Standing at a pulpit on a Sunday morning in March, Rev. Daryl Horton of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in East Austin prayed for a swift approval of building permits. An ask that, as anyone familiar with municipal bureaucracy knows, requires nothing short of a God-given miracle.
“Y’all keep praying for the city as those permits keep going through,” Horton told the hundred some worshippers seated in pews at his feet. “We’re gonna get it taken care of so we can continue to build what God has called us to build.”
Horton was asking for help ferrying along a planned expansion of the church’s campus on East 13th Street, which will include a gymnasium and exercise center. But over the coming years, Horton will likely need to appeal to his congregation again…