SICHAUN PROVINCE, China (BP)—As China continues to hunt down and arrest members of a house church in Sichuan Province, many of the 100 or more Christians arrested reportedly pledged in advance to persevere even until death.

Gina Goh, Southeast Asia regional manager for International Christian Concern, said many leaders of Autumn Rain Covenant Church counted the cost and pledged faithfulness in advance of arrests at homes, workplaces and on the streets that have continued since Dec. 9.

“I think a lesson we can learn from them is they continue to say that: ‘No matter what may come, we will continue to serve the Lord. We will continue to stand strong in our faith,’” Goh said. “As was demonstrated in this church, … their pastor, a lot of elders, actually wrote letters to their congregation saying that: ‘We will not bend, even if it means jail, even if it means death. We will continue to preserve our faith.’”

Those arrested are being beaten, tortured and denied food and restroom accommodations, Goh said, according to accounts and photos from four released to house arrest or police surveillance. Among abuse, Christians were dragged, stepped on and tied to chairs and had handfuls of hair pulled from their scalp. In many cases, no charges have been filed or announced.

Escalated persecution

The continuing arrests are the latest in government persecution of Christians that has escalated under President Xi Jinping’s ramped-up efforts to “Sinicize” religion, bypassing religious freedom that is guaranteed in the country’s constitution.

Church elder Li Yingqiang, who evaded arrest until 2 a.m. Dec.11 by hiding, wrote a letter before his arrest to other members in seclusion, World Magazine reported.

“Beloved brothers and sisters, I am writing this letter in hiding,” World quoted the communication. “May you all be filled with joy in the gospel of Christ. May you welcome, filled with hope, the even heavier cross and more difficult lives that lie ahead of you. Christ is Lord. Grace is king. Bear the cross. Keep the faith.”

The government tactic of arresting church members and leaders while they conduct their daily lives is not new to China, Goh said. But the latest incident, he said, represents an escalation in scope.

“This is not completely new, but for something that is this largescale, it is new for sure,” Goh said. Intimidating church members and leaders, she said, is designed to make the churches dismantle and force allegiance to the Three-Self Church controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. Three-Self congregations must display government flags, sing patriotic songs and praise government leaders.

Preempting constitutional protection

Xi’s religious restrictions enacted in 2017 and tightened in February are preempting China’s constitution.

“The constitution should be the highest law that everyone expects. And this set of rules cannot override (the) constitution,” Goh said. “But China claims to be a country that follows the rule of law, when in reality it doesn’t. It just kind of does things as it wants.

“A lot of Christians even before this set of rules was enacted, they were prepared that the colder winter was coming, and they actually braced themselves for it,” Goh said.

Underground congregations and house churches have been meeting in smaller groups of five or 10 to avoid detection. But the Rain Covenant congregation has countered persecution by remaining visible. Its leaders have been vocal opponents of religious persecution.

“Autumn Rain Covenant Church—they are actually very brave,” Goh said. “They continue to push for being able to worship in public. Once their venue was cracked down, they actually brought their worship to the streets. … This really irked the authorities.

“They basically want to crack down on (Autumn Rain) to serve as an example to smaller churches.”

Autumn Rain has several locations that comprise a membership of a thousand or more, she estimated.

The international community should continue to advocate for religious freedom in China, Goh said. And individual Christians, she noted, should support American churches and missionaries trying to help and encourage those persecuted.

“I know of initiatives that are also trying to reach out to these underground churches and Christians, trying to teach them how to react spiritually but also legally,” she said. “They need this kind of help as well. Other than praying for them, if there is a way for you to support this type of initiative … and asking them how we can pray, I think that will be helpful as well.”

In September, government officials disrupted services at five or more churches in at least four provinces in central, southern and southwestern China, removing crosses, blocking entrances, disbanding worship and harassing members.

International Christian Concern, China Aid founder and president Bob Fu and other international religious watchdog groups have described Chinese government persecution as comparable to Maoism.

FORT WORTH (RNS)—Lisa Grimaldi Abdulkareem describes herself as a conservative Republican who believes in freedom and prosperity.

“Less bureaucracy, lower taxes and stronger national security—it is simple for me,” said Abdulkareem, the Tarrant County GOP’s vice chair for precinct recruitment and volunteers.

However, some Republican activists in the Lone Star State’s most conservative urban county want Abdulkareem removed from the party’s leadership.

The reason: She’s married to a Muslim.

Abdulkareem, a nondenominational Christian, has been caught up in a political civil war that has raged in the Tarrant County GOP for months, pitting Republicans who see the need for diversity in the party against those who see any follower of Islam as a soldier in a “stealth jihad.”

Appointment of regional VP draws fire

The skirmish first erupted in July, when the county’s Republican chairman, Darl Easton, named Shahid Shafi, a two-term city councilman in suburban Southlake, as one of the party’s two regional vice chairs. Shafi is also a trauma surgeon who is Muslim.

Abdulkareem drew fire for supporting Shafi’s appointment.

“I spoke up publicly for Dr. Shafi and was immediately targeted because of my husband’s religious affiliation,” said Abdulkareem. Her husband, Hadi, is a naturalized U.S. citizen who served as a translator for U.S. Marines in his native Iraq from 2006 to 2009.

“They also say I am a Democrat, although I have never voted as a Democrat or for one,” Abdulkareem said.

Dorrie O’Brien, a Republican precinct chairwoman in Grand Prairie, leads a group of activists who have pushed for Shafi to be removed based on his religious affiliation.

O’Brien made news in 2011 when she criticized Bob Roberts, pastor of NorthWood Church, a Baptist megachurch in suburban Keller, for inviting Muslims to a “Building Bridges with Fellow Texans” event sponsored by the church. O’Brien called the idea of Christians and Muslims becoming friends or having fun together “repulsive and impossible.”

Seven years later, Roberts is among those defending Shafi’s right to serve as a Tarrant County GOP vice chair.

“I oppose those opposing Dr. Shafi because they do so on the basis of him being a Muslim,” Roberts said. “This is America—religious freedom matters, regardless of the religion.”

Group seeks to purge Muslims from GOP leadership

In recent weeks, O’Brien’s group has moved to oust others, including Abdulkareem and Easton, who have espoused the Muslim party members’ cause, according to emails anonymously delivered to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

On Facebook, O’Brien repeatedly has warned of the supposed dangers of Islam, which she argues is “spread now far more by lies, deception and concocted perception than it is by physical jihad.”

“This is where we are in Tarrant County today,” O’Brien wrote in a recent post. “Divided by those who won’t see the stealth jihad and by those who do. Those who’ve drunk the Islamic Kool-Aid and those who haven’t.”

Many of the county GOP’s precinct chairs have been invited to a Dec. 29 training meeting with former FBI agent John Guandolo, who is known for his anti-Muslim positions, to discuss whether the U.S. Constitution and Islamic law, called Shariah, are compatible, according to other emails obtained by the Star-Telegram.

“Given Guandolo’s history of anti-Muslim bigotry, this training will inevitably incite hatred of Muslims and Islam,” said Ekram Haque, acting executive director of the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Shafi, who emigrated from Pakistan in 1990 to train as a surgeon and is now a U.S. citizen, said he won’t allow “this small group of closed-minded people to damage our party that I’ve supported and served for several years.”

“The call to remove me from the party of Lincoln and Reagan because of my religion is wrong for several reasons,” Shafi said in a Facebook post in which he denied any association with the Muslim Brotherhood, CAIR or any terrorist organization.

O’Brien and others raised their concerns about Islam at a meeting last month of the Tarrant County GOP executive committee. A vote on Shafi’s status is scheduled for Jan. 10.

‘Embarrassing’ to the Republican Party

“The very fact that this is in the news at all is embarrassing for the county Republican Party,” said Matthew Wilson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “I would be stunned if the party collectively actually chooses to remove these people, but the fact that they even have to have a hearing about it … doesn’t do the party any good.

“What’s not clear is how much grassroots support they have behind them,” added Wilson, who studies the voting patterns of religious people.

The anti-Islam sentiment—which some say has been fueled by President Trump’s exclusionary rhetoric about immigrants from Muslim-majority nations—has historical echoes, Wilson said.

“Once upon a time, there were people who would argue that Catholicism was incompatible with American values, and because Catholics had allegiance to Rome, that meant you couldn’t be a faithful Catholic and a good American at the same time,” he said.

Now, Texas has a conservative Republican governor—Greg Abbott—who is Catholic. “And who I’m quite sure wants nothing to do with this ordeal,” the SMU professor said of the Tarrant County dispute.

Republicans across the state have spoken out against Tarrant County’s campaign to remove Shafi.

“I urge the Tarrant County GOP to stop this attempt to remove a hardworking county party official based on religious beliefs,” Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, a grandson of the late President George H.W. Bush, said in a tweet. “We must move towards a more inclusive Republican Party and stop tearing down our own if we are to keep Texas red.”

In a similar tweet, Texas House Speaker Joe Straus called the effort to oust Shafi because of his religious faith “disgraceful and un-American” and said “Republicans in Tarrant County should defeat it handily.”

Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz added his own tweet, saying “Discrimination against Dr. Shafi b/c he’s Muslim is wrong.”

Earlier this month, the Texas GOP executive committee passed a formal resolution supporting Shafi, affirming “every American’s right to practice their religion” and recognizing “the contributions of Republicans of every faith who advance conservative policies and ideals.”

Bud Kennedy, a Star-Telegram news columnist and longtime observer of Tarrant County politics, said he expects Shafi to prevail in a close vote, but Kennedy suggested any action taken at the state level supporting Shafi could inflame the critics further.

“There is this entrenched opposition that feels like nobody understands what they want, and everybody is trying to guilt them into voting the way the party at large wants them to vote,” Kennedy said.

‘Bunker mentality’

In November’s midterm elections, Republicans prevailed in Texas’ statewide races, including Cruz’s narrow victory over his Democratic opponent, Beto O’Rourke. But in Tarrant County, O’Rourke edged Cruz by a few thousand votes.

Tarrant County Republicans are worried, said Kennedy: “If they lose control of Tarrant County, they lose control of Texas, and they lose the electoral votes. And they have a real bunker mentality that it’s Tarrant County Republicans against the world.”

As Abdulkareem sees it, Easton made a “brilliant” move by appointing Shafi and Chris Garcia, a Hispanic businessman, as vice chairs this past summer.

“This shows the diversity in our party and (is) something that is imperative for Republicans to do moving forward,” she said.

She praises Shafi as someone who works tirelessly for the Republican Party because he believes in the values it espouses—and who never even asks to be noticed or thanked for his hard work.

“He does it because he feels in his heart it’s important to keep the Republican values at the front,” Abdulkareem said. “Our party should not exclude other religions or races but embrace everyone whose core values align with our platform.

“Nowhere in our platform does it state you must be Christian to participate,” she said. “As a Christian, I was always taught to love everyone as Jesus loved us. We all fail at this task, but we should strive to work hard at it so that when we see him on that day that he knows we truly in our heart strived to live in his image.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Most Americans want more religious meaning to the Christmas season. For about one-third, that includes the way seasonal greetings are expressed.

A new study from LifeWay Research found two-thirds of Americans (65 percent) say, “Christmas should be more about Jesus.”

Those looking for more Christ in Christmas in 2018 are proportionately fewer than four years ago, however. According to a 2014 LifeWay Research study 79 percent of Americans at that time said Christmas should be more about Jesus.

While similar numbers disagreed in 2014 and 2018 (18 and 19 percent respectively), the percentage who said they were unsure if Christmas should be more about Jesus jumped from 3 percent four years ago to 16 percent today.

“Saying Christmas should be more about Jesus is a little like saying Thanksgiving should be more about giving thanks. It’s in the name of the holiday,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research. “Yet, it appears there is less cultural expectation for celebrations of the Christmas holiday to include the religious aspect.”

Much of the shift came from non-Christians. In 2014, a majority of members of other faiths (63 percent) and almost half of the non-religious (46 percent) agreed that Christmas should be more about Jesus. Today, those numbers have been cut in half.

In 2018, around a third of Americans of other religious persuasions (35 percent) and slightly more than a quarter of the non-religious (28 percent) believe Christmas needs more Christ.

Fewer Christians also say Christmas should be more about Jesus. In 2014, 92 percent agreed, while 81 percent agree today. Still, 97 percent of those with evangelical beliefs agree today.

Some say ‘Bah, Humbug’ to ‘Happy Holidays’

One of the ways some want to see more recognition of Jesus in the celebrations this time of year is in our greetings. Around a third of Americans (32 percent) say it is offensive when someone says “Happy holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” A similar number (33 percent) say the same about using “X-mas” instead of “Christmas.”

Those numbers are similar to four years ago. In 2014, 39 percent found “X-mas” offensive and 29 percent said the same about “Happy holidays.”

Today, 40 percent of Christians find “Happy holidays” to be offensive, compared to 12 percent of members of other religions and 15 percent of the non-religious. Around two-thirds of those with evangelical beliefs (65 percent) say they are offended by “Happy holidays” being used instead of “Merry Christmas.”

Americans 50 and over are almost twice as likely to say they find “Happy holidays” offensive than those under 50—42 percent to 22 percent.

“It’s likely that Christians and older Americans are nostalgic for previous years or reluctant to acknowledge that not everyone celebrates Christmas this time of year,” McConnell said.

“Many have the idea that most Americans are the same or that we share one culture of baseball, apple pie and Christmas, but that’s not the case. And when we encounter someone who believes differently from us, that can be jarring and even seem offensive for some.”

Frequent religious service attenders are more likely to be offended by “Happy holidays.” Almost half of those who attend a worship service once a week or more (47 percent) say the substitute greeting is offensive, compared to 35 percent who attend once or twice a month, 32 percent of those who attend a few times a year, 23 percent of those who attend once a year or less, and 21 percent of those who say they never attend.

“Instead of refusing to accept there are other belief systems in our country today, Christians may be better served finding a way to wish their non-Christian friends and family would experience all the blessings possible during the season in which believers celebrate God blessing Earth with his Son,” McConnell suggested.

LifeWay Research conducted the study of 1,004 Americans, Sept. 21-23. Analysts used sample stratification and base weights for gender, age, race/ethnicity, region, metro/non-metro, home ownership, education and income to reflect the most recent U.S. Census data. The sample provides 95 percent confidence that the sampling error does not exceed plus or minus 3 percentage points. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups.

CHICAGO (RNS)—For years, Nancy Beach had no idea other women had stories similar to hers.

Beach, the first woman to serve as a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, said her boss acted sexually inappropriately toward her in the late 1990s.

Instead of speaking out, she said she went silent, like so many other women, wanting to protect the church and families involved and thinking her situation was an isolated case.

When she learned other women said they had similar encounters with Willow Creek founder Bill Hybels, she decided to speak out earlier this year. Eventually, Hybels, who has denied the allegations against him, retired early after about 10 women accused him of misconduct.

Honest conversation

Like others who have shared their stories of sexual harassment and abuse this year, Beach hopes other women won’t have to wait so long to speak out. It’s time, she said, for evangelical churches to have an honest conversation about sexual misconduct.

She plans to tell her story at Reflections: A GC2 Summit on Responding to Sexual Harassment, Abuse and Violence, a one-day evangelical gathering around the topic Dec. 13 hosted by the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College, an evangelical Christian school in the Chicago suburbs.

There’s never been a more important time to address the topic of sexual misconduct in the church, according to Beach.

“I think this is just an opportunity to, instead of avoiding the conversation, open it up and to hear from many different voices coming from different areas of expertise,” she said.

The summit comes just over a year after artists Emily Joy, who does not use her last name professionally, and Hannah Paasch first appended the hashtag #ChurchToo to their tweets, giving survivors of sexual violence, abuse and harassment within the church a place to share their stories. They had been inspired by the #MeToo movement started by activist Tarana Burke, which brought to light accusations against a number of powerful men, particularly in media and entertainment.

Accusations against high-profile figures

Since then, several high-profile leaders in the evangelical world have been accused of sexual misconduct.

Andy Savage, a teaching pastor at Highpoint Church in Memphis, resigned in March after Jules Woodson accused him of sexually abusing her when she was a teenager and he was a youth pastor in Texas. Her story was one of the first to bring national attention to the #ChurchToo movement.

In April, an investigation by the Chicago Tribune revealed decades of alleged misconduct by Hybels. That investigation rocked not just Willow Creek but also the thousands of churches that had modeled themselves after the suburban Chicago megachurch.

Then this summer, the Southern Baptist Convention grappled with how to address the issue after Paige Patterson was ousted from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary amid reports he mishandled rape allegations by students.

Laurie Nichols, director of communications for the Billy Graham Center and one of the organizers of the event, said Reflections aims to give churches the tools they need to respond to victims of sexual harassment and abuse.

“We really want to equip churches in this area,” Nichols said. “A lot of pastors just don’t feel equipped to deal with this issue, and church leaders don’t feel equipped and a lot of women in the church don’t feel like they know how to share their stories.”

This is the center’s third GC2 summit, which is a reference to the Great Commission—“Go and make disciples of all nations”—and Great Commandment, Jesus’ command to love God and love one’s neighbor. Previous summits have focused on the refugee crisis and mass incarceration.

Let survivors’ voices be heard

Organizers also want survivors to have a voice and to know the church cares about them, Nichols said.

The schedule of the summit includes time for lament and prayer, as well as panel discussions and keynote addresses with titles like “Dear Church Leaders, Here’s How You Ought to Respond to Survivors in Your Church,” “When Jesus Heals” and “Seeking Accountability and Integrity.”

Licensed and trained team members will be on site to offer attendees support and referrals to further counseling, in partnership with the school’s counseling center and school of psychology. Proceeds from ticket and livestream sales will go to New Name, a local faith-based outreach to women in the adult industry.

Among the speakers are Beth Moore and Christine Caine, two popular authors and speakers who have spoken out about their experiences of sexual abuse and support for the #MeToo movement.

Other speakers from Wheaton bring backgrounds in psychology and counseling: Nancy Nealious, a trauma recovery specialist and licensed clinical psychologist in the college’s counseling center; Tammy Schultz, a trauma and sexual abuse counselor and professor of counseling; Jenny Hwang, managing director of the college’s Humanitarian Disaster Institute; and Wheaton College Provost Margaret Diddams, a psychologist who is part of an advisory group currently investigating allegations against Hybels.

Nichols said speakers come from diverse backgrounds, but all hold evangelical beliefs.

Some critique evangelical perspective

But critics say it’s important for evangelicals to hear from voices outside the church. Those voices are missing from the conference, said Emily Joy, who left evangelicalism and now attends an Episcopal church.

She asserted evangelical teachings about sex—including the belief sex should be reserved for a man and woman within the context of marriage—form a “bedrock of sexually dysfunctional culture in conservative evangelicalism, and these speakers are not interested in dismantling it.”

She, Paasch and a few others plan to host their own teachings on social media offering “alternative information” during Wheaton’s summit, she said.

“My idea is not to just critique this—which deserves critique—but also to offer something constructive and proactive as well,” she said.

Emily Joy also is concerned the summit doesn’t have enough survivors or experts in dealing with issues of sexual abuse in its speaker lineup.

At least four of the 17 speakers listed on the summit website are survivors of sexual harassment or abuse, according to Nichols, who also identifies as a survivor. However, only one of the speakers, Jeanette Salguero, chief operating officer of Calvario City Church in Florida, is identified as a survivor in her summit bio.

Both a sin and a crime

Woodson, who identifies as Christian, is concerned about its inclusion of Caine, who has ties to Hillsong, an Australian megachurch whose founder, Brian Houston, is under fire for his handling of allegations his father had sexually abused several children.

She said evangelicals need to recognize sexual abuse is a problem within the church, and it is not just a sin but also a crime. They also need to listen to survivors, advocates and organizations like GRACE—Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment—that were working to bring the issue to light before it was trending.

“We need to be having this conversation. Absolutely, we need to be equipping people and educating them about this topic. All of that is so important,” Woodson said. “But this (summit) just seems to me really lacking depth.”

Still, Emily Joy said the fact such an event is being held at an evangelical institution this year is “proof that we’re making progress insofar as we’re forcing them to confront these things.”

Hwang agreed evangelicals need to have a healthy conversation about sexuality. Many treat sex as a taboo topic, related to guilt and shame, according to the head of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute. That is unhealthy, she said, and can make it even harder to discuss sexual abuse.

Beach, the leadership coach once on staff at Willow Creek, worries that churches will react to the sexual abuse crisis by creating more rules that restrict women from leadership roles—in order to reduce the risk of misconduct. She believes God created men and women to work shoulder to shoulder together in ministry, she said. She’s experienced it, too—and that’s the story she wants to tell now at Reflections.

She said the summit is “only the beginning.”

“It’s just one day. It’s not going to solve everything,” Beach said. “But I think it’s a step in the right direction. That’s my hope.”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (BP)—Jess Moody, a visionary evangelistic pastor who influenced the field of education and the entertainment industry, died Dec. 7 in West Palm Beach, Fla. He was 93.

Moody was the founder of Palm Beach Atlantic College (now University) in West Palm Beach in 1968 and later, in the Los Angeles area, a witness to Hollywood.

He also was one of three nominees for Southern Baptist Convention president in 1992. He served as the 1965 president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference and addressed its sessions in 1964 and 1972.

‘Visionary dreamer’

William M.B. Fleming Jr., Palm Beach Atlantic’s president, said in a Dec. 8 tribute to Moody on the school’s website, “As the university celebrates its 50th year, we give thanks for a giant of a Christian crusader, a Bible preacher, a visionary dreamer and our founding president.

“Dr. Moody’s mark is on every Palm Beach Atlantic graduate and student. His sweet love and unlimited devotion to young people is legendary. Stories will continue to be written and told about Dr. Jess Moody, a servant for all seasons and all mankind.”

Moody led in the school’s creation while serving as pastor of First Baptist Church in West Palm Beach (now Family Church) from 1961 to1976. He concurrently served as PBA president from 1968 to 1972.

The university, which was affiliated with the Florida Baptist Convention for an extended time, now has 3,706 students in undergraduate and graduate courses in West Palm Beach, at a campus in Orlando and online.

Moody and his wife Doris initiated the school’s “Workship” program requiring all 2,000-plus full-time undergraduate students to volunteer at least 45 hours annually at nonprofit agencies, schools or churches.

Pastor to Hollywood stars

Moody left West Palm Beach in 1976, turning his sights to California as pastor of the Los Angeles-area First Baptist Church in Van Nuys. He led the church into cooperation with the SBC “after considerable resistance,” as described by the Los Angeles Times in a 1997 article.

In the mid-1980s, Moody led the church to relocate to Porter Ranch, Calif., where it was renamed Shepherd of the Hills Church.

“Jocular and garrulous, Moody attracted a number of entertainment figures to his church,” the Times‘ 1997 article noted. “He performed the wedding of actor Burt Reynolds and actress Loni Anderson. The annual Passion Play at Shepherd of the Hills draws thousands every Easter.”

He was a religious consultant for 20th Century Fox, an article in MissionsUSA of the SBC Home Mission Board reported in 1984.

The church created an Act I ministry in 1982 that grew to about 125 actors, directors, producers and others in the film industry, according to MissionsUSA. Act I’s meetings included presentations by such LA luminaries as producer-writers Harry and Linda Thomason, two-time Academy Award-winning composer Al Kasha and radio disc jockey Rick Dees.

Phil Boatwright, a veteran movie reviewer, was a member of the church from 1977 until Moody’s retirement in 1995.  Boatwright described an example of Moody’s influence involving the re-filming of a major motion picture.

“In 1976, Hollywood had a hit with The Omen, about the coming of the Antichrist. As Hollywood is prone to do, they made several follow-ups,” Boatwright recounted. “The producer (or director, I can’t remember which) of the 1981 sequel The Omen II:  The Final Conflict, concerning an adult Antichrist plotting to eliminate his future divine opponent, showed a rough-cut to Dr. Moody.

“Doc (as Boatwright called Moody) praised the production’s strengths but made it clear the sensationalized conclusion wasn’t scriptural. Due to Moody’s kindness and scriptural knowledge, the filmmaker said, ‘If you’ll rewrite the ending, I’ll film it.’ Doc did. The producer did. And to this day, I tell people, skip through the film to get to the ending. It’s spiritually rewarding. (I wouldn’t bother with the rest of the film.)

“Knowledge and kindness. That’s part of the armor we should all clothe ourselves in. Doc did.”

Boatwright also noted Moody’s “appreciation for every soul.”

“Like our beloved Billy Graham, Jess had a love for the lost and a great ability to make each person feel important. When these men said, ‘God loves you,’ you felt it—you believed it,” he said.

Nominee for SBC president

Moody ran for SBC president in 1992, seeking to be a unifier amid the conflict among Southern Baptists.

Ed Young, senior pastor of Second Baptist Church in Houston, received 62 percent of the messengers’ vote at the annual meeting in Indianapolis. Moody received nearly 22 percent while a third nominee, Nelson Price, pastor of Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga., received 16 percent.

Moody was nominated by Mississippi comedian Jerry Clower, who said Moody loved people on both sides of the SBC controversy and that the witness of Southern Baptists would be helped by the election of a pastor who was not from the South.

Clower also said he constantly met laypeople in his travels who didn’t want a pastors’ fight, as he called it.

“There are 39,000 of y’all (pastors), but there are 15 million of us, and we want it stopped,” Clower said.

Moody had said prior to the annual meeting: “My feeling is if there is hope for reconciliation in our convention, then one last-ditch stand … ought to be done. I believe every word of the Bible. As far as the Bible goes, I am as conservative as you can get. I also believe in freedom. I love my denomination. I want to bring us together.”

Fermin Whittaker, retired executive director of the California Southern Baptist Convention, said Moody was “willing to listen to my storyline” as a native of Panama serving as the leader of the state’s Baptists.

“He was not the kind of leader who said, ‘I don’t have time for you.’ He was never negative. He was always encouraging and always a friend, sincere in his heart to reach the lost for Christ,” Whittaker said.

Moody also was among 11 nominees for SBC president in 1966, when messengers in Detroit elected Nashville pastor Franklin Paschall to the post.

Founding member of Youth for Christ

A native Texan, born in Paducah, Moody sensed a call to preach at age 17. As a student at Baylor University, he flew a Piper Cub airplane to lead evangelistic meetings across the Southwest and Midwest, leaving after class on Fridays and returning on Sunday nights.

As a founding member of Youth for Christ at age 22, Moody preached to thousands of students across the Southwest and, in 1946, led a YFC team to war-torn northern Europe while Billy Graham led a team to southern Europe.

After earning a Master of Divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., in 1956, Moody was called as pastor of First Baptist Church in Owensboro, Ky., serving there nearly five years. In 1961, Moody was part of a Graham team in West Palm Beach when members of First Baptist were drawn to his preaching and called him as their pastor.

A movie was made of Moody’s life in 1967 by Gospel Films titled Riding the Pulpit. He was the author of several books, including 1999’s Club Sandwich: Goes Great with Chicken Soup in which he told a number of his favorite stories, some of which involved Burt Reynolds and Randy and Dennis Quaid.

Moody was preceded in death by his wife of 64 years. He is survived by a son, Patrick, and daughter, Martha; and three grandchildren.

Highly educated and affluent Americans are more likely than others to search for a new church—and chances are good they will do their homework before joining a different congregation, according to findings from Pew Research Center.

Recent Pew Research Center analysis of survey data collected in 2015 reveals education and income levels relate directly to whether Americans look for a new religious congregation and how they look for another place to worship.

‘Where people look, think and act like me’

To a large degree, income and education not only affect whether Americans shop around for a place to worship, but also tend to define the type of church they select, a Baylor University sociologist noted.

“People choose churches where they feel comfortable. … Often, that means a church where people look, think and act like me,” said Kevin Dougherty, associate professor of sociology at Baylor.

While many churches continue to be segregated by race and ethnicity, Dougherty noted, many worshippers today also gravitate toward congregations that are largely homogenous in terms of income, education and political affiliation.

About half (49 percent) of American adults have searched for a new church at some point. However, the Pew researchers’ analysis shows a sharp contrast between the 59 percent of college-educated Americans who have sought a new church and the 38 percent with a high school education or less who have looked for a new congregation.

Doing their homework

Among those Americans who have looked for a new place to worship, 44 percent of those with an annual family income of $75,000 or more checked online to gain information about a congregation. Among those with family income in the $30,000 to $74,999 range, 37 percent did online research. Fewer than three in 10 (28 percent) of Americans with family income less than $30,000 checked the Internet for more information about a church.

The percentage of Americans who talked with friends or colleagues about a particular congregation to learn more also relates to family income—71 percent for those with family income of $75,000 or more, 67 percent for those in the $30,000 to $74,999 range and 65 percent with family income of $30,000 or less.

“The Pew findings look consistent with what I know of the literature and follow an accepted logic; that is, people with higher socio-economic status have more time, money and resources to invest in thinking deeply about their life choices—because they can,” said Paul Froese, professor of sociology and research fellow for Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion.

The link to education is even stronger. Researchers discovered 71 percent of Americans who graduated from college talked to church members before choosing a new place to worship, compared to 63 percent of those with a high school education or less.

“This goes against the argument that higher educated individuals are leaving the church. Those with higher education and higher income have not necessarily given up on organized religion. They are just making different choices,” Dougherty said. Factors other than denominational affiliation tend to enter into the selection, unlike previous generations, he noted.

Location and worship style are key factors that determine where college graduates choose to worship, with 77 percent saying those matters played an important role in their choice, Pew researchers discovered.

Fewer than two-thirds (64 percent) of Americans with a high school education or less said location was a major consideration when they chose a church, while 71 percent said worship style was important.

Religious education for children ranked higher among those with a high school education or less (62 percent) than among college graduates (51 percent) as a reason for choosing a church.

Eager to serve? Maybe not.

Neither a majority of Americans with a high school education or less or those with college degrees cited opportunities to volunteer as a major factor in selecting a church, but opportunities to serve ranked higher among those with less formal education (46 percent) than among those with a college degree (39 percent).

Three-fourths of Americans with family income of $75,000 or more cited location as a major factor in choosing a church, compared to 67 percent of those with an income less than $30,000.

A majority of Americans with family income less than $30,000  (55 percent) said having friends of family in a congregation played an important role in selecting a church, compared to 47 percent of those with a family income of $75,000 or more.

Almost half of Americans with family income less than $30,000 (48 percent) named opportunities to volunteer as a key factor in choosing a church, compared to 39 percent of those with a family income of $75,000 or more.

Location, location, location

Generally, Americans are much more willing to travel significant distances to attend a place of worship than people in other countries, Dougherty noted.

“To a large degree, that is a reflection of the free market approach in religion here in the United States, where there’s a plethora of congregational choices,” he said.

Nearly half (47 percent) of churchgoing Americans live six minutes to 15 minutes from their place of worship, and nearly one-fourth (23 percent) travel 16 minutes to 30 minutes to church, Dougherty noted, reporting findings from the Baylor Religion Survey.

Not surprisingly, suburban mega-churches tend to attract families in higher socio-economic groups because they have a wide selection of high-quality programs to offer, and those families have the time and resources to drive a significant distance to a church that provides what they want, Dougherty said.

At the same time, race and ethnicity may increase the distance worshippers are willing to travel, while income tends to limit the distance, he observed. For instance, among African-American Protestants, 40 percent report commuting 16 to 30 minutes, and 19 percent say they drive more than 30 minutes to attend a place of worship.

“A significant number of religious commuters drive from the suburbs and exurbs to attend the historic family church,” Dougherty said.

However, people with limited income and time constraints are least able to drive a significant distance to worship, he observed.

“Certainly, people with higher income have higher mobility,” Dougherty said. “On the other hand, someone who has to report to work on Sunday afternoon at a convenience store can’t afford to drive 45 minutes and then go out to eat afterward. It’s just not practical.”

GORDO, Ala. (BP)—A couple of years ago, Terry Billings saw his old truck sitting in the field, weeds growing up through it. Then he heard God’s instruction—to take that old truck and make something new out of it.

“At that point, it was worthless,” Billings said.

He had spent a lot of years in that truck going mudding and drinking out in the country. He’d lived a lot of his life far from the shadows of any church, except maybe to some weddings and funerals.

But when his son accepted Christ as Savior, the boy invited his dad to attend his baptism.

“I figured that was a good dad move to go see my son get baptized,” he said. “I went, and it was kind of nice to be there. But by 1 o’clock, I was drinking again.”

The next Sunday, his son invited him back, and Billings went.

“I’d kind of enjoyed getting dressed up that last Sunday,” he said.

A third Sunday rolled around, and Billings went to church again.

“I left after church that day, and my plan was to go back to the restaurant and chill out and drink for the rest of the day,” said Billings, who ran Billy’s BBQ in Gordo, Ala. “But boy, did God have something waiting for me—at Walmart.”

As he walked the aisles of the store, he said he felt the conviction of God press on his heart.

“All of a sudden, I felt so visible, like everything I’d ever done was so visible,” Billings said. “His eyes were on me. I tell everyone I had a Damascus Road experience that day, but it was a blue light special—I got saved right there in Walmart at 45 years old. And my life has never been the same.”

Traded mudding and drinking for preaching

He gets choked up talking about it. When God’s light broke through his darkness, he parked the old farm truck and traded his mudding and drinking for a pastorate.

For six years now, he has served at Forest Baptist Church, Gordo, in Pickens Baptist Association—a church that’s been among some of the top in Alabama for baptisms in recent years.

God made something new out of him, Billings said. And as he looked at that old truck that day, he knew God had plans for it too.

“God gave me this vision to reach out to people who are getting ignored—the good ol’ boys. I’ve always been one of them,” Billings said. “I was an alcoholic, and God reached out and touched me. If he hadn’t and if people hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been saved. So there’s nowhere that’s too far for me to go to reach them.”

He towed that old truck out and began the process of rebuilding the whole thing, to be used for God’s glory and to help others meet Jesus. He recruited some friends to help. And as he stepped out on faith, God provided donations for the rebuild.

“Over two years, God provided $100,000,” he said. “When people heard what we wanted to do, they just kept writing us checks. People from California, Florida, Tennessee—they would stop in at the restaurant and leave us with a donation for the truck.”

And so the Heaven Bound Mud Bogger was born—a massive truck with a picture of a cross on the side and verses about finding eternal life in Jesus. On the tailgate it says, “Covered in mud, but washed in the blood.”

It turns heads everywhere it goes.

Once the truck had new life, Billings and his ministry partners formed a nonprofit ministry, and they take the truck to parades and events to share the gospel. They set up tents, share tracts and then connect with the local Baptist association so they can do follow up.

“We’re booked almost every weekend from now to Christmas,” he said.

But even if they weren’t, attracting people would be no problem.

“Every time I stop anywhere, everybody in the gas station or Dollar General unloads and goes out to look at it. Then I get to tell them my story and what Jesus did for me,” Billings said. “All it takes is a trip to Hardee’s, and we have church.”

Reaching a different segment of people

Sammy Gilbreath, director of the office of evangelism for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, said Billings’ ministry is an “incredible way to reach a different segment of people.”

“Early on in our ministry in the evangelism office, we began to push event evangelism,” Gilbreath said. “People raised their eyebrows when they thought about motorcycle ministry.”

But now motorcycle ministry is huge, and later the same thing happened with horse whisperer events, he said.

“Mud bogging is a classic example. It becomes a great evangelistic tool reaching into a segment of our culture that is not being touched by any other phase of evangelism,” Gilbreath said. “I’m thrilled Terry is doing it. I think it will draw attention and spark ideas and creativity for other people too, and that can cause a domino effect.”

Billings said he’s grateful, but no one is more surprised than him at how God has directed his path.

“This old truck I had, it probably wasn’t worth $100,” he said. “But it’s amazing when you give something to God, what he can do. We’re just in awe.”

Ken Starr spoke with freelance reporter Maina Mwaura for Religion News Service about his faith, his new book on the Clinton investigation, his advice for independent counsel Robert Mueller, his departure from Baylor University and his views on U.S. immigration policy. View it here. (RNS)

WASHINGTON (RNS)—For creator Harry Lennix, the new movie Revival!—a retelling of the Gospel of John with a mostly black cast—is a film whose time has come.

“I think to be able to imagine yourself as somebody like Christ is a great, powerful tool that has been denied us, not necessarily even from outside sources,” said Lennix, a black writer, producer and actor in the film.

Neither John nor the other gospel writers describe Jesus’ skin color, but Lennix, in an interview just after the film’s world premiere Dec. 4 at the Museum of the Bible, said depicting him as a man of color is something black people often “don’t have the daring to delve into, and that’s a shame.”

The movie features singers Chaka Khan as Herodias, Michelle Williams as Mary Magdalen and Mali Music as Jesus. It was released Dec. 7 in 10 cities from New York to Los Angeles and is expected to expand to more cities in January.

‘Vital to have the authentic voices’

Lennix, co-star of NBC’s The Blacklist, said the production—which mixes onstage, movie-set and technological performances—was conceived at his New Antioch Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles, with an aim to include spirituals and gospel music.

“New Antioch is made up of mostly black people,” he said of the Pentecostal congregation. “When it comes to singing that kind of music, it is vital to have the authentic voices.”

Lennix’s twin goals for the look and the sound of the movie were met in his choice for the character of Jesus. Mali Music is a Grammy-nominated gospel and R&B artist who added original songs to the movie, including “Not My Will,” sung in the Garden of Gethsemane as Jesus contemplates his pending crucifixion.

“Acting as Christ and portraying Christ is so powerful, but portraying Christ in a musical is even more because no one thinks how he would sing, what words it would be, how his voice would be,” Music said before the premiere, attended by 350 faith, business and community leaders.

In addition to Music’s and other contemporary gospel tunes, spirituals are used to accompany the story: “Down By the Riverside,” in the scene where Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist; “Oh Mary Don’t You Weep,” as Mary and Martha share a short-lived grief over the death of their brother Lazarus; and “Wade in the Water.” During the latter, dancers surround an onstage boat and use blue strips of fabric to simulate waves as Jesus walks on water.

‘Color correction’

Lennix said he chose the Gospel of John in part because it was the poetic book that included “dense imagery” that was “perfect for film,” with the wedding at Cana where Jesus turned water into wine and the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

The former Catholic seminary student—Lennix had considered joining the priesthood—cited Romans 8, which speaks of conforming to God’s image, as a key motivation for the people who partnered on Revival!

“That’s a mighty thing—so that you can be conformed to look like him in his image,’ and nobody does that with us,” Lennix said of black people. “So I’ve taken the liberty.”

T’Keyah Crystal Keymáh plays Rebah, a female member of the Sanhedrin, the traditionally male tribunal of rabbis, who calls for Jesus’ death. She embraced the focus on what she called “the color correction” of the film.

“It’s not colorblind casting, in my opinion; it is correct,” said Keymáh, who was an original cast member of the sketch comedy series In Living Color. “The people of that time were brown so this is, to me, not a black version of something. It’s just telling of a story.”

Revival! is not the first time a predominantly black cast has recounted biblical stories. Playwright Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity, which premiered more than a half-century ago, was adapted into a 2013 movie that mostly focused on the baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

More than a decade ago, Lennix played a Pharisee as part of an all-black cast of voices for the audio Bible “Inspired By … The Bible Experience.”

Lennix, who created his own adaptation of John’s gospel, unexpectedly joined the cast as Pontius Pilate when Scottish actor and Braveheart star Angus Macfadyen was not able to film his scenes because a snowstorm canceled his flight.

“It’s kind of a big part and so I had to figure out a way that somebody could know those lines,” Lennix recalled. “Since I wrote them I figured, ‘Why not?’”

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS)—When Bob Terry retires as editor of The Alabama Baptist at the end of this year, his peers may point to his 50 years of faithful service in denominational journalism. But Terry’s most lasting legacy in the hearts of Alabama Baptists likely may be the vulnerable honesty with which he shared his grief after the sudden death of his first wife in 1998.

Terry and his wife, Eleanor Foster Terry, then a professor and dean at Birmingham-Southern College, had been at a meeting of the Baptist World Alliance in South Africa when a car struck their taxi, knocking them from the vehicle.

Both were injured. Eleanor slipped into a coma before being airlifted back to Birmingham, where she died on July 20, 1998.

For the first three years after Eleanor’s death, Terry would visit her grave on the anniversary of her passing. Every year it rained.

More than once, Terry recalled later in a column, “I sat there praying that God would strike me with a lightning bolt.”

“The loneliness was almost unbearable,” he wrote.

Terry shared the anger, confusion and devastation that comes with such a loss with his readers, said Gary Fenton, a longtime friend, pastor of Terry’s home church and board member of The Alabama Baptist.

“Here he is, an ordained minister and editor of the Baptist paper—people thought he was going to come through with these marvelous clichés to make it all go away,” said Fenton. “Those were probably his best-received editorials. You saw his pain. He avoided the easy answers.”

Never meant to become a journalist

Terry never intended a career in denominational journalism. Instead, he wanted to be a pastor.

But he wanted to learn more about his denomination. So, he took a temporary break from doctoral studies at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary to work with the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s newspaper, the Western Recorder.

“By then, I’d been in seminary, but I still felt like an outsider looking in,” Terry said in an interview. “I thought taking the position would give me the opportunity to learn the inside workings of my denomination and to visit a lot of churches.”

That temporary break turned into 50 years of church journalism.

After seven years at the Western Recorder, Terry was called to edit the Missouri statewide Baptist newspaper, Word & Way, where he spent two decades, navigating serious statewide church controversies before being called to Alabama in 1995.

“It worked. I learned my denomination,” Terry said. “I just didn’t use it as I had anticipated.”

Terry, who spent his childhood on a cotton farm in northwest Alabama, said he and his family were not regular churchgoers until they moved to Michigan in the 1960s for his father to work in the automotive industry.

There, when Terry was 12, the family joined a newly planted Southern Baptist congregation that had been established primarily as a mission to displaced Southerners. Terry’s leadership skills were quickly recognized and cultivated.

By 13, Terry was a messenger—an official voting representative from his congregation—to the organizational convention of the Michigan Baptist Convention. By 14, he knew he was called to the ministry.

By 21, he was ordained and finishing an undergraduate degree in history and communications in preparation for seminary. He also was beginning the first of what would be a lifetime of interim pastoral positions he would hold alongside his other work.

Fenton first met Terry when he sat on the search committee that called Terry to Missouri. At 32, Terry was the youngest person ever tasked with editing a statewide Baptist newspaper. His appointment came during some bitter internecine struggles among Missouri Baptists that preceded the national upheavals in the denomination beginning in the 1980s.

“Sometimes people got frustrated with him. Some people wished he would only report the good news or what the leaders wanted,” said Fenton. “But I distinguish Bob Terry from a lot of denominational editors in that he is a committed journalist. He didn’t allow the Word & Way or The Alabama Baptist to become merely a church newsletter.”

Terry frequently invokes a journalism adage, “Tell the truth and trust the people.” He says that’s good theology—and good journalism.

“Manipulating readers by withholding information has no place in a denomination committed to the priesthood of all believers,” Terry once wrote in an editorial. “The trustworthiness of Baptist influence is proven by sharing the difficult story.”

Focusing on what is really important

Terry tried to find a balance between reporting on denominational infighting and telling the stories of the work that ordinary church members were doing.

In 2000, when Terry reported on a controversial revision of the Southern Baptist Convention’s “Baptist Faith and Message,” which bars women from senior pastoral positions and advocates the submission of wives to husbands, he contrasted that story with a report from a concurrent meeting of the Women’s Missionary Union in which women rescued from the sex industry and drug addiction were introduced and given voice.

“Sometimes the most important information to relay is not the debate on the floor, but the difference Baptists are making in changing lives and affecting society,” Terry said. “We have to tell what happens on the convention floor, but what’s most important? What’s going to help our readers grow as disciples?”

Many of Terry’s columns remind Baptists of their own history and organizational pillars—including the historic leadership roles that women have filled. And many of his columns reminded Baptists that whatever their beliefs, they have real work to do in the world.

“We are to radiate the glory of God into all actions and situations,” Terry said. “If we limit God—banish God—to heaven, then we are doing what the secularists do: saying God is about belief, not about life. That’s heresy.”

In retirement, Terry, who remarried in 2002, hopes to finish a book about grief, aimed at helping others navigate tragedy. He expects to expand his blog, NowConsiderThis.com, and to remain active on the boards of Bread for the World and the Baptist World Alliance.

“This has been a very fulfilling life, a fulfilling ministry,” Terry said.

And he says he is leaving the paper in good hands. Terry will be succeeded as editor by longtime Alabama Baptist writer and editor Jennifer Davis Rash. She will be the first female editor of a statewide Baptist newspaper.

Terry leaves a legacy she expects to build on.

“Bob taught me how being part of the ministry changes how we tell the story. We have the responsibility to tell the truth but also to be part of the family,” Rash said. “We have to be able to come back tomorrow and have a conversation.”

WACO—One of the newest professors at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary hopes to add to the diversity of voices at the Texas Baptist school and make an impact on ministry to Texas’ growing Hispanic population.

Jared Alcántara, former associate professor of homiletics and director of the Master of Arts in Ministry program at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, joined the Truett Seminary faculty in July as associate professor of preaching and inaugural holder of the Paul W. Powell Endowed Chair in Preaching.

Alcántara arrived at Truett along with Scott Gibson, former director of the Center for Preaching at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, who is now professor of preaching and holder of the David E. Garland Chair of Preaching, who will direct the Ph.D. in preaching program, which Truett Seminary hopes to launch next fall.

After first hearing God’s call to pastoral ministry, which he said came while studying at Wheaton College, Alcántara served at various Baptist churches while earning his Master of Divinity degree at Gordon-Conwell Seminary and completing his doctorate at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Alcántara hopes he can invest in the ministry of Texas Baptist churches by equipping preachers.

“One question that I always ask is, ‘How can I best steward the talents or the minas that have been put in my hands and multiply them in a way that honors God?’ One of the ways that I’ve answered this question has been through my teaching, my writing, through my itinerant preaching and also through my chance to mentor students who will then go out and preach or teach,” he said.

Alcántara hopes his work alongside respected colleagues such as Truett Dean Todd Still and Joel Gregory, who holds the George W. Truett Endowed Chair in Preaching and Evangelism and directs the seminary’s Kyle Lake Center for Effective Preaching, will lead to opportunities for him to preach in Baptist churches around Texas.

In a state with a longstanding Hispanic heritage and that receives new immigrants from Latin America every year, Alcántara anticipates teaching some English-speaking students whose first language might have been Spanish.

“I am excited to find ways to serve Latino and Latina students at Truett, as well as Latino and Latina pastors in different places,” he said.

Alcántara, who has written extensively on culturally contextual preaching, noted his next book will be released in October 2019 in English and the following spring in Spanish.

“The hope is that I’ll be publishing a preaching textbook that will serve English speaking seminarians but then also pastors in training at Latino and Latina Bible institutes or ‘seminarios’ here, and then also connecting with Latin American pastors as well,” he said.

BROWNWOOD—A 10-week internship with the Christian human rights organization 21Wilberforce fueled a Howard Payne University student’s passion for advocacy and commitment to religious freedom.

“The freedom of belief leads to a lot of other freedoms,” said Caleb Kostreva, a senior from Clifton, Colo. “Countries that have more religious freedom have better economies, better gender equality and all these other positive things connected to religious freedom—not perfect, but better.”

21Wilberforce takes its name from 19^th century British parliamentarian William Wilberforce, who led a successful abolitionist movement in England using collaborative partnerships, grassroots empowerment and policy campaigns. By adopting those strategies, the organization—based in the Washington, D.C., area—seeks to defend people of faith internationally and expand religious freedom.

Kostreva’s path to working with 21Wilberforce came about in an unlikely manner. As a freshman at HPU, he happened upon a business card for the organization, which piqued his interest.

“I knew who William Wilberforce was, and I really respect him, and so I thought, ‘This must be an interesting organization,’” Kostreva said. “So I looked them up and kept them in the back of my mind.”

Later, one of Kostreva’s friends interned with 21Wilberforce, further strengthening his ties to the group. Meeting with representatives of 21Wilberforce visiting HPU solidified the connection.

Internship offered unique opportunity

Kostreva, along with four other college students from institutions across the United States, worked with 21Wilberforce, meeting legislators and planning events. Through the internship, he gained firsthand experience in learning how U.S. policies on global issues such as human rights are shaped.

“It’s something that you won’t find interning for other organizations,” he said. “They see it as a professional-development internship, making it a really unique opportunity.”

While working at 21Wilberforce, Kostreva planned a rally highlighting the plight of prisoners of conscience in China. Speakers included Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Rep. Nancy Polosi, D-Calif.; and former Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va.

The rally was held on the one-year anniversary of Nobel Peace Prize recipient and political prisoner Liu Xiaobo’s death. Xiaobo died in imprisonment following his 2008 arrest for helping to write and publish Charter 08, advocating for the shifting of China’s political system toward democracy.

‘Opens the door for Christians to spread the light’

“Religious freedom isn’t about advancing one specific faith, but it allows the common exchange of ideas,” Kostreva said. “In a society that allows people to have diverse beliefs, it means that people of all faiths have the ability to believe what they want, and it especially opens the door for Christians to spread the light.”

Kostreva is pursuing a double major in social sciences with a global studies emphasis and in HPU’s Guy D. Newman Honors Academy with an English minor. He is presiding senior senator in the HPU Student Government Association, and he participates in Model U.N. and the Baptist Student Ministry. He also works as a residence hall assistant and with the HPU Office of Institutional Advancement.

Matthew McNiece, director of Guy D. Newman Honors Academy and associate professor of history and government, said Kostreva exemplifies the ideals of the Honors Academy.

“Caleb’s desire to participate in an internship of this quality with an organization with this mission is a perfect demonstration of the alignment of the academy’s motto—Facing the future with faith and knowledge,” McNiece said. “We’re immensely proud of his work this summer, and eager to see where and how he applies this passion next.”

Kostreva’s interest and experiences with Wilberforce gave him a vision for the future.

“I want to work in policy development and human rights advocacy,” he said. “I’m not entirely sure what path that’s going to take me on, but I’m really interested in international issues, so I can see myself being led abroad. I’m waiting to see what doors are opened.”