Our Mission:

Linger and Overflow

By 2029, First Baptist Kyle will linger in the river of God’s presence as we overflow to a dry and thirsty land.

 

Living in a city that is exploding in growth (in 2023 Kyle increased 35% in population from 2022) and strained resources has led to a people who are short on water and other life giving sources (the city of Kyle is expected to experience extreme drought at least one-quarter of each year by 2040).

 

This boom in growth leading to a falling behind in life necessities that is not just measured in resources, but is also seen spiritually. Living in a city where 61% of the people say they do not attend religious services regularly, we see a growing gap in people who need the life giving presence of Jesus but do not have it.

 

As we look to Psalm 63, we believe we see the solution to this problem. “God, you are my God; I eagerly seek you. I thirst for you; my body faints for you in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water. So I gaze on you in the sanctuary to see your strength and your glory. My lips will glorify you because your faithful love is better than life,” Psalm 63:1-3.

 

We are surrounded by a people who are quite literally living in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. True both physically and spiritually, people all around Kyle and Hays county are looking for sources of life giving sustenance and finding their search pointless until they look in the direction of Jesus.

 

The solution to this drought of life and of the soul, is to look to God who alone can give us the river of living water that flows from his presence (John 4:13-15). As the Psalmist points out, it is only in looking to God to meet our need, and to fill us with His life that we find the purpose, belonging and life that we were created to enjoy with God. The only way this is accomplished is in two steps that happen concurrently and that continue to happen unceasingly.

 


Linger


 

Step one is for us to linger in the river of God’s presence. To linger is to abide, to dwell, to sit. Think of a steak being marinated, having it’s flavor changed and enhanced from the inside out. As we turn to God as our source, and as we linger in His presence (John 15:1-8), we too are changed from the inside out as His character becomes our character, His heart becomes our heart. We no longer need to look for a source of life and hope and belonging, because we have found all that in God as we sit in his presence. We learn what it is to be a people forgiven, accepted and loved.


Overflow


Step two starts with understanding that we never stop doing step one. For if life is found in His presence, then we can never wander away from that. However, as we continue to stay in God’s presence we realize that His Spirit starts to fill us. No longer are we broken cisterns that cannot hold water (Jeremiah 2:13) but instead we are filled with the presence of the Spirit of the Lord. As that happens we are filled to the point of overflowing, where literally we can no longer contain all the goodness of God that He is showering out on us. It is from there that we then splash out the life we have been filled with on all those we encounter (Psalm 23:5, Luke 6:45).

 


First Baptist Kyle:

Linger and Overflow

The only way the  city of Kyle and Hays county will see hope in the dry and thirsty land with no water, is if they see and encounter people who are lingering in the river of God’s presence and overflowing to them. This will not be driven so much by programs and plans but by the people of God being transformed by the Spirit of God which pours out of them to those in need around them (Matthew 9:35-38).

 

Therefore we will become a people who purposefully slow down to be in the presence of God allowing Him to heal, change and fill us. As that is happening we will then look to our neighbors, family, friends and coworkers and purposefully overflow to them with the love, forgiveness and joy we have been filled with. This will be Spirit led, Spirit directed, and Spirit transformed. It will be guided and given life through prayer and listening to the direction of the Spirit.

 

If we learn to live and  practice these two steps constantly, we will become a community that lingers and overflows. As we do, then the land around us will be transformed through the power of the Spirit to a lush garden where life and hope are commonplace, and people find the truth of who they are and what they are called to as they turn to the one and only source of life, Jesus.

 


We will be a people who linger and overflow.