Second Baptist Church, West Campus — Attraction in Katy

Subject: Concern Regarding Sunday’s Service After Kerrville Flooding

Dear Pastor Ben Young,

I hope this message finds you well.

My wife and I have been attending Second Baptist for nearly 10 years now. Over the past decade, this church has been a foundational part of our lives, especially through the Bible study groups and the excellent children’s ministries that have blessed our family tremendously.

However, we also want to share that over the last 2-3 years, we have felt increasingly disheartened under the current leadership. This is difficult to express, but it weighs on our hearts.

This past Sunday at the West Campus 10:30 AM service, in the wake of the catastrophic flooding that struck Kerrville on Friday morning, we were deeply saddened and honestly quite disappointed that the tragedy was not acknowledged in your sermon or in prayer. Throughout the service, my wife and I sat there looking at each other in disbelief, waiting for even a brief mention—a moment of silence, a prayer for the families affected, or some words of comfort. But the message moved on, focusing on the difference between faith and trust, and even in the closing prayer there was still no mention of Kerrville.

It was only when an elder came forward with the worship team that the congregation was finally led in prayer for the people impacted. We were thankful for that, but also troubled that this compassion and pastoral guidance did not come from you directly. It was also interesting that the elder shared how you were quick to text the church leaders about how Second would respond, yet none of this was communicated by you to the congregation yourself. He did mention the partnership with Convoy of Hope and encouraged donations through the church website, but we believe this was also a moment to pastorally lead us all in unified prayer and empathy.

Frankly, we truly miss Pastor Young Sr. We strongly believe he would have set aside whatever was planned and led the entire church in prayer and a moment of silence for Kerrville. In our view, Pastor Young Jr. is simply not the same. He seems to try too hard to be likeable (if I may be honest) and does not carry the same spirit or gravitas as his father. That’s become increasingly evident to us—especially considering some of the concerns raised in recent news coverage about Pastor Young Jr.’s influence over church finances and by-laws.

Please understand this comes from a place of love and concern for our church home. We value Second deeply and share this only in the hope that it might encourage greater sensitivity and pastoral leadership in moments when our community is hurting.

Thank you for hearing our hearts and for all that you do to serve our church...

I worked here years ago. It was good and bad at times. I never really felt welcome. Which honestly is normal for me when I’m around a lot of European Americans. It’s like they have a problem accepting you especially the older ones when you don’t tap dance for them and speak their social language. We would be in rooms 20 children deep. I was soo overwhelmed. I remember one day a child got hurt because as usual I was taking care of so many kids it was hard paying attention to all of them. They got hurt and I remember coming home and crying because I felt guilty and ashamed that I didn’t stop her from getting hurt. I wasn’t a perfect employee I did love those babies and care about their wellbeing. Even though let Landon tell it I looked like I didn’t like kids? ☹️ There were so many moments of confusion and irritation when I worked here. I had a hard time processing what I was seeing and experiencing because yay autism. It’s taken me years to really sit with what the heck was this job experience. I remember the first day or days I worked here and Landon’s wife(don’t know your name shorty) came up to me while I was cleaning mats that the babies play on. In an unnecessarily snooty ugly(lol) way she told me that I didn’t clean them well and to do it again. I don’t even remember how she looks just blonde hair glasses and bad energy. I have been cleaning since I was 5. I know how to clean. For some reason she felt the need to lord over me?? Like girl I do not know you. And you acted so odd and hostile for no reason. Get help. Must be that racism that be kicking ya’lls behind working overtime. Those two are a match made in…I stopped myself from really going in on you girl because obviously you were dealing with a lot of mental anguish and turmoil for you to come up to me on some mistress talking to the help mess. I hope ya’ll find goodness and actually worship God. Instead of whatever I saw in your behaviors back then. It was not godly. And I hope people(employees) are no longer being bundled in a room with 30 cranky two year olds. It’s inhumane as if we were in a chicken coop. Also I liked Lisa a lot! She was really kind and just normal. I looked forward to coming to work when...

2nd Baptist has a number of Bible studies held simultaneously in various classrooms on Sunday. The Sunday morning Bible studies typically cover the same topic even though they are taught by various teachers. They use a Study Guide that is freely distributed to each Bible study class and it means that each class will receive teaching on the same topic. Example: All the classes may be learning about Romans Chapter 3, verses 19-21. The teachers do have the freedom to bring in other verses they believe help in understanding the topic and this does lead to some variation in what is presented in each class, but it also leads to consistent progression from week to week as the topic is advanced each week. Example: Over 4 different Sundays the topic could be Romans 16 one week, Romans 17 the next week, Romans 18 the week after that, and finally Romans 19 on the fourth week, verses 1-18. In addition to the Sunday Morning Bible studies there are often studies during the week at the church and sometimes at a restaurant or other location. Special activities can also occur during the week such as the Passion week experience. Attending on a Sunday and asking at one of the information desks will help someone to get a schedule for what is available. The main service is usually on a topic that is not the same as in the Bible Studies. The Senior Pastor normally gives this main message, and I generally find them to be excellent messages. There are two main services at the West Campus and they run simultaneously with two Bible studies. The 11:00 message is live and more traditional in music, while the 9:30 service has more praise music and a video message from the senior pastor. The doctrines preached are pretty standard for Southern Baptist churches. Water Baptisms are believer Baptisms that include adults and children that have made a decision to accept Christ as their savior. The church does have some Christian Apologists that attend and I am one of them. For those that want to hear Christian apologetics there is a class that meets at the Church on Wednesday evening...