Who We Are
How can we know Christ more intimately and make Him known more widely?
Since beginning in 1988, these two thoughts have been at the core of who we are because they are the very questions that led to our beginning. How can we create a unique opportunity for people to experience Christ and how can we share those experiences? It was a way that can only be described as divine that brought the answer to those questions; a phone call. At Dallas Baptist University, in the admissions office, a church called and a man named Henry Loftin answered. The church asked, “do y’all have a revival team that can come and lead worship as well as offer preaching?” At the time, the answer to their question was no, but the answer to the new calling placed on Henry’s life by that phone call was a resounding YES, and by the start of the next school year that revival team was formed, and its name became Glowing Heart Ministries.
As a ministry organization, we invest in the lives of the college students who join as members. We help them recognize and grow their gifts, and lead them into a deeper understanding of what it means to truly serve selflessly and love unconditionally. The team then takes what is learned and partners with youth ministries to lead youth revivals through worship, teachings, testimonies, and sessions. Our heart is for the next generation to know and love God because of what He did for us. He is worthy!
Scripture tells us that we live in a world of darkness; a world that is searching for answers. Yet, it does not know where to look. Our light must shine out to show this world the Way to peace, satisfaction, forgiveness, acceptance, and eternal life. Our lips must declare The Truth to questioning minds and cluttered hearts. Our lives must be a living example of The Life they can receive through faith in Jesus Christ. If we are going to make a difference in this world, a world who’s only hope is Jesus, we must have a glowing heart!
Glowing Heart 1988
Glowing Heart 1995
Glowing Heart 2005
Glowing Heart 2014
Glowing Heart 2021
With the help, support, and generosity of Dallas Baptist University, Glowing Heart went from an idea to a reality.
In April of 1988, Glowing Heart held its first audition. Of the twelve people who auditioned, eight became members of the very first Glowing Heart ministry team. By May, Glowing Heart’s schedule was booked for a full year. The very first concert was a three-day revival held at First Baptist Church in Willis Point, TX. The first year’s schedule consisted of 130 concerts during which there were 45 recorded salvations!
Glowing Heart went on to lead the music for DBU chapel three times a week and also sang at the Christmas Tree Lighting event every winter, along with D-Now weekends and other concerts throughout the year.
After 18 wonderful years of serving alongside Dallas Baptist University, God opened a door for Glowing Heart Ministries to step out and become an independent ministry organization. This new opportunity has allowed students from any college or university be a part of the ministry, with some coming from as far as Hawaii to join.
We continue to lead up to 16 Disciple-Now Weekends during the school year at churches in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri.
In 2005, The Lord had another incredible blessing that He delivered in a unique way. On a Sunday like any other, as Henry Loftin was walking into church, a man named Dale Boyles and his wife, Ann, pulled up next to him and said “I have a 20 acre campground in East Texas that I would like to donate to your ministry.” That campground is now known as Focus Pointe Base Camp, a place where people come and grow closer to God through camps, conferences, and other gatherings. Since acquiring the camp, we have seen hundreds of students give their lives to Christ, thousands mature as leaders, and many others say “yes” to the calling The Lord has for their life.
During the year, Focus Pointe is rented out by various churches and organizations who use it to experience the goodness of God surrounded by His creation. At the end of May and the beginning of June, the campground is used by Glowing Heart to host PaceSetters Leadership Camp. This camp, which first took place in 1996 at DBU, is a weeklong camp that puts an emphasis on students with leadership qualities and works to sharpen those traits so that when they return home, they can lead their friends and those around them into a deeper relationship with Jesus.
The name Glowing Heart was inspired by these two verses:
“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.”
Matthew 5:15
“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
2 Corinthians 4:6
It is for God’s glory that Glowing Heart exists and by His provision and power we continue to serve His kingdom!
Over the past 35 years, we have travelled over 1 million miles, led over 5,500 worship services and events, ministered to over a million people, and witnessed over 10,000 salvations.
We have served in Belize, Scotland, Russia, Taiwan, South Korea, Israel, Canada, Thailand, Spain, and France, and in just as many different states! We also had the opportunity to work alongside Lay Witnesses for Christ at the 1996 summer Olympics in Atlanta.
From 1988 to now, we have been blessed to have had over 300 college students serve in Glowing Heart as members.
We know that it is not what we do but what He does through us that has allowed this ministry to be a part of many incredible things! There are over 500 that regularly pray for this ministry and its members. The lives we have seen changed are a testament to the faithfulness of God and the power of prayer. You will not find an event that Glowing Heart has been a part of that has not been bathed in prayer.
Finally, in all things, we give the glory back to God for everything He has done.
“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name be all the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.”
Psalm 115:1