Catholics, Methodists,and Baptists--Oh My

Rev. Kirby Garner, Rev. Jim Sweet, Rev. Lori Ruge-Jones, Rev. Roy Erdahl, Rev. Jennifer Brooke-Davison, Rev. Nancy Day, Rev. Buddy Johnson .  Photo by David DiCarlo of Sunday Child's Snapshots

Not all communities have spiritual leadership; but Buda, Texas does. This is provided by The Buda Ministerial Alliance who sponsored the Second Annual Thanksgiving worship service at the Santa Cruz Catholic Church on Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011.


Rev. Jim Sweet who is currently the alliance chairperson and Associate Pastor of Buda United Methodist Church began the alliance with then Sr. Pastor Teresa Welborn about one a half years ago. It has since grown to include twelve pastors from seven different denominations, sponsored a community Thanksgiving service and a monthly service at Arveda Alzheimer’s Family Care facility. The alliance is also available to provide spiritual guidance in the event of community emergency situations like the fire disaster that occurred in Bastrop, Texas earlier this year.

According to Rev. Sweet, the idea of the Thanksgiving service was selected as an opportunity for the community to have an all-inclusive worship service in which the denominational commonalities could be embraced rather than focusing on the denominational differences.

The Living Word Story Tellers
Rebekah Wieting, Brian Neidig, Luisa Ruge-Jones, Luke Ruge-Jones, Eric Mendelman, and Phil Ruge-Jones

Rev. Lori Ruge-Jones tells a story.

More storytelling from Eric Mendelman

Rev. Kirby Garner opened the service with welcoming comments, followed by singing and prayers before The Living Word Lutheran Church presented the message, presenting classic bible stories from six different books of the bible in dramatic storytelling. Rev. Lori Ruge-Jones explained that bible story telling is an important spiritual discipline that proclaims the word of God. They are available to present these stories to other churches as well.

Community choir

Community choir

A twenty-five member choir provided leadership in song and special music. When Rev. Garner discussed the choir at the start of the service, he pointed out that it was comprised of Catholics, Methodists and Baptists when the Choir Director and Pianist said, “Catholics, Methodists and Baptists--Oh My!”. 


Mayor Sarah Mangham attended the service, which was an opportunity for the food banks to collect donations of non-perishable food items from the community,

Participating in the worship service were Buda United Methodist Church, Santa Cruz Catholic Church, First Baptist Church of Buda, The Living Word Lutheran Church, Antioch Community Church, and St. Elizabeth Episcopal Church.

Rev. Jim Sweet

Rev. Sweet indicated that the next meeting of The Buda Ministerial Alliance will be held on January 19, 2012 at 9am in the fellowship hall of the Buda United Methodist Church. All area pastors are invited to attend. 

Rev. Nancy Day

copyright 2011 by Kathy Robbins