Bud Houston was 26 when he came to know the Lord. He knew God was calling him to give his life to work for the Kingdom, and he has always had a passion for cross-cultural missions. Although he has never served in long-term missions overseas, he has seen the Lord use his passions here in the United States. Houston works with several organizations and churches to prioritize ministry to least-reached people groups in North America.
Locally, Houston trains, equips and provides opportunities to mission teams who are taking the gospel to residents in local apartment buildings around the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He is part of the Multi-Housing and House Church Ministry at Texas Baptists, the Baptist General Convention of Texas, which has helped people start organic churches in their homes and residential areas.
Coaching missionaries, sharing the gospel, planting churches
“I coach apartment missionary teams that are sharing the gospel, making disciples and planting churches in apartment complexes,” he said.
The Lord blessed that ministry this past year in South Dallas, Houston shared. Yolande and her daughter, who are originally from Cameroon, moved into their apartment a year ago. Yolande recently graduated from Dallas Baptist University with her master’s in global leadership.
Yolande faithfully prayed for the people in her apartment complex for a year. She shared the gospel with her fellow residents about 10 times a week. At Thanksgiving, she had the opportunity to partner with a local church and host a Thanksgiving gathering. This opened up the opportunity to fellowship and create community with residents.
A fellow Christ-follower also hosts an after-school ministry at this apartment complex. Seeds were being planted, and God was working.
30 decisions for Christ
During the Christmas season, Yolande prepared another gathering for her apartment community with help from local churches, who provided food. The residents gathered at the clubhouse, and Yolande’s daughter, as well as church members, shared the Christmas story and invited people to receive the gospel.
They had around 30 youth and a few adults profess faith in Jesus after the Christmas gathering.
God had worked all year in this apartment complex, Houston noted, and the apartment ministry team had the privilege to witness the seeds that were planted take root. He emphasized the importance of apartment ministry and bringing the gospel to every person.
“When there is lack of understanding or lack of access to the church, then the gospel has not been made completely available to a people group,” he said. “The gospel is an invitation to repent, believe and receive the promise to be called sons and daughters of God. It is also a place to belong. In a lot of places there is a barrier or lack of acceptance for a person, for example, in a low-income housing complex to be assimilated into existing church structures. I am trying to facilitate what the Lord is doing through that.”
For more information about house churches, click here.
EDITOR’S NOTE —This article was written by Sophie Bellew and first published by the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
