An Update from the Wilson Family

Holston Baptists,

It’s hard to believe that our family moved from Kingsport to Kansas City almost two years ago. As we reflect on the past nineteen months, our hearts are filled with three gratitudes:

1. Church Family

We visited Gashland Baptist Church on our third Sunday in Kansas City, and we quickly felt the Lord was calling us to join there. We joined as members in July of 2025, and our family has been loved and welcomed with open arms and put to work as well. John serves as an intern, working mainly in the worship ministry but teaching and preaching as needed. ReAnn helps lead the women’s ministry and serves with children often.

Pray for us—Like any church, Gashland Baptist enjoys its own unique blessings and challenges. Use Ephesians 4:1–3 as a guide to pray for our church. Thank God for the encouragement and blessing of life in the local church.

2. Church-Focused Education

John is in his final semester of master’s-level classes before he graduates with his Master of Theological Studies (MTS), focused in Historical Theology. ReAnn has resumed undergraduate classes, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Christian Education at Spurgeon College. We thank God for the leaders and mentors assembled here. They love the Lord, the Word, and the local church. We can’t wait to dig further into ministry in a local church once we close this chapter of our lives.

Pray for us—Trying to finish school while raising four children, working full-time, taking classes, and serving at church is extremely taxing. Pray that the Lord would strengthen us to resist temptation while we are exhausted (Matthew 26:41).

3. New Life

We welcomed our fourth child (a second daughter!) last June. She is now sixteen months old and has developed quite the personality. Our oldest is two weeks into a full-time Christian school for first grade, while the two middle children are homeschooling with ReAnn at the Kindergarten and Pre-K levels. As our family matures, we remember with great fondness the memories we made at HBA churches, who all shaped and impacted us in their own ways. God is so good.

Pray for us—Thank God for the gift of children (Psalm 127:3) and the joy they bring to our lives. Pray that we would be faithful parents who raise our children well and send them off to serve in the Kingdom one day (Psalm 127:4–5).

4. Faithful Roots

The HBA has played a formative role in our ministry outlook and preparation. You provided opportunities for us to serve—not just in associational settings—in the local church. Being at a Southern Baptist Seminary is a tremendous blessing and privilege, and we are so glad to be here after being surrounded by cooperating churches at the associational level.

We are praying for you—”I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”—Philippians 1:3–6