Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Christopher J. Respass.
Hi Dr. Respass, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
I was called to preach while in law school at The University of Texas at Austin. After graduating in 1996, I moved to the Dallas area to practice law at Fannie Mae. While there, I began serving as a bi-vocational youth pastor in Lewisville and ultimately became the full-time youth pastor in 1999. In 2002, the Lord led my wife, Charmaine, and I to plant Antioch Christian Fellowship in Corinth, Texas. The vision of the church was to express Christ’s compassion to a hurting world through evangelism, discipleship, and service. Our goal was to be an authentic, bible-believing, Christian congregation that had the heart and spirit of the church in Antioch of Syria, described in Acts 11:19-30, our founding passage. From our living room, we grew from 15 people to just over 600 people (post Pandemic). In addition to giving us physical space in the City of Corinth, we have been able to build a reputation for working cooperatively with City governments, schools, commercial entities, and churches in the Lake Cities, Denton, and Lewisville areas. By grace, we have grown to be a diversifying church where our members and regular attendees represent different ethnic groups, cultural backgrounds, economic strata, and levels of educational attainment. We are committed to serving Christ by serving his people, and ministries like our Antioch Conservatory of Thespians, Antioch Bible Institute, Hope Ministry (mental health), Mosaic Ministry, Financial Fitness ministry, and others show our commitment to that calling.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, it has not been a smooth road. The first obstacle was the challenge of establishing myself as a pastor-leader worth following. I was thirty-one years old when we planted Antioch. Many of the families joining our church were older than I–some were old enough to be my parents. But, having a core of seasoned, older leaders around me, plus exercising good judgment, helped me overcome that obstacle. A second challenge was securing financial support for ministry operations and especially for building our first sanctuary. As a non-denominational church, we did not have the financial support of any denomination behind us. So, all of our financial backings came from the committed giving of the Antioch membership and others who believed in our work. Initially, our only concern was how many more weeks can we afford to meet in this location. We had to secure $250 a week (in 2002) to continue to meet in the Grand Traditions Wedding Chapel. After several months, it became clear that we would be able to meet our financial obligations, but our financial strength and the age of our church (less than 5 years old) did not meet the underwriting criteria for more conventional loans. So, we had quite a struggle in obtaining financing to build our current sanctuary. Another major challenge has been some internal and external hesitance toward multiethnic ministry and multiethnic/multicultural inclusion. In large part, most of our congregation caught our ministry vision early on, but we are comprised of people who come from different parts of the country and have different experiences with race relations or other cultural difficulties. As a suburban area, some saw the church as an oasis from the surrounding communities, while others saw (and see) it as an outpost of Christ’s kingdom; thus, there were competing undertones in the church. This is not even mentioning the worship backgrounds–everything from Catholic to COGIC. So, there were some “sticky patches” when interracial families or non-African American families attended or when it was communicated that we were “politically neutral” as a congregation, choosing to advocate Jesus and the Bible and leaving people to make their own political choices. That was tough for some people to swallow, But, again, by God’s grace, we have pressed onward in faith. These are just a few struggles.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I believe Antioch Christian Fellowship is either–the only predominately Black church in the Lake Cities (Corinth, Hickory Creek, Shady Shores, Lake Dallas), or it is the largest Black church in our area (the Pandemic may have impacted this, so it may need to be fact-checked). Frankly, I had no idea that this was the case, but I believe it is.
Our mission is always to make disciples of Jesus Christ, but the way that we do that is we Go, Grow, Sow, and Overflow.
–Go–by reaching the forgotten (those that others ignore, overlook, or avoid).
–Grow–by making and multiplying disciples (reach, teach, send)
–Sow–by training pastors and Leaders. Since our inception, we have had high-capacity leaders involved in our church. We recently launched our Antioch Leadership and Training Institute (ALTI) which will invest in our local, in-house ministry leaders but also invest in the Kingdom by leveraging our experience as a resource to invest in other churches and entities.
–Overflow–by planting churches and partnering with like-minded ministries. As a non-denominational church, we can “play with who we want” and we use that liberty to align with other ministries that are committed to reaching the world for Jesus. We have also made the commitment to helping new churches get started. As a former “church plant” it’s in our blood, and we want to help other church plants and revitalize churches succeed.
If we are known for anything, it’s preaching, teaching, and authenticity. If anything is going to happen at Antioch, it’s going to be the preaching of God’s word from the Bible. From the Lead Pastor down to the Associate Minister, we are going to preach the Word because God’s word is transformative. The same is true about teaching. We teach the Bible at Antioch, whether that’s Systematics, a book of the Bible, or a contemporary issue like sexuality, relational issues, etc. We teach the Bible. After those, I think we’re most known for being a loving congregation who are authentic people. I often tell people when they visit, “What you see is what you get. We’re comfortable in our own skin.” Frankly, in a world that is so full of people trying to present themselves in a certain light, it makes some people uncomfortable when we tell them that Antioch is a drama-free zone. For us, that means that some days someone may hug you, and the next day, that same person may give you a head nod because they’re going through something. We’re not here to put on a facade. Life is real; we just choose to follow Jesus as we face whatever life brings. Again, that’s hard for some people to accept because they are accustomed to a different approach to ministry and worship.
What I am most proud of is our people–our members, leaders, pastors, deacons, elders, children, all of them. We have the best people on this side of heaven. I love them, and I think they love me back–at least some of them (lol). But I am grateful that the Lord blessed me to lead such a wonderful group of men and women, and I believe anyone looking for a place to worship would draw the same conclusion.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts, or blogs that help you do your best?
Okay, so my doctorate is in ministry with a focus on leadership, church multiplication, and church health. So, I tend to read mostly non-fiction.
Books & Mags
1. “Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire” (Cymbala)
2. “Emotional Intelligence 2.0 (Greaves & Bradbury)
3. “Building Leaders” (Malphurs)
4. “Sticky Teams” (Osborne0
5. Harvard Business Review
6. Christianity Today
Podcasts
1. Rise & Fall of Mars Hill (Christianity Today)
2. “Cold Call” (HBR Presents)
3. “The Table Podcast” (DTS)
4. “Coaching Real Leaders” (Muriel Wilkins, HBR Presents)
5. Rainer on Leadership (Thom Rainer)
Blogs/Sites
1. Exponential
2. Leadership Network
3. Pew Research
Contact Info:
- Website: www.antiochcorinth.org
- Instagram: Antioch: antiochcorinth, Chris Respass: crespass
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/antiochcorinth
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/AntiochCorinth
Image Credits
Lisa Polley
Eileen Pratt
