In the Spring of 1972, after much prayer and counsel and a great burden on the heart of Pastor Kenneth Southwell to establish a program in Texas to provide financial help to new missions and struggling churches in Texas, Texas Mission Development (TMD) was organized and sponsored by Rocky Springs Missionary Baptist Church of Dialville, TX.  Pastor Southwell then began to solicit funds from other churches for the program.  However, supporters came slow and few.  By July 1972, enough funds had been received for the new Texas Mission Development program to present her first check in the amount of $740.57 to a mission work in Athens, Texas.

The central purpose of Texas Mission Development is: “To give Missionary Baptist churches and missions in Texas the opportunity to do greater mission work by providing funds.“ (Quote is from our original By Laws of 1972)

- To buy land for church sites

- To erect new church buildings

- To buy existing church buildings

- To ease the financial load of struggling churches

Since that first check presentation 50 years ago, membership and support have continued to grow.  The Texas Mission Development program now enjoys a supporting membership of 155 members.  The membership number varies from quarter to quarter.  In 2005, the funds reached a record total for the quarter of $30,500.00.  The funds currently are averaging from $25,000 to $27,000 a quarter.

To date, the program has given almost $2,000,000.00 to help missions and struggling churches in Texas.  These funds were presented to 153 projects.  114 of those projects were missions and 39 were struggling churches in need of financial help.  This could not have happened without the grace & blessings of our Great God and the support of local churches and individuals who have a heart of giving to help promote mission work and the preaching of the Glorious Gospel of Christ.

The Texas Mission Development has proven to be a tremendous financial blessing to missions and churches of Texas.