Houston’s First Baptist Church has a presence again downtown.
In the 1970s, the church quickly outgrew its building at 1010 Lamar, leading to relocation to a main campus at 7401 Katy Freeway. In October, the church established downtown services again at the same address as the old church.
The environment has changed much in four decades. The old church was demolished and a new office tower was built at the site, which is near the Fannin intersection.
“When the property downtown was sold, it was written into the contract that we would always be able to use a space in the new building for Bible study,” said Diane Bagby, assistant to the executive pastor.
Attendance at the Wednesday lunchtime Bible study, High Point, has grown to an average of 175.
“We thought there wasn’t a real strong evangelical presence in the downtown area,” Bagby said. “There is certainly some great churches downtown, but they are mostly on the outskirts of downtown, like in the Museum District, but not so much right in the heart of town.”
About 225 come to Sunday services at the Lamar site. A typical Sunday service consists of Sunday School classes, worship and a message.
Pastor Gregg Matte’s 9:30 a.m. message at the Katy Freeway campus is recorded and then replayed for the 11 a.m. downtown service. When Matte is out of the pulpit, Lee Hsia, the pastor for the Lamar location, preaches the message.
Hsia, 39, is a graduate of Rice University and was born in Shanghai, China. While attending Rice, he attended church at First Baptist. He also served with Evangelism Explosion, a ministry that counsels with pastors and church leaders on the strategy for relational evangelism. One of the churches he worked with was First Baptist.
“My emphasis is outreach and equipping,” Hsia said. “The Bible tells us to equip the saints for work in ministry. I do a lot of leadership training, teaching evangelism and outreach. We are about to start diversity training at our downtown campus; we really want our church to reflect the city of Houston in its diversity. I am excited about how diverse we are; we have a big range of ages, races and socio-economic levels.”
Hsia said five groups are targeted – the homeless, college students, artists, business people and Texas Medical Center professionals and students.
“There are so many performing and visual artists in the downtown area,” Hsia said.
“We would love for them to come to our church and check out the claims of Christ,” he said.
He added, “We have had quite a few homeless people come, and many of them have started coming regularly for worship, becoming a part of our church family.”
Houston’s First Baptist Church has always been involved in missions.
“The DNA of Houston’s First Baptist is in our church,” Hsia said.
“We have the feel of a small church, but with the resources of a big church.”