August 2026 Missions Update
Hey everyone!
I know it’s been a little bit since our last update (and this one is nearly a week after the first of the month), but summer in the Sun City has been moving at absolute breakneck speed! Between church planting milestones, family celebrations, a medical detour, and struggling to get our official Texas paperwork squared away, June and July have been two of the most eventful months of our lives.
First and foremost, God is doing something truly special in our living room. We kicked off our Sunday evening gatherings for worship and study as Borderlands Family Baptist Church on the first Sunday of June, laying the foundational bricks of the church plant. As confessionally reformed baptists, we will be adopting the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 and the Baptist Faith & Message of 2000 as our confessions, along with supplemental statements.
If you are interested in watching the teaching time from those gatherings, there is a playlist on the BFBC YouTube Channel!
Sitting together and inviting others into our home, opening the Scriptures, and worshiping with our core group has been sweet beyond words. On July 12th, we hit a new milestone with a record Sunday night attendance of 14 people packed into our home for worship and a shared meal! To cap off the missional milestones for for the last two months, Borderlands Family Baptist Church formally applied for membership with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC) on July 7th, and made our very first Cooperative Program gift. On July 31st, we received notice that our affiliation is officially complete and we are fully endorsed!
Of course, the last two months also brought the expected speedbump for my personal health. On June 26th, I had to undergo elbow surgery that we have known was coming for some time. Recovery required me to step back and take some forced rest for a while, which—as many of you know—is not always easy for me! But God is good, the healing process is going smoothly, and I was blessed to return to the pulpit on a Sunday morning, July 19th.
During June and July, I was also honored to preach twice more at Iglesia Jezreel, assisting Pastor Diego as he walks the church through Paul's letter to the churches in Galatia. If you want to watch those sermons, you can the replays on my YouTube Channel:
Outside of direct ministry work, our calendar was full of rich personal moments. We celebrated Heather’s birthday with some incredible local flavor at the famous L&J Cafe in Central El Paso. Patricia, Christine, and I to the historic Plaza Theater downtown to catch the "Broadway in El Paso" production of the classic Disney movie, "Beauty and the Beast." I also got to spend some quality one-on-one time with Ivy on July 23rd—we went out to get some headshots for my public profiles and grabbed a fantastic dinner at Kiki's Mexican Restaurant.
We also had the joy of celebrating Zsel and Dani at their baby shower as they prepare to welcome Baby Kairo into the world—Patricia and I were deeply honored to be named as his godparents! On top of that, we loved getting to host Suzanne and Jim, who came all the way out from Virginia.
I met Suzanne at the SBCV Homecoming last November, where we discussed church planting and missions work, and she told me then that their son was a soldier at Fort Bliss, and we have stayed in touch since. They came to visit their son and daughter in law, and we were blessed to have them join our home gathering on the last Sunday of July. It is was such an encouragement to have some Virginia friends in our living room out here in West Texas—and special thanks to Jim for bringing his guitar to help lead us in worship!
On a lighter note, during my surgery recovery downtime, Patricia had a little fun messing around with AI and created some potato-themed photo edits of our potatoes—I mean—our dogs using Gemini (because why not, right?).
And finally, to make things 100% official: we finally went down to the Texas Department of Public Safety to finally get our Texas driver's licenses. I'm not going to lie...in over 20 years of driver's license applications and renewals in Virginia, I have never, EVER been more frustrated by the process than we have been in Texas.
To see all these moments in action, I put together a quick video montage for you. You can watch the full "June/July 2026 Photo Dump" video right here:
As always, none of this happens without your prayers, your encouragement, and your faithful partnership. We are seeing God build His church in the Borderlands brick by brick, heart by heart.
If you would like to continue standing with us financially as we work to reach El Paso for the gospel, you can set up a recurring gift through our Zeffy page below. Every penny makes a massive difference on the ground.
Until next time, keep praying for us as we press forward into the late summer!
Blessings,
Josh Davis
Lead Planter, Founding Elder
Borderlands Family Baptist Church
Romans 1:16-17
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