Richardson's The Heights Baptist, other Dallas-area churches devoting today to community service, not services

By RICHARD ABSHIRE / The Dallas Morning News
rabshire@dallasnews.com

No services today at Richardson's The Heights Baptist Church — at least not in the usual sense of the word. Today, it’s service instead.

Almost 2,000 church members are worshipping and witnessing out in the community instead of in their pews.

Members of The Heights, and about three dozen other churches in Dallas and Collin counties, are painting, repairing and landscaping homes and other properties where needs have gone unmet too long.

Richard Covington, The Heights’ community minister, said this is the second time the church has done this, and it is part of a national movement.

"Our senior pastor, Dr. Gary Singleton, has been haunted by a question: If our church went away, would our community miss us?" Covington said. "Not the members, the community itself."

The answer they came up with was “No, not unless we serve the community.”

Helping is a form of witness, not recruiting, Covington said.

"People in church said, ‘We need to be leading in this because this is what God called us to do,' " Covington said.