Tucked into a quiet stretch of Lohmans Crossing in Lakeway, a small Hill Country community west of Austin, Hands of God Church keeps a simple promise on its front door: "We are saving a seat for you." The church is a self-described community of "broken, imperfect people with every kind of story imaginable," and the same welcome runs through everything it does, from the Sunday gathering to the volunteer ministry to a wide library of articles on faith and family life.
At the center of the church is one weekly worship hour, a Traditional service held at 11:00 AM. Around that anchor, Hands of God has built an unusual set of ministries for a church its size. It curates a region-wide directory of food pantries, partners with the International Christian College and Seminary (ICCS), and runs a volunteer program that places members in roles throughout the body. The church is non-denominational, evangelical in conviction, and rooted in a confident reading of the Bible as the inspired, infallible Word of God.
Sunday Mornings at Lohmans Crossing
The Sunday gathering at Hands of God Church takes the form of a Traditional Worship service each week at 11:00 AM. The service is built around classic hymns and a thoughtful, engaging message drawn from the Bible. Services are designed to last one hour, and the dress code is intentionally easy: come in whatever is most comfortable.
The church has been direct about keeping the focus of worship clear. "Above worship styles," the lead pastor has written, "we want to worship in such a way that Jesus smiles down on us." For the people of Hands of God, that means leaning into the language of historic Christian worship rather than chasing trends. The result is a service that feels familiar to anyone who has grown up in a Bible-preaching church, with room to breathe and space to follow along. The tagline that runs with the service is one the church has made its own: "A church is not a building - it is the people."
Come as You Are
The church's front-door line is: "We do not care how you are dressed, how many tattoos you have." The same spirit shapes the actual experience of showing up. Members and first-time guests are welcomed by people who are excited to see them, and the rest of the morning is structured to take the pressure off.
There is no dress code, and the church encourages visitors to bring a Bible in whatever format is most comfortable. Many people read along from their smartphones. The service itself is described as offering "environments fit for every age and stage of life," and a children's ministry is referenced in the church's own description of the weekend. Visitors with questions are encouraged to write to info@handsofgodchurch.org.
What the Church Believes
Hands of God Church teaches that the Bible is "the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God revealing the love of God to the world." Scripture is read as the rule for both belief and life, and the church's beliefs statement is one of the most detailed documents on its site.
The church holds to a classical doctrine of God: one God, eternally existing in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is confessed in his deity, his virgin birth, his sinless life, his miracles, his vicarious and atoning death by his shed blood on the cross, his bodily resurrection, his ascension to the right hand of the Father, and his personal return in power and glory.
Salvation is described in straightforward terms. All people are lost and face the judgment of God. Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation, and for the salvation of lost and sinful humanity, repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ result in regeneration by the Holy Spirit. The righteous are rewarded with eternal life in heaven, and the unrighteous are banished to everlasting punishment in hell. The present ministry of the Holy Spirit indwells the Christian and enables a godly life. The church believes in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost - the saved to eternal life, the lost to eternal punishment.
Several other commitments round out the statement. The church believes in the spiritual unity of all true believers as members of the body of Christ. It holds that the ministry of evangelism and the work of discipleship are the responsibility of every follower of Jesus. Marriage is defined as the union of one genetic male and one genetic female, instituted by God as the foundation of the family. Human life is sacred from conception to its natural end. And the church commits itself to prayer, to the service of the Lord, to his authority over the lives of his people, and to the ministry of evangelism.
The pastor has summarized the heart of it this way: "We exist to give God glory. Our work attempts to point people to Jesus - not us. Our passion and push for excellence is for Him. Every part of our life (the happy stuff and the suffering) is a chance to give Him glory. We are just a bunch of Jesus fans."
A Finger on the Pulse of Central Texas Hunger
Outside of its own building, Hands of God Church has taken on an unusual role in the region: a clearinghouse for anyone in Central Texas who needs to find food. The church maintains a detailed, regularly updated list of food pantries serving Austin and the surrounding counties, with addresses, phone numbers, and the days and hours each pantry is open. The list is broken out by location, from Caritas of Austin downtown to community centers in Dale, Red Rock, Bastrop, Waco, Kyle, and beyond.
The same care is given to mobile food pantries - refrigerated trucks that travel to neighborhoods without easy access to a fixed location. The church's mobile pantry page links directly to the Central Texas Food Bank's mobile pantry calendar, the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas mobile schedule, and the Food Bank of West Central Texas. Visitors can scroll through a long roster of distribution sites - Allison Elementary School, Apache Shores Homeowners Association, Dove Springs Recreation Center, the YMCA Paul Quinn Campus in Waco, Science Hall Elementary in Kyle, and many more - with the day of the month and the time window for each stop.
The church frames this work with two Bible verses and a calling. Luke 3:11 sets the tone: "Whoever has two shirts should share with the person who doesn't have any. Whoever has food should share it too." Isaiah 58:7 expands the call: "Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help." For a church whose door is in Lakeway, the work of feeding the hungry across Austin and Central Texas is a deeply practical expression of those verses.
A Bible College Without Walls
Hands of God Church has a long-running partnership with the International Christian College and Seminary, an online Bible college headquartered in Orlando, Florida. ICCS is non-profit and bilingual, offering programs in both English and Spanish. Rather than building a traditional campus, the school delivers associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs through correspondence, with a particular focus on pastors and Christian leaders who cannot leave their homes, families, or ministries to attend a residential seminary.
The church has described the school's vision in unusually direct terms. ICCS exists to provide "an affordable, quality Christian higher education experience for those who are not able to attend a traditional Christian college," and to equip students to spread the Gospel of Christ throughout the world. The school has framed itself as a solution to a real problem: traditional seminaries, ICCS estimates, would cost an unattainable $15 billion a year to build and maintain worldwide, and they still could not meet the need for well-trained Christian leaders. Online degrees from associate through PhD, the school argues, can reach pastors and ministry workers in the places seminaries never could.
Together, the church and the college run a small portfolio of projects:
- Vacation Bible School
- Third World Ministries
- Animals for Autism
- Guide Dogs 4 Kids
- Scholarship for the Incarcerated, which sends curriculum to men and women who can study for a degree while serving their sentences
Donations to the church support these programs, and the church's online giving platform is available to anyone who wants to contribute.
Lending a Hand
Volunteers are the backbone of the church's weekly life. Hands of God Church runs a formal volunteer ministry with an online application, and the qualifications it lists are a window into what kind of community the church wants to build. Volunteers are expected to:
- Attend Hands of God Church regularly
- Take part in ministry orientations, trainings, and meetings
- Function within the guidelines and procedures of the ministry to which they are applying
- Uphold a godly lifestyle as an example to others
- Maintain a vibrant and growing relationship with Jesus through regular Bible reading, prayer, and church attendance
- Be in agreement with the teaching and ministry of Hands of God Church
In return, the church promises that "whatever your interests are, there is a place for you to serve." Opportunities are organized around the gifts and talents members bring, from children's ministry and worship to the practical work of keeping the building open and the food pantry lists updated.
Finding the Church
Hands of God Church meets at 1604 Lohmans Crossing, Lakeway, Texas 78734. The building is set up with accessibility in mind: there is a circular driveway in front of the main entrance, with a drop-off area and handicap parking spaces nearby. Drivers who want to drop off passengers before parking can use the circular drive; those who need accessible parking can pull straight into the marked spaces.
The mailing address is PO Box 340634, Austin, Texas 78734. The church can be reached by phone at (888) 929-2553 or by email at info@handsofgodchurch.org. The church is also active on Facebook and Twitter, where new articles and church news appear regularly.
Daily Encouragement
One of the most distinctive features of Hands of God Church is the volume of writing it puts out. The blog covers the full range of Christian discipleship: what to do as a follower of Jesus, how to teach religion honestly to children, what the Bible says about caring for aging parents, how to fast, how to keep God in a marriage, the power of love as Jesus' most radical teaching, and even whether playing games and taking time to rest can be a sin. The articles are conversational, Scripture-saturated, and clearly written to be read at the kitchen table rather than from a lectern.
The church also offers a daily devotional by email. Subscribers receive inspirational and encouraging words to help them grow in their relationship with the Lord. The signup is on the homepage, and the devotional is a way to "jumpstart your day by celebrating the very best that God has for you." For a small Lakeway congregation with a wide reach online, the daily email is a quiet but steady ministry in its own right, and a fitting extension of a community that does not believe the work of the church stops at the door.