Fitly joined together in the community

When Nehemiah's Vision's Executive Director James Hall was visiting an employee in the hospital on Galveston Island, he met the man's pastor and a close personal friend while waiting to get physician's reports. James related this wonderful story to me and I was pleased to meet both First Baptist Church of High Island's new pastor, Richard Sallee, and my long-time friend, Bucky Faggard, who is pastor emeritus of the church. Bucky said how happy the entire congregation was to have Pastor Sallee and, he, in turn, said how happy he is that the Lord chose to bring him to High Island.

Turns out that Nehemiah's Vision played a big role in this wonderful joining together of good people who want to serve the Lord. According to Ephesians 4:15 and 16, we see a Bible principle in place here. "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body into the edifying (building up) of itself in love.

Bucky is a life-long resident of High Island and Gilchrist communities on the Bolivar Peninsula in Southeast Texas and has pastored the church in High Island for more than five years, as well as serving as pastor of First Baptist in Crystal Beach for more than a dozen years. Many folks do not realize the First Baptist in Crystal Beach was started as a mission work by the people of First Baptist of Port Bolivar and that the original building and land was given to the fledgling ministry. Bucky also serves as president of Bucky Faggard Ministries and travels yearly on extended mission trips. When home, he is heavily involved in music and evangelism.

High Island was without a pastor and the congregation had been praying for God to send the exact right person to lead this ministry. Bucky was on the pulpit committee and really wanted to see God bless this work again under a new leader. In the meantime, the church sanctuary and other parts of the building had been damaged in a succession of storms, with Rita, Humberto, and then Hurricane Ike doing major damage. Many of the regular members had to move for a time to other locations and the church attendance was down until the folks could get back home again. Many ministries here on Bolivar were suffering that same fate and many had no building in which to worship. The Church of Christ, led by faithful Jerry Valentine, met in a bar, a white tent, and now in a business structure. Other congregations shared churches and pastors. Marty Boddie pastors three different Methodist churches on the peninsula each Sunday going from one to the other. We have termed Marty our beloved circuit riding preacher.

First Baptist Church was associated with Nehemiah's Vision Ministries and were thrilled to have the help and material supplies provided to do some of the rebuilding, sheetrocking, painting and other repairs needed. Various groups from different parts of the country were staying in both the church and the adjacent parsonage while working on Bolivar. Two young ladies came from their home church in Fulshear to work and loved the area and the church. They went home and told their dad, whose wife, Faye, had died of cancer about a year before that they had found the church he should be pastoring. Richard listened, but felt at the time, that God was using him where he was and that he was not quite ready to assume the senior pastor role again so soon after the changes in the family. He is father to Brian, 20, Valerie, 16, and Natalie, 15.

However, he tucked the thought in the back of his mind and began to pray about God's perfect will for his life. Richard is an engineer by profession, having earned a bachelor of science degree and a master's degree in engineering from Kansas State University before relocating to Texas. He had pastored both in Kansas and Texas as a bi-vocational pastor, meaning he worked a full time job and did the work of the ministry. Now, add to that, parenting three children shortly after their remarkable Christian mom died, and running the home. "I was on overload," said Richard. "But we were doing fine and my family was as happy as one could expect after losing my wife." Richard began to pray in earnest and one morning at 5:45 AM, he told the Lord that he needed definite direction about what to do. At 3:00 PM on the exact same day, he got his answer.

To cut to the chase, Richard contacted the church his daughters had stayed in while in High Island, talked to the pulpit committee members and agreed to come for a meeting. He preached morning and evening and ate gumbo from the Methodist church sale and fell quietly in love with what would become his new home. He assumed the pulpit as pastor on May 9, 2010 and the family moved into the parsonage on June 20, 2010. Brian attends Dallas Baptist University and both girls are happy students in High Island High School. I asked Richard what he had found to be the single greatest challenge of a single father rearing teenage daughters expecting to get a profound answer. He looked me straight in the eye and said, "Boyfriends."


Bucky and the pastor took me on a tour of their beautifully renovated sanctuary and I was amazed at the transformation since I had last seen it. The church family chose pleasing hues of blue and new pews, communion table, and baptistry. "Had it not been for Nehemiah's' Vision, our church would not have been ready for worship and we would not have our new pastor. I thank God for the work and pray for it daily," Bucky said with tears in his eyes.

When churches and ministries work together in harmony, God is there to bless and prosper. We at Nehemiah's Vision thank God for our partners and friends in the Kingdom work and are grateful to be used to help this church and its pastor. We pray God's richest blessings on their work.

By Brenda Cannon Henley
Galveston County Site Director for Nehemiah's Vision