A Friend's Testimony

Dear friends,

I would like to share with you a very special letter written by a very special friend.  He sent it to Jeff Holloway, associate pastor at First Baptist Church in Crosby, Texas, our home church.  For those of you who do not know, Gary is the one standing on the right and Kenton is the one directly in front of him (with glasses).  Please read on and glorify God with me.

Jeff,
I don't expect you to remember me, but we met at the memorial service for Gary and Carla Sloan years ago. Gary and I both pastored mission churches of Oak View Baptist in Irving, TX and Gary and Gloria and my wife and I co-pastored another one as well for a time while we were doing that. I was leading up a mission trip from Irving to Tapachula to help the Sloans when the trip was interrupted by that day on the beach of Playa Linda and instead we came to the memorial at your church. Not long after the deaths however, I still made that trip to Mexico with 3 others from Oak View including one of our newest mission pastors (Sergio Matassa), a man that Gary had lead to the Lord and baptized in Irving (Mauricio Ibarra who has since planted a church in Hutto, TX where he pastors still), and the minister of missions from Oak View (Jim Gerlach) who now pastors that church. Gloria no doubt has kept you abreast of some of what happened out of that trip that went from 20+ to our simple team of 4 just looking for ways to help the family and perhaps still find some ministry to the church(s) in Tapachula.

We had the opportunity to share Gary and Gloria's plan for church planting, evangelism, and discipleship with the leaders of the grief stricken Baptist convention there. It was not a meeting we were even aware was taking place during our visit, but we were invited to come in Gary's honor. In Gary's honor God did great things! I don't remember now if that happened before or after the memorial at your church, I think before. Out of that, thanks largely to Jim and especially Sergio's on going ministry to Chiapas, came a church planting movement that has seen hundreds, likely thousands, of new believers and at least scores of new churches being planted.

Jeff, I am amazed at how the connections work in God's hands, and just want to say thank you to you and your church for the faithful way you have supported the Sloans and their ministry, as well as church planting in Texas, Mexico, and the Pacific Northwest!

God bless you brother! I hope this encourages you in what you are doing there at 1st Crosby!

Kenton Johnson
Vice Moderator, East Zone,
Interstate Baptist Association