The GBA Connection: August Edition
August Newsletter
The GBA Connection
Strengthening cooperation and celebrating God's work across Grayson County.
August brought a new season of ministry across the Grayson Baptist Association! From welcoming students back to Grayson College to new and renewed leadership gatherings, August was filled with opportunities to connect, equip, and encourage.
We are grateful for the many ways God continues to work through our churches and ministries across Grayson County!
Our BSM Director Zach Ferrell welcomes brand-new students to the Fall 2026 semester during the BSM Sweets & Greets event at Grayson College.
The Association in Action
Refining the Edge for a Digital Age
One way the Grayson Baptist Association serves our churches is by helping pastors and ministry leaders navigate new opportunities for ministry. At our August Executive Board Meeting at Parkside Baptist Church, we explored some of the fastest-growing AI tools that could be better utilized in a ministry context.
Our AI training focused on practical ways these tools can save time, strengthen communication, assist with administration, and create ministry resources while never replacing the relationships at the heart of local church ministry.
A special thank you to Chris Reed, Student Minister at North Park Baptist Church, and Sloan Stephenson, Student Minister at First Baptist Church Van Alstyne, for helping lead this conversation and sharing their experience with our churches. We are grateful for leaders who use their gifts to help equip others for ministry!
From Welcoming Leaders to Growing Leaders
August gave us several opportunities to celebrate leaders across Grayson County! From First Baptist Church Sherman welcoming Dave Purkey as their new Minister of Worship to First Baptist Church Bells ordaining Troy Willis as a new deacon, it is an honor to see leaders stepping up to serve our churches across the county!
August is also a time for associational leaders to be poured into. I had the opportunity to join nearly 70 association leaders from across Texas for TXaDOM, a time specifically designed to train, encourage, and equip those serving Baptist associations across our state.
I am thankful for the opportunity to learn from some of the best and wisest association leaders across the great state of Texas. If you are new to association work (like me), there are 100+ associations in Texas and around 1,000 across our nation that represent one of the most strategic networks of mission in Southern Baptist life.
It’s these kinds of meetings that fuel the fire of urgency to see our churches strengthened and our county reached with the Gospel. I am grateful to keep learning, growing, and bringing those lessons home as we work to reach Grayson County!
2026 GBA Teams
Teamwork that Makes a Difference
One of the great strengths of the Grayson Baptist Association is the network of pastors and ministry leaders who serve through our GBA Ministry Teams. The 2026 teams include:
Church Planting Team – Chair: Mike Flanagan, Pastor, FBC Whitesboro
Care Team – Chair: Steve Suffron, Pastor, FBC Denison
Crisis / Strike Team – Chair: Ricky Hargrave, Interim Pastor, West Sherman
Properties Team – Chair: Brian Taylor, Pastor, Forest Avenue Baptist
Student Ministry Team / Network – Chair: Tana Bates, Student Minister, Trinity Baptist
Worship Ministry Team – Chair: Austin Estes, Worship Minister, The Bridge Tioga
Reaching the Next Generation Together
Our GBA Student Ministry Network continues to bring student pastors and leaders from across Grayson County together for encouragement, prayer, resource sharing, and cooperation.
Behind the scenes, our Student Ministry Task Force has also been hard at work preparing for two of our biggest opportunities to reach students together this fall!
SAW YOU AT THE POLE RALLY | SEPTEMBER 23
Students from across the county will gather at Parkside Baptist Church in Denison, Wednesday evening Sept 23rd for an evening of food, worship, and an impactful message. This is a great opportunity for student ministries from across Grayson County to stand together representing the united body of Christ in worship!
Click the link below to sign up your students for the SYATP Rally!
COUNTY-WIDE D-NOW | NOVEMBER 13–14
Churches from across Grayson County will also come together this fall for our County-Wide D-Now Weekend! This two-day event gives churches an opportunity to provide their students with a great weekend of worship, biblical teaching, small groups, and fellowship while sharing resources and doing it together.
Click the link below to sign up your church for D-Now!
SYATP | 2026
Our Strategic Remodel is about to Begin!
For more than 20 years, our Loy Lake Property has served as a home base for strengthening churches, equipping leaders, and advancing Gospel ministry across Grayson County.
With the BSM Roof Restoration Project now complete, we are excited to begin the next phase of restoration. Our vision remains to transform existing office space into a future Christian Counseling Center while updating our conference area into a modern training hub for seminary classes, church planting cohorts, leadership gatherings, and ministry training events.
We are excited to share that our newly formed GBA Restoration Team is actively making plans, and construction on the first phase of this project is expected to begin soon. This marks another exciting step in preparing our facilities to better serve churches, pastors, and ministry leaders for years to come.
This is more than a renovation; it is an investment in pastors, churches, and the future of Gospel ministry throughout our region. Every gift toward this project helps strengthen churches, equip leaders, and expand Kingdom impact across Grayson County.
Stay tuned… construction is about to begin, and we look forward to sharing the transformation with you every step of the way!
Baptist Student Ministry
The Journey to the New Semester
We are so excited to announce that we are BACK IN THE BSM BUILDING!!!
We have prayed and prepared diligently for this semester! We prepared alongside our Church Ministry Team and trained our incredible Student Leader Team as we got ready for all that God has in store!
We had the opportunity this year to be a part of the check in process for on-campus students! We greeted each and every student and were privileged with the chance to introduce them to the BSM and all the activities going on each week.
We officially kicked off the semester with Greet and Sweets, where we had the opportunity to welcome students onto campus! We gave away tons of gift cards and a TV and we served delicious homemade desserts provided by our amazing churches! Through this event, we had the incredible opportunity to host 60+ students at the BSM and get them plugged in!
Thank you so much for your prayers and support! Please continue to pray for us as we pour into the students God sends our way!
We cannot wait to see how God uses this ministry for His glory and for the salvation and revival of Grayson College and Austin College students!!!
Be sure to follow our page online to stay up to date with what God is doing on & off the College Campus!
Lake Retreat & Campground
Follow us on Social Media for More!
As summer draws to an end and cooler days are ahead, the GBA Lake Retreat & Campground is the perfect place to plan a fall getaway!
Our dorm remodel and other improvements are continuing, and we are still looking for church groups and skilled teams who would like to help with projects around the property. Even while improvements are underway, the campground remains open and ready for reservations!
We are incredibly blessed to have this unique ministry resource available to our GBA churches!
We want to say a special thank you to Joel and Naomi Lightfoot, our volunteer hosts, for the incredible job they continue to do caring for the property and welcoming our guests. We also appreciate the new volleyball net and tetherball equipment recently added for everyone to enjoy!
Start planning your fall getaway at the GBA Lake Retreat & Campground!
Upcoming GBA events
Upcoming Prayer Breakfasts
GBA Pastors & Ministers are welcome to join us each Monday @9:30am in the GBA Office. Our next Meeting dates are:
Sept 21 | 9:30 AM
Sept 28 | 9:30 AM
Executive Board Meetings
GBA Pastors, Ministry staff and elected messengers are welcome to join us for our Monthly gatherings! The next meetings are at 10 AM on the following dates:
Exec Board | Sept 14 | 10:00 AM
@Forest Avenue
Annual Meeting | Oct 11 | 6:30 PM
@ Georgetown Baptist Church
Our Next Executive Board
Our Upcoming Annual Meeting
Welcome
to the association
We are grateful to welcome a new ministry leader to Grayson County this August!
Please join us in welcoming Dave Purkey and his family to First Baptist Church, Sherman, where he was called as worship minister on August 16, 2026.
We are excited to see how God will use Dave as he begins this new chapter of ministry!
Upcoming Across the county
True Options Event:
How to Teach the Toughest Topics
Thurs, Sept. 24 | 12–2 PM
@ FBC Sherman
True options Event: Making the Case for Life with Dr. Marc Newman Thurs, Sept. 24 | 6–9 PM
@ FBC Sherman
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