Victoria’s Journey to Faith

Victoria’s story is one of hardship, endurance, and redemption. It is the story of a woman who endured homelessness, abuse, and despair, yet continued searching for hope until she found a home in Christ at Baptist Temple.

Her connection to the church began when her children Dominic and Isabel were attending the BT Early Learning Center. One day, they noticed a sign advertising Vacation Bible School. The construction theme was colorful and caught the children’s attention. Curious, they decided to come. That small moment became the doorway into a new spiritual life.

Victoria had lived through years of instability. In 2017, shortly after the birth of her daughter Isabel, she became homeless amid family turmoil and personal betrayal. She lost her apartment, moved into the home of a friend, and endured an increasingly dangerous environment marked by alcohol abuse. One night, she was chased through the house by her intoxicated friend. The following morning, she went into labor.

She had nowhere safe to go after her daughter was born. With two small children and no support system, she reached out to the Salvation Army. A single room was available, and that opening became her refuge. She later transitioned into Haven for Hope, where she remained for an extended period while attempting to rebuild her life.

One biblical passage became especially meaningful to her during that season. While searching television channels one morning, she heard a sermon on Genesis 8:22, on “seedtime and harvest” after the flood. She believed God was telling her to continue planting seeds of prayer and faith, trusting that a harvest would eventually come. 

Her spiritual search, however, had begun years earlier. As a teenager, Victoria endured abuse at home. She recalled nights of violence and hopelessness so overwhelming that she thought about ending her life. During one of those moments of despair, her appendix ruptured. Doctors later told her that she nearly died during emergency surgery. That experience haunted her. She awoke wondering why she had not seen heaven, light, or God. Questions about death and eternity began consuming her thoughts.

For years she searched in many directions. Raised loosely within Catholicism, she experimented with different spiritual ideas, searching for truth. It was not until her time at the Salvation Army, where church volunteers regularly ministered to residents, that she began hearing a clearer presentation of the gospel. 

Victoria’s search led to Baptist Temple, where, she was baptized. Baptism, for her, symbolized far more than joining a church. She described it as accepting the Holy Spirit fully into her life and leaving behind the guilt, fear, and brokenness that had defined so much of her past. Though she understood that she would continue struggling with sin and hardship, baptism marked her public declaration that she belonged to Christ.

Now the faith journey has begun extending into the lives of her children, Isabel and Dominic. One of the most moving moments in Victoria’s testimony came when she described her son unexpectedly expressing a desire to be baptized. No pressure had been placed upon him. After learning about John the Baptist in church, he simply announced that he loved Jesus and wanted to follow Him. Isabel, though younger, expressed a similar desire. Victoria spoke emotionally about watching her children grow from restless toddlers unable to sit through worship into children eager to attend church, participate in Sunday school, and talk about Bible stories at home.

Throughout her testimony, the theme of redemption emerged repeatedly. Victoria frequently found herself in situations where survival seemed uncertain. Yet each time, another door opened—a room at a shelter, a church invitation, a new spiritual family, a renewed sense of purpose. Her story is not tidy or triumphant. The wounds remain visible. But her testimony reflects the conviction that God never abandoned her.

Victoria’s journey is a testimony to human endurance and God’s grace. From homelessness, fear, and despair, to worship and faith. She has come to believe that God was guiding her long before she understood His presence. Now, as she watches her children take their own first steps of faith, she sees survival behind her and hope ahead.

Dominic and Isabel were baptized on May 24, 2026.

Sobriety, Baptism, and the Call to Serve

For Jarrett Leeth, sobriety was not the end of a journey but the clearing of the fog. 

Leeth’s parents were pillars of Baptist Temple. Morgan and Lynn were deeply involved in teaching, music, and community ministry. But Jarrett was drifting in the opposite direction. “I was getting out of the church scene and going my own ways. Not good ways, doing bar scenes and such and going the wrong way,” he said. What began as casual drinking hardened into habit, and habit into dependence. He would later describe those years plainly: hurting other people, hurting himself, using friends and even his parents for money, and watching alcohol quietly dismantle both his work and his integrity.

He was a licensed journeyman plumber who learned his trade in the Navy as a Seabee. Plumbing was the one steady thing in his life. But even that began to erode. After a diabetes diagnosis, he refused to change his lifestyle. Medication came; the drinking continued. He let his plumbing license lapse and tried to begin again at Home Depot, imagining a steady career until retirement. Instead, he found himself working part-time at night stocking for modest wages, barely covering fuel costs.

He pivoted again, this time into sprinkler fitting. The work suited him. The drinking did not stop.

Then came the physical consequences. Diabetes advanced. Sores appeared on his feet and would not heal. A toe was amputated and still he drank. His nights blurred into mornings as he drank himself into brief unconsciousness only to begin again. Finally, it got so bad he was hospitalized for liver failure.

That was three years ago. “I don't even have the slightest thought of alcohol in my mind anymore,” he said. 

Leeth quit cold turkey. No gradual taper. No negotiated compromise. March 14 will mark three years without a drop of alcohol. The early weeks were difficult, but the cravings eventually fell silent. Sobriety did more than restore clarity; it restored memory. With painful vividness he began to see the damage he had done—to himself, to others, to the life he might have lived.

Then he began to pray. He began to feel the Holy Spirit working in his life; a quiet conversation between him and God. He had been thinking about baptism for months before he spoke it aloud. He even considered marking the occasion on the third anniversary of his sobriety. Yet his deeper questions were not about ceremony but about direction. About following the way of Jesus.

He was baptized on February ninth, not just as a testimony of what he left behind but, also, a declaration of where he hopes to go. At fifty-five, Leeth describes himself as “wide awake.” Plumbing was his identity, the one thing he stuck to. But now, sober and alert, he feels the weight of larger questions: Where am I headed? What is the purpose of the years that remain?

He reads Scripture and seeks deeper understanding. He searches the stories for answers about life and eternity. He is seeking a way to make a difference. “Serving others, that’s probably what I'm looking for right there,” he said.

And the questions that once haunted him—about death, about direction, about meaning—are gradually giving way to something quieter and more enduring: the desire to belong to Christ and to spend what remains of his life serving others.

From Obligation to Belonging

Sean Murphy’s connection to the church began unexpectedly. Assigned community service, Murphy asked to serve somewhere close to home. A decision that brought him to the Highland Park Community Assistance Network on the BT Campus. At first, he expected to do little more than complete the required hours by helping at the thrift store and food pantry. Instead, relationships began to form. “I just kept coming and it became a regular thing,” he said.

He began attending worship and Bible study with his wife, Nancy and daughter, Makayla. They felt welcome and the Holy Spirit began to work on their hearts. Nancy and Makayla made a public commitment to Christ and were baptized last year. Nancy sings and plays guitar with the church praise band.

Murphy describes himself as a handyman, a role shaped as much by necessity as by skill. “When something broke, nobody knew how to fix it and we ended up having to pay somebody,” he said. So, he learned to work with hands.

He worked in construction until a falling beam nearly crushed his leg. “I almost lost my leg. I was real lucky,” he said

Now retired, Murphy is present at the church most days. He helps where he can—fixing appliances, tending to the landscape, assembling meal packs for the homeless, whatever is needed. He is not only a handyman, but he plays the guitar and cooks. “It's giving me a sense of purpose, and I feel like I'm actually doing something,” he said.

Deacon Vernon Liverett said, “I have seen that when Sean gets involved with something, he becomes totally committed to it. He does research and will learn new skills to become more proficient at that activity.”

Murphy’s spiritual journey has had some twists and turns. He was raised Catholic but his grandmother, while Catholic, also practiced tarot reading during the Great Depression to support her family—a detail Murphy recounts with both irony and affection. As a young adult, he explored a wide range of religious traditions, including the Mormon Church and Wicca.

When Murphy began to read a Bible provided to him be the Gideons, he came full circle to Christianity. Opening it at random, he encountered the story of Job. The suffering was so overwhelming that he could not finish the account at the time, unaware that restoration followed loss. Still, the experience marked a turning point. “Now I find myself doing it more and more with Bible study and hearing the sermons in church and just kind of being more active than I've ever been in a church setting before,” he said.

Under the gentle and steady discipleship of Minister of Outreach, Daniel Arredondo and Liverett, Murphy committed himself to following Christ and was baptized on February first this year.

Murphy does not frame his faith in doctrinal terms. He speaks of following Jesus through action—helping others, fixing what’s broken, showing up when someone needs help. For him, faith has become more present and embodied than ever before.

Church is a place where he belongs, contributes, and grows. Murphy’s faith is active and grounded in compassion. He helps because he knows what it is like to need help—and not receive it. That knowledge shapes both his work and his walk.

After loss and violence, one woman finds her way to Christ

COVID-19 was still months away when Adelina Sanchez accepted an invitation from her friend Maria to visit Family Deaf Church. She immediately felt the warmth of the congregation. But when Maria later moved away, Sanchez stopped coming. “I didn’t quite fit in,” she said.

As a child growing up in poverty, she felt like an outsider even in her own home. “I overheard my mom one time telling my oldest sister, ‘I don’t want you talking to Adelina too much because she’s gonna corrupt your mind,’” Sanchez recalled. “I was always left out.”

Those words settled deep into her heart. As a teenager, she dreamed of finishing school and escaping poverty. “I wanted to graduate and do something for myself,” she said. 

Instead, she became pregnant and her mother insisted she marry. “I didn’t know nothing about taking care of my baby,” she said.

Her husband was a hard drinker and the marriage became abusive. During one violent incident, she said her husband struck her in the head with a brick, requiring eight stitches. “He almost killed me,” she said. 

That was the night she called her mother and came home to San Antonio. But returning to San Antonio did not bring healing. The feeling of isolation followed her into adulthood. “My sisters still wouldn’t talk to me,” Sanchez said. “I have eight sisters and three brothers, and they all treat me the same.” 

She managed to raise two sons, but the hardships continued to mount. In 2020, one of her sons died suddenly from a heart attack at age 43. Her other son had just finished serving fifteen years in prison, was released this August, and was soon arrested again.

In her grief and isolation, she felt her heart turning back toward God. She started attending Robbie White’s Bible study class where she learned about forgiveness and faith. She began volunteering in the thrift store, and she kept coming to worship. Still, social connections remain difficult for her and she hesitates to call the people around her friends. “I have just acquaintances,” she said. 

She has been through so much loss—her oldest son gone, her youngest son cycling in and out of jail, and loneliness waiting for her at home. Her days now revolve around the gym, the thrift store, and church. After a lifetime of rejection, violence, and loss, she keeps coming. She keeps trying. “I’m trying to reach out,” she said, “I've been through a lot.”

I told her, “You are very welcome here… Jesus died for you.”

Adelina accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and was recently baptized at Baptist Temple. In a life marked by rejection and hardship, Adelina has found a place where she is seen—not as a burden, not as an outsider, but as someone God loves, someone worth saving, someone whose story does not end in pain. She is still walking through grief, still learning community, still discovering hope. But she is not walking alone anymore. 

Near death experience leads to spiritual awakening

Guest blog by Ralph Garcia

I was eight years old when my mother was diagnosed with cancer. In the 1960s, the chances of survival were slim. My mother’s parents were devout Christians of the catholic faith and placed it all in God’s hands. They prayed for a miracle and made a pilgrimage to the Basilica in San Juan, Texas. My Grandfather prayed and crawled to the altar on his knees, begging our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for miraculous healing. A few weeks later, my mother was miraculously cancer free. The doctors had no explanation as to how it could have possibly happened.

Growing up, my family often spoke about my mother’s illness and the miraculous healing. It strengthened my understanding about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the role he played in our life. As I got older, I lost sight of my mother’s miracle. I went on living the best life I could. I was never in trouble but did suffer from marital strife and lost my way in the world.

In 2007, all of that changed when I met my wife and was re-introduced to God and to the Baptist Church. My wife opened my eyes to Christianity and taught me that prayer worked. I was raised Catholic and had never been to another church but, after a few weeks, I realized that the congregation at Baptist Temple Church was loving and accepting. It was easy for me to transition. 

After open-heart surgery in 2010, I again lost my way, concentrating on my job and providing for my family. My profession is in law enforcement, and, after a couple of promotions, I began to focus on getting the job done and making as much money as I could. My wife would often ask me when I was going to retire, and my answer was always “I have some good years left in me".  

I was getting older and, in 2019, my best friend and former partner was killed in the line of duty. I became obsessed with physical strength, vowing that what happened to my friend would not happen to me.

I always knew that God was with me, especially when I was at work. I prayed every morning, often Psalm 91, thanking Jesus Christ for all the blessings he has given me and my family and to keep everyone safe and healthy. Looking back, I feel that I took him for granted and continued living my best life.

On August 21st, 2025, I drove home after work. My wife was staying in town that week to take care of our grandson. I got home, took care of some chores, and began to feel a little funny. I went inside the house to cool off. Without warning, I blacked out. After a few minutes, I came to, sitting on the floor. I had urinated on myself and was drooling. I called my wife, told her what happened, and she drove forty minutes to pick me up and take me to the nearest hospital. After a brief examination and blood work, they admitted me for observation. My heart enzymes were a little off. 

A nurse came in the morning to greet me. The next thing I remember is waking up with doctors and nurses working on me, telling me that I was going to a hospital in San Antonio for further treatment.

In the San Antonio ICU, I was told that I went into cardiac arrest in the Jourdanton and had been worked on for seven minutes. My ribs were broken, and my sternum was cracked. I was busted and bruised from my hip to my upper chest and in a lot of pain, but I was alive and that was all that mattered.  

I told the cardiologist that it was a miracle that I was in a cardiac unit when I coded. They told me, “Yes, but the real miracle is that you coded at home and came out of it on your own, and we are still trying to figure that out.”

They knew I coded at home because of the initial blood work. I then realized that what happened to me was nothing short of a lifesaving miracle. It had to be God. I am still being treated and awaiting another procedure but very grateful to be here.

Since this incident, I have had a spiritual awakening. On Sunday, November 2nd, 2025, I was baptized by Pastor Jorge Zayasbazan at Baptist Temple Church in San Antonio, Texas. I realized that I was searching for strength in all the wrong places. It wasn’t a strong body that was going to save me, it was God and only God. I needed spiritual strength, and nothing else. I think back on all the sins I committed and all the material things that I put in my life before God, and he still loved me. He loved me enough to give me another chance at life. So, my message is this: Every day is a blessing, so live it like it’s your last day. God loves us unconditionally and if we believe in him, he will believe in us.

Jesus heals body and soul

A sudden burst of sunlight interrupted the master's teaching. Everyone looked up to see a man being lowered through a hole in the roof. We learn in Luke's Gospel (5:17-26) that the man is paralyzed. His friends wanted to bring him to Jesus; his only hope.

They'd heard Jesus was in town and teaching in a nearby house. These men knew that if they could get their friend to Jesus, his life would be changed. Upon arrival, they were disappointed to find the house full. It was standing room only. People were peeking in and those who couldn't see were listening outside the walls.

The friends of the paralyzed man would not be deterred from their mission. They climbed up on the roof, carrying their friend, and dug a hole in it so they can place their friend in front of Jesus.

Imagine the shock of the crowd at the audacity of these invaders. All eyes turn back to Jesus when he says, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” (Luke 5:20)

“Wait! What?”

It was so quiet you could almost hear the thoughts of the people. The Bible says that the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Luke 5:21)

What about the healing? It seems odd that Jesus forgave the paralyzed man before healing him but Jesus used this moment to show that he had the authority to forgive sins by healing the man.

Jesus' healing reaches beyond our bodily ailments to the salvation of our eternal souls; even, beyond death. It is holistic healing. A woman, who had a blood flow for 12 years, touched the hem of Jesus' clothes and her bleeding stopped immediately. What Jesus then told her reaches beyond cure to the deeper need of the whole person: “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.” (Luke 8:48)

God is not just interested in saving our souls. Salvation is healing for the whole person: body, mind and spirit. God has promised the forgiveness of sins and the resurrection of the body to life everlasting. The Gospels record 40 healings that were signs pointing ahead to our ultimate healing.

If God is interested in both our physical and spiritual health, then so should the church. As a global body the church has done well in this area. We have established public schools, universities, hospitals, orphanages, rescue missions and all manner of relief and development ministries; all in an effort to minister to body and soul. William Carey, the father of modern missions, established schools and clinics in an effort to reach the people of India with the gospel.

Local churches are the hands and feet of Jesus, ministering to the physical and spiritual needs of our neighbors. This is especially true in an under-resourced, inner-city area. Working with agencies that provide human services can bring new life into a congregation facing declining numbers and finances while saddled with a large building. Sharing the building will help cover utilities and deferred maintenance and bring new people into the building. This type of cooperation provides the type of relationship building that wins souls and heals bodies and emotions.

Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53:4-5 (NIV)

We Can Have Peace with God

Ephesians 2:11-20

Jesus Christ is the only hope for peace in your heart.

We are all in need of personal peace. “remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).

The Bible tells us that, without God, we are restless and unhappy (Isaiah 57:21) but Jesus Himself is our peace (Ephesians 2:14). “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).

We find peace with God in surrender. Jesus told of a young man who thought that it was unbearable to live under his father’s roof. There were rules to follow, lots of work and too much responsibility. He demanded a cash settlement of inheritance and set off to live the fast life. He found life hard and cruel away from his father and returned home broken and defeated (Luke 15:11-32).

Jesus tells us: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30).

see also:  

We Can Have Peace in Our Relationships

We Can Have Peace on Earth

Salvation is an inside job

Mark 7:1-23

Sometimes a used car salesman will clean up the outside of a car to distract potential buyers from engine problems. Likewise, the religious establishment of Jesus' day thought their rituals made them acceptable to God. Jesus told them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight." (Luke 16:15)

Religious groups can fixate on surface issues the Bible says nothing about: playing cards, dancing, movies, etc. They confuse keeping rules with holiness and godliness.

Surface issues reflect a reliance on culture over Christ. Some churches battles begin because of cultural bias rather than spiritual conviction. They continue from each person's desire to be right. They involve music styles, proper use of space, which Bible to use, etc.

Jesus teaches us to understand spirituality as an internal rather than an external matter. We are not saved from the outside in. It is not money, politics, the right diet, nor dressing a certain way. We must look to the “heart” as the source of righteousness not how well we follow man-made rules. He said, “Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” (Mark 7:15)

Jesus lists the evil intentions that flow from the human heart. It’s a catalog of evil: sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, slander, arrogance and folly. Jesus is saying that every human heart is a fertile breeding ground for evil.

Even if pornography weren’t a $10 billion a year industry there would be sexual immorality. Pornography isn't the cause, it’s a symptom of what’s inside the human heart. Even without violent video games, people would still be drawn to acts of hatred and violence.

Sometimes Christians believe that programs & laws are the answer but Jesus is saying that sin isn't created by our environment. It hides within each human heart. The prophet Jeremiah said, "The heart is deceitful and sick beyond cure; who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)

We must take an inside-out approach to sin. Unless the human heart undergoes a radical transformation, all the outward efforts and legislation won’t be enough. The human heart is where the change needs to begin and only Jesus Christ can transform the human heart.

Turn away from culture, politics, power plays, games, personal vendettas & feuds turn to Jesus who said “I am the truth and the life, NO ONE comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

Being Baptist: the five solae

    The five solae refer to 5 Latin phrases that summarize the Protestant Reformation. They are:

• Sola scriptura (by Scripture alone)
• Sola fide (by faith alone)
• Sola gratia (by grace alone)
• Solus Christus (through Christ alone)
• Soli Deo gloria (glory to God alone)

Sola scriptura is the foundation of the others and was covered in a previous blog. Together they describe the way to salvation.

Three of the solae are found in Ephesians 2:8: "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (NIV).

That's it. There are no rituals; no rules to follow; no symbolic acts. 

Many Baptist churches have traditions surrounding the salvation event. These include the invitation where people are invited at the end of the service to come forward and make a public profession of faith. Sometimes they are prompted with instructions to bow their heads and close their eyes. Many times the preacher will pray a model “sinners prayer” that people can repeat. These activities are not essential to salvation. All that is needed is grace (God's) and faith (in Jesus Christ).

Baptism follows a profession of faith in Christ. This is not needed for salvation. The thief on the cross made it to heaven without baptism (Luke 23:39-43). Baptism is an outward expression of an inward change.

Certainly a person who is “born again” exhibits different behavior after salvation. The Bible tells us, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Changed behavior is evidence of salvation, not a prerequisite.

Nic at Night

Sunday's message:Nic at Night.mp3 (John 3:1-8)


Salvation requires a radical change that can only be brought about supernaturally by the Holy Spirit.