Nancy Layne Russell, longtime Texas Baptist church musician, died May 24 in Lubbock after a two-year battle with cancer. She was 76. She was born Aug. 13, 1947, in Bellmead. After graduating from La Vega High School, she went on to Baylor University, where she graduated in 1969 with a degree in secondary education. She served as the director of curriculum and instruction for Dublin Independent School District and was a beloved high school English and speech teacher at Pecos Barstow Toyah Independent School District and Bellville Independent School District. She served as organist and pianist at multiple churches, including First Baptist Church in Lubbock, First Baptist Church in Stephenville and First Baptist Church in Pecos. For more than two decades, she also was organist for Paisano Baptist Encampment. She found great joy in raising monarch butterflies in her backyard, which was a certified Monarch Waystation, teaching piano to her grandchildren and creating jewelry. She also delighted in serving as a volunteer at Covenant Health, sharing her culinary creations and staying in touch with friends on Facebook. Her daily walks around Miller Park were a cherished routine. She was preceded in death by her parents, Dudley and Lora Lee Layne, and her siblings, Bobbie Layne Alleman and Sara Jo Watkins. She is survived by her husband of 52 years, Roger Russell; sons Sean Russell and Alan Russell; and grandchildren Noah and Lilly Russell. A celebration of life service is scheduled at 11 a.m. on June 1 at First Baptist Church in Lubbock. In lieu of flowers, the family requests gifts to the Joe Arrington Cancer Center.

GREENSBORO, N.C. (RNS)—A North Carolina Baptist church has suspended its pastor after he was indicted on allegations of giving false records to the FBI.

Matt Queen, a former professor and administrator at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice last week with attempting to interfere with a grand jury investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention’s handling of sexual abuse. He has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.

Queen is pastor of Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in Greensboro, NC, a role he was named to in February. But on May 27, Friendly Avenue said Queen had been placed on administrative leave. He has not preached since May 19, the Sunday before his indictment was announced by DOJ.

“The actions alleged in the indictment oppose the moral values of Friendly Avenue Baptist Church, and we condemn all forms of sexual abuse,” the church said in a statement.

“Dr. Queen has committed to resolve this matter responsibly, and we support his full cooperation with the authorities. To this end, Dr. Queen is on administrative leave from his pastoral responsibilities. He will step away to devote his attention to his family and to assist authorities in their inquiry.”

Few details have been made public about the federal government’s 2-year-old investigation into the SBC, which began after the release of a report by the third-party investigation firm Guidepost showing denominational leaders had mistreated abuse survivors for years and sought to downplay the extent of abuse in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

SBC leaders pledged to cooperate fully with federal law enforcement. As part of the investigation, SBC entities such as Southwestern Seminary were required to report any case of abuse to the Department of Justice.

Alleged failure to follow the rules of investigation

However, when a student was arrested on allegations of sexual abuse in the fall of 2023, the seminary reported the incident to police but not the FBI.

When a seminary staffer subsequently wrote a report noting the FBI had not been notified, a seminary leader allegedly told the staffer to destroy the report. Queen allegedly was at the meeting when this conversation took place but told the FBI he had not heard any comment about destroying the document. He produced notes to that effect, which the FBI claims had been faked.

But, Queen told a grand jury he heard a seminary leader say the document should be destroyed, according to the DOJ.

“The notes prepared by Dr. Queen cited in the accusation were true to his best recollection and did not contain false information,” said Sam Schmidt, Queen’s attorney, in a statement. “Dr. Queen testified truthfully before the Grand Jury.”

Southwestern Seminary said Queen was suspended after the school learned of his alleged actions. The school also has stated all employees involved in the allegations in the DOJ indictment are no longer with the school.

The Tennessean in Nashville reported May 29 a Florida pastor—whom the newspaper identified as Heath Woolman, former chief of staff at Southwestern Seminary—also was implicated in a conspiracy to destroy evidence, but he has not been charged at this point.

Baptist University of the Américas received a $1.2 million grant from Lilly Endowment to help establish Proclama—a program designed to equip Hispanic pastors with the skills necessary for compelling preaching. The effort is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s Compelling Preaching Initiative. The aim of the initiative is to foster and support preaching that better inspires, encourages and guides people to come to know and love God and to live out their Christian faith more fully. Proclama will provide pastors with resources to enhance their ministerial capabilities. Through collaborative group sessions, pastors will cultivate engaging preaching practices. Proclama’s curriculum is crafted to empower pastors with competencies honed through collaborative peer learning dynamics. This program not only will refine preaching styles, but also will equip pastors to connect meaningfully with diverse audiences and communities. These communities—which grapple with bilingualism, serve diverse generations of immigrants and navigate evolving cultural dynamics—will find Proclama a vital resource for their spiritual journey. “This generous support will be pivotal to the success of our Proclama program. We are truly grateful for God’s faithfulness,” said Abe Jaquez, president and CEO of BUA. “We eagerly anticipate witnessing the impact this initiative will have on our pastors and the diverse communities they serve.”

Houston Christian University board of trustees approved a $60 million budget for construction of the Sherry and Jim Smith Engineering, Science and Nursing Complex at its May 21 quarterly meeting. The multi-million-dollar complex is named in honor of Sherry and Jim Smith, longtime HCU supporters who donated a $20 million lead gift to the project, making it the largest single donation received in the university’s history. “The HCU board of trustees approval of the financing plan for the new Sherry and Jim Smith Engineering, Science and Nursing Complex marks a day of historic significance for the university,” said HCU President Robert Sloan. “These new academic facilities … have long been the greatest facility need for HCU.” Construction on the complex will begin in January 2025, with completion slated in time for the start of classes in the fall 2026 semester, Sloan said. The new state-of-the art building will enable the university to prepare students for high-demand professions such as data science, statistics, cybersecurity, computer science, registered nursing and kinesiology. The estimated 71,000-sq.-ft., three-story building will provide the Linda Dunham School of Nursing and the College of Science & Engineering with consolidated space, including science laboratories, classrooms, instructional and state-of-the-art simulation labs, makerspace/capstone learning environments, and faculty and administrative offices.

Wayland Baptist University’s newly formed Advancement Council made a $1 million pledge to the university’s $18 million Thrive Campaign. The pledge was announced during the Advancement Council’s May 18 meeting and brings the campaign’s total funds raised to $14.5 million. Under the leadership of President Bobby Hall, Wayland’s Thrive Campaign continues to gain momentum. The campaign aims to foster academic excellence, enhance recruitment efforts, improve campus facilities and bolster athletics across the institution. For more information about the Thrive Campaign, visit https://www.wbu.edu/thrive_campaign.htm or contact Wayland’s Office of Advancement.

Hardin-Simmons University student Maya Morell recently received the Texas Academy of Science Award for her research. Her award-winning research centered around zebra mussels—an invasive species—and how the species would affect Taylor County if they entered its lakes. The research included measuring the lakes where zebra mussels have sprung up, observing what conditions allow zebra mussels to thrive, and if lakes in Taylor County are at risk of harboring the invasive species. “As our city grows, it’s crucial to be aware of the potential environmental issues that might impact the quality of our lakes and recreational opportunities,” she said. Morell expressed gratitude to the faculty of HSU who helped her with her proposal—including how to draft a professional paper, networking in the scientific community and acquiring resources for her project. “In addition,” she added, “they gave me all the emotional support I needed to power through extensive research.” Morell is a biology major in the Holland School of Sciences and Mathematics. After she graduates from HSU, she plans to pursue a master’s degree in marine biology to pursue her dream of researching coral reef restoration and conservation. “Coral reef depletion is a serious concern for our ocean education. I hope to learn more about the ins and outs of research and become a part of a great team to understand how we can preserve our coral reefs.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: The item about BUA was edited after it originally was published to correct the amount of the grant.

Four deacons from Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Dallas recently spent two weeks in Ukraine, helping a Christian ministry there convert shipping containers into housing for displaced people.

Team leader Randall Harris and three other volunteers—James Barclay, John Reeves and Danny Parham—worked with New Life Christian Mission near Odesa to turn 40-foot shipping containers into basic living quarters. The ministry is providing simple housing for people displaced by the Russian war on Ukraine, as well as the local homeless population.

When it is completed, New Life’s “container city” will house about 160 people, Harris said. In addition to more than 40 containers that will be retrofitted as living quarters, other containers will be converted into shower, laundry and toilet facilities.

In the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Harris and Barclay served in November 2022 with Texas Baptist Men—now Texans on Mission—at a distribution center for refugees in Chelm, Poland.

Of the 6 million refugees who fled from Ukraine to other countries after the Russian invasion, about 1 million relocated to Poland. TBM volunteers in Chelm helped unload truckloads of supplies, sort the items and then load them into vans that delivered hundreds of tons of food and other necessities to shelters across Poland and into Ukraine.

“When I first heard reports about how the Russians were launching attacks on soft targets, intentionally hurting civilians in Ukraine, it made me angry,” Harris said. “But instead of just being enraged and frustrated about it, I found out how we could do something positive about it.”

‘Looking for ways to help rebuild Ukraine’

So, after the rewarding experience of working in Poland, Harris responded affirmatively when Rand Jenkins at Texans on Mission told him about another opportunity to serve people in Ukraine through a ministry partner in the region.

“Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Texans on Mission volunteers have been providing help, hope and healing to those displaced. This recent trip to Ukraine with church members from Cliff Temple is a part of an ongoing effort to help rebuild the lives through local churches and ministries,” said Jenkins, chief strategy officer for Texans on Mission.

Cliff Temple provided the volunteers who served in Ukraine financial support, prayer and encouragement, Harris noted.

New Life Christian Mission—which also operates a home for 84 mothers and children—is “looking for ways to help rebuild Ukraine,” Harris said.

Working under the guidance of a Ukrainian foreman, the four Texas volunteers worked on four shipping containers during their two-week mission trip. So far, 10 containers have been turned into living quarters for displaced people.

Currently, those who live and work on the New Life Christian Mission compound gather beneath a large tent for worship, but the ministry plans to construct a permanent church building in the future, Harris noted.

‘The hands and feet of Christ in Ukraine’

While the volunteers’ labor was valuable, their ministry of presence was appreciated even more by the people they encountered, Harris said.

“They were so impressed that we were willing to come to Ukraine. Just being there—the fact that Americans came to be with them—meant so much. There was just an outpouring of appreciation,” he said.

“It was so fulfilling for us to be able to go and help any way we could. God put it on our hearts to help the people there.”

The Cliff Temple team’s trip to Ukraine was part of an ongoing effort by Texans on Mission to support the work of ministry partners in the region, Jenkins explained.

“We have several more trips to the area this year as we continue working and gathering leaders to garner information for an effective and unified Christian response. Our partners are doing great ministry from building homes, outfitting shipping containers as living quarters, feeding people, building wheelchair ramps, rebuilding churches, and constructing and distributing children’s jackets to villages and orphanages—all while demonstrating Christ’s love,” Jenkins said.

Texans on Mission volunteers currently are providing disaster relief at multiple sites throughout Texas—as well as internationally—as an expression of the group’s commitment to “meeting human needs wherever God leads,” he added.

“Our volunteers are the hands and feet of Christ in Ukraine, surrounding countries and dozens of nations worldwide—and especially in our home state, where we are actively serving in numerous cities after the spring storms,” Jenkins said.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Three people—a Haitian man and an American couple who all worked for a Christian mission organization—were killed by gang members near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on May 23.

The group reportedly had been kidnapped earlier in the evening after leaving a youth event hosted at a church.

Natalie and Davy Lloyd moved from Oklahoma to Haiti in 2022 to work for Missions in Haiti, Inc. The third person killed was the Haitian director of the organization, Jude Montis.

Davy’s parents, David and Alicia Lloyd, who founded the organization in 2000, shared the news of their death in a Facebook post around 2 a.m. Friday, saying the couple had been shot by gang members around 9 p.m.

“We are devastated,” wrote the couple in their post.

Natalie’s father, Missouri Representative Ben Baker (R), shared the news on Facebook with a picture of the couple, expressing his grief and asking for prayers.

“My heart is broken in a thousand pieces,” Baker posted.

“I’ve never felt this kind of pain. Most of you know my daughter and son-in-law Davy and Natalie Lloyd are full time missionaries in Haiti. They were attacked by gangs this evening and were both killed. They went to Heaven together.”

The three victims had just left the youth event when they were ambushed “by a gang of 3 trucks full of guys,” according to a post shared on the organization’s Facebook page before their deaths were confirmed.

“Their lives are in danger. I have been trying all my contacts to get a police armored car there to evacuate them out to safety but can’t get anyone to do so,” read the post, whose author is unclear.

Missions in Haiti serves children

Missions in Haiti, an evangelistic organization, offers a number of services for children, including two permanent residence homes, a school and a bakery.

“We believe the doors are still open for Haiti’s children to be changed by the Gospel,” reads the organization’s website.

The organization runs a “House of Compassion” near Port-au-Prince, where 36 children live, and the “Good Hope Boys Home,” which can house up to 25. It also runs the Bon Espoir school (Good Hope School), a church and a bakery that employs adults who previously were raised in Missions in Haiti facilities and provides bread for its residential centers.

While many schools have been forced to close due to the gang violence, Missions in Haiti had remained open.

In a May 2023 update to the website, the organization called their area “relatively calm,” saying the gang leader in their area controlled one of the “nicer gangs” in Haiti.

“This gang works to keep the ‘bad guys’ out of our area, and we pray that they will continue to be strong enough to keep some semblance of peace in this area,” according to the site.

Missionaries targeted by kidnappers

An increasing number of Christian missionaries working in Haiti have been the target of kidnappings perpetrated by gang members. The criminal groups rely on kidnappings to make money through ransoms. UNICEF reported an increase in the number of abductions since 2023, noting that women and children were most at risk of being kidnapped.

In October of 2021, a group of 17 Christian Aid Ministries missionaries—16 Americans and one Canadian—were kidnapped by gangs. Twelve escaped, and the others were later freed.

In the past few years, the country has plunged into turmoil, aggravated by the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021. In the months following the president’s assassination, armed gangs vying for control of the capital banded together and took advantage of the political unrest.

After Moïse’s death, the government was run by Prime Minister Ariel Henry, whose legitimacy was heavily contested through street protests, until he resigned in April of this year. A transitional council was named to lead the country after Henry’s departure.

The gangs now control 90 percent of the capital and have blocked several roads into Port-au-Prince and the city’s main port, stalling the flow of goods into the country. Since January, gang violence has killed or injured 2,500 and displaced 35,000, according to the United Nations.

In March, the country experienced a spike in violence when gang members freed thousands of inmates jailed in the capital’s two largest prisons.

A peacekeeping mission led by Kenyan police officers, including officers from Chile, Jamaica, Grenada, Burundi, Nigeria and others, is set to arrive in Port-au-Prince this week to help Haitian police fight the gangs. A total of 1,000 Kenyan police officers will be deployed.

After civil war forced a school for refugee children in Sudan to close, the Texas Baptist Eritrean church that founded it has launched another similar school in Uganda.

In 2012, Gospel Light Eritrean Baptist Church in Dallas founded Tesfa Eritrea—Hope of Eritrea—in Sudan to serve children in a refugee camp.

“There were a lot of refugees from Eritrea. It was a big mission field there,” said Ahferom Akilas, a missions leader at Gospel Light Eritrean Baptist Church.

Due to the pervasive influence of the Orthodox Church in the area, starting an evangelical church in the region was difficult, Akilas said.

However, parents of all backgrounds were eager to send their children to school—even an explicitly Christian school, he noted.

The school opened with 450 students and 17 teachers, Akilas said. The next year, student enrollment doubled, and the school employed 30 teachers.

As the school grew, not only did many of the students come to faith in Christ, but many of their family members also made personal faith commitments to Jesus, Akilas noted.

At its peak, the school had an enrollment of 2,500 students, from pre-kindergarten through high school.

“We didn’t have enough space, and we actually had to turn some students away,” Akilas said.

Funds from the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering enabled the school to offer nutritious meals to the students, as well as provide books and other basic supplies.

Civil war in Sudan created crisis

Everything changed in mid-April 2023, when conflict between rival factions of the military government in Sudan escalated to civil war.

Many schools and hospitals closed. A humanitarian crisis ensued, with about 25 million people needing aid, including 14 million children.

The civil war internally displaced more than 6.7 million people in Sudan, and more than 2 million fled the country as refugees.

A core group of the Tesfa Eritrea teachers and some students relocated to Uganda.

With help from Gospel Light Eritrean Baptist Church, the school relaunched in Kampala with a modest enrollment of 30 students.

Because schools—including Christian schools—are more common in Uganda than in Sudan, Akilas acknowledged the school in Uganda is unlikely to grow to the same size as the Sudanese school before the civil war.

However, he sees a school specifically for refugee children—with their shared backgrounds and unique needs—as filling a niche and serving an important need in Uganda.

In addition to Eritrean refugee children, the school has the potential to provide an education for refugee children from Ethiopia, Somalia and other African nations, he noted.

And the evangelistic vision that motivated Gospel Light Eritrean Baptist Church to start a school in Sudan also guides the school in Uganda.

“We want to see people saved,” Akilas said. “We want students and their families to come to know Christ.”

HIDALGO, México (BP) – Más de 150 bautistas forzados a abandonar sus hogares debido a su fe están protestando contra un plan del gobierno local que les permite regresar a casa solamente si pagan a sus perseguidores $9,026, dijo CSW (anteriormente Solidaridad Cristiana Mundial) el 16 de mayo.

Bajo el plan ofrecido por la ciudad de Huejutla de los Reyes, los miembros de la Iglesia Bautista La Gran Comisión pagarían la multa colectiva (150,000 pesos mexicanos) a los mismos líderes católicos romanos de la comunidad que los forzaron a abandonar sus hogares y propiedades, dijo CSW, y continuarían sufriendo restricciones a la libertad religiosa impuestas bajo la Ley de Usos y Costumbres.

A tres familias se les seguiría prohibiendo la entrada a sus hogares, y los líderes de la comunidad católica romana no se enfrentarían a ninguna sanción.

El pastor de la Iglesia Bautista La Gran Comisión, Rogelio Hernández Baltazar y el líder de la iglesia, Nicolás Hernández Solórzano, protestaron contra el plan del gobierno en una conferencia de prensa celebrada el 15 de mayo. Las familias desplazadas, inicialmente refugiadas en el edificio de la Presidencia Municipal, han sido trasladadas a otro lugar y dependen de las donaciones de la comunidad y de la ayuda de las iglesias locales para obtener alimentos y agua.

Anna Lee Stangl, responsable de abogacía de CSW, calificó el plan de “indefendible”.

“Al impulsar este acuerdo ilegal, se hacen cómplices de las continuas y atroces violaciones de la libertad de religión o creencias en Coamila y Rancho Nuevo”, dijo Stangl en un comunicado de prensa. “Esto es inaceptable en un país democrático como México, que garantiza la libertad de religión o creencia para todos en su constitución y en las convenciones internacionales de derechos humanos de las que forma parte”.

Los bautistas se vieron obligados el 26 de abril a huir de sus hogares en Coamila y Rancho Nuevo, comunidades indígenas de habla náhuatl en Hidalgo, después de que los líderes de la aldea les cortaran la electricidad, vandalizaran y bloquearan el acceso a algunas de sus casas y de la iglesia, y apostaran guardias en los puntos de entrada de cada aldea.

Los desplazados, que en un principio eran 139, pasaron de 150 al incluir a los que estaban trabajando fuera de las aldeas el 26 de abril y a los que no se permitió regresar a sus hogares.

CSW instó a los gobiernos estatal y federal de Hidalgo a intervenir urgentemente “para dejar claro que la libertad de religión o creencia se extiende a todos, incluso en el municipio de Huejutla de los Reyes, independientemente de su identidad etnolingüística y de su religión o creencia”.

A pesar de la garantía de la libertad religiosa en la Constitución Mexicana, un sistema jurídico dual permite a las comunidades indígenas locales regirse por la Ley de Usos y Costumbres. Estas leyes, que varían según el pueblo y las costumbres, se explotan a menudo contra las minorías religiosas, según han denunciado varios grupos de vigilancia de la libertad religiosa.

Las violaciones se han intensificado en los pueblos desde el 2015, dijo CSW, con las autoridades locales en repetidas ocasiones tratando de obligar a los bautistas a participar en festivales religiosos católicos romanos. Las autoridades locales han intentado obligar a los miembros de la iglesia a apoyar monetariamente los eventos católicos y a participar activamente en actos de culto.

Los protestantes de varios pueblos de Hidalgo también se han enfrentado a fuertes palizas, falta de acceso a atención médica, detención arbitraria, discriminación laboral y confiscación de propiedades. A los niños de minorías religiosas se les ha impedido desde 2018 asistir a la escuela local.

Hidalgo tiene uno de los números más altos de estos casos en México, dijo CSW, y el gobierno local se niega a citar las acciones como violaciones a la libertad religiosa.

El Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos, la Comisión de Libertad Religiosa Internacional de Estados Unidos y el organismo de vigilancia de la persecución Open Doors han informado que las leyes aduaneras y de uso han llevado a la persecución de las minorías religiosas en México.

Open Doors situó a México en el puesto 37 de su lista de los 50 países donde los cristianos sufren más persecución.

https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/espanol/indefendible-150-bautistas-expulsados-de-mexico-se-enfrentan-a-una-multa-ilegal-para-regresar-a-su-pais/

NEW YORK (BP)—Former Southwestern Seminary interim provost Matthew Queen issued a statement through his attorney May 22 asserting his innocence of federal charges brought through a Department of Justice investigation.

Queen issued his statement to Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C., where he has served as pastor since February after having most recently been an evangelism professor at Southwestern.

“I fully cooperated with this investigation and have pleaded not guilty to the charge against me,” he said. “As a Christian, a (former) seminary professor, and now a pastor, my integrity is everything to me and I will cling to that integrity and seek to be vindicated by God and man.

“Until that day, I do not intend to comment or discuss this matter further. I covet your prayers for me and my family. Thank you.”

Queen had served as an associate pastor at Friendly Avenue before accepting a role at Southwestern in 2010.

He was charged with withholding from federal investigators his knowledge of a document about an allegation of sexual abuse connected to Southwestern. Furthermore, investigators said, Queen knowingly provided false information in the form of a notebook.

In his statement, Queen said he was interviewed about his recollection of “a conversation of interest to investigators” at which he was present.

In a separate statement, his attorney said the meeting had been scheduled to discuss a matter separate from the document about the allegation.

“Dr. Queen has never seen the contents of the document and became aware of the general nature of the contents of the letter, i.e., about the rape accusation, at a later time,” said attorney Sam A. Schmidt.

That later time was when charges were filed against his client, Schmidt clarified, adding a defense of the notebook provided by Queen to investigators.

“The notes prepared by Dr. Queen cited in the accusation were true to his best recollection and did not contain false information,” he said. “Dr. Queen testified truthfully before the Grand Jury.”

NAZARETH, Israel (BP)—As a 15-year-old high school student in Nazareth, Arab Christian Yasmeen Mazzawi wanted to learn the history of the Jews she met volunteering as a paramedic with Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency medical services.

Her decision to visit Auschwitz with a team of Magen David Adom volunteers challenged her friendships with Muslim and Christian classmates at Nazareth Baptist School, founded by Southern Baptist missionaries in 1935.

As her classmates and even teachers ostracized her, Mazzawi responded by embarking on a successful campaign to spread cross-cultural understanding among Israel’s diverse population of Jews, Christians, Arabs, Muslims and others. She spoke at nongovernmental organizations, schools and youth camps across Israel, and utilized social media.

“To bridge between Arabs and Jews, to me that was a huge success. They understood that after they met the people, the Jewish people, they are just like us,” Mazzawi said of her classmates.

“What connects us at the end of the day is values. Christians by themselves are different. I think this is the beauty of the world, that we are different. It’s like this mosaic, and each one brings his added value and his own beauty to this world.”

‘All of us work together to save lives’

Her Christian faith and love of humanity drive her continued commitment to cross-cultural understanding during the Israel-Hamas War.

Volunteering with Magen David Adom, she treats soldiers and civilians injured on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, combat overshadowed by the center of the war in Gaza.

“Arabs and Jews, all of us work together to save lives,” Mazzawi said, describing MDA forces composed of Arabs, Christians, Jews, Muslims and Bedouins from very diverse backgrounds. “We are very dedicated and we love what we do.”

She believes rising antisemitism since the Oct. 7 attack on Southern Israel stems from a lack of understanding. Particularly on U.S. college campuses, where students called for divestiture from Israel and freedom for Palestine, she believes scholarly conversations could have eased tensions.

“I grew up on values. We grew up loving the other, accepting the other,” Mazzawi said. “If you try maybe to talk to one another, I’m pretty sure a huge percentage of these people will maybe not change their minds, but they can step back and maybe understand from the beginning.”

‘We have to be united’

On Oct. 7, Mazzawi had planned to travel to Mannheim Business School in Germany, where she completed her studies in November, but the attack changed her plans.

“I stayed here in Israel in case there was anything I could help with. I stayed with my Jewish friends, and Arab friends were in the South,” she said.

“We have to be here together, especially these days. We have to be united. We have to show that we are different here in Israel. We are diverse, but at the end of the day, we’re together, and we have to put politics away.”

Many of her friends in Southern Israel were killed in the attack, and others were taken hostage.

“What happened here in Israel was horrible. We found ourselves for two weeks going from home to home, to friends, staying with them and strengthening them,” she said of her family. “It was a really hard time.”

God ‘brought me here to make a difference’

She relies on her faith and fellow Magen David Adom volunteers for strength and resilience in war, leading paramedic teams into danger as others run for cover. Teams of paramedics systemically treat the most severe cases first, whether soldiers or civilians.

“There’s always this fear. When we go to the borders, it’s dangerous, and I have to make sure everyone’s safe,” Mazzawi said. “We have to separate our minds from our hearts. We have to do everything we can to save lives. It’s not easy, but we know how to do it well. We are very dedicated and we love what we do.

“Military teams are ready. We know how to deal with these situations. It’s very amazing if I zoom out and look at the scene. It’s just amazing how you see everyone working together.”

She encourages others to look beyond politics and learn Israel’s history and contemporary culture.

“Many people have lack of knowledge about Jews and Israel. They are talking about politics, but many in Israel don’t agree with politics,” she said. “Many Jews and Arabs don’t agree with the current situation in Israel.

“At the end of the day, Israel is an amazing country. People here want to live in peace. People here love one another.”

She finds comfort in her belief that God is in control, and her hope for a brighter future.

“My faith, it helps me with the fear,” she said. “I have this belief that our Heavenly Father is with us, and I believe he brought me here to make a difference. Things happen for a reason at the end of the day.”

(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.