At our core, we want to be known as a people who love like Jesus.
Our core values shape our lives as we gather as the body of Christ.
Welcome Like Jesus
Jesus loves all people and invites us all into an eternal family. As members in that family we have been called to extend that invitation and open wide our arms to receive everyone.
Care Like Jesus
Jesus cares for all people and extends grace and mercy to all who will receive. Our world is broken and needs to see us as compassionate, caring people who are willing to step into the brokenness with the only thing that will bring wholeness, God’s grace and mercy.
Reach Like Jesus
Jesus reached out to us all when He came here from heaven. Jesus came for us with a plan from eternity past. We are sent out as Jesus was with the same incarnational, and intentional purpose to reach the world with His love.As we welcome, care, and reach out like Jesus we are being transformed into His likeness and being used for His purposes in this world.
Senior Pastor
John Strader
Pastor John Strader was born in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1984. The eldest of 3 boys, John gave his life to Christ at a Vacation Bible School held in his hometown. He attended South Houston High School as well as completed culinary school in Galveston. After working as a chef for over 7 years, John knew that God was calling him to feed people spiritually, so he began attending seminary classes at Heritage Baptist Institute in 2009, where he met his wife.
John completed and earned his degree in missions from Missionary Baptist Seminary in Little Rock. In May of 2013, John was ordained as a minister of the gospel. At Creekmont Baptist Church, John served as a youth pastor, and then he and his wife surrendered to the mission field of East Kenya, Africa, where they saw God do amazing things along the coast of Kenya as new churches were planted.
After living in Kenya for five years, John was called to Horizon as the Senior Pastor in November of 2019. John and Amber have been married since June of 2011 and are blessed with three children. John’s desire is to see people grow in their relationship with Christ.
Church Staff/Leadership
Jodie has a B.S. in Accounting and an M.A. in Global Studies from Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA, a Bachelor of Theology from Texas Baptist Institute and Seminary in Henderson, TX, and a Certificate of Biblical Counseling from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX. In 2012 Jodie was ordained as a minister of the gospel. Jodie surrendered to the ministry and missions in 2006, and his wife, Gabby, surrendered to missions before that. Together, they went to Russia to plant a church. In 2019, a church was planted in St. Petersburg. During the COVID pandemic and world events, after 7 years in Russia, God closed the door for the Veselys to continue living in Russia and opened the door for them to serve online to Russians through Russian Ministries Online and to serve in areas of counsel and care to ministers and their families through HeartWay: Pastor and Missionary Caregivers. Jodie was called to Horizon as Care Pastor to serve under the Senior Pastor in November of 2022. Jodie and Gabby have been married since December 2008 and are blessed with three children. Jodie desires to help in areas of care, missions, and finance to see people grow in their relationship with Christ.
Originally from Philadelphia, PA, Rose moved to Houston in September 1972. Rose accepted Jesus as Savior at the age of 20. She is still amazed by the love that God has for her. She became a member of Horizon Baptist Church in April 2005. Rose began her position of secretary in November 2015 after retiring from the Department of Veteran’s Affairs with 31 years of service to our nation’s Veterans. She considers her position of secretary as a ministry rather than a job and loves the members of Horizon. Rose loves helping and serving her church family and people in general. When not working, she loves traveling, reading, watching movies, and spending time with her family. She has five children, thirteen grandchildren, and 2 great grandchildren.
Gabby was raised in Angleton, TX, where she met her husband in high school, Care Pastor Jodie. Together, they have three children and have all been at Horizon since 2022. Gabby studied at the University of Maine and has a degree in Social Science. She also helps with the HeartWay ministry counseling, mediating, and helping with crisis management with ministers and their families while homeschooling their children. Gabby has a great desire to work with children and much experience doing so.
Doug has lived in the Houston area almost his entire life and has attended Horizon Baptist Church for the greater part of that time. While he claimed to have been saved a few times as a child and teenager, it was not until he was 22 that he was truly saved by God’s grace. Doug grew up in the church, where he met his wife Hope. After serving as a teacher in an adult class at their previous churches, he and his family returned to Horizon Baptist Church in 2018. He has settled in, and quite enjoys, working with the Youth Ministry at Horizon Baptist Church. His goal is to guide our students to a true, saving relationship with Jesus Christ, that stands up against the many trials they will face. He and Hope have four children, two of which are in the Youth Ministry. He enjoys attending his children’s sporting events, playing video games, and getting lost in youtube rabbit holes. Favorite Book of the Bible: The Gospel According to John. Favorite Game System: All of them.
Statement of Faith
-
THE GREAT COMMANDMENT
We believe that love one for another as Jesus loves the believer manifests our discipleship, proves our love for God and symbolizes our authority as New Testament churches. Love is therefore the great commandment of the LORD Jesus Christ upon which all others are dependent.
Matthew 22:35-40; John 13:34-35; John 15:12; 1 John 4:7-21; 1 John 5:1-3; Revelation 2:4-5
-
THE BIBLE
We believe in the infallible, verbal inspiration of the whole Bible and that the Bible is the all-sufficient rule of faith and practice.
Psalm 119:160; 2 Timothy 3:16-17
-
THE TRINITY
We believe in the personal triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in divine perfection.
Matthew 28:19
-
CREATION
We believe in the Genesis account of Creation.
Genesis 1-2
-
SATAN
We believe that Satan is a fallen angel, the archenemy of God and man, the unholy god of this world, and that his destiny is the eternal lake of fire.
Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:11-19; Matthew 25:41; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 6:10-17; Revelation 20:10
-
VIRGIN BIRTH
We believe in the virgin birth and sinless humanity of Jesus Christ.
Matthew 1:18-20; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22
-
DEITY OF JESUS
We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ.
John 10:30; John 1:1, 14; 2 Corinthians 5:19
-
HOLY SPIRIT
We believe the Holy Spirit is the divine Administrator for Jesus Christ in His churches.
Luke 24:49; John 14:16-17; Acts 1:4-5, 8; Acts 2:1-4
-
SPIRITUAL GIFTS
We believe that miraculous spiritual manifestation gifts were done away when the Bible was completed. Faith, Hope, and Love are the vital abiding Spiritual Gifts.
1 Corinthians 12-14
-
MAN
We believe that Man was created in the image of God and lived in innocence until he fell by voluntary transgression from his sinless state, the result being that all mankind are sinners.
Genesis 1:26; Genesis 3:6-24; Romans 5:12,19
-
SUFFERING OF JESUS
We believe that the suffering and death of Jesus Christ was substitutionary for all mankind and is efficacious only to those who believe.
Isaiah 53:6; Hebrews 2:9; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18; 2 Peter 3:9; 1 John 2:2
-
RESURRECTION
We believe in the bodily resurrection and ascension of Christ and the bodily resurrection of His saints.
Matthew 28:1-7; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Corinthians 15:42-58; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
-
RETURN OF CHRIST
We believe in the premillennial, personal, bodily return of Christ as the crowning event of the Gentile age. This event will include the resurrection of the righteous to eternal heaven, and the Millennium will be followed by the resurrection of the unrighteous unto eternal punishment in the lake of fire and that the righteous shall enter into the heaven age.
John 14:1-6; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2 Thessalonians 2:8; Revelation 19; Revelation 20:4-6; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:8
-
SALVATION
We believe that the depraved sinner is saved wholly by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and the requisites to regeneration are repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and that the Holy Spirit convicts sinners, regenerates, seals, secures, and indwells every believer.
Luke 13:3-5; John 3:6; John 3:16-18; John 16:8,9; Acts 20:21; Romans 6:23; Romans 8:9-11; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Ephesians 2:8,9; Ephesians 4:30; Titus 3:5
-
ETERNAL SECURITY
We believe that all who trust Jesus Christ for salvation are eternally secure in Him and shall not perish.
John 3:36; John 5:24; John 10:27-30; Romans 8:35-39; Hebrews 10:39; 1 Peter 1:5
-
GOD’S CHILDREN
We believe that God deals with believers as His children, that He chastises the disobedient, and that He rewards the obedient.
Matthew 16:27; Matthew 25:14-23; John 1:12; Hebrews 12:5-11; 2 John 8; Revelation 22:12
-
THE CHURCH
We believe that Jesus Christ established His church during His ministry on earth and that it is always a local, visible assembly of scripturally baptized believers in covenant relationship to carry out the Commission of the Lord Jesus Christ, and each church is an independent, self-governing body, and no other ecclesiastical body may exercise authority over it. We believe that Jesus Christ gave the Great Commission to the New Testament churches only, and that He promised the perpetuity of His churches.
Matthew 4:18-22; Matthew 16:18; Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 1:14-20; John 1:35-51; Ephesians 3:21
-
CHURCH ORDINANCES
We believe that there are two pictorial ordinances in the Lord’s churches: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Scriptural baptism is the immersion of penitent believers in water, administered by the authority of a New Testament church in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Lord’s Supper is a memorial ordinance, restricted to the members of the church observing the ordinance.
Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 8:12, 38; Romans 6:4; 1 Corinthians 5:11-13; 1 Corinthians 11:1-2, 17-20, 26
-
CHURCH OFFICES
We believe that there are two divinely appointed offices in a church, pastors and deacons, to be filled by men whose qualifications are set forth in Titus and 1 Timothy.
-
ASSOCIATIONS
We believe that all associations, fellowships, and committees are, and properly should be, servants of, and under control of the churches.
Matthew 20:25-28
-
FREEDOM OF WORSHIP
We believe in freedom of worship without interference from the government and affirm our belief in civil obedience, unless the laws and regulations of civil government run contrary to the Holy Scriptures.
Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-15
-
MARRIAGE
We believe the Biblical definition of marriage is the union between a man and a woman.
Genesis 2:21-24; Matthew 19:4-6; Mark 10:6-9; 1 Corinthians 7:2-4; Ephesians 5:22-31
