Congregations Discover Their Calling Through the Soundings Project

In 2018, Baylor University received a $1.5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to launch the Soundings Project. The vision was simple yet ambitious: invite congregations to explore how Christians discern God’s call in today’s complex world. Over seven years, the initiative gathered twelve churches from across Texas, representing a wide range of Christian traditions, endured the upheaval of a global pandemic, and sparked practices that continue to bear fruit after the grant period has ended.  
 
“Our project emphasized that listening for and living out God’s calling on our lives is never done alone,” Darin Davis, Ph.D., principal investigator of the project and clinical professor of moral philosophy in the Honors Program, said. “We are here to encourage one another, to learn from one another, to do good things together. That sense of relational transformation, rooted in friendship, was evident in and among every congregation. It was not about Baylor handing down a program but more about congregations discovering for themselves what it means to be faithful together.” 

The project unfolded during a turbulent time. Churches wrestled with empty sanctuaries during COVID-19 and the strains of political and social unrest. 

“Trial and difficulty can lead us to find deeper meaning and purpose,” Davis reflected. “The last few years have been especially challenging for congregations. Many had to pivot overnight to stay connected. Yet in the midst of it all, our churches grew even stronger. They discovered that doubt and struggle can become fertile ground for something life-giving when people find both courage and encouragement.” 

A central element of Soundings was a series of retreats designed to pull church teams out of their normal rhythms and place them in settings where they could think deeply about vocation. The aim was not simply rest, but intentional space for congregations to listen for God’s call together, free from distractions, while also learning from peers in traditions different from their own. 

“Praying, walking, eating, and thinking together compressed years of conversation into just a few days,” CEO Emeritus of the Murdock Trust and consultant on the project, Steve Moore, Ph.D., said. “In that space, churches from very different traditions began to see themselves not as competitors but as partners, and they discovered that congregations, not just individuals, have a vocation to live out together.” 

At First Baptist Church of Amarillo, that conviction took shape in Bridges, a ministry helping members connect Sunday worship with Monday work. 

“Usually, churches are on the giving side of projects,” Senior Pastor of FBC Amarillo Howie Batson, Ph.D., said. “This was really the first time we were on the receiving end. Baylor asked, ‘What’s something you’ve dreamed of doing that we could help you do?’ and away we went. It was a chance to launch something we had long imagined but never had the resources to attempt.” 

Bridges paired younger professionals with seasoned mentors in small groups that explored vocation and faith in daily life. 

“Fresh retirees found new purpose as mentors, and younger professionals discovered that their jobs were not just secular work but part of their calling,” Batson said. “The idea was simple but transformative. You are not primarily a banker or a teacher or a mechanic. You are a disciple of Jesus Christ, and you carry that identity into your workplace. Both groups were helped, and it changed the way people thought about faith in ordinary life. We created something substantive, and I do not see it stopping.” 

Other congregations pursued their own expressions. In Mansfield, Bethlehem Baptist Church, long a force for civic leadership, sought to be an instrument for social justice and racial reconciliation by hosting webinars, trainings, and events that engaged schools, law enforcement, and local government, while also sharing what it learned with its congregation and with churches elsewhere. In Waco, First Baptist nurtured what it called “soul culture,” embedding shared values into its life together. These examples illustrated how the retreats sparked not uniformity but creativity, empowering each church to discern its own call. 
 
Though the grant period has ended, the work continues. Congregations are still mentoring, still connecting worship and work, and still tending to their cultures. For Davis, the project modeled a new kind of relationship between Christian universities and the church. 

“The Soundings Project is a new model that begins with the assumption that the Christian university and the church have a common work to do in the world,” he said. “That work is to help people discover and live out their God-given meaning and purpose. What would it look like if we did that work together, as partners? That was at the heart of Soundings, and I hope it will continue in some form in the future.” 

What began as a grant has become something larger: friendships, practices, and ministries that help congregations listen for God’s call in ordinary life. From Amarillo to Mansfield to Waco and beyond, churches left the Soundings Project with renewed courage to connect worship and work, to build bridges across divides, and to seek together the voice of God calling them forward.