{"id":393605,"date":"2026-07-31T16:25:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T16:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/393605\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T16:25:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T16:25:09","slug":"mission-extends-beyond-walls-says-dallas-pastor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/393605\/","title":{"rendered":"Mission extends beyond walls, says Dallas pastor"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think the days of \u2018if we build it, they will come,\u2019 is over,\u201d said Chris Simmons, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Dallas.<\/p>\n

After 30 years leading the congregation, Simmons believes the church\u2019s mission extends beyond its walls and into the surrounding South Dallas community, where Cornerstone Baptist Church seeks to meet physical needs, share the gospel, and help residents build a stronger future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can see that a lot of those buildings sit empty because the work is not within the four walls of the church. The work is outside and unless we let people know that we care, they could care less what we know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmons was recently awarded the\u00a0Texas Baptist Legacy Award<\/a>\u00a0for his service to Cornerstone Baptist Church and the surrounding community.<\/p>\n

For 30 years, Simmons has encouraged his congregation and volunteers and leaders in Baptist life to unify in serving the Lord by serving others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to have a kingdom mindset, view the church not only as a local body of believers, but a universal body of believers working collaboratively with our local association, with other Baptist churches, and with our state and local conventions,\u201d Simmons said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBaptist churches get it \u2026 because of their understanding of the Cooperative Program. It really doesn\u2019t matter whose name is on it, as long as God gets the glory,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also said that same cooperative spirit extends beyond traditional mission projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn light of the challenges we face and the economic conditions we are in, we just choose to look at it as half-full and using the challenges as an opportunity to be able to share Christ, to meet needs, and to love our neighbors the best we can,\u201d Simmons said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe church has a number of ministries that are designed around meeting the felt needs of those in our community as a way of building a bridge to share with them their real need which is a relationship with Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meeting felt needs in order to share gospel<\/p>\n

Simmons outlined a range of community outreach programs hosted on the church\u2019s campus, including housing for about 100 formerly incarcerated men and similar assistance for women.<\/p>\n

The ministry also operates a pregnancy resource center and a maternity home offering safe housing for homeless pregnant women aged 18 to 24.<\/p>\n

The campus also features after-school programs and a private Christian school serving pre-K through seventh grade. The school operates on a sliding-scale tuition system to ensure affordability for neighborhood families.<\/p>\n

The church provides nearly 10,000 meals a month through a kitchen ministry, a free medical clinic on campus to assist those without health insurance and high deductibles, and summer learning programs for kids to fight summer learning loss.<\/p>\n

Cornerstone Baptist Church also started a community garden to battle food insecurity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndividuals and the community work [the garden], and our fresh fruits and vegetables are sold at our community market, because we realized that we were in a food desert,\u201d Simmons said.<\/p>\n

A food desert is an area where residents have limited access to convenient grocery stores for nutritious and affordable foods.<\/p>\n

Simmons said these ministries aim to meet the community\u2019s immediate, felt needs while serving as a bridge to share the gospel and a relationship with Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Need for volunteers<\/p>\n

The need for volunteers and ministries willing to partner with Cornerstone Baptist Church is great as many ministries and nonprofits are facing higher food and service costs and a challenging economic climate, Simmons said.<\/p>\n

Volunteers who choose to serve are able to participate in serving meals, donating clothing, caring for infants, and mentoring children, as well as through practical assistance like campus landscaping and bicycle repairs.<\/p>\n

The church also utilizes volunteers for specialized services, including facilitating literacy classes and offering professional counseling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important for individuals in the church, who understand and who get it, to really mobilize other church members just to come on a fact finding mission \u2013 to come down one day to feed the homeless, to work a clothing closet, to read a book with a kid, to visit one of the local elementary schools, to go into a nursing home, and just play bingo,\u201d Simmons continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve discovered is when individuals come down, then they found out it\u2019s a win-win situation. They are blessed just as much as they are a blessing to those to whom they\u2019re coming to serve. A lot of times overcoming that fear or hesitation, to really get outside of the walls of the church, to go and to serve, really is transformational,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Churches can connect with Cornerstone Baptist Church through the church\u2019s\u00a0website<\/a>, but Simmons said they\u2019re looking for more than volunteers to host Vacation Bible School or distribute food and clothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need people who are in the finance industry to help us to help people start businesses. We need people to help do financial literacy. We need volunteer groups to come in and do construction,\u201d Simmons said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody can come in and do VBS, somebody can come in and feed the homeless, which are all good \u2013 it\u2019s OK to give a man a fish. But we\u2019re thinking, \u2018How can we teach people to fish and even move further, say, about ownership?\u2019\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

Leaving South Dallas better<\/p>\n

Simmons said the church also offers programs and training through economic initiatives for those who are looking to give back to the community and step into entrepreneurial roles.<\/p>\n

Simmons said those efforts have become increasingly important as South Dallas has changed over the past two decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the positive side, we\u2019ve seen tremendous development, a significant reduction in crime, and a stronger sense of community pride,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cA lot of great things have happened in the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Success within the community has given rise to new concerns, however. \u201cAs crime has declined and people have recognized the neighborhood\u2019s value because of its proximity to Fair Park, Oak Cliff, and the Trinity River corridor, the community has experienced gentrification,\u201d Simmons said.<\/p>\n

Affordable housing has become one of the community\u2019s greatest challenges, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany longtime residents feel they are being pushed out of the community they love. As property values rise, so do property taxes, making it increasingly difficult for some residents to afford to stay.<\/p>\n

\u201cDevelopers are purchasing homes from elderly and longtime homeowners, often for what seems like a good price, demolishing those homes, and replacing them with two houses that sell for $400,000 to $500,000 each. Those higher home values also drive up neighboring property tax assessments,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Dallas, across the board, has an affordable housing crisis, where people who love the neighborhood or love Dallas \u2026 cannot afford to live in their communities,\u201d Simmons said.<\/p>\n

To foster local economic growth, Cornerstone Baptist Church is opening a coworking complex to provide affordable workspace for startups and nonprofits, offering guidance on questions like: \u201cHow do I start a business? How do I grow my business? How do I write a business plan? How do I get funding for my business?\u201d<\/p>\n

The church is tackling housing instability by renovating purchased apartment buildings and acquiring vacant lots left behind from years of neglect.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are working with architects with the goal of building affordable housing for people who want to stay in the neighborhood,\u201d Simmons said.<\/p>\n

Driven by a vision to bring peace and prosperity to the area, Simmons noted the ultimate goal of these combined initiatives is simple: \u201cWe want to leave South Dallas better than we found South Dallas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published by The Baptist Standard, news journal of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.<\/p>\n

<\/a>About the AuthorKendall Lyons<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI think the days of \u2018if we build it, they will come,\u2019 is over,\u201d said Chris Simmons, pastor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":["post-393605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}