(RNS)—Since taking the pulpit at Legacy Baptist Church in Coolidge, Ariz., Pastor Rob Hudelson has not shied away from hot-button political issues, including disputing the results of the 2020 election.

His taste for politicking has expressed itself in his two campaigns for state representative.

Recently on X, formerly Twitter, Hudelson responded to a post from the conspiracy-minded journalist Lara Logan about recent arrests of Jan. 6 rioters with a post that read: “Marxism will not be something that is debated … only taken by force. It cannot win in the battlefield of ideas.”

That kind of rhetoric has earned Hudelson’s church an “A” rating from MyChurchFinder, a 6-month-old online directory that promises to connect Americans to “biblically sound” congregations across the country.

‘Biblically sound’ ratings

MyChurchFinder sends surveys to pastors nationwide and assigns a letter grade to their church based on their answers. To receive an A rating, pastors must demonstrate that they lead a “biblically sound, culturally aware & non-socialistic legislatively active church.”

Failing to meet any of the above criteria earns a church a “WNR”—Would Not Recommend.

The vast majority of the 270 churches in the directory received an A rating. Twenty-eight churches received B ratings, one church received a C, and three received “WNR.”

MyChurchFinder’s rating system rewards pastors who thumb their noses at the concept of separation of church and state and believe patriotism, politics and Christianity are inextricably, biblically linked.

The site is run by a Texas automobile executive, Roger Elswick, through his organization, the Eleven Six Institute, which describes its mission as “ensuring the Church becomes and remains, not only the conscience of the Government, but also the moral guide to legislation and the moral standard for all Government.”

The directory was co-founded by Neil Mammen, who is also listed as a speaker MyChurchFinder makes available.

Mammen, author of the self-published 2012 book Jesus Is Involved in Politics!: Why Aren’t You? Why Isn’t Your Church, gave an interview earlier this year to American Family News, a publication of the Christian fundamentalist American Family Association. In the interview, he stressed the importance of people being in “good churches” in an election year.

“Bad churches,” he said, are “just propping up the decay of America.”

Neither Elswick nor Mammen responded to requests for comment.

Mammen told American Family News a church’s A rating means “you are not only biblically sound, but you’re also culturally aware; you know and you preach about how abortion is bad and how CRT [critical race theory] is bad, but the most important part of that is then you do something about it.”

Conservative advocacy organization Turning Point USA, whose faith-based arm has endorsed MyChurchFinder, has been on a similar mission of late.

Turning Point’s founder, Charlie Kirk, has teamed up with far-right Christian nationalist pastor Lance Wallnau to turn churches in swing states such as Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia into “campaign powerhouses,” Rolling Stone magazine reported earlier this year.

Liberty Pastors, another organization that has endorsed MyChurchFinder, is dedicated to “training” pastors “to think Biblically in every area of life—including the realms of civil government, economics, human sexuality, charity, and family.”

And, the organization touts high-profile instructors such as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Act for America founder Brigitte Gabriel.

MyChurchFinder identifies congregations that have become members of Liberty Pastors.

Familiar Christian nationalist names

For those who follow Christian nationalist pastors, a few familiar names pop up in MyChurchFinder’s directory. “Patriot Churches,” a network founded by Ken Peters with locations in Knoxville and Lenoir City, Tenn., and Spokane, Wash., all have A grades.

Peters’ mini empire began with the “Church at Planned Parenthood” in Spokane, which previously used members of the Proud Boys as security.

Another is the Ekklesia church in Pomona, Calif., whose pastor has deep ties to the Proud Boys and other far-right groups in Southern California. On Fire Ministries, in Spokane, run by former Washington state Rep. Matt Shea, is also in the directory.

In 2019, Washington legislative investigators concluded Shea had “participated in an act of domestic terrorism” when he “planned, engaged in, and promoted a total of three armed conflicts of political violence against the United States government” between 2014 and 2016—including armed standoffs in Nevada and Oregon that involved members of the Bundy family and an armed conflict with the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department in Priest River, Idaho.

On Fire Ministries came under scrutiny in 2022 when it turned out two members of white nationalist group Patriot Front were affiliated with the church. A pastor from On Fire Ministries later denounced Patriot Front as “racist.”

While the MyChurchFinder list is by no means comprehensive (notable absences include Sean Feucht’s congregation, Let Us Worship), the 270 churches that are rated offer some insight into geographical hot spots for Christian nationalist congregations.

Alaska, Maine and Vermont do not appear at all on the list, but some other states appear to be overrepresented. An extensive report by the Public Religion Research Institute published earlier this year found sympathy for Christian nationalism was most prevalent in conservative rural states.

But MyChurchFinder lists 40 churches in California, the most of any state, despite PRRI finding just 22 percent of Californians sympathize with or adhere to Christian nationalism.

PRRI also found support for Christian nationalism was “strongly correlated” with voting for Donald Trump in 2020. But of the more than 200 A-rated churches where county-level election data was available, 60 percent were in counties that went red for Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

More than a third were in counties that voted for Biden. And of the at least 133 churches located in pro-Trump counties, a third were adjacent to a blue county.

This story was reported with support from the Stiefel Freethought Foundation.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—When The New York Times reported an Appeal to Heaven flag had been sighted last summer at a house owned by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, it wasn’t the first time the symbol had been linked to Christian judges and lawmakers.

The flag, which has ties to Christian nationalism and was repeatedly spotted among rioters at the Jan. 6 insurrection, was promoted by Sarah Palin in a 2015 Breitbart opinion column. It was flown over the Arkansas Statehouse in 2015, thanks to former Arkansas state Sen. Jason Rapert. It also has been displayed outside U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson’s congressional office.

The flag dates back to the Revolutionary War, but according to Matthew Taylor, a senior scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies, the flag took on new meaning when it was embraced in 2013 by members of the New Apostolic Reformation, a movement led by self-titled modern-day apostles and prophets. A New Apostolic Reformation leader gave the flag to Palin.

“It became this very coded symbol for this spiritual warfare campaign that’s about embracing this vision of a restoration of Christian America. Because this was soon after the Obergefell decision, the flag also became about opposing gay marriage and abortion,” Taylor told Religion News Service.

“The New Apostolic Reformation has proven, I would argue, over the last five to 10 years its incredible reach into the executive branch, into the legislative branch, and now we see also into the judicial branch,” Taylor said.

He noted Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Parker recently was found to be connected to the New Apostolic Reformation. Parker made headlines in February when he wrote a concurring opinion to an Alabama high court decision regarding in vitro fertilization that extensively quoted Scripture.

Creator of the award-winning audio series “Charismatic Revival Fury” and author of the forthcoming book The Violent Take It by Force, Taylor is an expert on both the New Apostolic Reformation movement and its flag of choice.

Taylor spoke to RNS about the Appeal to Heaven flag’s links to former President Donald Trump, Christian nationalism and the Jan. 6 insurrection. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What are the origins of the Appeal to Heaven flag?

It’s a Revolutionary War flag that has a long history of being a piece of Americana. The phrase “Appeal to Heaven” comes from a treatise by the philosopher John Locke.

He argues that when people appeal to unjust governments that don’t listen, they eventually make an appeal to heaven. In other words, we go to war, and we’ll let God sort it out.

George Washington commissioned this flag to fly over the Massachusetts Navy, and at least according to historical sources I’ve seen, he commissioned it in 1775.

When did the flag begin to take on new meaning?

In 2013, Dutch Sheets, a leader in the New Apostolic Reformation, was serving as the executive director of a charismatic, Pentecostal Bible college in Texas [Christ For the Nations Institute in Dallas] when he was presented with an Appeal to Heaven flag at a graduation ceremony.

When Sheets received the flag, he also believed he received a prophecy that this flag was meant to be a symbol of a campaign to restore America to the Christian nation God intended.

He set his sights on the 2016 election, and in 2015, he gave the flag to Sarah Palin, a longtime ally in NAR leadership networks. She wrote an op-ed arguing that government leaders need to start flying the flag over courthouses and statehouses.

Can you say more about the theology this flag came to represent?

Those in the New Apostolic Reformation believe that at the end of the 20th century, God was anointing new prophets and apostles to lead the church into global revival.

A seminary professor named Peter Wagner coined this term to describe these massive campaigns that are designed to transform nations through prayer and spiritual warfare. He believed apostles and prophets are generals of spiritual warfare.

Another leader, named Lance Wallnau, came into the network bringing this idea of the Seven Mountain Mandate.

You can divide society up into these seven spheres of authority: religion, family, government, education, media, arts and entertainment, commerce. And Christians need to conquer each of those seven arenas to let Christian influence flow down into society.

Over time, the seven mountains became a political theology, and the NAR became the vanguard of Christian Trumpism. Notably, Sheets was obsessed with the Supreme Court.

All NAR leaders know that if you want to find a lever to change American policy, it’s the Supreme Court. And these fringe characters that have glommed onto Trump, their ideas have become so popular, they have really brought about a tectonic shift in the culture and leadership of the religious right in America within the last decade.

At what point did the flag become linked to Trump?

When Donald Trump became the Republican candidate, people started attaching it to him. They even started a big NAR prayer movement in 2015 called the As One prayer movement, and the movement’s symbol was the Appeal to Heaven flag, the evergreen tree. This was an organized campaign.

Throughout the Trump presidency, the flag became a symbol for Trump, for Christian America, for this insurgent Christian nationalism. And by the time you got to 2020, you had hundreds of charismatic prophets all prophesying that Donald Trump was destined to win this election.

Dutch Sheets very much believed these prophecies and that the 2020 election was a matter of spiritual warfare.

In the fall of 2020, Donald Trump went to a Las Vegas megachurch led by an apostle who, as he was preaching, pulled out an Appeal to Heaven flag and said, “We’re going to appeal to heaven for your victory.”

Someone in the crowd shot a photo of the apostle onstage holding the Appeal to Heaven flag with Donald Trump’s head silhouetted in the foreground, and it went viral.

So, the Appeal to Heaven symbol is very closely linked to Trump and the 2020 campaign and what people believe about these prophecies.

Is that why you saw so many Appeal to Heaven flags displayed by rioters on Jan. 6?

When the election was called for Joe Biden and Trump refused to concede, almost all the prophets began saying God would have to intervene. Dutch Sheets converted his Give Him 15 prayer app into a YouTube show that became a clearinghouse for all the conversations about overturning the election, and Sheets was constantly infusing this Appeal to Heaven idea.

There was always an Appeal to Heaven flag in the background. Shortly after the election, Sheets met with people from the Trump administration who encouraged him to lead a prayer campaign in the swing states.

He mobilized about 20 apostles and prophets to go to the contested states and hold these very intense prayer and prophecy meetings in megachurches. This was all part of this building fever pitch toward Jan. 6.

In late December, Dutch and this team of prophets and apostles had a two-hour meeting at the White House with unnamed officials. Some of the members who were there later said they received strategy from the highest levels of the government, and issued prophetic declarations inside the White House. A number of NAR prophets and apostles, including one who was at the White House, were there on Jan. 6.

They had a stage set up with a microphone and PA system just off the southeast corner of the Capitol during the riot, and they were singing worship songs, prophesying and wearing Appeal to Heaven flags.

As the riot started, the NAR leaders became anxious and asked Sheets, who was elsewhere, to prophesy over the Capitol over speakerphone. I argue in my book that Dutch Sheets did more to mobilize Christians to be there on Jan. 6 than any other Christian leader.

It’s not a coincidence that you see Appeal to Heaven flags all over the place on Jan. 6. We know that at least one rioter wore an Appeal to Heaven flag inside the Capitol as a cape. When the FBI went to arrest him later, they found the Appeal to Heaven flag spattered with blood and mace.

We can see in one video as the crowds breach the barricades, somebody with an Appeal to Heaven flag using that flagpole to beat down a police officer.

What’s in store for the New Apostolic Reformation in 2024?

NAR folks are mobilizing for the 2024 election. All of those prophecies about Donald Trump having a second term are still out there. When we think about the role Donald Trump is playing in American politics, this quasi-messianic aura that’s attached to him, I don’t think you can understand that without understanding the NAR.

Donald Trump has become a type of savior to many American Christians, and they have attached immense spiritual hope to him. And they believe fervently that the last election was stolen from them by demons.

Donald Trump has these armies of Christians, prayer warriors, prophets who have backstopped his political career using charismatic theology, prophecies and spiritual warfare.

But what we saw on Jan. 6 was that at some point, spiritual warfare tips over into actual violence. And I am very concerned about the election we are barreling toward. Are these folks going to accept election results if Trump loses?

And if Trump wins, in their mind they have conquered. They have free rein to enact their vision of a Christian America.

HOUSTON—Texans on Mission responded to a tornado and high winds that hit Houston May 16.

The winds caused damage estimated to cover about 500 square miles, according to Texas Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster.

Texans on Mission, formerly known as Texas Baptist Men, sent disaster relief units to Houston, including assessors, a command center, shower/laundry, chainsaw, chaplains, mass feeding, box, security and electronic support. The teams are serving thousands of people daily in Houston and nearby communities.

The Houston disaster is the latest in a series of tragedies the organization has responded to this spring.

“We’ve been responding to a multiple-front set of challenges,” said Mickey Lenamon, chief executive officer. “In just the past two weeks, we’ve responded to flooding in North Houston and Conroe, flooding in Rising Star, and high winds and a tornado in San Marcos. Our volunteers have been faithful in responding across our state with help, hope and healing.”

Immediate response

Texans on Mission incident commander Jim Lawton said the organization’s response was “immediate.”

“Assessors began surveying damage and starting work orders in affected neighborhoods only two hours after” the Thursday evening storm blew through Northwest Houston and ranged southeast, killing at least four people, said Lawton, a member of First Baptist Church of Waxahachie.

“By Saturday, our local chainsaw team at Kingsland Baptist Church in Katy already was on the ground removing fallen trees from homes and cars,” he continued.

One of the first responders to the storm was Marcell Hunt, team lead for the Kingsland chainsaw and heavy equipment team and overall coordinator for all Texans on Mission teams at Kingsland Church.

“As soon as I got a phone call that there were trees down in the Spring Branch area, I immediately got in my car and started driving around to see what I could see,” Hunt said. “Then I spent all day Friday driving up and down streets and talking to homeowners that looked like they needed help and picking up work orders.

“We mobilized Saturday to do the first job, where there were two 100-foot-tall pine trees, probably 30 inches in diameter, across four cars.”

Hunt said the damage is broad across many area communities. His team worked Wednesday in West Houston, while the previous day they completed work orders in Montgomery.

‘Truly a blessing to all of us’

On Wednesday, his group removed trees and large limbs with chainsaws, a basket lift and a heavy skid steer from Herta Strobel’s home. Strobel, who’s lived in her house 57 years, said the storm was one of the most violent she’s seen.

“I have a barometer, and it was set on the lowest pressure we ever had, even when a hurricane came through, and I thought, ‘My goodness,’” Strobel said. “I was at evening supper eating a bowl of cereal—I eat real light for supper—and the winds … the trees were going in circles, not swaying.

“And then these three or four big pine branches came falling down. I was shaken—badly, badly shaken. It took me three days to calm down. It’s a horrible experience.”

When Texans on Mission assessors knocked on her door “and said they would do volunteer work, I couldn’t believe my ears,” she said. “But I think they have done a wonderful, wonderful service, God’s blessings, and I’m just so thankful that they are here to help us all.”

Further southeast, homeowner Bonnie Murdock watched Texans on Mission’s Deep East Texas chainsaw team remove a pine tree that crashed into the roof of her mother’s former home, which she rents to her nephews.

“My nephews said it was something like they’d never experienced before” as the nearly 40-inch-diameter tree fell over the home, she said.

“They said it sounded like a railroad. They just didn’t know what the severity was until after it was over, and they came out and looked. Thank God they made it outside.”

Looking over the team that spent two days removing the massive tree from the roof, Murdock reflected on the volunteers’ efforts

“Y’all are truly a blessing to all of us,” she said. “And everybody that I have met so far, they are so sweet and generous and courteous.”

Feeding thousands

At First Metropolitan Church of Houston, Texans on Mission volunteers were providing a very different response—mass feeding thousands of Houstonians affected by storm-related power outages.

Mass feeding team leader Gary Finley said his 28-member volunteer team “will have served 25,000 meals” by the end of Wednesday. “I don’t know how long we will be needed, but we will continue ministering here until the need is met.”

Finley, a member of Grace Bible Church in LaVernia, and his team are cooking under two large tents set up in First Metropolitan’s parking lot and bunking in a few of its education spaces.

Beginning each day at 4 a.m., members cook and pack meals into insulated tubs, or Cambros, which are then loaded onto Emergency Relief Vehicles operated by the American Red Cross and Salvation Army for distribution.

Bishop John Ogletree of First Metropolitan Church met with volunteers Monday morning, telling the team they were “doing phenomenal work for disaster relief. Bless you and thank you.”

Meals also were distributed by LifeBrook Church in Houston. Lead Pastor Zach Brackett and Discipleship Pastor Reid Felchak picked up meals in a church van each day to distribute in their community.

Brackett said the meals are “headed to the Lazybrook/Timbergrove community which … was one of the harder-hit areas around here.

“We just want to go out and express the love of Christ in a very tangible way” through the food, he added. “We get to serve our community and let them know that LifeBrook Church loves them.”

The church also has fielded teams for debris cleanup, he said, “and so this is another way for us to serve the community—to feed them.”

Brackett said many area residents remain without electricity. “There are trees everywhere—some on houses but a lot of trees and debris on power lines. It looked sort of like … a war zone. No power.”

The meal provision by Texans on Mission “means that we’re able to go focus on interacting and engaging with the people,” he said.

“You know, we don’t have the bandwidth to prepare this amount of food this quickly, but having Texans on Mission prepare that food for us, it allows us to go love and serve our community well and to care for them.”

‘Telling others about Jesus’

Jim Lawton reminded volunteers Monday at a team meeting that the chainsaw, heavy equipment and mass feeding efforts are “only side jobs for what we’re here to do: Telling others about Jesus.”

Volunteer chaplains were deployed with the teams, working with assessors to spread the gospel and offer comfort to stricken families. Chaplain Leslie Burch, a member of First Baptist Church of Orange, was able to tell the story of Christ and offer support to Mark Conover.

Conover, who lives with his mother, was released from prison in Huntsville a little more than three months ago. It’s the latest in a string of incarcerations for the 53-year-old, who said he’s been in trouble with the law since he was 12.

The mother and son had multiple trees down in their yard, including one that fell over their garage.

Conover said when he saw Burch and assessor Darrell Siems approach the house, he was wary and wouldn’t come out to meet them initially.

“At first, I thought they were the tree company that we called yesterday, but (my neighbor) called me and said, ‘Hey, I’m outside (with the Texans on Mission team),’ and that got me to go outside.

“I was like, ‘What are these people doing here, man?’ I thought, sure, we need help, but these people ain’t going to help us.”

But when the pair told him their mission of removing the debris in their yard for free, “I couldn’t believe it,” he said.

“I thought Leslie was a very cool person. She helped me to slow down and look at things in a positive way,” he said, adding that he had been struggling recently with his past.

“You know what she said to me?” he asked. “She said, ‘That’s not your identity to God. You have got to re-identify yourself and learn what God thinks about you.

“Because, he thinks about you. He thinks about all of us every single day,” Conover said, recalling Burch’s words of encouragement.

(RNS)—Since the mid-2000s, the fastest-growing religious group in America has been the so-called nones.

The percentage of Americans who claim no religious affiliation nearly doubled from 2007 (16 percent) to 2022 (31 percent), becoming a force in American culture and one of the largest segments of the religious landscape, according to Pew Research.

But all things pass. And the skyrocketing growth of the nones may be fading.

“They are not growing as fast as they used to,” said Ryan Burge, associate professor of political science at Southern Illinois University and author of The Nones: Where They Came From, Who They Are, and Where They Are Going.

Burge, known for his popular graphs depicting religion trends, told Religion News Service in an interview that the growth of the nones appears to be waning. He pointed to data from Pew, the General Social Survey and the Cooperative Election Study, all of which appear to show a slowdown in the percentage of Americans who claim no religion.

Pew’s most recent published data found that 28 percent of Americans did not identify with a religion in 2023, a slight dip from the previous year.

The CES data, the latest of which was released in May, showed that from 2020 to 2023, the percentage of nones was relatively stable. In 2020, the CES found that 34 percent of those surveyed were nones, while in 2021 and 2023, that percentage was 36 percent. (In 2022, 35 percent of those surveyed were nones.)

“From a pure statistical standpoint, I don’t know if we can say with any certainty whether there’s a larger share of nones in the United States today than there was in 2019,” Burge wrote in a recent edition of his Substack newsletter.

Burge compared the growth of the nones to the growth curve of popular products such as Peloton bikes or tech companies like Apple and Google. Those brands grew rapidly at first but could not keep up that rapid growth forever.

“They became mature businesses,” said Burge. “That’s what the nones are—they’re not going to grow at this unbelievable pace going forward.”

Burge also suspects that most of the Americans who were eager or ready to give up on identifying with a religion have already done so. Any future growth, he said, will likely come from generational replacement—as older, more religious Americans die off and younger, less religious Americans take their place.

Greg Smith, associate director of research at Pew Research Center, said it’s too early to tell what exactly is happening with the nones. There have been some signs in recent years the percentage of nones is stabilizing, he said, but that may be due to the normal fluctuations in survey responses from year to year.

In 2022, he said, the percentage of nones jumped to 31 percent, then dropped back down to 28 percent. He added that in 2016, the growth of the nones appeared to pause and then started to grow again.

“As we looked at the data, the conclusion we’ve come to, even it is kind of wishy-washy, is that it’s way too early to tell if the rise of the religious nones has come to an end,” he said.

Conrad Hackett, a senior demographer and associate director of research at Pew, said there are signs “something interesting” is happening with nones right now, but more data is needed.

Hackett said the conditions that fueled the rise of the nones are still in place. Younger Americans are less religious than older Americans, many Americans still switch their religious faith, and being nonreligious has become “stickier,” Hackett said.

So, people who are born without a religious identity are more likely to stay nonreligious. Nonreligious people in the United States also tend to be younger than religious people.

Hackett is the co-author of a 2022 Pew report that projected what religion in American could look like in the next 50 years. That report looked at birth and mortality rates as well as rates of switching religious identities and projected a long, slow growth in the nones for the foreseeable future. Researchers projected that by 2070, the nones would make up between 41 percent and 52 percent of Americans.

Christians, according to Pew’s projections, would make up just under half of Americans, with non-Christian religious people making up about 12 percent of the population.

Complicating matters is that Pew, like other organizations that survey religion in America, has moved to a probability-based online model for surveys—rather than mostly phone interviews.

The GSS, a well-respected and long-running survey, switched from in-person interviews to a hybrid phone and online model during COVID—making it harder to compare its most recent data with past versions.

The CES data has consistently found higher percentages of nones than the GSS and Pew. But Burge said all three sources appear to show that something has changed with the growth of the nones.

The slowing growth of the nones doesn’t mean a religious revival in the United States. Instead, Burge said, theUnited States likely will end up in the future with large numbers of religious people and nonreligious people, with neither group having a sizable majority.

That will pose challenges for democracy, he said, which relies on cooperation and compromise—difficult when many people are feeling unnerved by the changes in the country and where religious and nonreligious people have different ideas on how the country should be run.

And those conflicting ideas lead to polarization and at times, hostility. That hostility, if it continues to grow, “will be bad for democracy,” said Burge.

“We can’t function in a democracy where you have two very large groups who hate each other.”

James Covey to First Baptist Church in Helotes as pastor, June 1. Covey, a lieutenant colonel, will retire from 22 years of service as an army chaplain in June.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Two sociologists wrote a book in 2000 about the fraught efforts of white evangelicals to diversify their congregations to better address racial discrimination in the church.

Now, one of those authors, Michael Emerson, has teamed up with another sociologist, Glenn Bracey, for an update. And their conclusions are grim.

The Religion of Whiteness: How Racism Distorts Christian Faith suggests as many as two-thirds of white Christians in the U.S. have elevated whiteness to a religion itself, one that rivals Christianity.

It’s a controversial claim but one the authors support through interviews with Christian church leaders, many of them Black, about the state of race in the church, as well as national surveys they conducted over the past few years.

Emerson and Bracey depict a Christianity that effectively worships the white race with a white Jesus at its center and a set of sacred symbols, including the flag (both the U.S. flag and sometimes the Confederate flag), the cross and, increasingly, guns.

Though their churches may be slightly more racially diverse, this religion of whiteness strives to maintain whites at the top of the racial hierarchy as part of God’s ordained order.

Religion News Service spoke to Emerson, a fellow in religion and public policy at Rice University, and Bracey, an assistant professor of sociology at Villanova University, about their bold conclusions. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You’re not using the word “religion” metaphorically in this book. You’re actually saying there is a religion of whiteness. Explain how you mean it.

Emerson: This is hard for people to understand, but we’re saying we cannot make progress in our country on race until we understand the depth of what it all means.

It is wrapped literally in a religion that has all the markers of the way we define religion. It’s a unified system of beliefs and practices that worships or sacralizes, not some God in this sense, but whiteness. Whiteness is the god. It declares that everything else that isn’t supporting whiteness is profane; it’s wrong; it needs to be shunned.

Bracey: And when we say whiteness, we’re talking about the dominance that white people enjoy over people of color. So, it’s not as though someone is saying, “I attend the Church of Whiteness.” It’s that they find themselves caught up in the worship of the dominance that white people enjoy.

As you say, this religion doesn’t call itself a Church of Whiteness. Why not?

Emerson: There’s a couple of rhetorical moves that are made so you never have to actually name it. One of them is that Jesus is white, and Jesus by definition is supposed to be for everybody.

So, Jesus is universal. So, as long as Jesus is white and Jesus is universal, then whiteness is universal. And once you do that, you no longer have to name it, because that is truth. Anything else, is an argument against truth.

You also point out that churches across the country are becoming more diverse. You mention that 20 percent of Christian churches are racially diverse, up from 6 percent in 2000. Doesn’t that argue against a religion of whiteness?

Bracey: So, that’s a very good question. It’s important to note that 80 percent of the churches are still homogeneous. The difficulty is, the whiteness of the church can remain, even when the church is not entirely white.

White evangelical churches in particular have race tests to either exclude people of color or make sure that people of color will support whiteness in the way that the church wants it supported.

So, those tests, I call utility-based tests, to tolerate and support these performances of white dominance. Those race tests are working. They’re doing a good job of filtering out people who would disturb the worship of whiteness in those churches.

Describe how these tests work.

Bracey: I went to seven churches across four different states, all majority white and evangelical. In one church, I was asked on my first visit to go up on stage and sing, even though I have no history of singing in churches.

In another church, I was asked if I wanted to adopt a biracial baby, because this child had a biracial family and the father who was white had left, and they were looking for someone to step in and be a father.

Other times, there were exclusionary tests and the exclusionary tests are really obvious and painful. I went to a Bible study, segregated by sex. So, I was in the men’s group, the men’s group was about eight people including six white men and a Latino man and me. It was his first time as well. They introduced themselves by saying what their names were and what their favorite gun was, and how recently they had shot it. So, they established a gun culture, dominance and a sense of threat.

And at one point, the host of the Bible study stands up and says: “I don’t know what the name of my favorite gun is. I just know when I shoot it, it goes chink, chink, chink. So, I call it my China gun.”

So, without saying anything overtly, there was a performance that let you know the space was dangerous for people of color. It was racially stereotypical and hostile. If you were going to stay, you had to be willing to put up with the kinds of behaviors that established this space as a very white dominant space.

You also did some surveys to better define the belief systems of churches that practice the religion of whiteness. How did you get at whiteness in those surveys?

Bracey: We have a set of survey questions that ask people, do you think the Bible should be followed under all circumstances? The people who say “always” are the only people that we then ask follow-up questions.

The Bible says not to speak unwholesome words. And so, it’s wrong to curse. The majority say you should not curse. But then when we ask things that are racially inflected—how to treat immigrants, how to treat racial minorities within the church—then they abandon their Christian commitment to the Bible and show a commitment to something else. And that something else is whiteness.

Some Blacks have embraced this religion of whiteness. How do you understand that?

Bracey: A lot of people get involved with the religion of whiteness, not because they’re attracted to whiteness, but because they’re attracted to the authentic or the real. Because whiteness is considered real, they come to think that real Christianity is what white folks say it is.

People are attached to dominant things. There’s a lot of psychological benefit, in addition to monetary benefit, from being a person of color in the religion of whiteness. People are constantly telling you you’ve done the right thing, you’ve broken from what they would say is the Democratic plantation, you are serious about faith, you put God before race. Frankly, that is enough to sustain a lot of people.

How is there a monetary benefit?

Bracey: I’ll give you an example. (Earlier in my life) a pastor took me to meet one of the Republican members, a Black Republican in our county and recruited me to run for office. And he said plainly, if you want to be a Black Democrat, there’s a million of those. But if you want to be a Black Republican, we’ll give you a lot of money and attention and air time. So, there was a material offer put there.

How did you two scholars find each other?

Emerson: My earlier book, Divided by Faith, focused on white evangelicals. At that time, evangelicals were considered to be making a big change, bringing race into the conversation, advocating racial reconciliation.

In the book, I show there are particular ways of understanding the religion that actually makes matters worse. I argue these churches have three main religious cultural tools that they use: individualism, personal relationships and an antistructuralism that does not allow them to understand issues of race and racial inequality and what the solutions would be.

When we met, Glenn asked me, “Did you ever wonder if maybe it isn’t by chance that white evangelicals have these three cultural tools that just happened to not allow them to see what race really is?” I thought, “OK, I’ve got to work with this man.”

What’s been the response to your findings?

Emerson: I get two extreme reactions. I literally can hear crying in the audience, usually people of color, sometimes clapping, cheering and then some really serious questions: What is my motive? Am I a Christian? What has happened to me? These are coming mostly from white folks really who are very, very angry.

Bracey: If I am attending a church that’s practicing the religion of whiteness, they’ll obfuscate in the way that Michael described. There’s a “not me” syndrome happening. I would just invite people to think a little longer and see where their attachment to white Jesus is. How strong is it? Where would they find themselves in the book?

Howard Payne University recently received $25,000 in scholarship funds from TexasBank through the James and Dorothy Doss Foundation. The contribution was provided as a part of the Doss Foundation, TexasBank Scholars—Heart of Texas Scholarship Fund, established to help area students attend HPU. This year’s scholarship recipients are Bailee Bachtel, Addie Carroll, Chase Churchwell, Zachary Ellis, Brady Furry, Austin Gray, Zachary Hallman, Travis Holleman and Jaxon Hermesmeyer. To be considered for this scholarship, students must have graduated from a high school in one of the following counties: Brown, Callahan, Coleman, Comanche, Eastland, McCulloch, Mills or San Saba. Students should be juniors or seniors pursuing a degree in HPU’s School of Business and specializing in finance or accounting. More details on criteria are available from HPU’s Office of Financial Aid. Admission applications are still being accepted for the fall 2024 semester at Howard Payne University.

Cicely S. Jefferson has been named dean of the College of Business at Dallas Baptist University. Prior to serving at DBU as assistant dean of the College of Business and assistant professor in business law, Jefferson was an attorney for the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration for more than 15 years. Jefferson litigated employment law cases before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Merit Systems Protection Board and Federal Court. As an assistant regional counsel for the Social Security Administration, she litigated social security disability and employment law cases and successfully argued cases before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Jefferson also handled Title IX cases as an investigator, representative and deputy Title IX coordinator. Jefferson earned a Master of Business Administration degree and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Texas Tech University. She then completed her doctoral degree in Philosophy of Leadership Studies at DBU. She was ordained to the ministry by Concord Church, serving full-time on staff as connections pastor for seven years, and regularly serves as a resource to others by mentoring student-athletes and young women, providing pro bono legal services to those in need and volunteering in her church.

Houston Christian University has named Mark D. Gaus as the 2023-2024 Opal Goolsby Outstanding Professor of the Year. Gaus is a professor of kinesiology in the Linda Dunham School of Nursing and chair for the department of kinesiology at HCU. Named in honor of Opal Goolsby, a faculty member who taught English and French at Houston Baptist College, the award recognizes the best teaching on the HCU campus. Goolsby was a member of the college’s original faculty in 1963. A selection committee with representatives from the Student Government Association, the faculty professional development committee and the provost’s office examined the record of accomplishment for each nominee and selected the faculty member who best represented the ideals of outstanding teaching.

Four Howard Payne University students were selected as Sumners Scholars by the Sumners Foundation: Madeline Duncan, Kellen McKee, Addison Roden and Adrielle Sloan. Sumners Scholars receive a $7,500-per-semester scholarship from the Sumners Foundation for tuition, fees, books or room and board, alongside unique opportunities to hear from congressional and civic leaders at various events and seminars. Duncan, of Abilene, is majoring in psychology. McKee is from Azle and majors in biomedical science. Roden, a Magnolia native, is majoring in finance. Sloan, from Blue Ridge, majors in strategic communication. All four students are in the Guy D. Newman Honors Academy. Each year, the Sumners Foundation selects students who best represent the foundation’s mission and legacy to participate in the program. The foundation’s purpose is to “encourage the study, teaching, and research into the science and art of self-government, to the end that the American people may understand the fundamental principles of democracy and be guided thereby in shaping governmental policies.” For more information about the Sumners Foundation, visit www.sumnersfoundation.org.

Ninety-eight Wayland Baptist University students participated in commencement ceremonies May 18 on the university’s Plainview campus. Cindy McClenagan, vice president for academic affairs, presented the candidates for degrees to President Bobby Hall, who conferred degrees, assisted by Mark Jones, chair of Wayland’s board of trustees. Luke J. Brockway, a graduating senior from Kilgore, gave the student address, and Dylan Lee Jerden, a graduating senior from New Deal, read Philippians 1:6. Paten Czarina Denton, a graduating senior from Conway, Ark., led prayer, and Aubrey Jaramillo, a graduating senior from Clarendon, gave the benediction. Seven students received doctoral degrees, 17 students received master’s degrees and 74 students received bachelor’s degrees. There were 66 candidates for graduation from Texas, including 12 from Plainview.

Howard Payne University recently celebrated its most recent graduates with commencement ceremonies on May 11. HPU President Cory Hines and other university representatives conferred the degrees. An honorary Doctor of Divinity degree was presented to Ray Still, senior pastor at Oakwood Baptist Church in New Braunfels and former HPU trustee. Draco A. Miller, who serves on the Brownwood City Council, presented the charge to the graduates. Commencement was preceded on May 10 by the Chime Out ceremony, an HPU tradition in which graduating seniors pass a chain of ivy to underclassmen, symbolizing the passing of authority, responsibility and privileges to those students who remain on campus to carry on the traditions of the university.

Jessalyn Brown was awarded one of four Addie Davis Scholarships by Baptist Women in Ministry. Brown is a preacher and poet from Lexington, Ky. She is a graduate of Georgetown College where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in American Studies and Theatre & Film Studies. She is heading into her final year at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary, where she is pursuing a Master of Divinity degree. She also serves as a resident chaplain for undergraduate students in Heritage House, a fine arts residential community at Baylor. Learn more about the scholarship here.

During their recent graduation ceremony, Scott Jones, pastor of First Baptist Church Rockport and Baptist Standard board member, was honored as Faculty of the Year by Stark College & Seminary for his role as both pastor and Stark adjunct faculty member.

Anniversary

Cory Hines, president of Howard Payne University, was recently recognized for five years of service.

Ordination

Isaiah Baba to the gospel ministry by Emmanuel Baptist Church in Waco on May 12. Pastor Marcelo Oliveira and Emmanuel Baptist Church held an ordination council for Baba, a new Truett Theological Seminary graduate. Baba originally is from Ghana. Through Zoom, his father, Pastor Elijah Baba, was able to participate from Ghana in the ordination process for his son.

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WASHINGTON (RNS)—A former Southern Baptist seminary professor and interim provost has been indicted on a charge of obstructing justice in a sexual misconduct case, the Department of Justice announced May 21.

Matt Queen, who was previously an administrator and professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, allegedly gave the FBI falsified notes during an ongoing investigation into alleged sexual misconduct at the Fort Worth seminary. He was arraigned Tuesday, according to the DOJ.

“As alleged, Matthew Queen attempted to interfere with a federal grand jury investigation by creating false notes in an attempt to corroborate his own lies,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams of the Southern District of New York in a statement.

“The criminal obstruction charge announced today should exemplify the seriousness of attempts by any individual to manipulate or interfere with a federal investigation.”

Queen, who was named pastor of Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C., earlier this year, could not be reached for comment.

DOJ probe of SBC acknowledged

The indictment is the first official acknowledgment by the DOJ of an investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention and its entities. Southern Baptist leaders announced in 2022 that they had been subpoenaed by the Department of Justice and promised to cooperate.

News of the DOJ investigation followed the release of a report from Guidepost Solutions showing SBC leaders had mistreated abuse survivors for years, denied responsibility for the actions of local churches and downplayed the number of sexual abuse cases in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

Earlier this year, the SBC’s Executive Committee announced the DOJ’s investigation into the committee was ended, leading to confusion. The Executive Committee later issued a statement saying the DOJ’s investigation into the SBC and its entities remained open.

In a statement Tuesday, the DOJ gave more details about the investigation.

“Since approximately 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (‘U.S. Attorney’s Office’) and the FBI have been investigating allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct related to a national religious denomination (the ‘Denomination’) and its affiliated entities, and the alleged cover-up of such allegations by individuals and entities associated with the Denomination,” according to a statement.

As part of that investigation, Southwestern was required to give any documents about abuse to the FBI. However, according to the DOJ, a seminary official received a report of alleged sexual abuse by a student in the fall of 2022. That alleged abuse was reported to the school’s campus police, though not to the FBI, but no other action was taken.

A Southwestern staffer, referred to as “Employee-1” by the DOJ, later was told by a Southwestern leader (Employee-2) to destroy a document about the incident and the seminary’s inaction, according to the DOJ.

Queen was allegedly in the room with Employee-1 when this happened, but allegedly told the FBI in an interview that he had not heard Employee-2 say to destroy the report.

Accused of falsifying records

He subsequently produced a set of fake notes from the meeting, the DOJ alleges, which he presented to the FBI in June 2023—but he gave conflicting stories about when the notes were written, later admitting the notes were fake.

“On June 21, 2023, Matthew Queen testified under oath that he had in fact heard Employee-2 direct Employee-1 to make the Document ‘go away,’” according to the DOJ.

The 49-year-old Queen could face up to 20 years in prison after being charged with one count of falsification of records.

“Matthew Queen, an interim provost, allegedly failed to inform the FBI of a conspiracy to destroy evidence related to the ongoing investigation of sexual misconduct and instead produced falsified notes to investigators. Queen’s alleged actions deliberately violated a court order and delayed justice for the sexual abuse victims,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Smith.

 “The FBI will never tolerate those who intentionally lie and mislead our investigation in an attempt to conceal their malicious behavior.”

‘Antithetical’ to seminary’s values

Southwestern said the student involved in the alleged abuse was suspended and later withdrew from the school. The seminary also stated it reported the matter to the DOJ as it was required to do.

The school said the alleged actions described in the indictment were “antithetical to the values of the seminary.”

“After the seminary learned of Queen’s actions in June 2023, he was immediately placed on administrative leave and resigned as interim provost,” the school stated. “All employees alleged to have acted improperly in this matter are no longer employed by the seminary.”

Southwestern, once one of the nation’s largest seminaries, has fallen on hard times in recent years. Last year a report from the school’s leaders detailed years of financial mismanagement, including overspending its budget by $140 million over 20 years. The school’s former president, who left in the fall of 2022, is suing the school for defamation.

The school also settled a lawsuit in 2023 with a victim of Paul Pressler, a leader of the “conservative resurgence” in the SBC, and in 2021, sued to regain control of a Texas foundation that had been taken over by former staffers, who allegedly tried to divert money away from the seminary.

With an eye toward potential fallout from the Southern Baptist Convention 2024 annual meeting, the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board affirmed the creation of a study group concerning out-of-state churches that want to affiliate with Texas Baptists’ GC2 network.

The Executive Board approved by 87 percent the recommendation regarding GC2 from its senior staff leaders and Executive Committee.

The board convened May 20-21 in a hybrid-format meeting—held both online and in-person, originating from the campus of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton.

The Executive Board affirmed the creation of “an Executive Director’s GC2 Study Group including a new staff position to assist in exploring the issues involved in giving further structure to this ministry.”

“We need to be ready to welcome churches who want to be a part of what God is doing through Texas Baptists,” Executive Director Julio Guarneri said.

Guarneri emphasized the goal is not to compete with the Southern Baptist Convention or create another national convention or missionary-sending agency.

Rather, the GC2 network seeks to “complement” what the SBC is doing, to affirm “displaced churches” and to “walk alongside” women in ministry who “feel vulnerable and hurt,” he said.

‘Provide clarity’ in anticipation of SBC action

The BGCT needs to be able to “provide clarity” about how and if GC2 churches are represented in decision-making, how they are served by Texas Baptists’ staff, and whether their students qualify for ministerial financial assistance at BGCT-affiliated schools, Guarneri said.

Messengers to the 2024 SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis next month will vote on final passage of the Law Amendment, which essentially would declare churches with women serving as a pastor in any role to be outside the bounds of friendly cooperation with the national convention.

The GC2 network predated by several years any discussion about the SBC constitutional amendment. Former Executive Director David Hardage, who retired in December 2022, launched the GC2 initiative, focused on the Great Commission and the Great Commandment.

In part, GC2 provided an avenue for churches beyond Texas to partner in Texas Baptists’ efforts to “share Christ” and “show love.”

To date, about 70 churches outside the state affiliate with the BGCT—some identifying as Texas Baptists and many identifying as GC2 congregations.

Guarneri reported inquiries regarding GC2 have “increased significantly” in recent months, prompting the need for greater clarity about the purpose and organizational structure of the GC2 network.

Group already exploring strategic vision

He asked the board to “bless” a task force that already has been at work to explore and articulate a strategic vision for Texas Baptists.

Currently, convention officers and pastors working with the group are BGCT President Ronny Marriott of Burleson, BGCT First Vice President Debbie Potter of San Antonio, Executive Board Chair Bobby Contreras of San Antonio, African American Fellowship President Henry Batson III of Faith Fellowship in Red Oak, Darin Wood of First Baptist Church in Midland, Jeff Warren of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas and Joe Barber of St. Luke Baptist Church in San Antonio.

BGCT staff serving with the group are Craig Christina, associate executive director; Ward Hayes, treasurer and chief financial officer; Joshua Minatrea, director of communications; Katie Frugé, director of the Center for Cultural Engagement and the Christian Life Commission; David Miranda, director of the Ministers Development and Missional Network; and Guarneri.

A related advisory team includes Sergio Ramos, president of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas; Steve Bezner, pastor of Houston Northwest Church; and Michael Evans, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Mansfield, along with a possible representative from BGCT intercultural ministries.

Texas Baptists need to be able to present a “clear, comprehensive and compelling” vision consistent with Jesus’ agenda as presented in the Gospels, Guarneri said in his report to the board.

“We want every Texas Baptist church, every institution that relates to us, every partner that we work with, and everyone who is considering whether they want to be part of what we’re doing to have a clear sense of who we are and what we are about,” he said.

Texas Baptists have “spent too much energy and effort” focusing on churches that have chosen to cut their ties to the BGCT, he asserted.

“I think it’s time for us to get our eyes on Jesus and his mission and then let people who want to be part of that join us,” Guarneri said.

‘We are centrists’

In a changing culture, a shifting denominational landscape and a period of rapid technological advancement, Texas Baptists remain steady in their commitment to Scripture, submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ, faithfulness to historic roots, a focus on the Great Commission and willingness to stand on biblical ethics, he said.

When some groups gravitate toward extremes, Texas Baptists have maintained true to historic Christian beliefs and practice, he noted.

“We are orthodox. The basic doctrines of the Christian faith are the ones we hold to,” Guarneri said. “We are centrists.”

Texas Baptists value local church autonomy and voluntary cooperation, he added.

“That means for us that statements of faith are supposed to be expressions of what we hold in common and not creedal statements that are imposed on the churches or on any convention or association,” Guarneri said.

“Doctrine is important. To agree on the basics is important. But our purpose is not doctrinal uniformity. It is to obey God’s mission in the world today.”

Guarneri noted churches increasingly are forming networks to accomplish God’s mission.

“We can sit and watch that from a distance, or we can join in and lead,” he said.

NAMB already cutting church starting funds to BGCT

Guarneri also frankly acknowledged if the Law Amendment passes at the SBC annual meeting, churches with women on staff who carry the title “pastor” will face decisions to “either change their titles, change their positions or change their affiliation.”

He also reported the North American Mission Board no longer will fund any church starts in Texas that are uniquely aligned with the BGCT, because the state convention has not officially adopted the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.

Guarneri pointed out the discontinued funding will occur even though BGCT-affiliated churches last year contributed $3.3 million to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions and $2.2 million to NAMB through the Cooperative Program.

Texas Baptists “stand fast” in support of local church autonomy, specifically regarding the role of women in ministry, Guarneri said.

The BGCT includes churches that hold to a complementarian position that reserves the role of pastor to men alone, while other churches hold a fully egalitarian belief that both men and women can serve in any ministerial role, he noted.

“Local church autonomy in this matter means complementarian churches do not impose their view on other churches. It also means egalitarian churches do not impose their view on other churches,” he said.

“It implies that we respect each other and that we work together. We don’t believe that the topic of women in ministry is a matter of scriptural authority. We believe it is a matter of scriptural interpretation.”

Guarneri took issue with those who criticize the BGCT as “tolerating error” out of a desire to remain neutral.

“We are not neutral. We are pro-church,” he said.

In other business, the Executive Board:

• Authorized the creation of networking events for women in ministry, along with mentoring opportunities, leadership training and resource development. See the related article here.
• Heard an update from Texas Baptists’ sexual abuse response task force, including a report that the group was expanded to include members with counseling and legal expertise.
• Learned the Theological Educational Council and Institutional Relations Committee endorsed multiple ministry-related graduate degree programs at East Texas Baptist University and B.H. Carroll Theological Seminary, contingent upon the merger of the two institutions. See the related story here.
• Elected Lanette Jones from Schwab City Baptist Church in Livingston, and Jose Carreno from Northside Baptist Church in Baytown to fill vacancies on the Executive Board.
• Revised a policy regarding a retirement gift from the BGCT, eliminating the gift to employees who leave Texas Baptists to take immediate full-time employment with another organization.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The vote total in the second paragraph was edited May 24 based on additional information from BGCT CFO Ward Hayes. The 76 percent affirmative vote originally reported included only those who voted via Zoom and not those who registered their votes in person.

The Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board voted in favor of Executive Committee recommendations on women in ministry in Texas. The measure was approved by three-fourths (75 percent) of the board.

Executive Board Chair Bobby Contreras presented three recommendations to the board May 20:

• Texas Baptists host a networking event for women in ministry at Texas Baptists’ annual meeting beginning in 2024 and host regional networking events across Texas, beginning in 2025.
• Executive leadership identify and resource a new or current BGCT staff member to expand, develop and implement mentoring and leadership training opportunities for women in ministry in Texas Baptist churches and institutions.
• Executive leadership resource a BGCT staff member to explore all current opportunities available for women in ministry and leadership in Texas Baptist churches and institutions to catalog resources and provide suggestions on ways to streamline and expand programs without duplicating.

Ward Hayes, BGCT treasurer and chief financial officer, spoke to a question on funding these recommendations. For the remainder of this year, there is room in the budget for the recommendations, and building the 2025 budget currently is in progress, he said.

The plan is to have a current staff person take on this exploratory work, though that person has not yet been pinpointed.

In response to a question about whether cooperative giving resources will be used to act on a matter that is an issue of local church autonomy, Hayes responded, “We don’t believe these recommendations violate local church autonomy at all.”

Cooperative Program dollars will be used in this exploration, he explained, but “it is, we think, in meeting all the needs of our churches as we do this.”

A posture of listening

In response to a motion from last year’s Texas Baptists’ Family Gathering in McAllen, the Executive Board has “taken a posture of listening” over the past several months, hosting listening sessions to help grasp the current experience of women serving in Texas Baptist life, said Katie Frugé, director of the Center for Cultural Engagement and the Christian Life Commission.

With the goal of “capturing with clarity the voice of women in ministry in Texas,” these sessions were led by Frugé, who reported her impressions to the board.

The sessions included BGCT staff women, women serving in BGCT-affiliated institutions, women serving on staff in Texas Baptist churches, and women serving in volunteer positions that strengthen their local church and convention.

The listening sessions found some common themes.

“Every single woman in attendance expressed a desire to be a positive influence that celebrates and uplifts one another,” Frugé said.

Participants shared candidly about weariness in serving in ministry, across areas of service. Many women in ministry in Texas are weary and feel invisible. Serving in ministry can be spiritually, emotionally and physically exhausting, which does create a unique weariness, Frugé said.

“Bearing one another’s burdens is difficult, if we do not see each other’s load,” one participant in a listening session said.

Relational and educational resources needed

The listening sessions showcased a need for relational and educational resources.

“Relationally, we heard a deep desire for mentoring of women in ministry in Texas. There is a yawning gap in the lack of professional mentors for women serving in various ways to build the kingdom of God,” Frugé said.

While some churches offer mentoring, the demand continues to outpace the supply. Women are hungry for biblically grounded and accomplished mentors in their unique professional spheres, she continued.

Session participants expressed a desire to build ministry relationships with other women serving across the Texas Baptist landscape. Frugé suggested expanding network capacity and relationship building is the antidote for some of the weariness participants expressed.

Participants desired networking opportunities, while expressing the difficulties of building such networks given the day-to-day grind of the never-ending daily demands of ministry.

Other fields provide ongoing professional development, but “we need more training and professional development available for women after seminary or college graduation in their field,” Frugé said.

Some educational opportunities for women who are professional ministers exist currently, but it may be necessary to streamline and refocus to make them more accessible to the most people, she continued.

They want to be ‘seen’

“Women we heard from faithfully served their local church and ministry assignment with dignity and integrity. They are often the first to arrive and the last to leave. They volunteer, they do the work, and they have no agenda beyond serving the kingdom of heaven.” Frugé said.

Women emphatically did not want a focused campaign highlighting only women. Instead, they communicated a desire to be seen in the natural and diverse makeup in the fabric of the convention.

Frugé urged continued action on addressing the needs of Texas Baptist women in ministry, “as we work to fulfill our convention constitutional objective—to awaken and stimulate among the churches the greatest possible activity in evangelism, missions, Christian education and benevolent work and enterprises to cultivate a closer cooperation among the churches and promote harmony of feeling and concert of action in advancing all the interests of the Redeemer’s kingdom.”

At the 2023 Family Gathering, Meredith Stone, executive director of Baptist Women in Ministry and messenger from Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, presented a motion: “I move that the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board be instructed to have staff create programs, resources, and initiatives to assist churches in affirming, appointing, and employing women in ministerial and pastoral roles.”

Dustin Slaton, pastor of First Baptist Church in Round Rock, brought an amendment to Stone’s motion: “I move that we request the BGCT Executive Board to resource BGCT staff to continue developing more strategies, resources, and advocacy initiatives to assist churches in affirming, appointing, and employing women in ministerial and leadership roles.

Messengers at the 2023 Family Gathering passed the amended motion.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The vote total in the first paragraph was edited May 24 based on additional information from BGCT CFO Ward Hayes. The 70 percent affirmative vote originally reported included only those who voted via Zoom and not those who registered their votes in person.

Texas Baptists’ Theological Education Council and Institutional Relations Committee endorsed nine master’s degree programs, a doctor of ministry degree and three Ph.D. degree programs that will be offered by B.H. Carroll Theological Seminary at East Texas Baptist University.

Contingent on a merger between the seminary and ETBU being approved by accrediting agencies in June and by the boards of the two institutions in July, students pursuing the degrees will qualify for ministerial financial assistance through the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Pending final approval of the merger, B.H. Carroll students will be eligible to receive the grants if they are pursuing the Master of Divinity degree, any of eight ministry-related Master of Arts degrees, the Doctor of Ministry degree or the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Scripture and witness, in faith and heritage, or in ministry and formation.

The BGCT Executive Board learned about the May 20 action by the Theological Education Council and Institutional Relations Committee during its hybrid-format meeting, conducted online and in-person on the campus of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

‘Educating the next generation of Christian servant leaders’

ETBU President J. Blair Blackburn expressed appreciation for the “dedication and support” of the Theological Education Council and the Institutional Relations Committee.

“The BGCT’s approval, enabling B.H. Carroll ministry students to receive support from the Texas Baptists’ Ministerial Financial Assistance program, is crucial for supporting graduate theological education students,” Blackburn said.

“We are committed to educating the next generation of Christian servant leaders, men and women trained and equipped for the transformational ministry they have been divinely called to serve and lead.”

Gene Wilkes, president of B.H. Carroll Theological Seminary, similarly expressed his gratitude.

“Our students have not had access to financial aid like this before. This, another gracious gift from the Lord, will expand the reach of B.H. Carroll as it seeks to fulfill its mission for Christ and his church,” Wilkes said.

He also expressed appreciation to Blackburn, ETBU Provost Tommy Sanders and Dean Sandy Hoover of the ETBU School of Christian Studies and Humanities “for their help in the merger process and this opportunity to help our students.”

The Theological Education Council and the Institutional Relations Committee also endorsed the Master of Arts in chaplaincy and pastoral care degree program at Dallas Baptist University, and they reaffirmed the Master of Ministry degree program at Stark College and Seminary.

Stephen Stookey, director of theological education for Texas Baptists, reported 937 students—506 pursuing undergraduate degrees, 369 pursuing master’s degrees and 62 seeking doctoral degrees—received $1.48 million in ministerial financial assistance during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Currently, B.H. Carroll Theological Seminary has 124 students enrolled in degree programs, including 37 seeking doctoral degrees, Stookey noted.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Once taboo in the corporate world, religion is gaining traction in Fortune 500 diversity efforts, according to a new report from the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation.

More than 85 percent of Fortune 500 companies (429 companies total) now include religion in their commitment to diversity, more than twice the number that did in 2022, according to the 2024 Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Index and Monitor.

And 62 Fortune 500 companies (12.4 percent) now showcase faith-based employee business resource groups, up from 7.4 percent in 2022.

These numbers represent a “tipping point,” said Religious Freedom and Business Foundation President Brian Grim, in the number of companies embracing religion as a core component of diversity.

This year, he added, companies especially were attentive to how people of faith responded to global news, including the Israel-Hamas war.

“That has meant paying a little bit more attention than they did in the past to faith identities,” he said. “A number of companies have reached out and relied on their faith employee resource groups to help in the navigation of these types of issues.”

The organization released its 2024 benchmark assessment of corporate America’s religious diversity efforts May 20. This year, Accenture and American Airlines tied as the most faith-friendly Fortune 500 companies, both earning perfect scores on the index, which assessed more than 30 faith-friendly companies via an opt-in survey.

The survey evaluated companies in 11 categories, including their religious accommodations, spiritual care/chaplaincy services and procedures for reporting discrimination. Equinix, Dell Technologies, Intel Corporation, Salesforce and Tyson Foods all followed close behind the top scorers.

Grim said Accenture stood out for proactively creating a corporate culture hospitable to religious identity.

American Airlines, which also topped the REDI Index in 2022, brings great global sensitivity to its religious diversity efforts thanks to its international reach, Grim added.

“At American Airlines, our purpose is to care for people on life’s journey, including our customers and our 130,000 team members,” said Cedric Rockamore, the vice president of global people operations at American Airlines. “Our team members, across all faiths and beliefs, help us better understand and serve our customers around the world.”

Among the 32 top companies assessed via the REDI Index, 100 percent reportedly celebrate their employees’ holy days in an equitable manner, according to the report.

Seventy-two percent match employee donations to religious charities, and 87 percent provide chaplains or other forms of spiritual care for their employees.

Companies that didn’t take the survey were ranked separately on their religious diversity efforts via the REDI Monitor, which was based on publicly available information.

Grim said companies’ approach to religious diversity is often counter-cultural. Businesses that might otherwise be in competition are quick to share best practices for religious inclusion and collaborate on events.

The Christian and Black employee resources groups at Intel and Microsoft, for example, recently teamed up to host a Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration, he said.

On May 22, Dell Technologies’ interfaith employee resource group is working with Merck, CVS Health and three local faith groups to host a hands-on food packaging event in Washington, D.C.

“I think that’s a very hopeful trend in these polarizing times,” Grim said.

The interest in corporate religious diversity is also spreading globally, Grim added. He noted the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation held an international conference in India in December and released REDI Index and Monitor findings for companies in the United Kingdom in March.

On May 21, the foundation’s annual “Dare to Overcome” conference will bring hundreds of leaders from Fortune 500 companies to Washington, D.C., to discuss topics like workplace chaplaincy, research on faith and faith accommodations in the workplace.