After 1,700 Sundays preaching outside and under bridges, a Central Texas pastor retires

WACO — They lined up Sunday under giant pecan trees to wade into the muddy waters of the Middle Bosque River for a moment of redemption.

Before submerging, the 12 men and women testified how Jesus Christ changed their lives.

Most of them came to this moment through the ministry of Church Under the Bridge, whose congregants include the unhoused and mentally ill as well as Baylor University students and professionals.

It was an Easter Sunday tradition for the congregation to leave its usual home under an Interstate 35 overpass near Baylor University for baptism in the countryside west of Waco.

This would be the last service and last baptism led by founding pastor Jimmy Dorrell, 76, who is retiring from the church after 33 years and 1,700 Sundays. He hopes to be an occasional presence in the congregation but spend more time with ministries overseas.

Dorrell and his successor, Baylor ministerial student Kevin Brown, teamed up Sunday to immerse the newly committed Christians. Each baptism was followed by whoops and applause from the crowd of more than 100, which included Baylor President Linda Livingstone.

The first baptismal candidate in line addressed the crowd before he waded into the cold water.

“I’m John Dokken and I’m dedicating my life to Christ,” he said. “As I approached 80 and turned 80, I realize this is my final chapter.”

A fellow candidate patted his shoulder as he began to weep.

“Through Jimmy, and Kevin, I found a new home, and when it’s time to go I know that I’ll be ready,” he said. “I’m just here to do God’s will. He tells me he’s not through with me so I’ve got to keep going.”

Dorrell said afterward that baptism is always an emotional experience for him.

“These are pivotal moments for people to stand on what they have said verbally but never publicly professed and shown with their words and their baptism that they’re committed to this walk with Christ,” Dorrell said.

Dorrell and his wife, Janet, started Church Under the Bridge in 1993 after they spontaneously invited some homeless residents to join them on a restaurant patio near the interstate. It grew into a weekly Bible study, then a full-fledged worship service under the concrete canopy of Interstate 35.

Not long before, the Dorrells had launched Mission Waco, an urban ministry that was to grow into one of Waco’s major nonprofits serving homeless people using the empowering principles of “Christian community development.” 

Jimmy Dorrell is retired from Mission Waco but involved in its tiny home development, Creekside Community Village, that will soon provide long-term housing for those now homeless.

Over the decades, the Dorrells have continued to live on North 15th Street, a once-blighted street that has been transformed with new housing and small businesses thanks to Mission Waco’s efforts.

Clarice Barron, his neighbor and a Church Under the Bridge member who attended Sunday, said Jimmy Dorrell has transformed many lives in Waco.

“He’s able to actually put himself in the place of the homeless and the mentally ill, and the people with substance abuse [problems],” she said. “He just really wants to do something about it.”

Cindy Julian, who has attended Church Under the Bridge since 2012, said Sunday’s event was joyful but “bittersweet, to watch both of them, Jimmy and Kevin, do the baptisms in the river. We’re going to miss Jimmy, but he’s left us in good hands.

“But Easter is amazing in itself out here. We’re literally practicing what heaven’s like right here. We’ll all be together.”

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