Pete Christy talks to God often. One such conversation came with dinner at Cagle’s in Lubbock six years ago. Pete said he was having dinner when God told him, “You have all these men watching you on TV. Bring them to me.”

And so Pete did. In January of 2017 Pete started Lunch Church for Men in Lubbock. That was successful enough that women began to notice and wanted to be included, so Lunch Church for Women was launched. Then Covid hit, which halted both noon gatherings in person, but they continued online. After Covid restrictions went away, men and women just showed up together and enjoyed Lunch Church Fellowship.

In the beginning, coaches from Lubbock schools comprised much of the audience, perhaps because of Pete’s sportscasting connections. As time went on and word spread, so did interest in the meetings. In June of 2022,  Lunch Church Fellowship took to the road to feed appetites and nourish souls in area towns of coaches and anyone else in need of inspiration and support.

“Just look around and you can see what God has done,” Pete said Wednesday as around fifty people chatted and enjoyed barbecue sandwiches provided by Michael and Denise Dunham at Honey-Do BBQ in the Bailey County Electric meeting room along with some help from the Muleshoe Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture.  “I like taking these road trips. It blesses the community and brings people together. It’s fun.”

Pete was born and grew up in Maryland, went to Syracuse University in New York,  and got his start in broadcasting in Washington D.C. and Oregon, but “got to Lubbock as quick as I could.” That was in 1995 when Benji Snead was an intern at KCBD-TV. He and Pete hit it off. Pete said, “ Benji was just an intern, but I treated him just the same as everyone else. You know, you should be nice to everybody, not just the boss.”

When Pete left KCBD for Philadelphia in 1997, Benji told  him, “One of these days I‘m going to be the boss, and I’ll get you back.”

Seven years passed. Pete was having success in Philadelphia, and Benjie did in fact become the news director. As Pete was accepting a Mid-Atlantic region broadcast Emmy in 2004, Benji called. Pete called him back, and  Benji convinced him that he should come back to Texas to work. Apparently it didn’t take much convincing, because Pete had always liked Lubbock and was back in a heartbeat.

“I missed the lifestyle, things like ‘yes ma’am and no ma’am’- you don’t get that up there {in the North}- and I wanted to come back down here,” Pete told me.  “I  knew it was a great place for kids, people loved me. I just know I am supposed to be here.”

That was eighteen and a half years ago, and he has never looked back.

At today’s session, MISD Superintendent Dr. R.L. Richards started things off by pointing out that most of us, as well as himself, are probably type A personalities who enjoy making plans and then seeing them completed, like planning to come to today’s lunch date.  He teased us that we are the kind of person who might go into a guest bathroom, see the toilet paper facing what we think is the wrong direction and then making it right!  But after sharing a few Bible verses, he reminded us that we may make plans, but the outcome is in God’s hands.

Pete introduced MHS assistant principal and girls’ basketball coach Gregg Ammons and their battles in Pete’s I Beat Pete challenges, which went something like this: Coach Ammons’ Trinity Christian girls’ basketball team had won the state championship that year, so, of course, a match was in order. Pete won, but Coach Ammons just said they would win state again next year and challenge him again. They did, and the second, and even the third time, and they beat Pete!

Coach Ammons then regaled us with stories of how he kept waiting for God to talk to him, only to discover that all he had to do was listen, which is what he wants us to do. He also shared with us that his mother always said he should be a pastor; he always told her he wanted to be a coach. And as it all turned out, he said he has planted more seeds as a coach than he could have ever done as a pastor.

Pete ended with two good examples of God having a hand in his life. On March 1, 2008, his brother called from Dallas saying he really needed to come see their dad. Pete declined because he was very busy at the time. Soon after the phone call, Pete felt like God was telling  him he needed to go to Dallas, so he did. He and his brother walked into their dad’s room, and he lighted up. He told his sons how nice it was to see them both, that he loved them and was very proud of them. He then fell into a coma and passed away. When Pete’s mother died twenty years before, a butterfly flew up from the casket as it was being lowered, and Pete felt it was his mom flying away, saying good-bye.  After his dad passed that night, Pete asked God to bring his mom to him in a dream, but nothing happened. Later the next day, three year-old daughter Bella saw a butterfly and knew it was Pete’s mom, her grandmother. Pete’s first thought was how would she know that was his mom? The butterfly flew twenty years ago. But then Bella said she knew because his mom had come to her in a dream that night. God at work again.

Today’s lunch church makes a total of seventy-seven times Pete has shared his faith.  Pete has lunch church in Lubbock every month on a Wednesday, so that’s twelve meetings a year in town.  He has made six or seven road trips so far and plans on twelve a year for those, too. Future lunches are planned to Brownfield, Jayton, Littlefield,  Tahoka, Lamesa, and the list goes on. Planning the event is a group effort when interest is shown in any town.

Pete loves his sportscaster job at KCBD, but he also loves helping people converse with God.

How blessed is that?

Thanks to Pete Christy, Gregg Ammons, and Brittany Pendley for their help with this story .