S.O.O.N. Mission with Pastor Howard Thomas

The following program is sponsored by evangelical life ministries.

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Welcome to another addition of engaging truth. I'm your host pastor John Kane broadcasting from NADOs Texas, the oldest oldest town in Texas today with on the program, we have a, um, an urban missionary, I guess we could call him from a, a very, uh, vibrant area of Houston, you know, having moved to Houston, uh, about 1981, uh, I've really enjoyed the music scene and the place where our, uh, guest is from today is from an area that is, uh, famous for, uh, well, maybe Beyonce and, uh, some, uh, some great blues men like, uh, Albert col Collins and, uh, Johnny Copeland and lightning Hopkins. And some of those fellows I heard years ago. So, uh, welcome to the program, Howard Thomas. Yeah,

It is a blessing to be here. This is a great privilege, and I'm so excited to share about all the things that, that you said. There's so much history and richness in this community, and I'm just, uh, we're just, uh, privileged to be here over the last, uh, six years now.

So Howard, you are just Southeast of downtown Houston. That's correct.

So tell us,

Yeah. Tell us about this area.

Yeah, so this area is called third ward and, um, being from a country town, well, a military town originally in Clarksville, Tennessee, uh, before moving to Texas, about 10 years ago, I have, I had no idea what, what award was. I knew that I was I'm called Howard, you know, which is kind of sounds like it. Um, but I didn't know what award was. And so being in third ward, I was thoroughly educated over the last couple of years by, uh, local neighbors mentors. Um, that just really taught me the history of third ward. And basically, um, just understanding that there was a ward system that was, um, active, um, uh, in, uh, many years ago, uh, in the 19 hundreds. And though that system has, has been collapsed and no longer officially going there's history and, and pride all the sections of town that were wars. And third ward has its history and pride too. So PE uh, people here love to say third ward, welcome to third ward, welcome to the tray. And, um, I'm, I'm proud to say that too now.

So you've named your church soon.

What does that stand for? Yeah, so basically soon stands for something out of nothing. And, um, it was not our plan. It was because it is very UN it's very unorthodox, you know, we're not called Saint something or, or Mount something, you know. Um, but basically, um, we started as just a community of friends and neighbors having potlucks and, um, about five years ago and we just saw my, my, my wife and I, we just saw these neighbors come over with, with food and they would leave our kitchen, um, cleaner than before we hosted the gathering. And so, um, one day I said, wow, it's like, God is, is doing a something out of nothing. And, um, we should name it, name it, something. And my wife said, call it soon. And so we did, and it caught all on like a wildfire people were, were, and at no time short, they were saying, see you soon, um, looking forward to seeing you soon. And, uh, we've just kept that name ever since then.

Well, starting with friendships, I mean, that's, that's gotta be a really good organic way to form a base and, and really begin to work with each other in that community.

That that's correct. You're right. It, it, it really has been, you know, we didn't imagine, um, planting a church, we moved to third ward, we were just believers in Christ. My, my wife grew up Lutheran. Um, you know, I was just a believer in Jesus and then I Lutheran and, uh, just naturally inviting friends and neighbors over. It just felt very right and biblically what the scriptures say for us to do and living out the great commission. And so, yeah, it just, it just, it all just, it was, it was very organic and it felt like a something out of nothing just as a team to build over over those years.

So I imagine you've had a few questions in third wor uh, ward about, uh, what is a Lutheran <laugh>. Oh,

Yeah.

And so that, among other challenges, what have been some of the challenges you've you've had?

Yeah. So some of the challenges that we've had is basically, um, I grew up in a rural town, you know, military town, uh, and so I wasn't used to such economic disparity, such high levels of poverty, and then wealth living side by side, um, even ethnic differences, you know, um, you know, Caucasian, Hispanic, and black living all side by side and little mixture, but these hot pockets of over 90% Hispanic and over 90% Caucasian and over 90% black living within just a few roads of each other. And so that was a challenge for me of just seeing such dichotomy, um, side by side. And yet here we were stuck in this community, um, and figuring out how do we be a witness, uh, uh, with such dip diversity and culture. And, um, and then the Lutheran part <laugh>, you know, where, uh, people would say, uh, oh, particularly in third ward, which, um, at the time was over 90% African American, um, and a section of town of almost 40,000 people, uh, they would say, oh, you mean Martin Luther king Jr. <laugh>. Um, and I, I would have to talk about that and, and it would basically be, um, a opportunity to basically evangelize twice, you know? And, and so he learned a whole lot about, about, um, my faith in Christ and also Martin Luther and, and having to talk about what Lutherism was and a Christian was and all the time. So, yeah.

So talk a little bit about your victories.

Yeah, so our, our victories have been basically in, when we living, living in, in third ward, we, uh, the Lord blessed us with our first house. We didn't think we'd have our first house at that time. We were married for about five years, my wife and I, and we thought we were still ways away from owning our first house, but, uh, it, God works right when the Lord he moves. And so, um, we started having, um, potlucks and dinners in our house. And then the challenge was, as God was continuing to communicate that he wanted us to continue to grow and, and consider being a church plant. Um, I started noticing that there was no one in our, in our community that was a trained missionary or a trained pastor. Um, you know, I was the closest thing. Um, uh, and I was just getting into, going to seminary and, and, uh, ordination. So that was the biggest challenge of how do we do this? Um, you know, we're a sacramental church, you know, we're a church plant, uh, how do we do this with everyday common people? And that challenge also became a great, just a, a great narrative and platform for me and my wife to grow and to understand experience the great commission, um, and the church in general, um, over the past, over the past five, five years. And, and it's been great.

So what excites you about your church and where you're at and where you're going?

What excites us is the diversity that's in our church plant. Um, when, when my wife and I, her name's Alyssa first moved here, uh, we thought we would just naturally attract young millennial types, you know, worker professionals, maybe, uh, that kind of thing. Um, but we did not expect to attract such diversity. And even though our church is small, um, before the pandemic, we were gathering our house, um, anywhere from eight to on, on, on great nights, 20 people. Um, and our church is about an average of about 12 or 13 on our average Sunday, since we officially launched, uh, three months ago, even though that's our numbers, we're very diverse. It's, it's, it's, it's crazy. It's, it's like a third, a third African American, um, a third, uh, um, C uh, Caucasian, and then a mixture of Indian and Asian. Um, and they're all, they're all friends about.

They're all, they're all real friends. They all know us. They all love us. They all love what soon is. And so that's what excites me is God's kind of set us up to be a true image of how to be an inner city church, an inner city Lutheran church, uh, cause a number of them are Lutheran or, or they grew up in a sacramental expression of, of worship. So God has just been, do doing all of this, you know, over the past five years. And, um, it excites me cuz it's like, well, I guess he's got better things, even more things planned if he continues to just set us up so well, um, to be a image and a, a ministry and a presence and the in inner city ward. And you,

You give us a, a quick definition of what you mean by a sacramental expression of worship.

Yeah, sure. Yeah. So this actually is one of the things that excited me about, um, becoming a Lutheran is that, you know, Martin Luther talked about and taught, uh, the, the, the scriptures where, where Jesus and, and the apostles, uh, gave commands about these real practices, these living signs, as they say, uh, the word sacrament, uh, comes from a Latin word, meaning mystery, uh, a true mystery, these real signs that if we do them and do them in faith, as the Bible says will experience the fellowship of the father of the song, holy spirit. And, and it will be real, you know, God will be with us and there will be a calling to, to move with him, confess, repent, and believe. And so, um, uh, you know, and most churches, they have communion sometimes, or they, they get baptized, but these things, these real, real, real true living signs come from scripture from Christ commands.

And so being sacramental to us really meant the fullness of that, of truly being an example of the gospel and, and, and in, in our house church and how we love and how we, uh, show, um, hospitality. Um, but also introduce the scriptures and how, you know, when we come together and we, and we break bread and we Institute the, the wine and bread, we are actually inviting, uh, the Trinity into this and people can, can become, uh, members of the kingdom through, through this. And so I think it's awesome. Um, and some churches don't fully ex understand that, but it's a powerful reality that God's given us of sacramental word, um, that we, we, we enjoy doing it in very natural and organic ways and more liturgical ways on Sunday as well.

So, right. I, I don't understand how God does it. I just simply appreciate that. Right. He, that he gives it to us and he, he gives us the experience. I mean, I think every Christian Long to have this, this real, um, tangible experience with God, and here's how God says, he'll do it in

Scripture, take a knee take and drink. And you you're totally right, John. Exactly. It's, it's, God's, um, it's, God's gift to us to truly give us a tangible, real way. We have to fully understand it. It's a mystery literally. Right. But we get to participate in it and it's a joy to do so.

So what, uh, what's the future look like from your perspective? Obviously we don't know all, everything God has in mind. He's always got, uh, wonderful surprises for us, but, uh, what, what do you hope to accomplish, uh, in the, uh, in the near future through soon?

Yeah. Thank you for asking that. Um, when we first moved to third ward, I saw a level, like I said before, poverty and ethnic saturation, you know, mostly African American, um, that I've never seen before in just one section. Um, I also saw a lot of pride history and joy, the people in this community, a lot of them talk about God and Jesus almost in second breath. Uh, if you talk to him for more than five minutes, so it's a faith community, but a community that has needs and a community that needs to ironically sacramentally see and experience the gospel. Um, so we started hitting the streets, uh, in our early years, uh, picking up trash, praying for neighbors, and we got kind of burnt out on that. <laugh> pretty, pretty quickly. So what excited me is when we started to be a church church, uh, we, we, we got a building.

We, we, we, we, we rented space in this building. We're sharing space with a non Baptist church right now, which is really cool to partner with them, but, but still be ourselves. And we're excited to actually be a place where we can be a missional church, go out on mission. We can invite other churches outside of third, third ward to partner with us, other Lutheran churches, you know, be a safe space, a, a bridge to, to come experience third ward and, and mission themselves, um, and just grow from there and be a place where people, people can experience God and the kingdom, Jesus Christ brought and also go out and live out that their faith, um, and service, um, with us, um, as partners, uh, in our church. And so I'm excited for God to continue to, to build that and grow that, um, uh, over the, over the, the next couple of years, as we've now officially launched in our meeting regularly as a congregation, um, every Sunday evening.

So do you like to call yourself a missionary or a pastor? Or what, how do you, uh, introduce yourself to

People? That's a great question. Great question, John, you know, in my heart of hearts, I'm a, I'm an evangelist. Okay. I'm a missionary. Um, but I love people, you know, being a military kid, I grew up, you know, seeing diversity, I grew up, you know, traveling the world with, with my parents and God was doing something in that, you know, he was saying, I'm, I'm going to, I'm gonna nurture that to in a pastoral way. And so in my heart of hearts, I love to, I love to seek after the loss, the disconnected, the, um, the center, the believer and draw them into the, to the kingdom. But I also like to get the believers all together and us moving and unity to display the kingdom of Jesus together. And so it just really feels like being a missional church, planting pastor is just kind of like the perfect, you know, the perfect, um, mix that God's been preparing me and my wife for cuz she's on this journey too, uh, in an awesome way. Um, and, and to, to, to do this,

All right, we're talking with Howard Thomas, the, uh, evangelist missionary pastor in, uh, third ward of Houston, Southeast Houston at a church called soon. We'll come back to Howard in just a moment. I wanted to let our listeners know that you can get a podcast of this radio program or radio programs by going to our website, Elm houston.org. And they're at Elm houston.org. You can find, as I said, uh, past few years worth of programming, you can also find links to our YouTube and Facebook and Twitter accounts. Uh, you can also find a way to contact us by writing us at PO box 5, 6, 8, Cypress, Texas, 77 4. Oh. And there's also ways to support us. We are, uh, a, uh, nondenom, I'm sorry, we're uh, uh, a tax exempt organization. And so your, uh, your tax exempt gifts go far to, uh, support us and purchase us airtime you're on the air hosts or all volunteers. So, uh, we'll be coming back now to, uh, our guest Howard Howard, what would you like to tell our guests about ways that they can connect with you ways they can worship with you, uh, ways perhaps that they can see, uh, the same YouTube video that I saw about your work.

Yeah. Great. Thank you for that question. Yeah, we, so in a, in an interesting way, um, the Lord has been leading us to study the book of acts and the first churches, the first that are planted. And you can, you can read those in acts 16 and acts 19. And, you know, at the Philippian church and the Ephesian church, and one was planted through people with, with economic stability that were, that were pragmatic, that had, had means to offer, you know, the first church of the, of Lydia, uh, you know, uh, people who had stability and means to offer, but the other church, the second church, most prominent church in ESUs. We read that chapter 19 of act. They were planning through powerful charismatic signs of, you know, calling out darkness with the gospel, speaking out the demons with the truth and people were drawn to the kingdom.

And so what we're asking for, I, I felt the Lord calling us as a church to ask for those Philippians and those Ephesians out there, people who love good old liturgical, you know, sacramental, you know, order ordering kingdom, we'd love for you to serve with us, to express how to see how God's ordering kingdom is being lived out right in the inner city. But those who wanna experience God in a, in a, in a prophetic way, in a, you know, seeing darkness being shut out by the holy spirit, by, by Jesus' power, those, those Ephesians out there, we want you to, um, to come and experience the kingdom, moving in authority through something out of nothing. So if you're afraid of just jumping in, we have a YouTube channel, and there's great videos on there that, that, that, that share stories of where we, where we've been sermons. You can just even see our whole church services on there and get a little taste, a little appetizer, what we're like on Sunday and a little bit of what we do in the inner city. You can also visit our website at soon, third war, church.org, and contact us, get to know us. We'd love to connect with you and sup and, and walk with you in ministry.

If you were to wake up tomorrow and your church was, uh, really everything you wanted it to be, would you describe that? What that would look like?

You know, um, I love the book of acts. Um, I love seeing neighbors, coworkers, uh, citizens of the city, um, hosting gatherings in, in many enclaves in the city or in the country from, from to cafes, to, to, to restaurants as the base of the church. And then, and then them rallying together with excitement to meet in a larger gathering, um, regularly on say a Sunday. Um, uh, and so that's what I would love is, uh, as soon grows as when, when, when people in our church continue to catch the vision and, and they are catching it, we really believe hospitality is opening up their homes, um, or, or a place that they really feel called a local cafe, a restaurant, um, wherever, a meeting spot to host Obama, study a social gathering, um, a prayer meeting, um, and then walk the streets with us to serve the community and all of that energy and joy meet head on, on a Sunday for worship, where we get to hear the word preach, worship, and enjoy the sacraments. That's my joy as a church that's really reaching and saturated in the community. Um, uh, and every nook of, of what Houston is, that'd be great.

No, uh, when people get, uh, involved with watching the news a lot, um, you know, I, I think their outlook on the world really changes and, uh, Howard, I thank you for what you're doing, uh, doing God's work there at, uh, the third ward of Houston and reaching out beyond the third ward, uh, by these electronic means to, uh, point people's eyes to the one true hope for the world. And that is Christ Jesus. As we're wrapping up here, would you give us a real succinct death definition of gospel? You talked about taking the gospel out to the third ward. Would you define that for us? What gospel is?

Oh yeah, sure. Yeah. Yeah. So the gospel is amazing. It's called the good news, the good news for you. And it's good news because God gave us the gospel. He gave us his son. He gave us his son as a gift, and he calls us. He asked us to receive the salvation of his son, Jesus Christ. And when, when we receive that through grace, grace not worked for grace only earned, then we get to see the true revelation that we are sons and daughters of the king through his son. And so that grace given not deserved, uh, is called the good news. And the, the, the church is to display that good news, you know, by giving people charity, they don't deserve giving people, uh, um, help and blessing they don't deserve. And we don't deserve, I don't

Deserve to give it that gospel, that good news that Jesus died and rose for our sins. Boy, that is the true Christmas gift. Isn't it? Amen. Perfect timing, undeserved, but, but fully given by God, out of, out of love for us. So, uh, thank you again, Howard Thomas for being with us and sharing with us, the good news straight out of third ward Houston. Join us. Thank you so much. Join us again real soon for another edition of engaging truth. Goodbye.

Thank you for listening to this broadcast of engaging truth. Be sure to join us each week at this time, to help support our ministry, contact evangelical life ministries, post office box 5 68, Cypress, Texas 77, 410, or visit our website@elmhouston.org, or find us on Facebook at, at evangelical l