Our Past

Southway Community Church began in the 1940′s when a Presbyterian missionary named Clarence Wylie started a Sunday School Class in the Pierce Junction oil field which eventually became known as Almeda Bible Church.

In 1983, Kevin Paszalek came to Almeda Bible Church and began his tenure as senior pastor. The 80′s brought many changes; most notably increased staff, technology, and ministries. Over the next 8 years, Almeda continued ministry to an older congregation in a shifting neighborhood. By the 90′s, the church was thinking of relocation.

Also in 1983, Robert Graham drove a motorcycle down the uncompleted South Freeway (Highway 288). As he looked east he saw a plot of land just inside the Harris County line and envisioned a church there, even before the area built up. This vision and hard work led to the planting of Southway Baptist Church.

In May 1991 Robert Graham was playing tennis and Kevin Paszalek was shooting baskets in the park at the Southdown Division near Highway 288. They visited for a minute through the tennis court fence about what was happening in their churches. (Almeda and Southway) Robert inquired about the possibility of the two churches merging.

After more discussions and much prayer, the two churches were united in November 1991 and became Southway Community Church.

After Robert left to pastor in South Dakota, Kevin became the senior pastor of the new combined church. In the early 90′s Thom Justice came as associate pastor and introduced us to working mission trips, to give our people first-hand experience with the needs of our missionaries The first trip was in 1995 to Quito, Equador where we worked on a “mission house” and carried supplies to a mission school in the Amazon jungle. Other trips since then have included Haiti, Mexico, Spain, England, Croatia and Kenya.

In 2005, Kevin sensed God’s calling to Kenya for the purpose of teaching and leading at Moffat Bible College.  After initially notifying SCC in January 2006, Kevin and his family left for Kenya in January 2007 after a near 23  year tenure as senior pastor. Today, Southway continues to support Kevin and his wife Linda as they serve God in Kenya.

Beginning in 2007, Southway faced a real challenge with Kevin’s leaving. What would be the future of this church? During a two-year period from January 2007-January 2009, Southway learned to trust God even when we couldn’t see what he was doing so clearly. Leaning on Christ through the elders (both tenured and new elders elected), deacons, Larry Burleson, Office Manager Linda Greeson, and Interim Pastor Dr. Harlan Betz, Southway continued life and ministry while searching for a new pastor.

During Kevin’s final year at Southway, he would occasionally be called away for opportunities related to his mission venture in Kenya. Often, Kevin would approach local youth pastor Jason Hess, who served at Fellowship Bible Church in Pearland to fill in for him when he would be out. While not officially “related” as churches, both Southway and Fellowship enjoyed a great relationship with one another as they supported several of the same missionaries and had a similar doctrinal outlook.

Jason first preached at Southway in January 2006, one week before Kevin’s announcement of leaving for Kenya. In the following two years, Jason would preach 3-4 times a year for Southway, developing an affinity for the people along the way. In the spring of 2007, Dr. Harlan Betz was asked to assume the role of Interim Pastor of Southway. During his tenure, Harlan and Jason Hess met to talk about church life, since they had known each other for more than a decade. (Both Harlan and Jason served on staff with Kingwood Bible Church in the 1990′s). Harlan asked Jason if he was interested in being a senior pastor, at which time Jason was decidedly not interested.

In June 2008, as Harlan was ready to transition to a ministry in Colorado, he again asked Jason to think about applying for senior pastor of Southway. The pastoral search committee, hard at work looking for a new pastor, had seen several resumes and fielded multiple calls from candidates. While Jason didn’t think he was 1. qualified or 2. ready, events in his life had led him to send in a resume. During the months of June-December 2008, Jason grew more convinced and convicted that this opportunity was something he should pursue.

After a thorough search process, December 7, 2008 saw Southway voted on Jason Hess to be the new lead pastor beginning his tenure on February 1, 2009.