December 2025 Update

Hey everyone! It’s the first of the month, so it’s time for another Davis Family Church Planting Update!

As this gets sent out, Thanksgiving was just a few days ago, so we have been thinking a lot about what we as a family are most thankful for, and I have to say that the thing I am most thankful for is Ephesians 2:4-5, which says, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in ourtrespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.” Those two words at the beginning of verse four are the ones that I would call the most beautiful in all of scripture.

You see, verse 4 is in direct response to verses 1-3, where we read that all of us–every man, woman, or child that has ever lived except for one–were born spiritually dead, and in open, willful rebellion against our God. That, like those who are still apart from Christ, I was once an enemy of God.

BUT GOD, being rich in mercy and great in love, saved me by His grace. He gave me favor I didn’t deserve by the power of the shed blood of his own perfect son, and THAT is what I am most thankful for.

Of course, I am thankful for other things as well…like how the last month has gone!

The first week of the month was slow, so we were able to use it to reach out to local pastors to request their partnership, and we were blessed to make several connections in and around Bedford & Franklin counties as I scheduled several meetings that took place over the next couple of weeks.

Then, on Sunday evening of the 9th, I went to the opening sessions of the Southern Baptist Convention of Virginia (SBCV) Annual Homecoming.

The SBCV Homecoming is essentially the state-level convention of the SBC. During that opening night, several hundred people took part in worshiping our God, praying intentionally for the international missionaries from Virginia, and then we were challenged by the preaching of Jeff Ginn from the International Mission Board (IMB). I was so encouraged that night that when I went home, I told Patricia that I really wanted her to come with me the next morning, because in addition to church planting prep, we still have stressors of being parents to teens and a preteen, including some pretty serious health concerns for our son, Nathaniel.

It took a bit of convincing, but she agreed to come with me to the Monday sessions, and our sister/planting team member, Heather, came with us as well.

I had spoken to Mike Young of Noble Warriors (a Virginia-based discipleship organization) back at the Rural Pastors conference (see our September update for information about that) about possibly doing some ghost-writing work for his organization, so he asked me to write a promotional article for the tailgate breakfast that Noble Warriors sponsors on the Monday of the SBCV Homecoming. Because of that, we enjoyed a breakfast prepared on flat-top grills in the parking lot of First Baptist Roanoke as it gently snowed. It was incredibly picturesque.

Then, we went our separate ways as Patricia and Heather went to breakout sessions for women and evangelism, while I went to breakout sessions specifically geared toward church planting and pastoral residencies. We also spent time in the “exhibit hall,” and were able to network with other church planters and their wives–just in Virginia, not El Paso.

While there, we had a meeting with a few pastors about possibly partnering with us, and then we worshiped and studied scripture as we got the Virginia Missions reports. We had dinner at the special “church planters” dinner, and then finished the night with more worship and preaching. Overall, even though we did not go back for the final day(I was exhausted), it was an incredibly informative and encouraging time of fellowship with brothers and sisters from all over the state.

Then the meetings began. On the twelfth, I met with Pastor Kevin Howerton of Glade Hill

Baptist, and we had a great conversation, and I was incredibly encouraged by his heart and the heart of his congregation for missions–both locally and internationally. During that meeting, he invited us to come to GHBC for me to preach and to share what we are working toward, which we did on the 23rd. I preached from Matthew 9:35-38, and that sermon can be viewed on my YouTube channel (or below!). After the service, we were invited to stay and enjoy the Thanksgiving fellowship potluck. It was truly a blessing to worship with that body, and we look forward to partnering with them as we go to Texas in less than four months!

In addition to meeting with Pastor Kevin, I also met with four other local pastors, and there are positive signs that we will be partnering with their congregations as well.

Of course, no November recap would be complete without Thanksgiving! Obviously, we celebrated with the body at Glade Hill on the 23rd. Still, we also celebrated with our own church family on Wednesday night (November 26), as we opened the fellowship hall for both the people of Westlake and members of the community to come and enjoy a feast of three turkeys and two hams! Over 50 people came, and Pastor Justin gave a short message about the attributes of God that we should be thankful for from Psalm 103. Then, we had some of our church family into our home to eat with us on Thursday night, and we celebrated with our extended family as my sister—Stacie—made dinner for her “crew,” and mine, as well as our Mom on Saturday.

The final thing of note that I would like to mention as a recap is that I had an absolute blast recording the Westlake podcast on November 15. We had some false starts trying to get the time to record with Brother Andrew Rappaport of Striving for Eternity, but when we finally did record with him on the topic of “The Jewishness ofJesus.” It was a blast to hang spend time with Brother Andrew, as always. You can listen to that episode of Anchored by the Word by clicking the podcast logo below.

Looking forward to December, you have the chance to come out and support our mission to El Paso in a real way, as we prepare for our Spaghetti Dinner! On December 13, 2025, in the fellowship hall of Westlake Baptist Church, we are going to be having Spaghetti, garlic toast, and tossed salad with a secret auction for desserts! They are cheaper when purchased in advance, so if you haven’t already purchased your tickets, make sure you click the button and get them by midnight on December 12!

Buy tickets here!

Finally, if you are interested in partnering with us to support our mission financially, you can set up recurring monthly donations or a one-time gift in our secure giving portal by clicking the button below. For just the cost of a cup of coffee per week ($20/month), you can have a real gospel impact in the Chihuahua desert!

You can also make checks payable to Westlake Baptist Church with “church planting” in the memo line and mail them to:

Church Planting

C/O Westlake Baptist Church

2075 Scruggs Rd

Moneta, VA 24121

Thank you all for your prayers and support, and from our fami

ly to yours, Happy Thanksgiving and an early Merry Christmas!

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