Posted on Sat, Jun. 09, 2007

Two Fort Worth churches share in a miracle worship

By BRETT HOFFMAN

Star-Telegram staff writer

FORT WORTH -- Membership at Ridglea West Baptist Church was declining. Agape Baptist Church was growing.

But several members from each church knew each other and they had read the same Bible -- especially the injunctions about being stewards of the Lord.

After prayer and a joint worship service in February, the venerable Ridglea West congregation on March 25 was moved to do something almost unheard of: It disbanded and gave its $2.6 million property to Agape.

"It was a heart-wrenching decision," said Tom Wiant, who had been a member of Ridglea West since 1985 and has joined Agape. "But the Agape congregation is very energetic, very much alive, and I think we'll see big things again."

Of Agape's membership of 278, 56 are former Ridglea West members, church officials said. Worship services are in a modern brown brick building with stained-glass windows where the sanctuary seats several hundred.

About Ridglea West

The church was founded in 1948 and, within 10 years, Sunday school attendance was more than 500. But as the decades passed, the predominantly Anglo congregation on Southwest Boulevard in Fort Worth aged and members became frustrated over their failed attempts to reach a neighborhood that had changed demographically. After a series of meetings during the fall and winter, then-pastor Kris Barnett and the Ridglea West congregation had pretty well determined that there should be no attempt to resuscitate the church.

About Agape

The church began in the home of Cheri and David Jordan, on June 5, 2005, when about 60 Christians met for an evening of fellowship and a potluck dinner in southwest Fort Worth. After a series of meetings over the summer, the group opted to begin an organized church in late 2005. The Rev. Gerald Marsh, a former instructor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, became the founding pastor and stayed on for more than six months.

The congregation was meeting in a building owned by a United Methodist congregation, but that building was sold to a neighboring Baptist church. This February, Agape was informed it would become homeless.

Coming together

Ridglea West invited Agape to its house of worship to lead a Feb. 25 service. The Rev. Paul Sands, Agape's upbeat pastor, preached the sermon, and Agape's veteran choir led the traditional hymns.

"It was like what can [Agape] do if they came into this place?" Barnett said.

A few weeks later at Ridglea West, Barnett based his sermon on the Old Testament prophet Abraham, who was commanded by God to leave his familiar surroundings and take a leap of faith into unknown territory.

A marvel

Agape members view their newly acquired facility as a miracle, as well they should, experts said.

Ridglea West's willingness to hand over its property is highly unusual, said the Rev. Russell Dilday, a former president of Southwestern Baptist.

"That's very difficult for a church," Dilday said. "Typically, there's such a heritage and history and long story of how the church came into being. You have people who have invested their lives in the church and reflect on how their parents were married there and all of the long traditions of the past. But this is an example of unusual and remarkable unselfishness and Christlikeness."

Traditional approach

One major feature of Agape is its music program, which thrives on traditional music in a day when many congregations have opted to sing contemporary Christian songs. The church also is globally minded, and members view their program of teaching English as a second language to foreign students as a form of missionary outreach.

Marsh, the founding pastor and an active member, said it was like starting up a dream church.

"I spent the first 50 years in the ministry trying to get people to do things that I knew they didn't want to do," Marsh said. "But with this bunch, I've found myself having to repeatedly suggest that they slow down.

"I tease them by saying things such as: 'No one has to convince you to do something good for the Lord and the church. You're out there in front wanting to do so much that the leader has to keep running just to stay out in front.'"

Agape Baptist Church

Where: 3954 Southwest Blvd., Fort Worth

Founded: November 2005

Services: 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Sunday and 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Pastor: the Rev. Paul Sands, associate professor of theology at Baylor's George W. Truett Theological Seminary.

Information: Call 817-923-6800 or visit agapebaptist.org