DALLAS—About 150 Texans on Mission disaster relief leaders gathered Feb. 15 for their annual summit, and a biblical passage became the centerpiece of the meeting.

David Wells, director of disaster relief for Texans on Mission, focused on Matthew 11:28-30, in which Jesus encourages his disciples to take on his yoke and learn from him.

Wells displayed a yoke—a bar that joins two animals together to pull a load.

“The tagline on our trailers, ‘We are on mission with Christ,’ comes from this concept,” Wells said.

The disaster relief group included area coordinators, specialty coordinators and various blue caps—unit directors—from across the state. They spent about 45 minutes going through the Matthew passage and applying it to their work.

Jesus starts by saying, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Wells said Jesus offered his disciples an invitation to go with him—the “with Christ” from the Texans on Mission tagline.

Jesus also understood his disciples’ condition—“weary and burdened”—but offered a rest that involved doing something.

Jesus said: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Truths from Scripture

Wells offered the leaders a few “immediate truths” from Jesus’ words.

“You must put it on,” he said, referring to the yoke. People must decide to follow Jesus and live out their faith. “You do it with and not for the Lord,” thus the use of “with” in the Texans on Mission tagline.

God’s work involves responsibilities. “This rest is not laziness,” Wells said. “There is a rest under the load.”

And the truth found in Christ’s yoke attracts people to it, he added.

Disciples of Christ, including disaster relief volunteers, have one leader—Jesus, Wells emphasized. And they go in one direction—the direction Jesus leads.

One of the special things about people who are yoked together for one purpose is they never walk alone, Wells said. And together, they never fail, never lose, never lie, never quit.

“You can’t wear two yokes,” Wells said. And when you take on Jesus’ yoke, you find saying “yes” to God’s work is better than saying “no.”

“You become a praying person,” he said. And, you realize you can’t please those not in the yoke.

“Your temperament changes,” he said. “You find no task is too small, … and no task is too large.” The outcome of what a Jesus disciple does is always in Christ’s hands.

When animals are yoked together, they are pulling something.

“The load is always behind you,” Wells said. “You find no enemy too smart. You find no battle too frightening.”

Help is always close, and you are never separated from that help, he added.

“Stay out of the yoke and you struggle praying,” he continued. In Christ’s yoke, “your talk and your walk with your Lord becomes more important than your work for your Lord.”

Wells encouraged the leaders to not look back and never stop learning. “You know him (Jesus) better every day.”

Christ’s yoke “absorbs all stress,” “removes all pressures,” “relieves all anxiety and worry,” and “erases all fear,” Wells said.

A federal judge in Maryland granted a preliminary injunction to bar immigration agents from conducting warrantless raids on Cooperative Baptist Fellowship churches, as well as Quaker assemblies and a Sikh temple.

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang issued the Feb. 24 ruling in the first of two cases religious groups filed to prevent immigration raids in houses of worship after the Trump administration lifted restrictions on enforcement in sensitive locations.

A coalition of groups affiliated with the Society of Friends—Quakers—initially filed the suit in Maryland on Jan. 27, which the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and a Sikh temple in Sacramento, Calif., soon joined.

Later, a broad coalition of more than two dozen religious groups—including Convención Hispana Bautista de Texas and Fellowship Southwest—brought a separate suit. The Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law School filed that suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Likely to suffer irreparable harm

In granting the preliminary injunction, Chuang was acknowledging the plaintiffs were “likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief” and that the parties involved were “likely to succeed on the merits” of the case.

The judge noted as evidence of “irreparable harm” testimony presented by Paul Baxley, executive coordinator of CBF, who said some congregations have reported fewer people attending worship services and participating in programs such as English-as-a-Second-Language classes.

“Notably, one CBF congregation has reported a 66 percent decrease in attendance at its ESL program, while another has reported fewer participants in its low-income ministry activities, including its food pantry and clothing shelter,” the ruling stated.

Plaintiffs in the case asserted they are likely to succeed based on the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

While granting the preliminary injunction, the judge limited it to the named plaintiffs in his court. So, it does not directly affect the religious groups involved in the other suit in the District of Columbia.

Baxley called the ruling “a powerful validation of the values that have defined the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship—a steadfast commitment to religious liberty, local church autonomy, and the clear separation of church and state.”

“For decades, our congregations have faithfully engaged in ministry among immigrants and refugees, offering a bold and courageous witness to the remarkable and relentless love of Christ,” Baxley stated.

“This decision reinforces our effort to restore the sensitive location protections that have allowed our congregations to worship and minister freely. While our work continues, we celebrate this victory as a testament to the bold faith that rises from freedom rather than coercion.”

A newly released report by Barna and Gloo, a Barna research partner, highlights intergenerational small groups as a key opportunity for churches to strengthen discipleship.

The State of the Church report “Discipleship Across Generations” is one of a series of planned releases for each month of 2025.

The report analyzes four studies conducted in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. Each study focused on a different generation/age group and its attitudes toward the church and discipleship.

Regarding the youngest group considered, the report notes a significant difference between where children’s ministry workers and parents believe the bulk of children’s discipleship should take place.

Ninety-five percent of children’s ministry leaders said discipleship primarily should occur at home. Yet, 45 percent of all churched adults said church, instead, should be the primary source of discipleship.

Among parents of 5-year-olds to 14-year-olds, the percentage saying church should be the primary source of discipleship was even higher, at 51 percent.

Lead researcher Daniel Copeland said for their research, Barna defines “discipleship as the process and relationship through which we lead people into a relationship with Jesus, including the traits of Christianity, the practices of Christianity.”

The data illustrates children’s ministry leaders are more convicted than parents about where discipleship starts, he explained. “Parents are unsure and children’s ministry leaders are quite confident” that discipleship should begin at home.

While data is not as clear on why parents and ministry leaders are split, Copeland noted a strong hypothesis is that as church programming has become stronger through the past few decades, “there’s been a moving consensus that parents don’t need to be as involved,” because parents can count on the church to do those things in “almost the same way that we think about school.”

Parents seem to have adopted a “drop off discipleship” mindset, “that you can just drop your kid off at church, and the church will take care of the rest,” in contrast to ministry leaders’ certainty discipleship still should begin at home.

So, Copeland noted, it becomes necessary “to balance what programs are good for versus the partnership that churches and parents really need to be focusing on.”

The report suggests that in “thinking about who needs to step up in child discipleship, children’s ministry leaders and parents seem to point at each other.” But, it says, a good place to point may be outward.

“Barna’s research suggests that other adults, mentors and friends can be powerful allies in growing kids’ faith, creating a ‘third space’ for discipleship between home and church,” the report says.

This under-tapped “third space” resource may be found in other adults within the congregation, the report suggests.

‘Aging Well’ insights

Barna’s Aging Well study showed aging churchgoers (55+) continue to report deep commitment to spiritual growth, with 85 percent agreeing “it’s important for me to see continual progress in my own spiritual life.”

But, “less than one in five Christians (18 percent) ages 55+ rate their church as ‘very effective’ at creating relationships with other generations.”

The Aging Well study also showed opportunities for churches to better care for aging adults’ mental and physical health, with only 16 percent and 13 percent reporting their church is “very good” at meeting those needs, respectively.

Regular social outings, shut-in ministry and small groups are ways to address these needs, Barna findings suggest.

The report noted a strong majority of Christians ages 55+ expressing that ongoing spiritual growth is important means “engaging this demographic through meaningful leadership roles and discipleship opportunities” might not only support senior adults’ needs, but also “leverages their wisdom and experience to benefit the spiritual life of the entire church.”

“As we examine how congregations can better promote discipleship across generations, it’s important to remember that strengthening ministry to senior adults isn’t just about serving them—it’s about empowering them to serve. Their role in your church’s discipleship efforts isn’t peripheral; it’s foundational,” the report says.

For Millennials and Gen Z, the report notes a “worrisome trend.” The data from RightNow Media and Barna study Discipleship in Community shows only a quarter of people who are being discipled are part of a small group, the top-of-mind method of discipleship in a Christian context.

Looking demographically, younger churchgoers who aren’t in small groups or Bible studies seem to “especially be wrestling with social insecurities” and anxieties with “church people,” the report explains.

The data shows 21 percent of female Gen Z/Millennials and 26 percent of male Gen Z/ Millennials cited “I don’t think I would fit in” as a reason not to participate in small groups. That compares to 12 percent of female Gen X and 5 percent of female Boomers/Elders and 6 percent of Gen X males and 9 percent of male Boomers/Elders who cited fear of fitting in.

Younger generations also are more likely to say they aren’t in a small group because they are intimidated, fear getting hurt and worry people wouldn’t like them than older generations, irrespective of gender.

The report suggests churches “communicate the unique value of small groups,” and notes “small groups may be one way of introducing bridge-building relationships, which are rare to find in other spheres of life.

“Churches who value this approach may need middle-aged and older small group attendees (who are more likely to be represented in church anyway) to extend themselves intentionally toward younger churchgoers who may be nervous or standoffish.”

The report notes the “least likely age group of churchgoers to say their relationship with Jesus brings them joy and satisfaction” is Gen Z.

“Additionally, they are least likely to feel Jesus speaks to them in a way that is relevant to their life.”

Over the years, Copeland said by email, “Barna has tested many hypotheses on the ‘why’ of these trends. Our research consistently acknowledges that next generations have a generally positive perspective of Christ, but a more neutral or negative perspective of the Christian Church.”

“In Spiritually Open (a Barna report released last year) our research identified the most common reasons next generations cite as to why they doubt … Christian teachings is the ‘hypocrisy of religious people.’”

Copeland continued: “They struggle to see Christ in today’s Christians. I would argue that this is the source of disconnection. They enjoy the person of Christ, but without faithful models or faithful discipleship they are left struggling to put faith into practice.”

Churches have an opportunity to welcome next generations in a way that doesn’t confirm the low expectations these generations have of today’s Christians, he said.

How to thrive

There is hope to bridge the disconnect and encourage healthy discipleship models. Copeland said, “We would say the research suggests, and other scholars in this area align with, is that multigenerational relationships is a huge piece of discipleship.”

When different generations mix, sharing their burdens and wisdom, “we are all more likely to thrive.”

Church programming’s tendency to split by age groups, though well-intentioned, has undercut the valuable intermingling of generations.

The data has been clear for some time, Copeland noted, but programming around it is difficult, especially when Gen Z feedback says “that sounds really overwhelming.”

“So, how do we encourage and equip them (Gen Z) to find belonging,” and at the same time encourage older adults to find a place at the table for younger people? Copeland said the church who wants to work on this might consider bringing the different generations together to discuss how to form intergenerational discipleship groups.

Other insights in the report seek to answer how churches can “equip older adults to serve as mentors in faith while still experiencing spiritual vitality as elder disciples themselves,” and “what are the distinct discipleship needs and preferences of Gen Z, Millennials and beyond?”

The report concludes, “Churches can create spaces where different generational perspectives are shared and valued—and where the life and lessons of Jesus are taught and realized in community.”

Opportunities to participate in events—the next of which is a webinar happening March 12—surrounding State of the Church releases can be found at https://stateofthechurch.com/events.

Seventy Christians were found bound and beheaded inside a church in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern Lubero Territory of North Kivu in mid-February.

Local sources attributed the attack to the Allied Democratic Forces, an Islamist rebel group. Militants reportedly rounded up the Christians and took them to the church in Kasanga, where they were decapitated by machete.

Most news agencies and Open Doors, an international Christian organization focused on religious persecution, referred to the church simply as Protestant.

In an email to the Baptist Standard Léon Lapamabila, a Baptist minister in Kinshasa, capital of the DRC, identified the church as affiliated with the Communauté Baptiste au Center de l’Afrique—the Community of Baptist Churches in Central Africa.

Lapamabila, the secretary general of the Baptist conventions in the DRC, the Communauté Baptiste des Fidèles en Afrique, reported those who were killed included women, children and the elderly.

Wissam al-Saliby, president of the 21Wilberforce human rights organization, noted the timing of the attack in Kasanga.

“Mid-February, we were commemorating the martyrdom of 21 Coptic Christian men who refused to convert, and as a result, were brutally beheaded on a Mediterranean beach by Islamist groups in Libya in February 2015. We are appalled that, during the same period, the Islamist group ADF committed a horrific massacre of more than 70 men and women in a Baptist church in Eastern Congo,” he said.

“Was this a deliberate message by Islamists to say that their evil is still present 10 years after the martyrdom of the 21 men? The transnational and persisting phenomena of such groups is a condemnation for a decade of the international community’s effort to suppress ISIS and its affiliated groups.”

M23 rebels occupy Goma and Bukavu

In addition to violence perpetrated by ADF militant jihadists, the M23 rebel paramilitary group recently seized control of Goma in North Kivu Province and Bukavu in South Kivu Province.

“Christian leaders have told us harrowing stories about killings, rapes, and forced labor,” al-Saliby said.

The United Nations, the United States, the DRC and Human Rights Watch all point to evidence Rwanda backs the M23 group, but the Rwandan government issued repeated denials.

DRC Prime Minister Judith Tuluka Suminwa told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva about 7,000 people have been killed in the eastern part of her country since January, and 450,000 people have been displaced.

“We mourn with our Congolese brothers and sisters the lives lost. We are also greatly worried at the sudden halt of U.S. government foreign aid that has compounded the vulnerabilities of the civilian population and increased the risks for famine and the spread of diseases,” al-Saliby said.

“21Wilberforce is coming alongside churches to support their advocacy. We are regularly in conversation with Baptist church leaders from the DRC, and visited with the Goma Baptist leaders as recently as July of last year. In the past week, we have been in touch daily with Baptist leaders in the DRC.

“Together with the Baptist World Alliance, we are engaging with various governments appealing for an immediate ceasefire in the DRC, for humanitarian access to the areas under the control of armed groups, and for governments to significantly increase funding for humanitarian aid and crises.”

The Baptist World Alliance called on Baptists worldwide to pray specifically for the “dire” situation in Goma.

“An estimated 3,000 persons have died during the recent conflict, and many more are displaced. Please join us in praying for just peace within the region and for the resources to provide humanitarian aid to those in need,” BWA stated in its weekly “Baptists One in Prayer” update on Feb. 23.

“Your prayers will uplift the Baptist leaders ministering to their communities during these difficult times.”

Texas Baptists’ evangelism director, Oza Jones, signed a memorandum of understanding with Pete Kelly, CEO of Apartment Life, Feb. 17 prior to the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board meeting.

The partnership helps Texas Baptists churches to identify and send missionaries to Apartment Life’s communities.

Apartment Life, a ministry birthed out of First Baptist Church in Euless in 2000, helps apartment owners care for residents by building relationships.

Apartment owners agree to pay half the rent to place missionaries, or Apartment Life coordinators, within their communities to organize events that build relationships among residents. Apartment Life coordinators currently serve about 700 apartment communities around the United States.

Kelly said 95 percent of people in apartments are unchurched, yet they are “incredibly spiritually open because so many of them are in some form of transition.”

“I think we all know from personal experience, when you are new [in a community], you’re exceptionally open to new relationships, and also, you’re just receptive to God,” Kelly said.

“Can you imagine how many spiritual opportunities you have in the context of relationships to influence people?”

Apartment Life also has an off-site model that allows Apartment Life coordinators to live close enough to provide services in the apartment community on a regular basis. In these situations, coordinators are compensated hourly.

Caring for ‘our Jerusalem’ with Apartment Life

Jones, having experience as a former Apartment Life coordinator himself, said it is a “phenomenal organization” that will help “Texas Baptists churches leverage and actually do relational evangelism.”

“When I came in this position, I knew we’d be training churches in evangelism. But on top of training churches in evangelism, I was praying that we would be able to place our churches in places to actually do evangelism,” said Jones.

Kelly said one of Apartment Life’s biggest challenges is finding coordinators to live in their apartment communities.

He showed the evangelism council a map showing all the open communities across the state that are ready or soon to be open to receive Apartment Life missionaries.

“We need missionaries in these communities,” Kelly said.

“My guess is all of these are within a couple miles of a Texas Baptist church. Wouldn’t it be incredible if people from y’all’s churches were the ones that were being missionaries on these opportunities?”

Jones said the whole idea of working together is to have an “opportunity for us to not just train in evangelism, but to actually do it and see it within our churches.”

“We have empty communities that need local missionaries. We either get paid or pay half rent to go and share the gospel in a community that’s by their church. It’s just a no-brainer for me, for us to reach out to our pastors across Texas,” Jones said.

 “Apartment Life is across the nation, but we’re just talking, we’re going to take care of our Jerusalem first. … I think we, a lot of times, go across seas, which is great, but we need to make sure we go across the street.”

Exponential growth and relational evangelism

Julio Guarneri, executive director of Texas Baptists, said as we look at the “exponential growth going on” and lostness of our state, “we need multiple strategies to reach those [unreached].”

 “I got a text this morning from someone who said they read a report that by the year 2045, Texas will surpass California in population. So, we have exponential growth going on, and we want to plant more churches.

“But we also want to find those pockets of people where, maybe, a church plant is not what they need, they just need relational evangelism that will get them to know Christ and then connect to a church or even to a church plant,” Guarneri said.

Jones echoed this, saying he appreciates the relational aspect of Apartment Life’s ministry.

“It’s not like door-to-door. It’s really relational. … Every 12.5 minutes, a gospel conversation is happening through Apartment Life across the nation, and so that’s what we really want to do. We want to build authentic, real relationships with people and to be able to disciple them in a place that’s near to a healthy church, for them to eventually get plugged in to,” Jones said.

Apartment Life will celebrate its 25th anniversary on March 27 with a banquet in Dallas.

To learn more about becoming involved with Apartment Life, visit apartmentlife.org.

(RNS)—Americans are polarized on many issues in public life, from what books kids should be allowed to read in school to how to reform the nation’s immigration system.

One thing most do agree on, regardless of party affiliation, is in-vitro fertilization—more commonly known as IVF. Seventy percent of Americans told Pew Research they believe access to IVF is a good thing, while only 8 percent said it was bad, according to a 2024 survey.

Members of the nation’s largest faith groups also see IVF access as a positive, including Black Protestants (69 percent), Catholics (65 percent) and the evangelical (63 percent) and non-evangelical (78 percent) varieties of white Protestants, as do the unaffiliated (78 percent).

That’s likely one reason why Donald Trump recently issued an executive order on Feb. 18, promising to reduce the cost of IVF.

“Therefore, to support American families, it is the policy of my Administration to ensure reliable access to IVF treatment, including by easing unnecessary statutory or regulatory burdens to make IVF treatment drastically more affordable,” Trump wrote.

While people in the pews might applaud the president’s actions, a number of high-profile faith leaders, including the nation’s Catholic bishops, are not pleased.

Some oppose the action

“As pastors, we see the suffering of so many couples experiencing infertility and know their deep desire to have children is both good and admirable; yet the Administration’s push for IVF, which ends countless human lives and treats persons like property, cannot be the answer,” wrote Bishops Daniel E. Thomas, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop Robert E. Barron, chair of the Committee for Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, in a statement released by the USCCB on Thursday.

The Catholic bishops—like other faith groups that oppose abortion on the belief that life starts at conception—says IVF is well-intentioned but immoral. While millions of children have been born following IVF, the process often involves freezing or discarding excess embryos.

“The IVF industry treats human beings like products and freezes or kills millions of children who are not selected for transfer to a womb or do not survive,” the bishops wrote.

“Tuesday’s executive order promoting IVF is thus fatally flawed and stands in regrettable contrast to the promising pro-life actions of the Administration last month.”

IVF and the treatment of excess embryos had been a matter of heated debate in the early 2000s, when those embryos were seen as potential subjects for stem cell research.

But any public controversy about IVF had largely faded until the spring of 2024, when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled during a wrongful death lawsuit that embryos could be considered children. That led clinics in Alabama to shut down until the state’s legislature passed a new law to protect IVF treatments.

Last summer, Southern Baptists passed a resolution asking church members to be wary of IVF and calling the process immoral. The resolution also called for more government regulation of IVF and for limits on how many embryos are created in treatment.

Brent Leatherwood, president of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, says the White House should heed the denomination’s advice when thinking about rules for IVF.

“The statement is clear and convictional as it honors life and adoption; affirms the dignity of the preborn; laments infertility; opposes the destruction of life; and requests the government to restrict actions inconsistent with human dignity,” he said in an email Thursday.

“With this resolution, I believe our churches have expressed a wise framework for how we can think about this issue. It’s one our government should use as well—which the ERLC has highlighted in numerous policy briefings in Washington.”

While Trump has been praised by abortion foes for the end of Roe v. Wade, over the past year, the president’s views on IVF and his distancing from outright abortion bans have led to controversy—especially after the 2024 GOP platform no longer called for an end to abortion.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, urged Trump to put in new rules to restrict IVF rather than expanding access.

In a response to Trump’s executive order, Perkins released a statement criticizing IVF for causing the death of embryos and saying the treatment does not address the medical conditions that cause infertility.

“The Trump administration can address the infertility crisis in America in a way that is morally and scientifically sound, enabling many more Americans to experience the beautiful gift of children,” he wrote.

Lila Rose, president of the anti-abortion group Live Action, stated her opposition to increasing IVF access more bluntly.

“No one is entitled to a child at the cost of denying the humanity and rights of countless others,” she said in a statement.

“A compassionate society must work to support families while upholding the dignity and protection of every human being—born and preborn. President Trump and our other leaders should champion ethical, life-affirming fertility options that protect both mothers and children.”

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, who has been outspoken in his criticism of IVF, has said IVF is harmful to children, calling it “yet another example of adults putting their desires before the best interests of children.”

“Moreover, IVF is not ‘fertility treatment,’” he said.

“It does nothing to address the heartbreak of infertility. There are effective medical treatments for couples struggling in this area. If the government is going to expend resources to make the manufacturing of babies in a laboratory more easily accessible, it should do the same for medical treatment of infertility.”

By contrast, Americans for IVF, which calls itself a “conservative pro-family group” cheered Trump’s order, saying it would help infertile couples have children—without the financial burden of paying for IVF treatments, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars per attempt.

“As a pro-life rabbi and father of nine children, I can confidently tell religious conservatives that there is nothing more pro-life than IVF,” said Rabbi Moshe Margaretten, the group’s founder.

(Aleja Hertzler-McCain contributed to this story.)

MARSHALL—With only a Bible and a team of three missionaries, one East Texas Baptist University student sought to transform one part of the international mission field through research and evangelism.

“Our training involved memorizing the book of Acts,” said Levi Baird, a junior Christian ministry major at ETBU who went on a mission trip to Eastern Europe through the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board last summer.

The team emulated the approach the Apostle Paul followed in the New Testament.

“Paul learned the cultures in the towns he traveled to, spent time with them, and shared the gospel,” he said. This was the core of the mission team’s ministry in Europe.

Baird met with an IMB coordinator in Eastern Europe to stay in unmapped locations for two months, determining how to spread the gospel in these areas. The coordinator told Baird there are many cities missionaries know nothing about, so they don’t know how to bring the gospel there.

The purpose of the mission trip was primarily to build relationships with locals and discover “persons of peace,”individuals respected by local community members that the Lord has placed in leadership positions.

Those individuals can become long-term missionaries better equipped through the IMB’s ministry efforts.

Establishing long-term missionaries in unmapped areas requires knowledge of public transportation, currency, cultural norms, poverty rates and religious demographics.

“Some regions had high rates of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Orthodox, and Catholics,” Baird said. IMB missionaries can monitor how these religious groups assimilate and where they gather, determining where to plant local missionaries.

Collecting information, sharing the gospel

Baird collected this information with a group of three other missionaries. They were taught how to assess local cultures and spread the gospel in a week.

“After our training, we were immediately sent on an expedition and given access to the Eurail,” he said. Eurail allows missionaries to access local railway and ferry networks across Europe.

From there, the missionaries traveling under the IMB were given free rein to approach cities of interest. “Using Eurail gave us many opportunities to minister,” Baird said.

It is common to see friends and people traveling for work across Europe, making it easier to reach that demographic.

As for housing, the missionaries lived out of a backpack. The group stayed primarily in hostels, smaller, more affordable inns with shared housing and accommodation.

Staying in the hostels allowed the group to have conversations anywhere. The hostels often have community kitchens and bathrooms, making it easier to meet local community members.

“It was proof that the gospel surpasses cultural, economic and age boundaries,” Baird said.

Traveling across various cities allowed the group to gain quick insights into information that could be passed to the IMB. In one city, the government made public transportation free on Fridays, cultivating travel and industry on this day; another community had many playgrounds.

“The infrastructure indicates the ministry,” Baird said.

A missionary suited for ministry with children could note areas with many playgrounds and schools.

Baird’s group mapped these areas, recording the infrastructure and community information to pass to individuals equipped for serving in areas with these qualities.

Developing a digital map of strategic areas

The process of mapping involves using a digital map to store information through pins containing notes about each area. The pins eventually create a “map” of a location, allowing missionaries to gather thorough demographic data in unreached regions.

“We should approach our mission logistically through mapping because it is similar to Paul’s ministry. There is importance in how we do things,” Baird said. Paul went to Ephesus because he was called there, and it was a major hub for trade and industry.

The key part of the ministry was not mapping but the interactions missionaries had with locals. One homeless man led Baird’s group to a woman in a bar.

She connected them with a local pastor of a small church. “I got his number and the IMB reached out to him. The interaction was completely God-led,” Baird said.

The team used Google Translate to communicate with most of the locals. “I was able to talk to another woman using Google Translate,” Baird said.

The woman was caught in the rain with him when he started sharing the gospel. “Even though she could barely understand me, she accepted Christ,” he said.

Striking up a conversation over shoes

The most important interaction Baird reflected on was with a man in Romania. During the last two weeks of the trip, his group walked to a train station, where they saw a man on a bike.

“He had on Nikes, and I like Nikes, so it was a conversation starter.”

“The man said he was raised Baptist but did not understand the difference between religion and relationship. So, I explained it to him, and something clicked,” Baird said.

The man looked at his group and asked to pray for salvation in his native tongue, Romanian.

“Nothing can compare to the feeling of the Spirit in me confirming his salvation at that moment,” Baird said.

From there, the missionaries taught the man how to share the gospel. Within three hours, he had given his life to the Lord and was prepared to share the gospel with others.

A local approached the group and asked them in Romanian if they had a religion. The man who had just given his life to Christ sat with him and shared the gospel he had just received.

“As soon as you understand the gospel and are saved by grace, you are equipped at that very moment to go and share,” Baird said, reflecting on his trip.

“Here is the crucial thing to know. The Holy Spirit works. The only reason this trip was effective was because the Spirit led it.

“He can use anyone from any culture at any time in any place. The only qualifications you need to share the gospel is to know it and have the Holy Spirit.”

Faith Pratt, a student at East Texas Baptist University, is serving as an intern with the Baptist Standard this semester.

NASHVILLE (BP)—A rewritten business and financial plan to be presented at the June Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting is designed to strengthen transparency and oversight for trustees who are approved to those positions by messengers, SBC Executive Committee President Jeff Iorg said.

“One of our trustees said a strength of the new document is how remarkably consistent it is with upholding trustee governance of the entities,” Iorg said on Feb. 20.

“One of the goals was to clarify that the business and financial plan must reflect the constitution and bylaw standards and that the boards are ultimately accountable for the entities. I agree that this is a strength of the document as well.”

Iorg gave five convictions that guided the creation of the document in his address to Executive Committee members on Feb. 17. The first is that Southern Baptists govern entities by electing trustees, who are expected to fulfill the business and financial plan.

The other guiding convictions are:

• The plan must emerge from the SBC constitution and bylaws.
• The plan must focus on general principles rather than specific methodologies.
• It must call for transparency by entities in business and financial decisions.
• It must use plain language, with technical or legal jargon appearing only where necessary for clarity.

At 1,956 words, the proposed business and financial plan is substantially shorter than the current version that weighs in at over 3,300 words. That wasn’t necessarily the focus, but a byproduct of a desire to simplify the plan and use more basic language, Iorg noted.

“The goal was to write a document that eliminated duplications and removed archaic issues, and when it turned out to be shorter, that was a benefit,” he said.

A section about new enterprises that included hospital propositions was removed, for instance, as was another about publications. Almost all publications are hosted on websites now, Iorg explained.

“Those kinds of things were removed because they aren’t applicable anymore to the way we do business,” he said.

Accountability strengthened

Iorg cited to Executive Committee members various areas of the plan where trustee accountability was strengthened and reiterated those in a phone call with Baptist Press.

Those steps expand trustee accountability and oversight in areas such as audit practices, use of restricted funds, compensation and executive expenses, fundraising practices and internal controls.

The proposed plan states that any member in good standing at a Southern Baptist church in friendly cooperation with the SBC can receive descriptions of compensation processes, personnel practices and salary structures from entities upon written request to the respective entity’s chief financial officer.

Currently, the business and financial plan states church members may have access to such information, but no clear path is given for obtaining it.

The revised plan came about largely due to referrals of motions adopted by messengers at SBC annual meetings in recent years that related to business and financial components of the SBC and its entities. An overall response to those concerns through a new business and financial plan was the best course, Iorg told trustees Feb. 17.

Recommending the new plan doesn’t set anything in stone, he said.

“If we discover deficiencies, the Business and Financial Plan can be amended until we feel it is adequate for its purpose,” Iorg said.

“My hope is we will adopt the revised plan, live with it for the next two years, and then adjust any deficiencies or shortcomings as we find them.”

Levi Weldon Price Jr., Baptist missionary, pastor and seminary professor, died Feb. 19. He was 83. He was born on Christmas Day 1941 in Gorman and grew up in a pastor’s home, moving to several places throughout his childhood. He graduated from high school in Monahans in 1960 and married the love of his life, Luethyl Dawkins, on May 28, 1962. He earned his undergraduate degree from Baylor University in 1964 before serving in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1964 to 1968. As a combat engineer in Vietnam, he achieved the rank of captain and received a battlefield commendation for his service. In 1976, he earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from Golden Gate Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, Calif. He was pastor of churches in Richmond, Fresno and Milpitas, Calif., before serving as a missionary in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico, through the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. His ministry then led him to El Paso, where he was pastor of First Baptist Church for 17 years. During his time there, he launched outreach initiatives to serve the community. He founded a businessmen’s lunch for men who worked downtown, creating a space for fellowship and spiritual growth. Later, he became a professor of Christian ministry at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary, a role he cherished as he mentored future leaders in the church. In retirement, he served as an interim pastor for churches in Lorena, Gatesville, Clifton, Crawford and Waco and in Las Cruses, N.M. One of his greatest joys was Paisano Baptist Encampment near Alpine. His connection to the camp spanned nearly his entire life—first attending as a boy, then working in the cook shed as a teenager, and later preaching there while in college. He returned as a guest preacher before serving as its president 20 years. He is survived by his wife of 62 years Luethyl; son Timothy Levi; daughter Sara Gloria Welshimer and husband Mark; and seven grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts can be made to Paisano Baptist Encampment, P.O. Box 973, Alpine, TX 79831, or Methodist Children’s Home, 1111 Herring Ave., Waco, TX 76708. Private family graveside services with Marine Corps honors will be at Hemmeline Cemetery near Gatesville. Memorial services are scheduled at 1 p.m. Feb. 28 at First Baptist Church in Waco.

DALLAS—When viewed through eyes of faith, artistic beauty can awaken a hunger for a glory beyond anything we have known in this world, author Russ Ramsey told a crowd at Dallas Baptist University.

People travel halfway around the world to see great works of art because of “an appetite to be in the presence of something greater than ourselves that is—dare I say it—perfect,” said Ramsey, a Presbyterian minister and author of Rembrandt is in the Wind and Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart.

Ramsey spoke Feb. 20 on “Pursuing Perfection: Michelangelo’s David and Our Hunger for Glory” as part of the Veritas Lecture Series sponsored by the Institute for Global Engagement at DBU.

“I believe that Michelangelo’s David is the single greatest artistic achievement by an individual in history,” Ramsey said.

‘Perfect statue of a perfect hero’

Unlike the two-dimensional paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, David is three-dimensional, he noted. Bronze, wood and clay sculptures are media that allow an artist to add to the creation, whereas David was carved from a single “unforgiving” block of marble, he observed.

Furthermore, some other sculptures allow an artist to hide his lack of understanding about humanity beneath a drape or robe, but David does not.

“Michelangelo’s David is a nude human form carved from a single block of stone, and it is perfect,” Ramsey asserted.

At age 26, Michelangelo carved David from a massive Carrara marble block. The giant stone from the Frantiscritti Quarry had been secured decades earlier and transported on a two-year journey to the Florence Cathedral. Two previous artists had chipped away at it but abandoned their efforts.

Michelangelo chose to depict David as a youth, facing the Philistine giant Goliath armed only with a sling to cast a stone. In contrast to the armor-clad giant, Michelangelo portrayed David unclothed, representing his vulnerability and total dependence on God, Ramsey explained.

“The story is perfect. It’s a perfect enemy. It’s a perfect youth. It’s the perfect cast of a lethal stone,” Ramsey said. “Michelangelo fits it all into this perfect statue of a perfect hero.”

Working with inherent limitations

However, what some see as artistic perfection also teaches lessons about human limitations, he added.

“We work with what we’re given, and nobody is perfect in this life—no, not one,” Ramsey said. “We live in a world of limits, and we run against them all the time.”

Michelangelo had to work within the limits of a marble slab that already had gashes taken out of it by two earlier artists.

The giant marble block also had a hole drilled in the bottom of it and a chain run through the hole to help men transport it from a quarry in the mountains to Florence.

“That hole would determine, at least to a degree, how David would have to stand, because that hole would be the space between his legs,” Ramsey explained.

“And the stance would affect everything about the end result—not only the composition of the piece, which is shaped by that hole in the marble, but also by the structural integrity of the piece, with thousands of pounds of stone pushing on those legs.”

Michelangelo’s masterpiece was shaped, in large part, by the limits inherent in that single, marred, marble block, he said.

Shaped by the touch of others

“Michelangelo was given a block of marble that others had a hand in shaping. Is this not a metaphor for life and for ministry?” Ramsey asked.

“We work with what we’re given and live in a world of limits. And we work with things—in ourselves included—that others have already had a hand in shaping. … I can’t think of a single thing in my life that does not bear the touch of others—and you can’t either.”

The touch of others may leave unwanted scars or they may beautifully bring out something special within us, but every life is shaped by others, he said.

“For the Christian, accepting our limits is one of the ways we are shaped to fit together as living stones into the Body of Christ,” Ramsey said.

“As much as our strengths may be a gift to the church, make no mistake that our limitations also are a gift to the church. Your need for the care of others is a gift to the church.”

Living in a world that is wasting away

Ramsey noted there are tiny cracks in David’s ankles, the result of 2,000 lbs. of marble pushing down for 500 years, as well as having suffered attacks by vandals and the effects of tremors.

“In almost immeasurable ways, those fractures are growing, and they are working their way up his legs,” he explained.

“This deterioration of that stone is a process that cannot be reversed. … One day, David will fall. … He will collapse under his own weight because of his own imperfections.”

Knowing that a perfect artistic achievement will be brought down by inherent imperfections should remind Christians “this world we are living in is wasting away,” Ramsey said.

And yet, visitors—whose footsteps cause minuscule vibrations that contribute to David’s ultimate downfall—flock to see the statue. They are driven by the inherent human hunger for a beauty beyond this present world, Ramsey observed.

“There is something in us where we are compelled to join the perishing to the eternal,” he said. “There is something in us that longs to draw near to glory.”

A mob attacked about 50 Christian worshippers gathered for a Sunday church service Feb. 16 in India’s Rajasthan State, an international religious freedom watchdog organization reported.

About 200 people entered the church building in Bikaner toward the end of the worship service. They began to vandalize the property and beat Christians with iron rods, leaving three worshippers severely injured and most of the others with bruises all over their bodies, Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported on Feb. 20.

The pastor—whose name was withheld due to security concerns—told CSW a new member who attended the worship service was seen sending messages minutes before the attack, and he ran out of the building when the crowd entered.

Accused of ‘forced conversions’

Members of the mob—who dispersed quickly when police arrived at the scene—told officials forced conversions were occurring at the church. When police questioned victims of the beating, they were accused of forced conversions, and the pastor’s children were warned not to turn out like their father, CSW reported.

The pastor, his wife and several other Christians were taken to the Mukta Prasad police station, but they were not charged with forced conversion. Members of the church did not file a complaint out of fear of reprisal, and the police took no action against those who perpetrated the attack.

The state’s legislative assembly tabled the Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill 2025 on Feb. 4. The bill would require individuals who voluntarily want to convert to apply to a district magistrate 60 days in advance. It would make forced conversion a nonbailable offense that would carry a hefty fine and a 10-year jail sentence.

If the bill becomes law, the burden of proof will shift, and those who are accused of forceful conversion will be required to prove their innocence.

Twelve of India’s 28 states have anti-conversion laws in place, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reported.

Increased violence against religious minorities

Last December, more than 400 individual Christians and 30 church groups—including several Baptist conventions, councils and associations—sent a letter to Indian President Draupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop violent mobs who have targeted Christians and other religious minorities.

In January, a report from United Christian Forum—a New Delhi-based monitoring group that operates a helpline—said incidents of anti-Christian violence rose from 127 in 2014 to 834 in 2024.

Mervyn Thomas, founding president of CSW, expressed concern about the rising numbers of reported attacks on Christians and other religious minorities in India.

“In recent years, Christians have been increasingly subjected to assaults, humiliation and the loss of their livelihoods and belongings by far-right religious nationalists who make clearly baseless accusations of forceful conversion. Meanwhile, those who carry out these attacks enjoy complete impunity,” Thomas said.

“We urge the local authorities to be proactive and take firm and swift action against the perpetrators of such crimes.”

NEW YORK (BP)—A document submitted by the attorney of Matt Queen contains excerpts from 59 letters of support for the former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary professor alongside pleas for leniency from Queen himself as his sentencing date approaches for lying to federal investigators.

Queen, 50, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Southern New York on Oct. 16 to making a false statement related to a Department of Justice investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention and some of its entities. He resigned his pastorate at Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C., three weeks later.

Sentencing for Queen is set for March 5.

His attorney, Sam Schmidt, wrote in a Presentence Report that his client does not deny he falsified the date on notes provided to federal investigators, though the contents were accurate.

“Dr. Queen acknowledged [it] … shortly after he lied about it,” Schmidt wrote. “He admitted it to counsel. He admitted it in his motion to dismiss. He admitted it when he pled guilty.”

“Severe consequences” and financial loss for his actions have already been felt, including losing his pastorate as well as speaking engagements and publication opportunities. Queen has been “repeatedly denigrated in the secular and Christian press,” Schmidt added, and “a number of ‘friends’ have distanced themselves from him.”

‘Downward spiral in his mental health’

Those are in addition to the emotional and psychological punishment.

Queen explained through his attorney how a “tumultuous five-year period (2018-2023)” that ended with his time as interim provost and vice president for academic administration at Southwestern led to being “anxious and overwhelmed” as the DOJ investigation unfolded.

Isolation exacerbated the “self-doubt, fear, confusion and uncertainty … within me, and I felt lost. I lost about forty pounds and was eating and sleeping very little,” he said.

A letter from Queen’s wife, Hope, told of the “downward spiral in his mental health which was fueled by the dysfunctional atmosphere at the seminary.”

Fears of dismissal and orders to not speak to anyone also prompted her husband not to seek help from a counselor or attorney.

“Matt’s anxiety grew. On a regular basis, I walked into our bedroom and found him on our bed with his chest heaving and limbs shaking. I watched with concern but felt trapped without a way for him to get help due to the instruction not to tell anyone about the investigation,” she said.

The stress led Queen to contemplate suicide, according to his wife, who persuaded him to seek help at a hospital.

“The government was also concerned about Dr. Queen’s mental health as a result of its indictment,” Schmidt said. “It insisted that one of the conditions of his release on bail was for him to obtain the services of a therapist. He did and continues to see his therapist.”

Schmidt posited, “There is no identifiable purpose for imposing a period of incarceration” on Queen, urging Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to accept a United States Department of Probation recommendation that Queen be sentenced to one year of probation and a $2,000 fine.

‘I have learned from my mistake’

Statements from Queen accompany the document.

“While I have repented of my sin before God, made it right with the government by correcting my false statement to them, and have pled guilty before this Court, I will forever live with the knowledge that I lied, an action contrary to my faith, my character and my morals,” he said.

“I am daily reminded that my lie has disappointed my God, my wife, my daughters, my parents, my brothers, my church, my friends, and my students.

“… I commit to you, your Honor, to apply the lessons I have learned from my mistake for the remainder of my life and ministry. I sincerely request your mercy, your Honor, as you decide my sentence.”

The letters of support testify to Queen’s character, Schmidt said, and “recognize that this man is not characterized solely by his error.”

Nickie Buckner, a friend of Queen’s since the sixth grade who considered himself a nonbeliever, recognized Queen’s “unshakeable belief in God” and said, “[Queen] genuinely wants to help people regardless of who they are or what they believe.”

Former Southwestern professor John Massey explained Queen gave not only his time, but also his money to students in need and “has been among the most popular professors in denominational life because of his love for students and accessibility to them at any time.”

Former student and friend Matt Henslee said he leaned on Queen during his own tough emotional and psychological times.

“Dr. Queen was a phone call away to pray for me, encourage me and offer me wisdom or practical steps to deal with what was going on,” he said.

Ryan Stokes, a former SWBTS professor, said Queen “holds himself to the highest conceivable moral standards, has an unusually sensitive conscience and exhibits an overriding concern that he deal with others fairly, compassionately and honestly. … If it is possible to be pathologically good, that is what Matt is.”