WASHINGTON (RNS)—Four Christian leaders and education advocates are seeking the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s permission to join a lawsuit filed by the state’s attorney general that aims to prevent the opening of an online Catholic charter school.

The plaintiffs—Melissa Abdo, Bruce Prescott, Mitch Randall and Lori Walke—contend the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board’s decision to sponsor the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School undermines religious freedom in the state and will lead to discrimination against nonreligious students.

“The separation of church and state is not the sole responsibility of the state. The church has to do its part to hold that line and continue to honor that separation,” Walke said.

St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School would be the country’s first publicly funded religious charter school.

Attorney General Gentner Drummond has argued in his own filings the decision violates Oklahoma’s Constitution. He has said he is ready to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court if needed.

The Oklahoma faith leaders are represented in their effort to sway the case by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Education Law Center and the Freedom From Religion Foundation. They previously filed a separate lawsuit in a district court this summer.

The board is represented by the conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom.

Accountable to taxpayers

When she learned about the board’s decision to allocate public funds to St. Isidore, Abdo, a Catholic resident of Tulsa County, immediately felt the need to counter assumptions that the lawsuit was an anti-Catholic effort.

“I’m Catholic. This happens to be a Catholic school effort. But I would never expect people of another faith to pay for educating children in the Catholic faith,” she said.

A longtime public education advocate, Abdo sits on the public school board in Jenks, Okla., a suburb of Tulsa, and the Oklahoma State School Boards Association board of directors.

Besides her misgivings about religious freedom, she also expressed concerns about whether St. Isidore will be able to comply with all obligations imposed on public schools, such as holding open meetings and keeping records open.

“It’s a very big responsibility when we are accountable to the taxpayers because they’re paying for school,” she said.

The senior minister of Mayflower Congregational Church in Oklahoma City for the past 15 years, Walke said her advocacy for the separation of state and church stemmed from her Southern Baptist upbringing.

Her church, which is aligned with the United Church of Christ, counts many queer parishioners, and Walke said she is worried St. Isidore will discriminate against LGBTQ+ students.

“They explicitly state that they are going to be part of the evangelizing mission of the church. … Of course, they mean their particular flavor and brand of Christianity, which does happen to be homophobic, not to mention misogynist,” she said.

She said she also fears that support for St. Isidore will siphon funds from Oklahoma public schools.

St. Isidore arises from a joint effort of the Oklahoma City and Tulsa archdioceses. The board rejected the school’s application in April before approving it in June. In October, it issued a formal contract of sponsorship. The application is now in the charter agreement phase.

‘Open-door enrollment policy’

Brett A. Farley, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, said claims that St. Isidore will discriminate against certain students are unfounded.

“Catholic schools have always maintained an open-door enrollment policy, so claims of alleged discrimination are politically motivated and untrue,” he said in an email.

He estimated the student bodies of the Catholic schools in the state are 25 percent non-Catholic on average.

On its website, St. Isidore said it will offer “the best of the Catholic intellectual tradition” and comply with the Congregation for Catholic Education’s recommendations. This 1997 document promotes a religious education, respectful of parents’ inputs, and directed “toward the whole person—body, mind, soul and spirit.”

St. Isidore plans to open for the 2024-25 school year and aims to serve 1,500 students after five years of operation.

Farley noted that other Oklahoma religious schools are already receiving public funds through “the Lindsey Nicole Henry scholarship program, the Equal Opportunity Scholarship program, and the newly-created Parental Choice Tax Credit.”

St. Isidore’s right to exist is backed by the state’s superintendent of public instruction, Ryan Walters, who said the lawsuit “discriminates against some Oklahomans due to their faith.”

In February, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt also voiced his support for the Catholic charter school. “Am I supportive of the Catholics going out and setting up a Catholic charter school? 100 percent. I think that’s great,” he said at a news conference, adding, “Just like I don’t shy away from my faith, I don’t expect anybody to shy away from their faith, either.”

Discrimination ‘funded by government money’

Like Walke, Randall said he was inspired by his own Southern Baptist education. A Baptist minister and CEO of Good Faith Media, Randall is also a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, a Native American tribe located in Okmulgee, Okla.

“When I hear about public funding of religious education, it really concerns me not only as a Christian but also as an Indigenous person, that discrimination will be funded by government money,” he said.

Randall’s grandmother attended Chilocco’s Indian school, a missionary boarding school for Native Americans that operated from 1884 to 1980. At Chilocco, students endured forced assimilation and were encouraged to cut their hair, exchange their clothes and abandon their native tongue, Randall said.

“I know from the stories of my grandmother and her relatives what happens when the church is given federal dollars to assimilate a large swath of people towards their belief,” said Randall.

Prescott, a retired Baptist minister, is primarily concerned that St. Isidore will be unable to welcome students with special needs. During the 1960s, Prescott worked as an educator in a private religious school in Houston and said the institution struggled to meet disabled students’ needs.

He said public schools are better positioned to welcome these students and should receive the entirety of public funding.

“Religion and religious education need to be paid for by their constituents. Voluntary contribution is how we’ve always done it,” he said.

Rosalynn Carter, the first lady who prioritized humanitarian causes in the United States and abroad, died Nov. 19 at the age of 96.

According to a release from the Carter Center, she died peacefully, with family by her side.

Her husband, Jimmy Carter, served as president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. Much of the Carters’ 77-year marriage found them working together.

After her husband’s term as president, the Carters moved back to their hometown of Plains, Ga., where they were active at Maranatha Baptist Church. The former president taught a popular Sunday school class, and Rosalynn served as a deacon.

In 1982, they established The Carter Center to address health crises, ensure fair elections and resolve conflict around the world. Rosalynn created and led the center’s Mental Health Task Force, having advocated for mental health reform during her husband’s time as Georgia’s governor and as president.

She also established the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers to advocate for the unique needs of people providing care for children and adults.

Helping others

The Carters spent decades volunteering with Habitat for Humanity and established an annual building project to provide affordable housing in the United States and internationally.

In 1999, Rosalynn was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom alongside her husband. She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2001.

The first lady authored her autobiography, First Lady from Plains, and co-wrote Everything to Gain: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life with her husband. She is also the coauthor of three books on mental health.

Rosalynn Carter is survived by her husband, four children and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Evangelicals agree all people—including immigrants—should be treated with respect and mercy, but they hold divergent views on how that translates into public policy, an official with the National Association of Evangelicals said.

“The reason we have people lining up at the border is that we don’t have a functional legal system that admits a reasonable number of immigrants both for work and for family,” Galen Carey, vice president of government relations with the National Association of Evangelicals, told participants at the Evangelical Convening on Immigration. The Evangelical Immigration Table sponsored the Nov. 17 event in Houston.

Carey participated in a panel along with Phillip Connor, senior demographer at FWD.us, an advocacy group focused on immigration and criminal justice reform; Hannah Daniel, policy manager with the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission; and Kathryn Freeman, Texas advocacy strategist for World Relief Texas. Eric Black, editor and publisher of the Baptist Standard, moderated the discussion.

Expand public officials’ ‘field of vision’

Freeman, former public policy director for Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission, encouraged Christians to help elected officials expand their “field of vision” in regard to what their evangelical constituents really believe about immigration.

“I think there’s a narrative of who the voters are that gets stuck in their head and in their imagination, and so, they think they’re in step with their constituents,” she said.

She pointed to a Lifeway Research study showing significantly larger percentages of Americans who are “evangelical by belief,” as opposed to “self-identified evangelicals,” support immigration policies that promote family unity and provide immigrants a pathway to citizenship.

Daniel noted messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention 2023 annual meeting in New Orleans approved a resolution urging government leaders to “provide robust avenues for asylum claimants” and to “create legal pathways for permanent status for immigrants who are in our communities by no fault of their own, prioritizing the unity of families.” The resolution condemned “any form of nativism, mistreatment or exploitation” as “inconsistent with the gospel.”

Several panelists encouraged evangelicals to encourage lawmakers to support the bipartisan Dignity Act of 2023, HR 3599.

The Dignity Act seeks to strengthen border security, while also providing undocumented individuals—particularly DACA recipients and Temporary Protected Status holders—a path to pursue legal status.

Michael DeBruhl, a retired Border Patrol official who now directs the Casa del Sagrado Corazon shelter in El Paso, noted the border security system was created to process Mexican nationals entering the United States illegally, and it was “woefully unprepared” for a massive influx of refugees and asylum seekers from other countries.

Mexican nationals who entered the United States without documentation and who were apprehended by Border Patrol 20 years ago largely went unseen by the general public, he noted. Today, those who are seeking refugee status, asylum or humanitarian parole are in the public eye.

“Now we see that population. They are visible to us,” he said.

DeBruhl participated in a panel along with Julie Mirlicourtois, executive producer of the Maybe God podcast and ACROSS, a documentary film series about asylum seekers; and Yonathan Moya, founding executive director of Border Perspectives.

“Nations from all over the world are coming to the southern border” of the United States, Moya said.

Rural Republicans in the Texas House of Representatives joined Democrats in defeating a plan to use tax dollars to support private education, including religious schools.

In the fourth special session of the Texas Legislature this year, the House voted 84-63 to approve an amendment by Rep. John Raney, R-College Station, that stripped educational savings accounts—essentially school vouchers—from HB1. The $7 billion omnibus education bill included funding for public schools and more money for teachers.

House members debated the amendment about three hours before voting—once again—to reject any effort to divert public funds to private schools. The Texas House repeatedly has rejected school voucher-type programs for more than two decades.

Religious liberty concerns voiced

“It was encouraging to hear, on more than one occasion, that legislators shared the concerns of many about how a proposed education savings account might affect religious liberty and what may happen if the state government began to involve itself in the affairs of private religious schools,” said John Litzler, public policy director for Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission.

A bipartisan coalition that included 21 Republicans along with all the House Democrats voted to strip the education savings accounts from the bill, in spite of seven months of lobbying by Gov. Greg Abbott to pass legislation granting parents “school choice.”

“I will continue advancing school choice in the Texas Legislature and at the ballot box, and will maintain the fight for parent empowerment until all parents can choose the best education path for their child. I am in it to win it,” Abbott posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

‘Morally centered bipartisan coalition’

Charles Foster Johnson, executive director of Pastors for Texas Children, particularly praised the Republicans in the House who stood against vouchers, even after the governor pledged to support the primary opponents of any representatives who opposed the education savings accounts proposal.

“A strong, clear, morally centered bipartisan coalition of urban Democrats and rural Republicans once again saved Texas public education by staving off a voucher program—as they have done so many times before,” Johnson said. “But, the heroes are our Republican friends in the House who are paying a heavy political price for their courageous stand for our children.”

Johnson also commended several Texas Baptist pastors who “made critical calls at a strategic time” to encourage their representatives to stand firm in their opposition to vouchers.

Texas lawmakers still have the opportunity to provide much-needed funds for public education, Litzler observed.

“The fourth special session is not over. It continues through Dec. 7. There is still time for our elected officials to pass legislation that would increase school funding, provide retention bonuses for teachers, revise the A-F rating and STAAR accountability system, and create a school security grant that would fund security officers on campus, security cameras, fencing and more,” he said.

“The Texas Baptists Christian Life Commission will continue to advocate for the Texas legislature to fully fund public education in our state throughout the remainder of the special session.”

DALLAS (RNS)—The End Times are not a topic Robert Jeffress needs much prompting to talk about.

When war broke out between Israel and Hamas on Oct. 7, the senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Dallas, quickly prepared a sermon series on the Apocalypse, which would be accompanied by a forthcoming book on the subject.

On Nov. 5, as the last notes of “Redemption Draweth Nigh,” a hymn about Jesus’ return, resonated in First Baptist’s 3,000-seat sanctuary, Jeffress asked his audience, “Are we actually living in what the Bible calls the End Times?”

The war in Gaza is not the only sign Jeffress submitted as evidence that the period presaging Jesus’ Second Coming, detailed in the Bible’s Book of Revelation and other Scriptures, is coming closer.

He noted, too, rising crime rates, the proliferation of nuclear weapons and natural disasters before announcing, “We are on the verge of the beginning of the End Times.”

“Things are falling into place for this great world battle, fought by the super powers of the world, as the Bible said. They will be armed with nuclear weapons,” Jeffress said.

Looking at current events as fulfillment of prophecy

Other prominent evangelicals have taken up the theme in their sermons. The day following Hamas’ attack, in which Israeli cities were barraged and some 1,200 people were massacred, Greg Laurie, senior pastor at the Harvest Riverside Fellowship in California, framed the violence in terms of End Times prophecy.

“The Bible tells us in the End Times that Israel will be scattered and regathered,” Laurie said. “The Bible predicted hundreds of thousands of years ago that a large force from the North of Israel will attack her after she (Israel) was regathered and one of the allies with modern Russia, or Magog, will be Iran or Persia.”

Before calling the church to pray for peace in Jerusalem, Laurie added, “If you get up in the morning and read this headline “Russia Attacks Israel,” fasten your seatbelt, because you’re seeing Bible prophecy fulfilled in your lifetime.”

While apocalyptic theology is threaded throughout the Bible and came to America with the Puritans, End Time prophecy has gone through cycles of popular acceptance among Christians. It has different strands, but in its most widely known version, known as dispensationalism, Israel is a linchpin to the events of the last days, when, after the Rapture, a coterie of 144,000 Jews are to be converted to Christ before eternity begins.

Israel’s supporters ‘on the right side of God’

Evangelical Christian pastors such as Jeffress have long prompted the United States to be an actor in these events. In his second sermon in the End Times series, on Nov. 12, Jeffress quoted the speech he gave at the ceremony dedicating the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem in 2018: “For America to be on the right side of Israel is the same as being on the right side of history, and the right side of God.”

The embassy’s move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was the fulfillment of a promise Donald Trump made in 2016 as he ran for president for the first time, one applauded by pro-Israel evangelicals. In August 2020, as he ran for reelection, then-President Trump told a campaign rally in Wisconsin: “We moved the capital of Israel to Jerusalem. That’s for the evangelicals.”

Also present the day Jeffress spoke in Jerusalem was the televangelist John Hagee, who in 2006 founded Christians United for Israel, now the largest pro-Israel organization in the United States. On Oct. 22, Christians United hosted a “Night to Honor Israel” rally at Hagee’s Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, with Israeli public figures on hand, as well as U.S. Senators Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton.

Hagee was also a speaker at the giant pro-Israel rally held Nov. 14 in Washington, where he reaffirmed his commitment to Israel.

“There is only one nation whose flag will fly over the ancient walls of the sacred city of Jerusalem. That nation is Israel, now and forever,” he said, greeted by cheers.

Claiming some 10 million members, Hagee’s organization has become powerful politically, according to Daniel Hummel, author of Covenant Brothers: Evangelicals, Jews and U.S.-Israeli Relations.

“It is quite a large group, but it’s even more significant that they are organized and have demonstrated over the years that they can actually focus their energy on a local level and a national level to advocate their position,” Hummel said.

The group’s gatherings have become an obligatory stop for GOP presidential hopefuls wishing to articulate their support for Israel in front of Christian Zionists.

“Most of them don’t get into the prophecy stuff,” said Hummel. “They’ll talk more about the national interests that the U.S. has in supporting Israel and about the cultural values that Israel and the U.S. share.”

But Hagee often speaks about the prophecies that drive his support for Israel. A week after Hamas’ attacks, Hagee’s Sunday sermon detailed the unfolding of the End Times, while a timeline illustrating every step from Jesus’ resurrection to the renovation of Earth by fire was displayed in the background.

The recent Hamas attacks draw us closer to the church’s Rapture, he claimed.

“The Bible blessed the Jewish people directly and through the Jewish people blesses us, the Gentile people,” he said.

Hagee added: “Israel is God’s prophetic clock; when the Jewish people are in Israel, the clock is running. When the Jewish people are out of Israel, the clock stops.”

Some view Christian Zionism as insensitive

This logic scandalizes some scholars as well as Jews, who see evangelical support for Israel as compromised by its cosmic hope for their conversion.

“They (Christian Zionists) believe a tiny minority of living Jews will, in the End Times, convert to Christianity, and the rest will be damned to hell for their disbelief,” wrote Steven Gardiner, research director at the Political Research Associates, in a 2020 essay titled, End Times Antisemitism.

In a 2005 sermon, Hagee himself claimed God sent Adolf Hitler to perpetrate the Holocaust to push European Jews toward Israel. He later made clear he didn’t view either Hitler or the Holocaust as positive.

But End Times theology need not be raw to come across as insensitive to the violence suffered by both sides in the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

On Nov. 12, Jeffress began his sermon by asking the congregation if they knew what could explain the numerous attacks against Israel.

“Spiritual reasons,” he said.

On International Students Day, Nov. 17, Wayland Baptist University recognized the 77 international students enrolled at Wayland Baptist University—and noted the challenges many had to overcome to pursue their education. “It takes tremendous courage and faith to be an international student,” said Debbie Stennett, coordinator of international student affairs at Wayland. “I’m still amazed that 17- to 19-year-old kids fly across the globe alone or drive down from Canada or up from Central America without knowing anybody here except maybe a coach and the person on the other end of their emails. Wayland currently serves 54 undergraduate and 23 graduate students from 39 countries. Sixty-three international students attend classes on the Plainview campus, while 14 are served at one of Wayland’s external centers.

Howard Payne University students Layton Pratt and Ryan Robertson spent two years designing and developing what would become AuroraGuard, a wearable device for antiviral and antibacterial disinfection, as part of a project-based design course in engineering design. Pratt and Robertson presented their paper on the design project at the International Conference on Electrical, Computer, Communications and Mechatronics Engineering in Tenerife, Spain. The conference was sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Pratt is a junior from Spicewood majoring in engineering science and the Guy D. Newman Honors Academy, and Robertson is a senior from Euless majoring in engineering science.

East Texas Baptist University honored 91 graduating seniors with the presentation of their official ETBU class ring during a Ring Blessing ceremony Nov. 15. Each ETBU class ring features the university seal, surrounded by the cornerstones of ETBU—Veritas, Mores and Scientia, Latin for truth, character and knowledge. Images inscribed on the ring—historic Marshall Hall, the Light on the Hill, Max Greiner’s Divine Servant statue and the Bible—are meant to remind alumni of God’s work in their lives and their transformational experience at ETBU.

NASHVILLE (BP)—In a special called online executive session Nov. 16, the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee took steps to create a work study group to review its “long-term legal strategy.”

The decision follows the disclosure of the filing of an amicus brief in an abuse related case being argued in the Kentucky Supreme Court through a story in the Louisville Courier-Journal Oct. 25.

The work study group is being asked to review:

• Biblical justice and due process doctrine as it relates to our current legal system, including statutes of limitations.
• A broader, long-term legal strategy for the Executive Committee and SBC moving forward.
• The process by which the Executive Committee and the SBC approve significant legal decisions.

The Executive Committee also encouraged the group “to seek input from leading biblical scholars, trauma informed consultants, and legal experts.”

Each of the seven current Executive Committee officers will appoint one Executive Committee member to serve on the study group. Each trustee who is a practicing or retired attorney will be asked to serve on the group.

Executive Committee Chairman Philip Robertson will serve as an ex-officio member and will appoint the group’s chair.

The group was instructed to report back to the full Executive Committee at the next in-person meeting following the completion of their work.

The committee also approved Jonathan Howe to serve as the interim president/CEO for the duration of the Executive Committee presidential search process. Howe began serving in the role temporarily following the August resignation of Willie McLaurin.

At the September meeting, Search Committee President Neal Hughes said the team is hoping to bring a candidate at the February 2024 meeting.

Texas Baptist Men leaders know from experience God sometimes opens doors of opportunity. In Uganda, they believe God has blown the door clear off its hinges as he seeks to transform thousands of lives through TBM Water Impact.

The TBM water ministry is seeking to provide more than 33,000 people in three districts of Northern Uganda with access to clean water. That means drilling and installing wells that serve 200 people within every 1.5 kilometers of their homes by the end of 2025.

But the effort involves more than water. Through a community-led approach, TBM is starting more Bible studies and drilling sustainable water wells faster than ever before.

Already this year, TBM has drilled more than 30 wells, each with a Bible study connected to it. More than 500 people have made professions of faith in Christ and been baptized as Ugandans share the gospel with their friends and neighbors.

TBM Water Impact Director Mitch Chapman has spent at least two weeks a month in Uganda since July guiding the effort. He has preached in Bible studies, prayed with people in villages and celebrated baptisms during church services. God is working in a powerful way.

“This is a door God has opened wider than any other I’ve ever seen in more than 20 years of ministry,” Chapman said. “God is meeting physical needs, radically changing lives spiritually and transforming entire communities. It’s incredible. I’m honored God has chosen TBM as his instrument to use at this time.”

Water as an ‘access route for the gospel’

Sam Ojok, who leads the effort in Uganda, emphasized TBM uses water as “an access route for the gospel.”

“Water is just the beginning. I see people come to Christ. But not just come to Christ, but get baptized. And they commit to a weekly Bible study. This is transforming the community and making Christ known,” Ojok said.

The ministry addresses a significant need in remote Ugandan villages, where stomach illnesses are common if not constant. In many cases, the diseases are fatal, particularly among young children.

“I’ve seen many, many children die of common, preventable diseases,” Ojok said. “This week alone, our program was interrupted by three different deaths. This can be prevented. Our programs can prevent it. I don’t want any more children to die. If we can do something to reduce these incidents, that is what we need to do.

“This is our opportunity for real impact—if we’re really concerned and we really want to help people.”

Impact requires significant investments of time into each village. The effort begins with starting a Bible study, which brings the community together. Members study the Scripture and are transformed by it. The Bible study becomes the backbone of the village and the catalyst for improving life for everyone.

After months of Bible study, TBM helps the community learn basic hygiene. As a result, latrines are constructed in villages where open defecation had been practiced, and hand-washing stations are set up in front of all homes.

Then, TBM drills a well supported by the entire community. Residents donate money for ongoing maintenance of the well, allowing it to serve for generations into the future.

Each community project starts when a Ugandan TBM representative arrives. He identifies a “person of peace” in the village, who typically is a respected area resident with some influence. Together, they start a Bible study that unites the community and shares the gospel.

Three months later, with an established Bible study, TBM shares basic hygiene principles. The village also forms a water committee to build infrastructure for supporting a water well by building latrines and hand-washing stations at homes.

‘Transformed by the gospel’

Six months from the beginning, TBM drills a water well. At the dedication, a Ugandan leader shares the gospel with the community.

About 18 months later, TBM leaders walk alongside village leaders to ensure the well is working properly and train a maintenance technician for every 10 wells.

TBM also introduces microfinance into a village, which creates a small local group similar to a savings and loan. With this tool, the community can help its residents start businesses.

“The goal is that in five years the TBM well will be effectively providing needed drinking water, and the village is united,” Chapman said. “We will pray and work toward the goal of economic development being in full swing.

“We envision multiple neighboring villages seeing the changes and working to get their own wells and Bible studies. The region, we are confident, will be transformed by the gospel.”

NASHVILLE (BP)—Practicing Christians outpaced non-practicing Christians and nonbelievers in giving to charities including churches in 2022, the American Bible Society said in the latest release from its 2023 State of the Bible report.

The vast majority of practicing Christians (95 percent) gave to charities in 2022, compared to 68 percent of non-practicing Christians and 51 percent of nonbelievers. The American Bible Society defines practicing Christians as those who identify as such, attend church at least monthly and consider their faith very important in their lives.

“When people practice a meaningful Christian faith, they give, and they give more,” the American Bible Society said in the report’s eighth chapter, focused on generosity. “Again and again we see people transformed by God’s Word, with hearts pried open by God’s love, people of faith moved to share what they have with others—even if they don’t have much to spare.”

Churches, ministries and other houses of worship were the top recipients of charitable gifts for the year, with religion one of the few sectors realizing an increase in receipts, the report stated. But when accounting for inflation, the estimated $143.57 billion in religious contributions—a 5.2 percent increase over 2021—represented a 2.6 percent decline.

“Religious organizations—including local churches, parishes, or temples as well as local and international ministries—receive the greatest portion of charitable giving,” the report stated. “Our data confirm what other researchers have found.”

The American Bible Society also gauged giving by spiritual vitality, with 92 percent of those thriving spiritually giving to charities, compared to 85 percent of those with healthy spiritual vitalities, 71 percent of those with unhealthy spiritual vitalities, and 65 percent of those ailing spiritually.

Those thriving averaged $6,216 in annual giving, compared to the $991 in giving by those ailing spiritually. The American Bible Society spiritual vitality gauge, used for the first time in the 2023 study and asked only of professing Christians, rates spiritual health based on answers to nine concise questions focusing on belief, spiritual practices and faith in action.

Other findings on generosity include:

• Regardless of faith, 68 percent of American households donated to charity in 2022, a rebound from the 62 percent who gave in 2021.
• Elders, those age 78 and above, are by far the most generous age group, with 83 percent giving to charity and nearly half of those giving at least $1,800 a year.
• People give to causes they consider important, regardless of their income or expenses.
• People who volunteer, whether in the church or the community, are also more generous financially.
• Percentage wise, families earning $30,000 or less a year give more money than those earning $100,000 or more, although larger income earners give larger numerical amounts.

 “While people who make more money give more money, the percentage of income donated by those who give runs much higher among lower income groups. When someone is earning an annual income of $30,000 or less, a contribution of $1,800 or more is a substantial portion (at minimum, 6 percent),” the American Bible Society said, comparing the giving to the story of the widow’s mite recorded in Mark 12 and Luke 21.

“The one-fifth of low earners who contribute at that level are digging deep, giving sacrificially.”

The State of the Bible annually looks at the Bible, faith and the church in America. The American Bible Society collaborated with the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center in designing the study conducted online and via telephone. The survey, conducted Jan. 5-30, produced 2,761 responses from a representative sample of adults 18 and older within the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Food insecurity increased significantly in the United States last year, and Texas has the second-highest rate of food insecurity in the nation, a recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture revealed.

Food insecurity refers to the inability of households to acquire adequate food, at times, for one or more household members. The prevalence of food insecurity in the state presents both challenges and opportunities for Texas Baptists as they seek to minister to human needs in Christ’s name.

“While the overall economic outlook in Texas may look strong, low-income residents have experienced a huge dose of hardship,” said Jeremy Everett, founding executive director of the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty.

The report revealed 15.5 percent of Texas households reported a lack of consistent access to affordable and healthy food between 2020 and 2022, making Texas second only to Arkansas in terms of food insecurity.

Along with Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and South Carolina, Texas and Arkansas are the six states where the prevalence of food insecurity was higher than the national average.

Everett attributed the rising food insecurity in Texas primarily to two factors: a significant number of workers receiving no more than the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour and a worker shortage in state agencies, creating delays in processing applications for SNAP—the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—in a timely manner.

At the same time, Texas has experienced rising costs of food and fuel along with the rest of the nation, he added.

“Low-income Americans spend a higher percentage of their income on the necessities—food, transportation and shelter. When rent is up, food prices are up and transportation costs are up, it has a huge impact,” Everett said.

Food insecurity higher in homes with children

The report from the USDA Economic Research Service showed 17 million U.S. households experienced food insecurity at some point during 2022, compared to 13.5 million households the previous year. Food insecurity affected 12.8 percent of households in the country last year.

The food insecurity rates last year were significantly higher for households with children (17.3 percent), households with children under age 6 (16.7 percent), and households with children headed by a single female (33.1 percent) or a single male (21.2 percent).

Children in 3.3 million homes—8.8 percent of U.S. households with children—were food insecure at some point in 2022.

“The 2022 Household Food Security in the United States report is a sobering reminder that, while the vast majority of Americans are able to affordably feed themselves and their families, too many of our neighbors struggle to put healthy food on the table,” Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said.

“These numbers are more than statistics. They paint a picture of just how many Americans faced the heartbreaking challenge last year of struggling to meet a basic need for themselves and their children. And the survey responses should be a wake-up call to those wanting to further roll back our anti-poverty and anti-hunger programs.”

Everett pointed out one factor affecting food insecurity in 2022 was the termination of several COVID-era relief programs from which low-income Americans particularly benefitted.

Lessons from the pandemic

“We learned a lot during the pandemic about ways to have an impact on hunger and poverty,” he said. “For instance, the child tax credit has a significant impact on reducing the child poverty rate.”

Another pandemic-related factor that affected food insecurity in Texas specifically was the inability of congregate summer feeding programs to continue, he noted. For several years prior to COVID, churches and other community service providers built a network that significantly increased the number of children who received meals during the summer.

“The pandemic blew that infrastructure up,” Everett said.

However, the Meals-to-You program—first piloted in 30 East Texas and West Texas counties through a partnership led by the Texas Hunger Initiative in 2019—became the national Emergency Meals-to-You program, delivering food boxes to households in rural areas.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 made noncongregate and summer meal delivery a permanent option for children, and it allowed for summer electronic benefit transfer options beginning next summer.

One of the most effective ways to fight food insecurity is to maximize SNAP benefits, Everett observed.

“We know SNAP is an economic driver for communities. It accounts for 1 out of 10 jobs in local grocery stores,” he said.

Everett noted every dollar in SNAP benefits helps generate $1.50 in economic activity. When Texas fails to access available SNAP dollars, it results in a loss for the state’s food and agricultural sector, he added.

Reducing food insecurity is a complex issue greater than the ability of any one entity to solve, Everett said, but coalitions of nonprofit organizations, social service agencies and businesses can help build hunger-free communities.

“We like to see churches at the epicenter of these coalitions,” Everett said. “It’s a way for us to carry out our biblical mandate to feed the hungry.”

FARMERSVILLE (BP)—Southern Baptist Convention President Bart Barber addressed gospel issues connected with the war in Gaza, as well as those existing culturally in America during a prime-time interview Nov. 14.

The segment aired on NewsNation’s CUOMO, with host Chris Cuomo and was tagged with the title “Amid divisions, Southern Baptist Convention leader urges Americans to ‘rediscover’ love, confidence.” CUOMO airs weekday evenings at 7 p.m. Central.

The interview began with Cuomo relaying news from his senior producer that Israeli tanks had entered the hospital complex in Gaza.

“You know how divided we are on [the war in Gaza] … unusually so in this country,” Cuomo said to Barber. “How do you see that division?”

“Southern Baptists are not pacifists,” said Barber, pastor of First Baptist Church in Farmersville. “It’s possible to care about the humanity of everyone involved and still have the moral clarity to identify an aggressor and someone who is making a justified response to aggression.”

He pointed out the decades-long ministry presence of Southern Baptists in Gaza and the work of Send Relief to provide trauma counseling, bomb shelters and basic needs such as food to the area.

“We want to love everybody and serve everybody, but also recognize that sometimes nations have to take violent action to prevent violence,” he said.

Cuomo asked Barber how he would respond if a member at First Baptist put forward that Israel’s response is overwhelming in scale.

It hasn’t been asked at his church, said Barber, probably because “if you come to church a lot,” one is well-acquainted with the conflict in that area, and “there’s a lot of clarity” as to how the past affects the present.

That said, he added: “Nobody [here] is writing a blank check … for Israel to do anything that they want to do. There are rules and ethics for conducting warfare.”

Israel’s actions, said Barber “seem to be … proportional to the threat that they face.”

Call for compassionate response to addiction

Switching to topics in the U.S., Cuomo asked Barber about the state of addiction and homelessness in the country, presenting the position of those saying: “Gotta get rid of ‘em. They don’t have any right to put their addiction on the rest of us.”

“How do you see it?” Cuomo asked in the segment that wasn’t included in the edited clip shared online.

“Not that way at all,” Barber said, noting that the rule of law exists for a reason, and law enforcement have met challenges in preserving public safety, but compassion must be part of the equation.

“The fact of the matter is there are members of my congregation with family members caught up in addiction,” he said. “I sit in the pastor’s office and weep with them over the struggles that their children are facing. [Addicts] get into it by their own choice, but a lot of times, they really want to get out of it, and it’s hard.”

Addiction treatment is difficult, he added, but has produced many who have gone on to lead healthy, productive lives.

“We don’t write people off, because everybody was created in God’s image, and God cares about everybody,” Barber said.

Earlier in his show, Cuomo addressed the near-fight that occurred in a Senate hearing that day and the growing animosity among people. Such behaviors can even be seen among Christians. But, Barber said, the solution is always available.

“Following Jesus is a journey, and we all start out in a place where we’re not comfortable or familiar with it at all,” he said. “It takes a lifetime to follow Jesus and to grow and to mature as a Christian. So, it’s not surprising to me when I see people who are Christian who struggle to do the right thing.”

For all the advantages technology brings, there are still negative effects to the individual and families, he said.

“We’re in the adolescence of learning what to do with the internet, which is a medium so easily used to stoke people’s fears and pump up their anger,” said Barber, noting that 46 percent of young people report feelings of anxiety or consistent depression.

“That’s tinder ready to burn when somebody knows how to use it to create anger out of that fear,” he said, adding his hopes “that we come to a point of rediscovering love and trust and confidence.”

At its annual Leadership Gala, Dallas Baptist University honored Jim and Sally Nation, founders of the Nation Foundation, as recipients of this year’s Russell H. Perry Free Enterprise Award, and former Dallas Cowboy defensive lineman Bob Lilly as the recipient of the Tom Landry Leadership Award. The Nations both have served on the DBU board of trustees, and she is a former president of the DBU Women’s Auxiliary Board. They helped establish Nation Hall, which houses the Gary Cook School of Leadership at DBU. Lilly was the first Dallas Cowboy to be inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. The annual DBU Leadership Gala recognizes individuals for their achievements in free enterprise, service to the community and support of Christ-centered education. Established in 1988, the event provides funds that go toward scholarships for DBU students. “Our DBU mission is to prepare Christ-centered servant leaders for a world in desperate need,” DBU President Adam C. Wright said. “I look forward each year to have the opportunity to honor distinguished individuals who exhibit the kind of exemplary and faithful leadership we want to be true of our students and future graduates. Jim and Sally Nation and Bob Lilly are dear friends and supporters of DBU’s mission, and it was a privilege this year to recognize them for their outstanding public witness as Christian leaders.”

Texas Baptists produced “30 Days of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.” Resources include an online prayer guide, a series of graphics and four videos featuring Ahferom Akilias from Gospel Light Eritrean Baptist Church in Dallas, Thong Kho Lun from Greater Houston Burmese Christian Fellowship, Immanuel Thomas from Crosspoint Indian Church in Plano and Andre Shango from International Ministries for the propagation of the gospel in Houston.

Following a nationwide search, Baylor University selected Jeremy Counseller, the Abner V. McCall Chair of Evidence Law, as dean of Baylor Law School effective July 1, 2024. He will succeed Dean Emeritus Brad Toben, who returned to the Baylor Law School faculty at the end of the 2022-2023 academic year after a 31-year tenure as dean of Baylor Law. Counseller joined the faculty at Baylor in 2003. He graduated from Baylor Law School with honors and was a member of the Baylor Law Review, the Order of the Barristers and the interscholastic moot court and mock trial teams. He earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business and graduated summa cum laude in his undergraduate class at Stephen F. Austin State University. Counseller served as a law clerk to Reynaldo G. Garza of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit before he entered private practice in Houston. He also served as an assistant criminal district attorney in McLennan County.

Houston Christian University’s School of Christian Thought began a new initiative this semester, bringing representatives from local churches to campus every Tuesday for a time of fellowship and mentorship with students. These local churches provide lunch for a group of faculty and students, introduce students to their ministries and make personal connections to provide practical opportunities for students to work in local churches. “It creates connection and fellowship that can launch students into their ministry calling beyond graduation,” said Phil Tallon, dean of the School of Christian Thought. Participating congregations included Tallowood Baptist Church of Houston, New Day Church in Houston, West University Baptist Church in Houston, River Pointe Community Baptist Church in Richmond,  Heights Church in Houston, CityRise Church in Missouri City, Sugar Creek Church in Sugar Land, LifeBrook Church in Houston and Houston’s First Baptist Church.

East Texas Baptist University welcomed retirees, endowed scholarship donors and Legacy of 1912 Society Members to campus for an appreciation luncheon. The Legacy of 1912 Society is composed of alumni and friends who, through estate planning and other forms of planned giving, ensure resources will be available to support ETBU far into the future. Jennifer Gillaspie, assistant professor of education, reflected on her time as an undergraduate student and her subsequent career in the field of education. “I think about the legacy and the honor that it is to be a scholarship recipient at ETBU,” Gillaspie said. “As a professor in the School of Education, I have some amazing students who have the light of Jesus, and they’re going to get to share that with our public schools. Without their scholarships, it’s very likely that they would not have been able to attend ETBU, so thank you on their behalf.”  Director of Alumni Relations Cari Johnson moderated a panel of student scholars who expressed appreciation for donor-supported initiatives that opened the doors for them to pursue an education at ETBU: Avery Abshier, junior Christian ministry major; Abraham Contreras, senior Christian ministry and mental health major; and Nakayla Holloway, senior psychology major.

Students and faculty in Howard Payne University’s department of music recently attended a workshop presented by Jocelyn Seamans, registered occupational therapist from Hendrick Outpatient Rehabilitation in Brownwood. The presentation focused on preventing neuromusculoskeletal injuries associated with music learning and teaching. Participants learned practical techniques and strategies for healthy practice and performance habits. These techniques can help avoid or alleviate painful or debilitating injuries that can result from the repetitive stresses that musicians may experience.

Anniversary

175th for First Baptist Church in Corsicana. Danny Reeves is senior pastor.

Retirement

Joel Gregory from Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary after 19 years on the faculty as professor of preaching. At Truett Seminary, he holds the George W. Truett Endowed Chair in Preaching and Evangelism, and he is director of the Kyle Lake Center for Effective Preaching. After completing the current semester, he will be on sabbatical from January to May 2024, spending time at Oxford University and working on a book for Baylor Press. He will continue preaching and leading Proclaimers Place seminars.