Dear Church Family,

This summer, we have seen significant progress in our Pathways efforts across CityRise, and in just over a week we will celebrate an especially meaningful milestone.

On Sunday, September 13, our CityRise Missouri City and CityRise Missouri City Español church families will celebrate New Beginnings Sunday as they reopen the sanctuary and building for worship after four years of perseverance. I am grateful for their faithfulness and patience along the way—with special thanks to the excellent efforts of our Facilities and Production teams—and I hope all of us across CityRise will celebrate and pray with them as this important day approaches.

Work continues on the Missouri City parking lot, and it looks fantastic! While it won’t be ready by September 13, we anticipate its completion in the weeks that follow and are grateful for the additional parking it will provide.

We are also seeing progress at the West U Baptist campus: the renovated Milton Street parking lot is expected to be available for Sunday worship starting this weekend! During the work week, parking will still be relegated to Milton Street itself and elsewhere while remaining work continues on the lot.

As we see these plans taking visible shape, I am reminded of the Scripture that has helped guide Pathways from the beginning. David prayed, “Everything comes from Your hand, and everything belongs to You” (1 Chronicles 29:16).

Everything we have is from the Lord, and we want to steward faithfully what He has entrusted to us. As we move toward CityRise’s 100th birthday in 2028, this three-year generosity journey is helping prepare our church for the next century of ministry—honoring God’s faithfulness in the past while creating opportunities to welcome people, serve our communities, and share the gospel for generations to come.

I encourage you to stay connected to all that is happening through Pathways—including parking updates, helpful resources, and the latest campaign progress—at cityrise.org/pathways.

As we prepare our campuses for the ministry ahead, I am also grateful for the ways God continues to provide leaders to serve our church family. I want to share an important update from our CityRise Students Team.

With Tim Yeager’s recent transition from Global Student Pastor to Campus Pastor at CityRise Bellaire, Alberto Avila will now serve as our Global Student Pastor, providing vision and leadership for CityRise Students across our campuses while continuing to give particular leadership to our West U Baptist students on Sundays.

I am also excited to welcome Max Brown to our staff as Student Pastor! Max will serve alongside Alberto and give primary leadership to our students at CityRise Bellaire.

Our goal is to remain one united CityRise Students ministry while providing students and families consistent, trusted leadership at their local campus. I am grateful for Alberto and Max and excited about this next chapter for our student ministry. Please pray for them, for Tim in his new role, and for the students, families, and leaders they serve.

Thank you to everyone who has prayed, given, and made a commitment to Pathways. Your generosity is helping make this work possible. If you have not yet joined us, there is still an opportunity to participate. You can learn more and make a commitment at cityrise.org/pathways.

Please continue to pray for wisdom as the work moves forward and especially for our Missouri City church family as they prepare for New Beginnings Sunday. What an encouragement it is to see the Lord’s provision and the generosity of His people taking visible shape across CityRise.


Expecting Greater,
Pastor Roger