Pastor Jerry Hovater is the Founder and Lead Pastor of The Little Country Church. With 40 years of full-time ministry under his belt, we’re proud to call him our fearless leader.
WHEN YOU FIND YOUR PASTOR, YOU FIND YOUR CHURCH.
Nestled in the woods in New Caney, Texas, The Little Country Church began as a “small bible study” hosted on Easter Sunday in 2003. Within just a few months, the group grew from five to seventy-five, and now our church is home to hundreds of believers on a given Sunday, and thousands who claim Pastor Jerry as their Pastor.
Meet our Lead Pastor
Get a feel for our
church culture
This is your chance to get to know us and see if we’re a good fit.
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Let’s start with who we’re not. We’re not your typical church-goers. We are a group of wildly unique and diverse individuals who all have one thing in common. We love Jesus!
WE PRIDE OURSELVES IN BEING THE PLACE “WHERE MISFITS FIT”.
We are a non-denominational, bible-based church seeking balance in an unbalanced world. We have bikers and gear heads, country folk and uptowners, people of all ages and backgrounds; all who call our church “home.”
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The Little Country Church is nestled in the woods, in New Caney, Texas—located in the heart of Camp Holy Wild, our 110 acre ranch.
OUR FACILITIES ARE AS UNIQUE AS OUR PEOPLE.
You’ll find us “where the blacktop ends,” surrounded by Texas Pines, 2 fishing ponds, and nature all around. You’ll park on the lawn, and find deer heads on the walls. It’s just who we are.
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We are The Little Country Church, but thankfully, our name is a wonderful oxymoron. We’re far from the little, white steepled building you see in the movies. We don’t sing hymns, and we don’t condemn rock and roll.
Instead, we’re a holy wild bunch! We drive fast cars and listen to our music a little too loud. We believe in living life outside of your comfort zone and “doing it afraid,” because that’s how God does it, and He created us in His image.
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We only get one shot at life on earth, and we believe we’re called to live it both Holy and Wild.
Psalm 68:4 calls us to “sing praise, extol Him who rides on the clouds, and rejoice before Him.” What a wild God He must be to ride on the clouds as His pastime!
Romans 8:11 tells us “The Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.” Then, in Matthew 14, Jesus proved it to be true when He called Peter to climb out of the boat and walk on the water with Him. And he did! Peter walked on the waves with Jesus, in the middle of the night.
If we believe this to be true—and we believe the Bible is Truth—then we know that we are made in God’s image, that His spirit is within us, that we are called to live as He lives, and that our God is a wild and free, living God.
As a church, we believe that we, too, should live a holy and wild life, and this is a prominent pillar in our church culture.
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WE’RE HERE TO W.I.N. OTHERS TO CHRIST
WIN THE LOST:
In Matthew 18, we see the parable of the lost sheep and we learn that God takes delight in finding the one that is lost. We, too, are called, as the shepherd was, to help find the lost and return them to their rightful owner, Jesus Christ.
INTEGRATE THE BODY:
Romans 12:4-5 tells us that each of us comes together to form the body of Christ, and each of us has our own function within the church as we work towards the common goal of leading others to Christ.
NURTURE THE PEOPLE:
One must be nurtured in order to grow. When we nurture our relationship with God, and with each other, we will continue to grow as believers.
What we believe
as a church
This is where we break down our core beliefs and the pillars of our faith.
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The Bible is the inspired Word of God, written by the anointed, who spoke and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
Under the New Covenant, as recorded in the New Testament, we believe the entire Bible (Old and New Testaments) to be our infallible guide in matters pertaining to conduct and doctrine. (2 Timothy 3:35-17, 1 Peter 1:23-25, 1 Thessalonians 2:13)
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There is one true God, manifested in three persons—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, all being co-equal.
Jesus Christ, who is God manifested in flesh, is the second person of the Godhead, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit, the third person in the Godhead, proceeds forth from both the Father and the Son and is eternal. (Philippians 2:6, John 1:14, John 15:26)
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All believers are entitled to, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, which comes with Salvation.
This gift is from God and promised by the Lord Jesus Christ to all believers in this dispensation, and is received subsequent to the new birth (Matthew 3:11, John 14:16, Acts 19:1-7, Acts 2:4).
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We believe man is a created being, made in the likeness and image of God, created good and upright. Because of Adam's transgression and fall, sin came into the world, resulting in a sin nature for further generations.
Romans 3:23 - "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."
We also believe as it is written in Romans 3:10, "There is none righteous, no not one."
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was manifested to bring about salvation to undo sin, and He did so through the giving of His life and shedding of His blood to redeem and restore man back to God. (Genesis 1:26-31)
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Man's only hope of redemption is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. On the cross, Jesus Christ became sin and provided salvation for all mankind. As a result, man is justified freely by God's Grace through the redemption that is in Christ.
Jesus is THE way, THE truth, and THE life and none come to the Father except through Him. (John 14:6).Faith and Works: Salvation comes from man's faith in Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior for the forgiveness of sins. Salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ and not by human works, however, good works are done as a result of New Life in Christ.
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Baptism in water is by immersion and a direct commandment from our Lord for believers only. The ordinance is a symbol of the Christian's identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. (MATTHEW 3:11)
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We believe in the observance of communion, consisting of the elements; bread and the fruit of the vine.
It is symbolic of our sharing the divine nature of our Lord Jesus Christ; a memorial of His suffering and death and a prophecy of His second coming. (1 Corinthians 11:25-25,28)
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The church is the body of Christ, the habitation of God through the Spirit, with divine appointments for the fulfillment of her great commission.
Each believer, born of the Spirit, is an integral part of the general assembly. (Ephesians 1:22, 2:19-22, Hebrews 12:23)
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Healing is for the physical illness of the human body and is brought by the power of God through the prayer of faith, and by the laying on of hands.
It is provided for in the atonement of Christ, and is the privilege of every member of the Church today. (Mark 16:18; James 5:14, 15; 1 Peter 2:24; Matt 8:17; Isa 53:4,5)
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The angels said, "This same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same ways you saw him go." (Acts 1:11)
His coming is imminent. When He returns, "...the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air..."
The resurrection of those who have fallen asleep in Christ and their translation together with those who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord is the blessed hope of the church. (I Corinthians 15:51-52, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, 2 Thessalonians 2:1)
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The one who physically dies in his sins without accepting Christ is hopelessly and eternally lost in the Lake of Fire and therefore has no further opportunity of hearing the Gospel or repenting.
HELL IS LITERAL>.
The terms "eternal" and "everlasting" used in describing the duration of the punishment of the damned in the Lake of Fire, carry the same thought and meaning of endless existence as used in denoting the duration of the joy the saints will have in the presence of God. (Hebrews 9:27, Revelation 19:20)
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The return of our Lord Jesus Christ with His saints from Heaven to rule and reign for one thousand years on earth as the Scriptures promised.
After this, there shall be a new heaven and a new earth. (Romans 11:25,27, 2 Thessalonians 1:7, Revelation 19:11-16, 20:1-7, 21)
Meet the Holy Wild Team
Pastor Jerry Hovater
Executive Pastor
PASTOR Josh Bounds
Student Pastor
McKenna Feaster
Worship Team Leader
Renee Easterling
Financial Administrator
Josiah Hovater
Administrative Assistant
KAte Davis
Communications Director
curious to know more?
Send us a message. We’re happy to answer any questions you may have.