 years, and the major growth has taken place with middle school, high school, college students and young families. Some decisions had to be made to reach a new and next generation. Some of the decisions were common sense, but others were difficult to make and navigate.
“The past 12 years one of our goals was to create a healthy church that is multigenerational and multinational,” he continued. “Some of the strategies toward that goal included being very intentional about forming a sense of family and warmth and hospitality, celebrating the different nationalities of members at Highland, putting a high value on authenticity and accessibility of leadership and then dialing down stoicism and formality and dialing up a high view of Scripture, corporate prayer and expressive worship.”
Durham notes that the church now has 61 nationalities represented in its membership. He also said that this year the church is on track to baptize 150 people, and the vast majority of those are in the 15- to 25-year-old range.
[2]As someone who grew up in Waco and graduated from Baylor University, Durham holds two things close to his heart – the Waco community and college students. He returned to his hometown after serving for almost 12 years as the senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Irving. Before that, he served for 10 years as the student pastor at First Baptist Church in Houston.
“That age window of 18 to 25 is so formational,” Durham said. “Students and young adults are making decisions on faith, friendship, calling, Scriptural authority, local church priority and what is real. If that demographic can move beyond faith information into Christ-honoring transformation, you will see another great awakening in our nation. And if prayer, evangelism and passion for Jesus are indicators of awakening, I believe we are on the threshold.
“Those years were formational for me as a Baylor student and as a young student pastor, so of course, as a church we want to invest a lot of resources, love, support and discipleship into that generation,” he continued. “On a given Sunday morning at Highland, about one in three worshippers are in that age range of 18 to 25, so about 1,500. And when you add in our preschool ministry, kids ministry, shine ministry for kids with special needs, middle school ministry and high school ministry, that is closer to 2,200 people under the age of 25 on a Sunday morning – that is exciting.”
While reflecting on the changes he has seen in Waco through the years, Durham is encouraged and sees renewed opportunities to reach the community with the Gospel.
“There is a spiritual condition of unity and prayer and expectation that is very new,” he said. “When I talk to those who have been around for decades here, they sense it and agree that there are some undercurrents of spiritual renewal here in Waco that is based on prayer movements and unity movements and new converts to Christ.”
Before beginning to preach three services on Sundays (8:40 a.m., 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.), Durham gathers weekly with a group of 80 to 100 men to pray at 8 a.m. The majority of the men are college age.
The church is intentional in its community outreach, Durham said, building a Wellness Center to address neighbors’ needs.
The Wellness Center provides urgent care for medical needs and assessment, ESL classes, birthing classes, citizenship classes, finance classes, computer training and more. The center has resulted in salvations, church connections and new friendships with Highland Baptist’s community.
The center is for “outreach to the people God has put around our church,” Durham said. “It is a place of help and hope. We really wanted to draw basically a 1-mile circle around our church campus and begin to feel the responsibly of caring for those families and people.
“I would love to see Highland continue to use our Wellness Center as a launching place for continued and increased ministry. I believe we have just begun to consider all the ways we can leverage this building and the hundreds of volunteers to love, reach, serve and share Jesus with our neighbors.”
Durham has also noticed increased unity among the churches in the surrounding area over the past few years.
“The city of Waco has experienced some incredible unity within the churches,” he said. “Monthly prayer gatherings, city events, events for colleges and more have all come out of partnerships between the churches. There are about 60 churches who take biblical stands together, who come together for Last Thursdays where the leaders gather to pray for the city and revival.
“For almost two years now a group of Christians, pastors and leaders across Waco will meet at a different church on the last Thursday of the month and pray for three things: revival in our city, unity of believers across our city and for spiritual awakening and salvation for Generation Z, those who are in middle school through young adults. I believe that has been the catalyst for growing churches in our city, hundreds of baptisms, salvations across our city, and of course, the reality that churches are wanting to support one another and cheer one another on.”
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