Midland, TX >> Nine years after first learning of Sovereign Grace, Billy Raies saw the church he pastors, Christian Life Center, adopted into the Sovereign Grace family…
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It was in 1997 that Billy Raies picked up a book by a Sovereign Grace pastor and read a phrase that would, as he put it, “change the trajectory of my life”: being motivated by grace. Billy was then senior pastor of Christian Life Center in Midland, Texas.
Nine years later, on May 7, Christian Life Center was officially adopted into Sovereign Grace Ministries. The adoption is the fruit of a longstanding friendship between the church and Sovereign Grace. Before moving to Midland in 1993, Billy was an associate pastor at Lakeview Christian Center in New Orleans (itself adopted into Sovereign Grace Ministries in 2005). Billy and the leaders of Christian Life Center began attending Sovereign Grace Small Group Leaders Conferences in the late 1990s, and in 2002 several families from the church attended Celebration West. Later years included joint family camps between Christian Life Center and Vista New Life Church (El Paso, TX).
It wasn’t just conferences, though; over the years Billy, his wife, Jan, and other leaders at Christian Life Center were developing deep friendships with Sovereign Grace pastors and their wives, including Danny and Melodye Jones (Metro Life Church, Orlando, FL), Joe and Rhonda Calabello (Vista New Life, El Paso, TX), and Craig and Ginger Cabaniss (Grace Church, Frisco, TX). Billy and Jan are deeply grateful for these friendships. “In 1 Timothy 4, Paul tells Timothy ... [to] be an example of those who believe,” Billy says. “That’s what we experienced with the leaders of Sovereign Grace. God has been so kind to us. We are so grateful to be a member of this family.”
The adoption of Christian Life Center (now numbering about 100 people) this spring was the formal expression of those years of friendship and fellowship. Says Craig Cabaniss, “It will be a great privilege for Sovereign Grace to partner with the Midland church. They are a wonderful fellowship characterized by joy and gratitude in the gospel. Billy is an exemplary pastor who will definitely make a contribution in our family of churches.”
Photos by Allen Dicharry. (Regarding the long-legged creature in the bottom photo, it's a camel—a gift from Billy Raies, who likes camels in general, to Joe Calabello, who seems to really like this particular camel. Joe will soon be moving to Florida to serve as senior pastor of Grace Covenant Church in Jacksonville, and the oddly flamingo-like camel reminded Billy of Florida.)
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