An Elder-Led Church on the Northwest Side of Midland
Stonegate Fellowship sits at 6000 W Wadley Avenue on the growing northwest side of Midland, Texas, where a two-Sunday-morning gathering has been meeting since 1999. The church's tagline - "Everyday people transformed by Jesus to love and influence others every day" - is more than a slogan; it is the lens through which every ministry, from the nursery to the elder board, is shaped. The congregation is led by a plurality of twelve elders, taught each Sunday by a team of ministers, and is currently in the middle of a four-year building campaign called Stonegate Build, with more than $10 million already given toward the project.
Two Sunday Mornings and a Livestream
Worship services are held at 9:00 AM and 10:45 AM, and the tone is deliberately come-as-you-are. "Whether you're exploring faith for the first time, returning to church, or looking for a place to grow deeper in your walk with Christ, you are welcome here," the church writes. First-time guests can fill out a Connect Card or the online "Let's Connect" form, and the Connections Team will follow up during the week. A Next Steps class is offered for those wanting to learn who the church is and how to get involved, and a Baptism class is held periodically for anyone wanting to be baptized.
Both services are livestreamed on YouTube, and a Spanish-language stream is offered as well under the name Stonegate en Español. Prayer teams are available at the front of the stage after each service for anyone who would like to be prayed for, and prayer requests submitted online are sent to the Prayer Team to be prayed for throughout the week.
Stonegate Kids, Treasure Quest, and Sunday Morning Check-In
Children are checked in fifteen minutes before each service. First-time visitors fill out a registration card, and a digital check-in form is available online for families running short on time. Every volunteer who works with children has been background-checked and trained.
For families of children with special needs, Stonegate offers Treasure Quest, a dedicated class that meets at 10:30 AM. Trained servant-leaders provide care during the 10:45 service so that parents can attend worship, and pre-registration is not required. A printable Treasure Quest Paperwork form helps parents share helpful information with the team.
SGY: Middle and High School on Sunday Nights
Stonegate Youth, or SGY, is the church's ministry for students in grades 6 through 12. The goal is to help students "experience a transforming relationship with Jesus" and to equip them to live a life of influence every day. Middle school and high school meet together on Sunday evenings from 5:30 to 7:30 PM in Buildings E and F, with dinner provided. SGY has its own Instagram presence and a Facebook page for ongoing communication with parents and students.
The Porch Live, Living Stones, and Young Adults
Young adults have a place of their own in the life of the church. The Porch Live, Midland, a livestream and in-person gathering that originates from a similar ministry in Dallas, meets on Tuesday nights at 7:30 PM in Building E. Through messages, music, and conversation about dating, relationships, anxiety, and adulting, the group aims to walk alongside twenty- and thirty-somethings through the highs and lows of the decade.
For a more text-focused setting, Living Stones is a discussion-based Bible study for adults aged 25 to 35 that meets on Thursday evenings from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. Participants explore books and themes of the Bible together in a setting that does not require prior Bible knowledge, just a desire to learn and connect.
Men, Women, and Marriage
Men's ministry at Stonegate centers on the Men's Morning Bible Study, which meets every Wednesday from 6:30 to 7:15 AM in Building F. The gathering is open to all men with no sign-up required, and includes coffee, donuts, and a 45-minute teaching from members of the church's teaching team. A podcast archive of past sessions is available on Apple Podcasts. Marriage & Couples ministry also hosts a Wild at Heart Boot Camp, a weekend men's retreat focused on the heart of a man, the heart of God, and the heart each man has been given.
Women's ministry organizes around three words - Connect, Grow, Influence - and offers a fitness program with multiple weekly classes that combine physical activity with fellowship. A ten-class punch card can be purchased, and the first class is free. The fitness schedule is updated each season.
Marriage & Couples Night meets on Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:15 PM in Building D, with childcare available. The format is designed to help couples be Equipped, Enriched, and Encouraged, whether they are newly married or have been married for decades. Individual or couples counseling information is available by emailing the Marriage Ministry Director.
A Statement of Faith Centered on the Gospel
Stonegate's Statement of Faith runs through the doctrines that shape its teaching. The church affirms the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments as the written revelation of God, infallible and inerrant in the original manuscripts, and treats the Bible as the ultimate authority on belief and practice. There is one God who eternally exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who is both sovereign and personal.
Humanity was created in God's image, male and female, to represent His loving rule; every person, regardless of culture, ethnicity, developmental stage, or mental capacity, has equal and inherent value. Through Adam's fall, all people inherit a sinful nature and are separated from God. Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, was supernaturally conceived, crucified, and physically raised from the dead; His death paid for the sins of all who repent and trust Him, and He now sits at the right hand of the Father.
Salvation is by grace through faith in the finished work of Christ, not by works, and is offered to people of every gender, class, and ethnicity. The Holy Spirit indwells every believer from the moment of salvation, distributes spiritual gifts for the building up of the church, and progressively conforms believers to the character of Christ. A genuine believer is eternally secure in Christ, and authentic faith is shown in an ongoing, imperfect, gradual pursuit of holiness. The universal church is made up of all who have trusted in Jesus, and the local church is a visible expression of that body in a particular place, gathering for worship, the two ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper, elder-led governance, deacon service, and disciple-making.
From a Junior High Auditorium to a Northwest Campus
Stonegate Fellowship held its first worship service in August 1999 at Abell Junior High School, with about two hundred people in attendance. The vision had been taking shape over the previous decade as a desire of First Baptist Church of Midland to plant a mission church to serve the growing northwest side of the city. Founding pastor Patrick Payton led the new church through its early years.
After three years in a school auditorium, the church moved into its first permanent home at 6000 W Wadley Avenue. The single worship space grew over time into multiple venues, flexible gathering areas, and dedicated spaces for children and students. In 2008 a $12 million children's building was completed, paid off in just under a year.
In 2016 a second campus was launched in Odessa, in a former nightclub that was transformed into a worship and ministry space. In 2018, Patrick Payton retired, and rather than calling a single successor, the church moved to a teaching team model in which several elders and staff ministers share preaching responsibilities under the oversight of the elder body. In 2023 the Odessa campus became its own autonomous church, Stonegate Odessa Church.
Today, Stonegate Fellowship is in the middle of Stonegate Build, a four-year initiative with three goals: Gather, by expanding worship spaces; Find, by building community spaces for groups, studies, and serve teams; and Train, by establishing a discipleship training center. More than $10.3 million has been given toward the campaign, and the church's goal is 100 percent participation through prayer, giving, and serving on a Build team.
Elders, Executive Pastor, and Team Teaching
Leadership at Stonegate is built around five characteristics. The first three are drawn directly from the New Testament: the church is Jesus-Centered, with Christ as the Senior Pastor and head of the church; Spirit-Empowered, dependent on the Spirit's guidance and gifting; and Elder-Led, governed by a plurality of qualified men who serve as under-shepherds of Jesus. The elder body currently consists of twelve men who serve three-year terms with at least a one-year break before being considered for another term.
The two characteristics specific to Stonegate are Executive Pastor Directed, meaning the elders appoint one elder to lead the staff and ministry operations, and Team-Taught, meaning a rotation of elders and staff ministers preach on Sundays so the congregation hears a diversity of voices. The current Executive Pastor is Larry Gilbert.
Groups, Bible Studies, and RightNow Media
"Connecting with others is the best way to make our church feel smaller," the church writes. Groups and Bible Studies are organized across the church and meet in homes, on campus, and online. Group leaders are invited to step into that role through a short form, and anyone already in a group has free access to RightNow Media, a streaming library of video resources for marriage, parenting, spiritual growth, and kids.
Free on-campus childcare is provided for official Stonegate small groups and Bible studies, with a registration form that leaders share with members so the childcare team can plan for the right number of children. Morning childcare is available on Mondays and Wednesdays from 8:45 to 11:30 AM, and evening childcare is available on Sundays from 4:15 to 8:30 PM, Tuesdays from 5:45 to 8:30 PM, and Wednesdays from 5:15 to 8:30 PM. In case of inclement weather, the childcare schedule follows the Midland ISD weather policy.
Mother's Day Out, ESL, and Counseling
Mother's Day Out is the church's weekday preschool program for the 2026-2027 school year, with highly qualified early-childhood educators who integrate basic skills, biblical principles, and social skills through play. All teachers and assistants have passed background checks. Registration opens April 1 at 9:00 AM.
Free English as a Second Language classes are offered on the Stonegate campus throughout the workweek for adults eighteen and older, with both basic and advanced levels taught in the mornings and evenings by trained volunteers and retired teachers. Classes run each spring (January through April) and fall (September through November), and students must register and be approved before attending. The ESL team is always looking for new teachers and conversation partners.
For those needing relational, emotional, or spiritual support, the church provides referrals to three Christian counseling providers: Authentic Wellness Counseling Center with Heather Mason, Centers Counseling with Modupe Bajemo, and Healing Thru Hope. The aim is to help individuals develop an intimate relationship with God through Jesus Christ and a right relationship with others.
Missions: Local, Global, and Shine
SG Missions exists to help the congregation live out the Great Commission through local partnerships, D-Labs (short-term Discipleship Lab trips), and financial support of global workers. A Mission Partner Guide and a Global Workers Review are available to anyone wanting to learn more about where the church serves.
Shine is the church's seasonal discipleship initiative built around three practices: Love Your Circle, Serve the City, and Change the World. The Love Your Circle track offers an eight-week listening devotional and a kit with a candle to use during weekly prayer. Serve the City connects volunteers with Every Neighbor projects, including Operation Christmas Child shoebox packing - the congregation has packed more than 1,300 boxes in the past two years. Change the World partners with illumiNations to fund Bible translation for the Sertanejo people of northeast Brazil.
Children and students have their own Shine rhythms. SGKids hosts a family Rise & Shine serving day at Mission Agape to pack food bags for food-insecure kids in Midland, and a Change the World coin-and-cash drive that races classrooms to fund Bible translation. SGY runs a Shine Tournament each fall with sports brackets for high school and middle school students, with proceeds going to the same Bible translation effort.
Alpha, RECOVery, and a Spanish Stream
Alpha is a series of conversations about the basics of the Christian faith, hosted in partnership with the city's Alpha Midland initiative. RECOVery is the church's recovery group, a weekly gathering for those working through substance use and other struggles. The Stonegate en Español YouTube channel offers services and content in Spanish for the Spanish-speaking community in the Permian Basin.
Giving, Facilities, and Getting in Touch
Stonegate teaches that giving is an act of worship and a reflection of God's generosity, and thirteen and a half cents of every dollar given to general operations is directed to missions. Gifts can be made online through the Church Center giving platform, by texting any amount to 84321, or by dropping an offering in one of the giving boxes around the building on Sunday. The church also keeps an active building use process, with a Building Use Form for outside groups wanting to reserve space.
Jobs are posted through a BambooHR portal, and resources such as the Practicing the Way spiritual health assessment, a Discovery Bible Study guide, a HEAR note method for Scripture reading, Bible Project videos, and Blue Letter Bible are linked for anyone wanting to grow in their walk with Jesus.
The address is 6000 W Wadley Avenue, Midland, Texas 79707, the phone number is 432-694-5100, and the general email is info@stonegatefellowship.com. stonegatefellowship.com is the church's online address, the YouTube channel is @StonegateFellowshipMidland, and the church can be found on Facebook and Instagram under Stonegate Fellowship.