WACO—Christians have the opportunity to speak much-needed truth in a polarized society because they offer a vision informed by the reality of the resurrected Christ, ethicist Vincent Bacote told an audience at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary.

Bacote, director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College, delivered the T.B. Maston Lecture in Christian Ethics at Truett Seminary.

In the current “time of great polarization and vexation in our society,” Christians face the challenging reality that the “reputation of the church and its witness at times is not unlike a ship that has been hit by a torpedo,” Bacote said.

The good, the bad and the mundane

As any Christian confronts “the complex reality that is out there in the world,” he or she faces twin temptations—to respond as a Pollyanna or as a pessimist, he said.

The Pollyanna who speaks only about joy ignores the unmistakable truth that “there are really bad things that happen,” and is at risk of being recognized either as a liar or as delusional, Bacote asserted.

On the other hand, the pessimist sees everything as “the beginning of the apocalypse,” and refuses to acknowledge the truth that “there are good things that happen,” he said

The Christian who embraces truth recognizes the world includes the good, the bad and the mundane, Bacote said.

Christians should see the present world in light of the biblical vision that proclaims Christ is risen but has not yet returned to set all things right, he insisted.

“You know what’s at the back of the book. You know what the story says,” he said. “What would happen if you acted like it?”

Apply truth and vision to race

Principles of truth and vision particularly should inform how Christians look at issues of race, Bacote asserted.

Respect for truth demands Christians recognize that Europeans invented the modern concept of race and succeeded in making “white” normative, he insisted.

Furthermore, in the United States, some Christians used the Bible to support the concept of white supremacy and keep in place societal structures that oppressed people of color, he said.

“There are people today who hide behind the guise of the word ‘gospel,’ using that commitment to the gospel to either avoid, resist or neglect talking about race,” he added.

It is “delusional” to equate improvement in race relations with arrival at the goal, he insisted.

“There is so much more that needs to happen,” Bacote said. “We have a lot to deal with because of what’s hard-wired into our society.”

At the same time, those who address issues of race and other matters of social justice also must recognize potential hazards, he warned.

“You can be caught by the thing you care about. … When you allow anger to transition to bitterness, you are being corroded and eroded by the thing you care about,” he said.

Seek the flourishing of everyone

As Christians recognize Christ is risen and the Holy Spirit is in the world today, that vision should inspire them to “take seriously” what Jesus said about love for one’s neighbor, Bacote said.

Living for neighbors means acting to make possible their flourishing, he asserted.

“How am I an agent for seeking the flourishing of everybody?” he asked. “Are you really willing for Jesus to interrogate all your commitments?”

Looking at the “complicated” reputation of evangelical Christians today, Bacote asked, “What if Christians refused to traffic in apocalyptic language? What if Christians refuse to be captured by fear and anger?”

The reputation of Christians could be transformed if they honestly acknowledged the horror in the world but acted as if they truly “know the end of the story,” he insisted.

Because they possess the vision that Christ will set things right in the end, Christians can model sanity in a world gone crazy, he said.

“Every terrible thing always has a comma after it—never a period, until Jesus comes again,” he said. “Until then, everything else is temporary. It’s got an expiration date.”

DALLAS—Respect for human dignity can provide a cross-cultural consensus to safeguard religious freedom, a keynote speaker told a Dallas-Fort Worth area conference.

“Where human dignity flourishes, religious freedom will flourish,” Brett Scharffs, director of the International Center for Law and Religious Studies, told the DFW Summit on Religious Freedom at Southern Methodist University.

‘Swiss Army knife’ of human rights dialogue

An appeal to “human dignity for everyone everywhere” is the “Swiss Army knife” of human rights discourse, Scharffs said. It is a multi-purpose tool that cuts across lines of religion and culture and provides a foundation for freedom of thought, conscience and religion, he explained.

He echoed a call for “religious climate change” based on human dignity issued by Jan Figel, European Union special envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the EU.

Scharffs pointed to the role Figel played in negotiating the release of Asia Bibi, a Christian who was released last year after nine years imprisoned in Pakistan for false charges of blasphemy.

In conversations with Pakistani officials about Bibi, Figel focused on the need for their country to show respect for human dignity. The Muslim officials connected the principle of human dignity to teachings in the Quran, and that opened the door to negotiations that led to Bibi’s release, Scharffs said.

In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as “a common standard of achievement for all people and all nations.” The first sentence of the declaration begins with a “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.”

To mark the 70^th anniversary of that landmark document’s adoption, Scharffs was among 68 initial signatories from 35 countries who endorsed the Declaration on Human Dignity for Everyone Everywhere at a conference convened in Punta de Este, Uruguay, in 2018.

The Punta de Este Declaration asserts that human dignity is “a broad approach that nevertheless invites in-depth reflection within differing traditions and perspectives.”

“What can we learn from each other about how to create and cultivate cultures of dignity fit for our own political, legal, societal and religious contexts?” Scharffs asked.

‘The kind of Baptist I want to be’

Bob Roberts, pastor of NorthWood Church in Keller, participated in a panel discussion on local applications of human dignity and religious freedom.

As a Baptist, Roberts noted his religious tradition has a proud history as strong advocates for religious freedom, but a checkered record of demonstrating respect for the dignity of individuals from other religions.

Through his church’s global missions outreach, Roberts learned to work both with communists and Buddhists in Vietnam and with Muslims in Afghanistan as they cooperated to build clinics and schools.

“All things local and global are now connected,” he said, noting that the way Christians treat Muslims in the United States has a direct impact on how Christians are treated in Muslim-majority nations.

Roberts has promoted dialogue and relationship-building shared meals between Christians and Muslims in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as well as participating globally with Muslim leaders in a series of retreats to promote understanding.

“We learn to see one another as we work together,” he said. “That’s the kind of Baptist I want to be.”

Roberts emphasized the importance of pastors, imams and rabbis taking the lead in promoting understanding and standing for religious freedom—particularly when it is unpopular to do so.

“It is the responsibility of the majority religion to take the initiative to protect the rights of minority faiths,” he said.

CORPUS CHRISTI—When the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas elected Tony Miranda as president in June, they followed the adage, “If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it.”

Miranda, a husband and father of two daughters, is campus pastor at Stark College and Seminary in Corpus Christi, where he also directs the school’s graduate program and is a lecturer in Christian Scriptures. He also serves as a teaching pastor at Primera Iglesia Bautista de Robstown.

Seize opportunities

Miranda grew up in a Baptist family in Mexico in the state of Durango, and has lived in the United States 10 years. He learned early the importance of availing himself of opportunities, and he hopes Hispanic congregations likewise will seize opportunities to become all God intends for them to be.

At his home church in Mexico, Iglesia Bautista Bethel in Gomez Palacio, members and church leaders recognized his gifts and opened the space for him to join its ministries through music, teaching and preaching.

In Mexico, he received two undergraduate degrees in graphic design and marketing, as well as a Master of Business Administration degree from Universidad Autónoma de la Laguna.

After arriving in the United States, he earned an undergraduate degree in Bible and theological studies from Baptist University of the Américas. He went on to earn Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary.

Now he is pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy degree in New Testament from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

He also is writing his first book on the study and interpretation of the parables of Christ, which will be published in both English and Spanish.

While volunteering and living at a kibbutz in Israel, Miranda also received a certificate of Jewish culture and context from the Israel Study Center.

Engage Hispanic Millennials

His professional experience and academic preparation have equipped Miranda for his ministry roles in Corpus Christi, Robstown and with Convención.

Inspired by the support he finds in his wife Daleth and the mentorship of his professors at BUA like David Maltsberger, Nora Lozano and Mario Ramos, Miranda hopes he will provide ministers, churches and Hispanic Millennials the support they need to grow in Christ.

“Churches have a generational divide of language and culture,” he explained. “While the Hispanic church in Texas is multigenerational and multilingual, it is still one church. So, we want to see how the local church can address the needs of different groups and not have them be independent of each other.”

Young people must become active in church, but older generations must also allow younger generations to become active, he noted.

Miranda hopes generational, cultural and language challenges instead will become opportunities for Hispanic congregations. In the process, he hopes ministers will realize people need opportunities to grow.

“There are many young adults with many talents, young educated adults, but who are not connected in a church,” Miranda said. “We need to motivate them more. And our hope is that as some of them get started, we will then see a chain reaction with more and more following.”

With that goal in mind, Miranda worked with Convención’s Young Latino Leaders in a statewide initiative focusing on projects developed by young Hispanics in local congregations while also engaging in leadership roles.

Enhance connections between pastors

Convención not only focuses on the next generations, but also on current pastors, he added.

With Conexión, the Hispanic Convention offers pastors the opportunity to connect with each other and to partner to meet the challenges they face, he noted.

Miranda also understands the challenges pastors deal with every day. For that reason, he has started personally checking on pastors—calling them and hearing what they and their congregations go through.

“Many pastors feel alone. So, I want to show them we care about them and want to be there for them,” he said. “In my role as president, I have connected with some pastors. And after listening to them, I pray with them for their needs and their congregations,”

With all of his responsibilities in his family, jobs, studies and ministry, Miranda said he find strength in the God in whom he trusts and in a supportive family.

“It is by the faithfulness of God that I am on this journey,” he said, adding, “I could not have done anything without the support of my wife and daughters.”

He particularly finds inspiration in the way God is using his wife Daleth, who also

graduated from BUA, as a conference speaker for Baptist events and ministries.

Together, the couple and their daughters, Zoe and Noa, pursue shared interests including reading and photography, as well as recording and producing Christian music.

FORT WORTH—In a recent interview, Adam Greenway said he hoped Texas Baptists would notice a change in “tone” and “tenor” at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

In three days last week, Greenway offered a public—if somewhat cryptic—apology for a president’s firing 25 years ago, welcomed another former president to preach in chapel and endorsed a statement defending two women professors on the faculty.

In February, the seminary’s trustees elected Greenway as the school’s ninth president. He assumed office less than one year after the board severed ties with former President Paige Patterson, who was accused of mishandling reports of sexual abuse and using demeaning language toward women.

Inaugural apology

In his Oct. 21 inaugural address, Greenway pointed to the deep historic connection between Southwestern Seminary and Texas Baptists.

“That means when Southwestern Seminary is at our best, the ties that bind are unbreakable. That means when Southwestern Seminary is not at our best, the wounds go far deeper,” he said, reiterating remarks he also made in a recent interview.

Greenway noted he was born the same year as the election of the seminary’s sixth president, Russell Dilday, whom he did not mention by name in that context.

He also did not specifically mention that a majority of trustees voted 26-7 in March 1994 to fire Dilday for criticizing a political movement that supporters called a “conservative resurgence” and critics called the “fundamentalist takeover” of the Southern Baptist Convention.

However, he seemed to allude to the rupture in the relationship between the seminary and Texas Baptists precipitated by the trustees’ actions.

“I cannot change the past,” Greenway said. “And I know at times our seminary in the past has not always been a place that has brought about the kind of hope and healing and unity that ought to characterize the New Testament people of God.

“For any way in which we have fallen short, I’m sorry, and I apologize.”

Greenway pledged to lead Southwestern Seminary to “relationally be right, in right fellowship—right relationship with all who find alignment with what I call the ‘big-tent’ vision.”

“It is time, I believe, for the Southwestern family to come together,” he said.

Hemphill returns to pray, preach

Ken Hemphill, who succeeded Dilday as president of Southwestern Seminary, delivered the invocation prayer at Greenway’s inauguration and preached in a seminary chapel service the next day.

In introductory remarks at chapel, Greenway said Hemphill was elected as the seminary’s president “amidst the backdrop of excruciating difficulty and division, which he had nothing to do with.”

Greenway commended Hemphill for being “willing to take on a task that, candidly, was one that lesser men would not have taken on.”

Resolution of support for two women faculty

Two days after Greenway’s inauguration, the Southwestern Seminary faculty issued a unanimous resolution of support for two of their colleagues—Terri Stovall, dean of women and professor of women’s ministry; and Katie McCoy, assistant professor of theology in women’s studies at the seminary’s Scarborough College—whose qualifications reportedly were called into question in an email distributed to trustees.

Malcolm Yarnell, research professor of systematic theology at Southwestern Seminary, introduced the resolution expressing the faculty’s “great appreciation” for Stovall and McCoy “for their theological orthodoxy, their contribution to scholarship, their positive conduct during trying times, and their Christ-like leadership within the seminary community.”

The faculty statement added, “We ask the president to use this resolution for public record as he deems fit.”

Greenway promptly posted on Twitter: “As president I want to publicly affirm” Stovall and McCoy “and denounce in the strongest terms any attacks on their qualifications for service here.”

In a second tweet, Greenway added: “I want to publicly communicate in the strongest terms my total confidence in these two scholars.” He noted Southwestern Seminary “is committed to equipping and empowering God-called women for more faithful Kingdom service, including teaching and leading in the academy.”

Email focused on gift for endowed chair

Baptist Press, news and information service of the SBC Executive Committee, reported the email prompting the public statements was provided to trustees at their Oct. 21-22 meeting, and it regarded the endowed Dorothy Kelley Patterson Chair of Women’s Studies.

Scott Colter, chief of staff for the former seminary president, allegedly sent the email to the no-longer-active seminary email account of Dorothy Patterson. It was intended to provide “reference points” for James Merritt of South Carolina, whose donation endowed the chair, to consider asking the seminary to return his gift.

Baptist Press reported the email stated Southwestern Seminary “now does not have a systematic theologian trained in complementarianism and feminism to occupy this chair or teach necessary courses. Dr. Katie McCoy has posted several things to social media that are concerning and show she is not ready to fulfill this chair adequately. Dr. Terri Stovall is not academically qualified to teach the associated courses in theology.”

The email also reportedly presented to Merritt several other “reasons to consider” a request for the seminary to return his gifts: the trustees’ termination of Cindy Finch, a strong defender of Patterson who previously held the chair; the removal of a gravestone marking the burial site of the Pattersons’ dog; and the removal of stained-glass windows in MacGorman Chapel commemorating key figures in the self-described “conservative resurgence” in the SBC.

More than 200 alumni, donors and students gathered Oct. 19 in Lubbock to dedicate the Robert H. Pinder Student Center, home of the Texas Tech University Baptist Student Ministry. Pinder, who gave the lead gift for the building, is a former pastor and missionary who worked 23 years as a professor at Texas Tech. He served on a capital campaign advisory team led by Larry Landusky. The advisory team worked through the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation to raise $3.9 million to fund the building and create an endowment to support the BSM in the future. Other team members were Jerry Ashcraft, Joyce Ashcraft, Jerry Joplin, D.L. Lowrie, Don Schroeder and David Wilson. Lubbock Baptist Association raised the funds to provide the kitchen in the new BSM center. Each week, the BSM at Texas Tech reaches 400 to 600 students through various ministries, BSM Director Jeff Kinnon said. The night before the building dedication, many BSM students served up to 200 fellow students at “Pancakes on Broadway,” an outreach event the BSM sponsors prior to all home football games.

The B.H. Carroll Theological Institute recognized Gerald E. Marsh, a military chaplain for 32 years and seminary professor of pastoral ministry for 25 years, at a recent dinner sponsored by its Marsh Center for Chaplains Studies. Twenty-five of the chaplains in attendance agreed to serve on the center’s advisory team. The Marsh Center works with seminaries to develop material to train new chaplains and engage experienced chaplains in lifelong learning. “It is specifically designed to develop competencies for a unique ministry,” said Gene Wilkes, president of B.H. Carroll Theological Institute. “In doing this, we recognize the growing influence and value of well-trained chaplains who minister in settings where other religious workers rarely go.” Jim Spivey, senior fellow at the Carroll Institute and retired U.S. Army chaplain, is director of the Marsh Center.

East Texas Baptist University, in cooperation with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, sponsored the fourth annual Worship Summit on Oct. 17. The event focused on encouraging and training church music ministers and worship leaders by providing instruction focused on congregational music, songwriting and technology in music. Guest speakers included musical artist Caroline Cobb, Christian singer-songwriter; Nate Harrison, associate worship minister at Mobberly Baptist Church in Longview; and Andrew Pressley, music minister at First Baptist Church in Lindale. The ETBU Lampsato and Hilltop Singers led worship and performed at the conference.

Gregg Matte, pastor of Houston’s First Baptist Church, was elected chair of the Houston Baptist University board of trustees. Matte has been senior pastor at the church since 2004. He joined the HBU board in 2011.

Howard Payne University announced a freeze of tuition rates from the 2019-20 academic year extending to the 2020-21 academic year. “Our administration understands the significant financial commitment that attending college represents for students and their families,” HPU President Cory Hines said. “We hope this tuition freeze will financially assist our students and provide stability for them going into the new academic year.”

The Keston Center for Religion, Politics and Society at Baylor University marked the 50^th anniversary of the Keston Institute on Oct. 15. Founded in England, the Keston Institute collected and reported information about people facing religious persecution in the Soviet Union and other communist countries. Baylor acquired Keston’s archive and established the Keston Center for Religion, Politics and Society in 2007. The event at Baylor also launched the release of Voices of the Voiceless: Religion, Communism and the Keston Archive, a book published by Baylor University Press featuring archival materials. Julie deGraffenried, a history professor at Baylor, edited the volume with Zoe Knox from the University of Leicester.

Anniversaries

150^th for First Baptist Church in Sherman and 20^th for Mike Lawson as pastor. The church will celebrate the anniversaries Nov. 17. A free luncheon follows the morning worship service. For details about the schedule and to make a reservation for the meal, click here.

150^th for First Baptist Church in Grapevine. Doug Page is pastor.

Chester C. O’Brien of Amarillo, retired pastor and denominational executive, died Oct. 20. He was 94. O’Brien was born on Nov. 25, 1924, to Chester and Katie O’Brien in Fort Worth. He graduated from high school in Big Spring, and he went on to earn degrees from Hardin-Simmons University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. O’Brien married Bonnie Louise Ball on June 25, 1946 in Big Spring. He was pastor of Baptist churches in Big Spring, Denton, Gruver and Wellington, as well as in Wolf Creek, Ky., and Tucumcari, N.M. He was the founding pastor of Paramount Baptist Church in Amarillo, served Amarillo Baptist Association as the director of missions and the Baptist Convention of New Mexico as executive director. He retired from full-time ministry after serving as associate pastor of First Baptist Church in Amarillo. O’Brien was preceded in death by his wife, Bonnie. Survivors include son David of Austin; daughter Marianna Chopin of Charleston, S.C.; son John and his wife Marilyn of Amarillo; brother William R. O’Brien and wife Charmaine; and three grandchildren.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Earlier this month, the pastor of a Kurdish Christian church in northeastern Syria gathered his congregation to decide whether to leave or stay as Turkish forces pressed into the region after U.S. troops had suddenly withdrawn.

In an area threatened for years by both the Syrian civil war and the international fight against the Islamic State group, the church was now in the path of a new offensive against the Kurdish militias that Turkey had branded as terrorists.

Just eight families told the pastor they planned to leave, according to Open Doors President and CEO David Curry, whose organization supports persecuted Christians in the region. Most decided to stay.

‘Trying to be salt and light’

“The rest are staying to try to be salt and light and love in this community. So, that kind of courage is the thing that sticks out to me,” Curry said.

Other stories have emerged from Syria: missiles falling on communities, churches attacked by ground forces and a feared resurgence of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, and other extremist groups, Curry said.

Children have been injured and killed in bombings in towns along the border with Turkey, The Washington Post reported.

At least 166,000 people have been displaced since the Turkish invasion began Oct. 9, according to the United Nations. At least 21 civilians were killed during a supposed cease-fire announced last week by the U.S. and Turkey, according to the Kurdish Red Crescent.

Christians in the United States have been quick to react. Some expressed disapproval of President Donald Trump’s Oct. 6 decision to remove about 1,000 soldiers who had provided a cordon of security for the Kurdish areas in Syria. Others also sprang into action via Christian aid groups operating in that country, including Open Doors.

“There are great security concerns for the Kurds and the Christians in this area,” Curry said.

What happens in Kurdish-controlled northeast Syria is important to Christians in the United States because the Kurds in turn offer sanctuary to the Christian, Yazidi and other persecuted religious minorities that the Trump administration has vowed to protect.

The Kurds, most of whom are Muslim, have welcomed those religious minorities and “allowed them to live in and amongst them as you would hope they would do in a great society,” Curry said. They have fought alongside U.S. troops against ISIS.

“I think right now there’s great puzzlement, surprise, disappointment that the Western world, from their perspective, seems to have abandoned them. And we’ve got to make sure that, from my perspective, we’re supporting these religious minorities,” Curry said.

‘Collective American responsibility’

Trump has said the conflict between Turkey and the Kurds in northeast Syria “has nothing to do with us” and compared the two sides to “two kids” fighting.

“Our votes caused this as the United States,” said Jeremy Courtney, founder of Preemptive Love, a Christian-led coalition that has been on the ground in Syria since 2016.

“Whether you voted for or against, at the end of the day, we’re all one nation, and so our American votes 100 percent gave the Kurds over—surrendered the Kurdish civilian population over to carnage, to destruction. And we need to take a kind of collective American responsibility for what we’ve done.”

Courtney grew up in Leander as the grandson of a Baptist minister. He attended Howard Payne University and went on to earn a Master of Divinity degree from Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary.

Meanwhile, some of the president’s most faithful conservative evangelical defenders have been uncharacteristically outspoken in their disagreement with him over Syria.

In a statement written before the cease-fire was announced, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference Executive Vice President Tony Suarez said: “This is not a decision most evangelicals advocated for.

“There have been conversations with members of the administration since the decision came about. I continue to believe that we have and are making a difference.”

Suarez said he was pleased with the leadership taken by Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who traveled to Turkey to broker the cease-fire with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. That cease-fire, which Turkey has called a “pause,” was set to end Oct. 22.

Suarez also called Syria “a total mess” and said an eventual attack by Turkey was inevitable.

Faltering evangelical support

Televangelist Pat Robertson said on “The 700 Club” after Trump announced the withdrawal that the president was “in danger of losing the mandate of heaven” if he abandoned Kurdish and Christian minorities in the region.

Franklin Graham, son of the late evangelist Billy Graham, called on Christians to pray that Trump would change his mind as the evangelical relief agency Graham leads, Samaritan’s Purse, mobilized to help people in the region.

Graham later told evangelical outlet CBN News he doesn’t want to “second-guess” the president.

“The decision’s been made, and the president certainly had his reasons, and I respect his decision. Now we have to deal with the fallout,” he said.

For Samaritan’s Purse, which has operations in nearby Iraq, that means supporting the humanitarian needs of Kurds who have been displaced from their homes, according to Ken Isaacs, who oversees the organization’s international relief projects.

The organization is working with partners to provide tarps for emergency shelter, cooking supplies and medical care, as well as blankets and warm clothing as “winter is coming, and they fled their homes with the clothes on their back,” Isaacs said.

“In some ways, it’s a typical refugee situation where people have the same needs as refugees,” he said.

‘We’re not going anywhere’

Preemptive Love, which works with people of all faiths, has been providing food to displaced families and just launched two mobile clinics in northeast Syria to provide urgent medical care. It already has run out of food, according to its website.

And the U.S. withdrawal has “jeopardized” its work in the northeastern part of the country, according to Ben Irwin, a spokesperson for the organization.

Despite fears the return of ISIS in the region will threaten the safety of its teams, Irwin said, “We are not going anywhere.”

Open Doors began its work in Syria before civil war broke out in 2011, trying to “support and to strengthen the Christian communities there, some of which are quite historic,” Curry said.

As ISIS took over parts of the country, many Christians fled to the Kurdish-controlled region in the north, where the Kurds have protected them, he said. Open Doors estimates about 50,000 Christians live in the region.

“Now with the Kurds under attack, these Christian communities are particularly vulnerable,” he said.

For now, Open Doors is offering relief to those communities in the form of food, water, medical care and temporary housing, but “it may turn into a larger humanitarian problem,” Curry said.

“It sure seems like it could go that direction, but we’re doing those kinds of basic relief for these Christian communities,” he said.

“It will be ongoing, so it’s going to be a big challenge,” he added. “I think we need to rise to it.”

For Preemptive Love’s Irwin, that means staying with the Kurds long after the crisis has slowed.

“Keep showing up. Keep sending help,” he said. “Don’t just support the emergency response now while the bombs are falling. Keep caring about Syria once the rest of the world has moved on, as it has so many times before.”

RNS National Reporter Jack Jenkins and Managing Editor Roxanne Stone contributed to this report.  

The Weesner family was enjoying a relaxing Sunday evening together in front of the television. The Dallas Cowboys were leading the rival Philadelphia Eagles. Everything was good—until it suddenly wasn’t.

“We were watching the Cowboys game like most people,” Jay Weesner said. “Our friend called and told us to take cover, so we pulled out our weather app. That’s when someone called and said, ‘I think it’s on your street.’ We grabbed our socks, shoes, batteries—we even put on bike helmets—and went to the center of the house.”

An EF-3 tornado with winds up to 140 miles per hour—one of several that ripped through North Texas on Oct. 20—blasted the Weesners’ Richardson home moments later. It sounded like a “freight train,” Weesner said. Then he and his wife heard pieces of their roof being pried off bit by bit.

Within minutes, everything was silent again. Darkness surrounded them, preventing them from seeing all the damage.

‘These guys show up when there’s trouble’

Only in the morning did they realize the full extent of what happened the night before.

Even before Weesner saw neighbors’ homes that had been devastated by the storm, he noticed a crew in bright yellow shirts.

“I see Texas Baptist Men,” he said. “This is serious. We have major devastation, because these guys show up when there’s trouble.

“Then I looked up and down the street and saw houses destroyed.”

TBM’s rapid-response chainsaw team began clearing his street shortly after sunrise and had most of his family’s yard cleared by lunch. After that, they began working on the homes of the couple’s neighbors up and down the block.

Fallen trees—some of them 70 feet tall—along with overturned sport utility vehicles and all kinds of debris filled nearly every yard of the Weesners’ neighborhood.

‘Tore a hole in our hearts’

Between sawing and moving 100-pound logs, volunteers visited with homeowners to help them process what they experienced. TBM team members prayed with people affected by the storms.

“The Dallas tornado tore a hole in our hearts as it ripped through the city,” said TBM Executive Director Mickey Lenamon. “It rocked people’s world. This morning, we’re providing help, hope and healing in Jesus’ name to people and families affected by this tragedy.”

The volunteer rapid-response team marked the first wave of TBM ministry after the tornado. It was followed by a second chainsaw team, as well as the activation of its rapid response food-service team to work in the Bachman Lake area of northwest Dallas.

Collaborating with Buckner at Bachman Lake

TBM collaborated with Buckner International on Oct. 22 to provide lunch to more than 200 children and their parents served by the Buckner Family Hope Center at Bachman Lake. Volunteers served warm, healthy meals to the families at Jose “Joe” May Elementary School, many of whom live in a nearby apartment complex.

“We got a call from Buckner about 7 a.m. and we have the rapid-response unit we use in Texas that feeds good, hot meals. So, we put together a meal of hamburgers, beans and rice,” Lenamon said. “It’s a high-protein meal because this is the only meals these kids may get today.”

Marcela Dominguez, youth and children specialist for the Buckner Family Hope Center, said the area already was in need due to poverty.

Buckner has been serving the Bachman Lake community three years, and the agency officially will open the Buckner Family Hope Center at Bachman Lake facility in early 2020.

The Hope Center provides programs and services like GED and ESL classes, financial empowerment and family coaching to 4,000 families in the Bachman Lake area.

“These are children who normally rely on free school lunches but are without due to school closures from the tornado,” Dominguez said. “Many of these families are without power, and many had homes damaged by the storm.”

Jumpstarting the recovery process

Lenamon noted the severity of damage in the Bachman Lake area.

“I watched it on Sunday night on television, but we have cleaning crews and chainsaw crews out in the area right now and it’s serious. And, since this neighborhood is more economically challenged, there’s more need,” he said.

TBM teams jumpstart the recovery process for each homeowner they help.

“When these guys show up and get out and they are able to share this ministry—we’re talking about hard serious labor here, this is big time ministry here,” Weesner said.

“They’re here to build up the joys and live through the sorrows. I can’t thank them enough.”

TBM disaster relief ministry is supported by financial gifts. To donate, click here.

With additional reporting by Russ Dilday of Buckner. 

The percentage of Americans who identify as Christian has dropped significantly in recent years and overall worship attendance by Americans declined, but worship service attendance among Christians remained steady, a new study reported.

Meanwhile, giving increased in about half of the nation’s houses of worship, another study showed.

Two-thirds of Americans call themselves Christians

Pew Research Center surveys completed in 2018 and 2019 revealed about two-thirds (65 percent) of American adults describe themselves as Christian. In 2009, more than three-fourths (77 percent) identified as Christians.

Pew released its report, “In U.S. Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace,” on Oct. 17.

In the most recent surveys, 43 percent describe themselves as Protestant and 20 percent identified as Catholic, compared to 51 percent and 23 percent, respectively, a decade ago.

The share of the adult American population that identifies as religiously “unaffiliated” grew from 17 percent in 2009 to 26 percent in the recent surveys. Of that group, 4 percent now identify as atheist, compared to 2 percent in 2009; 5 percent call themselves agnostic, compared to 3 percent in 2009; and 17 percent say they are “nothing in particular,” compared to 12 percent a decade ago.

Pew Research reported growth in the latter group, often identified as “nones,” cut across multiple demographic groups—Anglos, Hispanics and African Americans; men and women—and occurred in all regions of the United States.

The share of adherents to non-Christian faiths rose slightly, from 5 percent in 2009 to 7 percent in the most recent surveys.

Number of Christians in U.S. down

Pew Research analysts noted the data suggests the actual number of adult American Christians declined in the last decade, as well as their share of the U.S. adult population. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated 233 million adults in the nation in 2009. If 77 percent of the population identified as Christian, that means there were about 178 million Christian adults in the United States a decade ago.

Today, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates there are 256 million American adults. If 65 percent identify as Christian, that means the total number of adult American Christians is about 167 million—a drop of about 11 million.

Age factors into that decline. Today, 84 percent of American adults born between 1928 and 1945 identify as Christian. More than three-fourths—76 percent—of Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964) and two-thirds—67 percent—of Generation X (born 1965 to 1980) identify as Christian.

In comparison, less than half—49 percent—of Millennials (born 1981 to 1996) identify as Christian.

Other analysis by Pew Research revealed the overall share of Americans who attend religious services at least once or twice a month dropped 7 percentage points in the last decade.

However, Americans who describe themselves as Christian report they regularly attend religious worship services at about the same rate today (62 percent) as they did in 2009 (63 percent).

Currently, 44 percent say they attend services at least weekly, and 18 percent report attending once or twice a month. In 2009, 46 percent reported attending services at least weekly, while 17 percent said they attended once or twice a month.

Giving increases in about half of churches

Furthermore, a study released by the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving revealed growth in a significant share of congregations—both in the number of participating adults and in the amount of money the churches receive.

The National Study of Congregations’ Economic Practices showed 39 percent of congregations reported they had a greater number of participants than three years before, and 48 percent of the congregations said they received more money than three years earlier.

Among African American Protestant churches, 62 percent reported an increase in regularly participating adults, and 59 percent reported increase in revenue.

Houses of worship continue to receive the largest share of charitable giving in the United States—29 percent of all charitable funds or $124.5 billion in 2018.

However, giving to congregations represents a smaller proportion of overall charitable giving than it did in the past. Faith-related giving now is less than 30 percent of all charitable contributions. In the 1980s, it represented more than half of the total.

The study also noted:

• On average, spending on missions causes represents 11 percent of a congregation’s budget. Most (61 percent) of the missions budget is spent locally, but 20 percent is dedicated to missions nationally and 19 percent to international causes.
• More than three-fourths of congregations receive some revenue both from individual donations and special fund-raisers, and six out of 10 (62 percent) receive revenue from renting their facilities.
• Nearly one-fourth (24 percent) of people who attend church gave at least once in a digital form in the past year. Congregations received 22 percent of their giving digitally, on average.
• More than one-third (34 percent) of congregations have an endowment. African American Protestant churches and evangelical congregations are less likely than others to have endowments.

RICHARDSON—When God protected her family and spared their home from a tornado that destroyed houses up and down her street, Amanda Pritchard knew what God wanted her—and her church—to do.

“We just want to make sure everybody is nourished—emotionally and physically,” she said.

So, grills set up in her family’s front yard became the place where members of First Baptist Church in Richardson cooked meals and delivered them door-to-door throughout the storm-devastated neighborhood.

“I’m so thankful we didn’t have to focus on our own home, so we can be can be there for our neighbors—to walk with them through the experience and share their pain,” she said.

‘A tornado came tearing down my street’

Pritchard, marketing director at First Baptist Church in Richardson, had returned to her home near Richland College about 8:45 p.m. on Oct. 20 from a fund-raising event at church.

When she saw an initial weather alert on her cell phone, she dismissed it, thinking it was about a thunderstorm somewhere else in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

“I was busy. I had pictures from the event I needed to post” on social media, she recalled.

A few minutes later, her husband, Scott Geddie, called to her attention a more urgent weather warning about a possible tornado.

Within a matter of minutes, the couple, their 12-year-old son and their 8-year-old daughter were huddled in a bathroom, with the children covered in a bathtub.

About 20 minutes after Pritchard received the first weather alert on her phone, “a tornado came tearing down my street,” she said.

She tried to comfort her terrified children.

“I told them: ‘What do we do when we are scared? God wants us to take our fears to him and put our trust in him.’ So, that’s when I started praying. I told our lead pastor later that’s when I learned about a whole new kind of praying—crazy scared mama prayers,” she said.

Assessing damage

Once the storm passed, Pritchard and her husband checked outside. The entire area was eerily dark, left without electricity.

“It was dark, so we couldn’t see much. But we knew it was bad,” she recalled. “We didn’t sleep much that night. The first thing the next morning, we went outside. It was far worse than we ever anticipated.”

An overturned car was in one neighbor’s front yard. One house had collapsed. Another house lost a roof. Trees had fallen on most homes.

“We were spared. There was not one shingle off of our house,” Pritchard said.

She noted one other bright spot in an otherwise dismal scene.

“Texas Baptist Men were on the spot, clearing debris,” she said.

‘Our community is broken’

As she and her husband gained their bearings, they began to take stock of their own experiences and to think about what their neighbors must have been feeling.

“We wanted coffee. We were desperate, tired parents. So, we could only imagine the overwhelming anxiety of other families who were waking up to far worse situations than we faced,” she said.

Her husband tried to pick up enough coffee and donuts at a nearby store to deliver to people on their street, but he discovered the shop was closed, due to lack of electricity.

Pritchard knew many of their neighbors would need meals later in the day. So, she contacted First Baptist in Richardson.

“I said: ‘We want to do a cook-out for our neighbors. Our community is broken,’” she recalled. She placed an order at a warehouse club for enough food to provide lunch for all the neighborhood. Student pastors from First Baptist delivered a large grill to their home, and they all went to work grilling hamburgers, hot dogs and vegetable burgers.

They served more than 150 people from the family’s front lawn.

‘Being the hands and feet of Jesus’

At the church’s request, a local restaurant donated enough pizzas to serve all the residents in the neighborhood—as well as volunteers and laborers working in the area—the next meal.

“Our lead pastor was delivering pizza to men working on rooftops,” Pritchard said.

Others donated additional food, and church members helped cook and serve.

For the noon meal on Tuesday, the ministerial staff from First Baptist in Richardson arrived to grill hamburgers and hot dogs for 120 people.

“I knew we had an incredible church, but it’s amazing to see them in action,” Pritchard said. “It’s wonderful seeking so many people being the hands and feet of Jesus, serving our community.”

While Pritchard provided some coordination for the church’s involvement, the ministry developed organically.

“We didn’t have any kind of contingency plan,” she said. “I already have a checklist in mind for the next time anything like this happens.”

On Oct. 22, plans already were in place for the next day’s meals. Beyond that, Pritchard and her fellow church members just wanted to continue to be “a comforting presence” in their community—whatever that might involve.

“We’re just taking it one day at a time,” she said. “Each day is a new day.”

RICHARDSON—If young lives are not shaped by caring Christians who build relationships with students, those lives will have character formed by technology and society at large, a leadership expert told a Texas Baptist conference.

Young people want to feel they truly are understood and valued, Mark Matlock, president of Wisdom Works Ministries told attendees of the 2019 Texas Baptists Conclave.

Matlock encouraged ministers to disciple youth and children by first getting to know them personally. Only after that trust has been established will they be open to spiritual guidance, he said.

“We have the power of Jesus in us, and we have a generation in front of us that wants to change the world,” Matlock said.

Conclave—sponsored by the Baptist General Convention of Texas—is designed to offer training and networking opportunities for youth, family and NextGen ministers from around the state, organizers explained.

Participants at Conclave, held Oct. 14-16 at First Baptist Church in Richardson, heard from nationally known speakers such as Matlock about how to raise a generation of resilient disciples. Conclave also featured breakout sessions that offered participants the opportunity to explore in-depth topics designed to further their ministries.

Need to collaborate

Several breakout sessions emphasized the need for collaboration between ministries.

In a workshop on “Ideas for Multi-Generational Ministry,” Cory Liebrum, minister to families at First Baptist Church in Rockwall, stressed the importance of fostering strong bonds between age groups within the church.

Multi-generational ministry creates a sense of family at church, and it allows different groups to glean wisdom and advice from the others, he said.

Liebrum suggested having senior adults sponsor youth by praying for them during mission trips and making them care packages. The youth could, in turn, teach technology classes or host dinners to give back to the adults.

Walter Ballou, student pastor at Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, also focused on collaboration in his session on “The Hand-Off: Effectively Moving Age Groups from One Ministry to the Next.” Ballou taught family ministers how to work together to ensure that students have smooth transitions throughout their time in church. Failing to do so, Ballou explained, could lead students to slip out of the ministry.

Ballou encouraged family ministers to create a consistent message or mission statement that is reiterated in all age-groups, from preschool to high school ministry.  By working together, different ministries build a strong foundation on which students can base their faith.

Pastor Delvin Atchison of Westside Baptist Church in Lewisville and Jimmy McNeal, worship leader at Austin Stone Community Church, led general worship times at Conclave.

Atchison reminded participants of the importance of their work in the lives of students.

“God has a purpose for your life,” he said. “Don’t let anyone tell you it’s not important… because there are lives you’re touching.”

Reggie Joiner, founder and CEO of Orange, closed the conference, underscoring the importance of building genuine bonds with youth, children and preschoolers. Jesus came to earth to demonstrate that God is personal, and ministers should follow Jesus’ model, Joiner explained.

He recounted the story of Zacchaeus from Luke’s Gospel. Jesus’ ability to see Zacchaeus as a beloved child of God changed Zacchaeus’ life, Joiner said. Likewise, family ministers can have a huge impact on the students they teach.

“The way you see the kids and teenagers changes the way the whole community sees them and how they see themselves,” Joiner said. “What you do matters, because everyone needs somebody who sees them like Jesus does.”

SUN VALLEY, Calif. (RNS)—Conservative Reformed pastor John MacArthur weighed in on an ongoing debate in the Southern Baptist Convention over women preachers, claiming the denomination has lost faith in the authority of the Bible.

Speaking at a celebration of his 50th year in pulpit ministry, MacArthur asserted the SBC had taken a “headlong plunge” toward allowing women preachers at its annual meeting this summer. He pointed to it as a sign the denomination no longer believed in biblical authority.

“When you literally overturn the teaching of Scripture to empower people who want power, you have given up biblical authority,” MacArthur said.

During the “Truth Matters Conference,” held Oct. 16-18 at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, where he is pastor, MacArthur and other panelists were asked to react to one- or two-word phrases. Asked to respond to the phrase “Beth Moore,” a well-known Southern Baptist Bible teacher, MacArthur replied, “Go home.”

Sounds of laughter and applause could be heard in response during a recording of the session, posted online.

MacArthur—a leading proponent of Reformed theology and of complementarianism, the idea that women and men have different roles to play in the church and in society—apparently was responding to a controversy this past summer when Moore noted on Twitter that she spoke at a megachurch on a Sunday morning.

Her tweet led to accusations that Moore was undermining Southern Baptist teaching, which bars women from holding the office of pastor in churches.

MacArthur went on to criticize Paula White, a prosperity gospel preacher known as a spiritual advisor to President Trump, saying that he found these women preachers troubling because, “I think the church is caving in to women preachers.”

The pastor went on to say that the #MeToo movement was a sign the culture was taking over the church and accused feminists of wanting power rather than equality. He also seemed to compare women preachers to salespeople who hawk jewelry on TV.

When asked if the Southern Baptists were now moving toward “soft complementarianism,” MacArthur replied, “I don’t know about terms. I just know women are not allowed to preach.”

MacArthur also criticized the Southern Baptist Convention for passing a resolution that was supportive of critical race theory and intersectionality, seeing it as a sign that “liberalism” was taking over. He also dismissed calls for more ethnic diversity on Bible translation committees.

His comments provoked a spirited response on social media.

Stephanie Tait, a Christian author and speaker, said on Twitter that she was “heartbroken, angry, and honestly just exhausted.

“I’ll keep preaching, but this still hurts,” she added.

Micah Fries, a Southern Baptist megachurch pastor in Chattanooga, Tenn., objected in his Twitter response to MacArthur’s “derisive, divisive manner” and called his comments “devastatingly dismissive of the inherent dignity, value and self-worth of women.”

J.D. Greear, president of the SBC, responded good-naturedly on Twitter, saying Moore was “welcome in our home any time,” adding a hashtag referring to the Baptist Faith & Message, a statement of SBC beliefs.

Beth Moore has not posted a comment on her Twitter feed in response. Instead, she continued tweeting her thoughts on reading through the book of Job.