A Baptist and a Presbyterian got together...

and when they did, there were lots of great conversations to be had.

LH Today is thrilled to announce a new feature – coming soon to the homepage.

Local pastors and friends, Brent Barry and Mark Wingfield have agreed to host a new monthly feature that will have them working together to cover relevant topics of religion and spirituality in our community.


Mark has lived in Lake Highlands for 11 years and is the Associate Pastor at Wilshire Baptist Church.

He says he and his family chose to live here based on the great location, beautiful neighborhoods and strong schools.

"Together with my wife, Allison, we've raised twin sons here and have been involved at Moss Haven Elementary, Forest Meadow Junior High and the high school. Our sons Luke
and Garrett are now students at TCU in Fort Worth," says Mark.

"As a parent, I'm grateful for the incredible nurturing my children have received in the Lake Highlands community through sports, Scouting, and a great public school system with its fantastic influences in the fine arts."

On top of past involvement with the Lake Highlands Area Band Club, Boy Scout Troop 473 and the Lake Highlands YMCA, Mark is also a founding board member and current president of the Healing Hands Medical and Dental Clinic.

The clinic provides medical and dental services to the working poor and uninsured members of our community, and no one is ever turned away due to their inability to pay.

Brent Barry has lived in Lake Highlands for 13 years, in both White Rock Valley and now Merriman Park Estates.

Brent currently serves as senior pastor at NorthPark Presbyterian Church.

He and his wife, Susan, have two children, Hannah (12) and Ian (10).

Brent serves with the White Rock Elementary PTA and worked to create the "Read for Need" program at the school, which has raised over $65,000 for an impoverished school in Juarez, Mexico.

His daughter, Hannah, wrote about the program in an article back in May.

Brent also co-founded the Faith on Tap series, which meets at Highlands Cafe on the fourth Sunday of every month to explore faith in the music of well-known artists. (On September 26th, Faith on Tap will look at the spiritual side of the music of Eric Clapton.)

It was at the suggestion of a mutual friend that Brent and Mark met for lunch recently at the cafe.

There the two began to explore spiritual and theological conversations, and according to Brent, "the conversation hasn't stopped."

"We think it would be fun to invite a larger audience into our conversation, and quite honestly, we'd welcome a little help in solving all of life's issues!"

LH Today is excited to work with this great team, as they discuss relevant religious and spiritual topics – ones that are important to our readers and our community as a whole.

"It really will be a conversation," says Brent. "Ultimately we're just two Lake Highlands dads who happen to have the title 'Reverend' in front of our names."

"But we're really just trying to make sense of God and life like everyone else."

Watch for their monthly feature, coming soon to the homepage.