On Jan. 8, over 160 Texas faith leaders wrote an open letter to superintendents and school board members across the state, urging them to not adopt SB 11 in their school districts. The letter is posted on the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty website.

TX SB 11, a law encouraging a period of prayer and reading of a religious text in public schools, was passed on June 20, 2025. The bill was introduced in the Senate during the 89th Texas Legislature and became effective Sept. 1, 2025, requiring school districts to hold votes on adopting prayer policies. 

The sign-on letter is a collectivist attempt to steer school boards away from SB 11, with many faith leaders, including Pastors for Texas Children, asserting the law threatens the religious freedom of students and families, instead placing religious instruction in the hands of government entities. 

The letter further raises concerns of faith leaders regarding the administration of public education: “SB11 threatens to drive a wedge into public school communities and create unnecessary administrative burdens.” 

Consent forms raise administrative concerns

While voluntary, SB 11 requires any desiring participants to submit consent forms, which include a waiver of legal claims under state or federal law, including those under the Establishment Clause, a U.S. First Amendment clause prohibiting the government from establishing a religion.  

Despite the necessity of these forms to monitor student and parental consent, signatory faith leaders view the extra administrative burden of tracking these forms, setting aside designated prayer time and spaces, and ensuring a lack of student coercion to be burdensome and detracting within a system that already protects the religious freedom of its students. 

In an interview with Baptist Standard, Rabbi David Segal, Policy Counsel at Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, expressed these concerns: “One of the most concerning mechanisms is the system of waivers and opt-ins a school district and campus would have to manage if such a policy were adopted. It creates, potentially, an administrative nightmare for the leaders of that.”

Religious liberty is an important factor

BJC is one of the partner organizations responsible for developing the open letter. According to BJC’s website, the committee is dedicated to “protecting religious liberty for all and defending the separation of church and state.”

The principle of religious liberty runs deep within Baptist roots, as Baptists were the first religious group to adopt the separation of church and state in the early 17th century. Segal emphasizes these ideas as fundamentally Baptist and thus interwoven into BJC’s mission: “We are a Baptist organization. We believe deeply in people having a right to pursue a life of faith. 

But we also believe what Baptists have believed for our entire history … that the government has no place in interfering in our religious life or a life of conscience.”

Government interference with religious affairs is primarily a concern regarding religious freedom and a seeming inherent lean toward Christian doctrine SB 11 promotes, a concern expressed by supporters of the letter. 

SB 11 potentially favors Christianity

Though unbiased on the surface, opponents note SB 11 encourages practices of the predominant faith group, evidenced by a compilation of public comments submitted to the Committee on State Affairs for SB 11. 

Following the enactment of the bill, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton encouraged students to utilize their time of prayer reciting the Lord’s Prayer. 

Segal describes this action as a “case in point” concerning SB 11’s perceived Christian bias: “When the Attorney General issued a statement urging school boards to adopt this policy, he ended his press release with a suggestion of which prayer to use, and it’s King James’s version of the Lord’s Prayer, which is a very important prayer for Christians. 

“So, that essentially doesn’t have the force of law, but it’s an indication of a kind of bias that can come through when these kinds of things are set up by state officials,” Segal added.

In BJC’s online press release, Blake Ziegler, Texas Field organizer at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, said: “Many of our Jewish ancestors sought refuge in the United States because of its separation between religion and government. We fled nations whose theocratic policies persecuted our people and others who did not share the state’s religion, while arbitrarily favoring those who did.”

Ziegler mentioned concerns over SB 11’s impact on religious pluralism in schools, noting religion separate from government interference as essential to promoting “religious freedom.”

Mounting fears over SB 11’s lack of religious pluralism come after the bill underwent multiple amendments, including those that protect non-participants by prohibiting PA broadcasts of the prayer or study time, and mandating a board vote requirement within six months of the law’s Sept. 1, 2025 effective date. 

An influential Protestant church in central China has reported its prominent leaders have been arrested in what is being considered a crackdown on underground churches in China.

Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu said, as reported by BBC News, “nine people were detained on Tuesday after police raided their homes and the church office in Chengdu in central China.”

The detentions came as authorities more than 1,000 miles away began demolishing the Yayang Church in Wenzhou, a coastal city known for its large Christian population.

Video obtained by the advocacy group ChinaAid showed bulldozers and cranes tearing down parts of the building, while hundreds of armed and special police officers were deployed to guard the site, the group said.

Bob Fu, founder of ChinaAid, told reporters at BBC News, “The massive mobilisation against the two major independent church networks shows the central government is determined to stamp out Christian churches entirely, unless the church is totally indoctrinated into the party’s ideology.”

Arrests like these have been the result of the Chinese Communist Party’s desire to keep churches not aligned with government policies and Chinese culture from gaining influence within China.

BBC News also reported Xi Jinping’s attempt to control religious freedom has strengthened with his call for “Sinicization of religions,” requiring religious doctrines and practices to conform with Chinese culture and values.

China’s Communist Party promotes atheism and tightly regulates religion, pressuring believers to worship only in state-sanctioned churches led by government-approved clergy. While the government said in 2018 that China had about 44 million Christians, the figure is believed to exclude many who attend underground churches.

Mary Sue Kendall of Covington died Jan. 8 at age 97. Sue was born March 31, 1928, in Osceola to Wyatt Armstead and Jeffie Aline Burt. While working in the First National Bank of Grandview, she met her husband of 64 years, Joe Frank Kendall. During Joe’s Air Force career, they lived in such places as England and Rome, N.Y., serving churches wherever they lived. Upon Joe’s retirement, they returned and lived on their farm outside Covington just a mile away from where she was born. Sue was a faithful and dedicated member of the First Baptist Church of Covington, serving as the treasurer and leading a women’s Sunday school class for many years. Her Christian faith was her highest priority, and she firmly professed her deep belief. She was a prolific reader who enjoyed reading everything from the Bible to a good mystery. As for the Bible, she read it through completely every year. She made everyone feel welcomed and led her life with a servant’s heart like her Savior. Sue was preceded in death by her husband, Joe, and brothers, Roland and Frank Burt. She is survived by her sons, Joe Mark and wife Jacque of Shreveport, La., and Michael and wife Kwunjit of Southlake; her daughter Diann Kendall of Fort Worth; her four grandchildren, Kyle Kendall, Whitney Garmhausen and husband Geoff, Katria Kimble and husband Brandon, and Mica Kendall; her three great-grandchildren, Jack and Kendall Caroline Garmhausen and Wyatt Kimble; and her brother, Jeff Burt. Services will be held at First Baptist Church in Covington on Friday, Jan. 16, with the viewing at 10 a.m. and the funeral at 11 a.m.

This article originally appeared in the Biblical Recorder.

WASHINGTON (BP)—Former North Carolina Baptist pastor and congressman Mark Walker announced Thursday, Jan. 8, he has accepted a new role within the Trump administration focused on advancing religious liberty around the world.

Walker, who had been under consideration to serve as the United States ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, said he has withdrawn from the nomination and will instead serve as principal advisor on global religious freedom in the U.S. State Department.

In a statement released on social media, Walker expressed gratitude to President Donald Trump for the opportunity to serve and for the administration’s emphasis on defending religious freedom internationally.

“I am deeply grateful to President Donald J. Trump for the honor of nominating me to serve as United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom,” Walker said.

“Promoting religious liberty worldwide has been a cornerstone of my life’s work—as a pastor, as a Member of Congress, and as a passionate advocate for the persecuted.”

After what he described as “careful consideration and thoughtful discussions with the Administration,” Walker said he chose to withdraw from consideration for the ambassador role in favor of the newly announced advisory position.

“I am respectfully withdrawing from consideration for the Ambassador-at-Large position and excited to announce I have accepted the new role as Principal Advisor on Global Religious Freedom to the State Department,” Walker said.

In his new role, Walker will work closely with Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and other administration leaders to address religious persecution and human rights abuses worldwide. He emphasized religious liberty continues to face significant challenges in many regions.

“Religious freedom remains under assault in far too many corners of the world, and I am committed to supporting the Trump Administration’s bold efforts to defend this fundamental right,” Walker said.

The Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission had been pressing for Walker’s Senate confirmation, but is pleased with this new development.

“I’m so glad to see my friend Mark Walker appointed to this important role of Principal Advisor on Global Religious Freedom to the State Department,” Interim ERLC President Gary Hollingsworth said. “It is gratifying to have someone who is so firmly committed to advancing religious liberty at home and abroad in this position.”

“Here at the ERLC, we look forward to working closely with him on global issues that matter deeply to Southern Baptists. Please join us as we pray for him in this new endeavor of public service,” Hollingsworth added.

Trump nominated Walker to serve as U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom in April 2025, a position requiring Senate confirmation.

While Walker’s nomination drew support from administration officials and faith leaders, it never advanced to a Senate vote.

Executive branch nominations not confirmed before the Senate adjourns each year expire, requiring the nomination process to start over in a new session.

By moving into an advisory role, Walker is able to begin work on issues pertaining to global religious freedom immediately without restarting the formal nomination and confirmation process.

Walker has long been vocal on issues of faith and religious liberty. He said the advisory position will allow him to continue that work while helping advance America’s leadership on the issue internationally.

Walker, a Republican, represented North Carolina’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2015 to 2021.

During his time in Congress, he served as chairman of the Republican Study Committee from 2017 to 2019 and as vice chair of the House Republican Conference from 2019 to 2021.

Before entering politics, Walker spent 16 years in pastoral ministry, serving churches in Florida and North Carolina.

He previously served on staff at Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., and most recently as worship pastor at Lawndale Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C., from 2008 to 2013.

KNOXVILLE (BP)—Tennessee Supreme Court justices sought clarity regarding the church autonomy doctrine Thursday, Jan. 8, in a case focused on the Southern Baptist Convention’s protocols to address claims of sexual abuse.

Attorneys for Preston Garner, who has brought a defamation lawsuit against the SBC and others, asserted a letter sent in the early days of 2023 stemming from a report to the SBC abuse hotline led to Garner’s dismissal at a Christian school and the simultaneous withdrawal of a job offer at a church.

Representation for the defendants said the matter was an example of “internal governance.”

“Religious bodies have religious ways of approaching [these matters],” said Becket attorney Daniel Blomberg, representing the SBC et. al. “That’s obviously the case here, where religious polity really plays a significant role in how the convention itself can interact with its member churches.”

Becket, according to its website, “is a non-profit, public-interest legal and educational institute with a mission to protect the free expression of all faiths.”

Matt Rice, solicitor general for the State of Tennessee, spoke on the matter of church autonomy.

“The very process of requiring religious institutions to engage in litigation over matters of their faith doctrine and internal governance, itself, causes a constitutional harm under the religion clauses,” he said. “We think this court should recognize as much.”

In comments to Baptist Press, Blomberg noted the court sees the importance of this case.

“They had excellent questions and were taking this really seriously, which is a very good sign,” he said of the five-judge panel. “This is a very important issue. Judge [Sarah K.] Campbell mentioned other faith groups as well [that would be impacted].”

Sexual abuse claim made against Garner

In 2022, a report came through the SBC’s abuse hotline, which at the time was maintained by Guidepost Solutions, of a claim of sexual abuse 12 years earlier. The claimant, a woman whose identity has not been revealed, accused Garner, a longtime worship pastor and school music teacher, of abuse while he was on staff at a church.

A representative of the SBC Credentials Committee sent a letter Jan. 7, 2023, on behalf of the Credentials Committee to Everett Hills Baptist Church in Maryville, Tenn., where Garner had recently resigned as worship pastor.

That letter informed the church of the report and that there was “a concern” over Everett Hills’ relationship with the SBC. It further asked for a response from the church within 30 days. The Credentials Committee representative is also named in the suit.

Garner was employed by The King’s Academy, a Christian school, and in the process of taking a position with First Baptist Church in Concord, Tenn. He maintains the letter led to his losing his job at The King’s Academy and to First Baptist Concord’s withdrawing its offer of employment.

According to Annual Church Profile reports, Garner has served as worship/music minister at Black Oak Heights Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tenn., since September 2024.

Attorney Bryan McKenzie, representing Garner, said his client had “no claim” with The King’s Academy or Everett Hills Baptist Church, and so the case did not concern “internal religious affairs within those organizations.”

Questions over liability of the SBC

Campbell didn’t see how they also wouldn’t include the SBC.

“You’re asking us to discriminate based on a certain denomination’s decision about how to structure itself and how to structure its governance, and we can’t do that under U.S. Supreme Court precedent regarding the establishment clause.”

Baptist Press reached out to Garner’s attorneys for comment, receiving none.

Arguments for dismissal have centered on two points: (1) the church autonomy doctrine, which gives churches the right to make certain decisions free from government interference, and (2) protections through the Tennessee Public Participation Act, which provides protection against legal action “based on, relates to, or is in response to that party’s exercise of the right to free speech, right to petition, or right of association.”

The former speaks to the SBC’s religious nature. The latter addresses the Credentials Committee’s responsibility to establish contact with Everett Hills. Four amicus briefs, available at Becket, have been filed in support of the SBC’s position.

Supreme Court accepts SBC’s appeal

The Supreme Court accepted the SBC’s appeal to review the case last summer. In January 2024, a circuit court judge rejected both the SBC’s arguments for dismissal. One year ago today, an appeals court affirmed the circuit court’s decision regarding the autonomy doctrine but reversed the decision regarding the Tennessee Public Participation Act.

The Credentials Committee was repurposed in 2019 to consider questions regarding whether a church is deemed to be in “friendly cooperation” with the SBC. One of those criteria, as outlined in the SBC Constitution, is a church’s alignment with the convention’s beliefs regarding sexual abuse.

“The process did what it was supposed to do,” said Blomberg in the hearing. “Everett Hills did not have a policy in place to ensure that their ministers were complying with the religious beliefs of the Southern Baptist Convention, and now they do.”

A ruling from the Tennessee Supreme Court is expected in the next few months.

With additional reporting by Baptist Standard.

On Nov. 15, prior to the Texas Baptists Annual Meeting in Abilene, the Texas Baptists Evangelism team, Forgotten Ministries, Broadview Baptist Church, and other churches partnered together to evangelize three Abilene apartment complexes.

Forgotten Ministries is a ministry founded by Jeremiah Herrian, which exists to help churches “rediscover compassion, leave the building and bring the hope of Jesus to the homes that need him most.”

“Outside the comfort of four walls, there is an entire world in anguish, and the church must rediscover the compassion that moves believers to action,” Herrian said.

Since 2007, the ministry has accomplished this with their Grill Walk strategy.

The Grill Walk is a door-to-door evangelism strategy where volunteers are divided into groups of four: two grill cooks and two food preppers, and “as the grill moves down the street, groups stop at houses, knock on doors, and offer free hot dogs.”

This allows volunteers to share the gospel and their testimonies, pray with residents, and invite them to church.

Herrian “framed the day” by emphasizing compassion. He gave volunteers a “final charge” before beginning their Grill Walk in Abilene.

“People are more spiritually lost today, not because they reject Jesus, but because they’ve never truly heard about him,” Herrian said.

“Knock on every door. Offer a hot dog at every door. Share Jesus at every door.”

The Texas Baptists Evangelism team, along with 80 volunteers from nine different churches, delivered 710 bags of groceries, served 700 hot dogs, and provided 600 pairs of socks to families in need. Volunteers knocked on 630 doors, “praying with residents and offering encouragement.” The team saw 21 individuals surrender their lives to Jesus.

“I often ask churches across the state, ‘If your church ceased to exist, would your community miss you?’ God did not call us to just be a church in the community. He called us to be the community church,” said Oza Jones, Texas Baptists’ director of evangelism.

“The Grill Walk allowed us to saturate the community by serving and sharing. [It] helps us to mobilize the local church for maximum impact,” Jones said.

To learn more about Texas Baptists Evangelism and how it can resource your church, visit txb.org/evangelism.

Since the U.S. government’s Jan. 3 capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, many Latino evangelical Christian communities in the United States have been celebrating what they call a spiritual victory as well as a political one.

“God is using Donald Trump to liberate Venezuela from the 27-year-old chains of oppression,” said the Rev. José Durán, a Venezuelan immigrant in Michigan, voicing a view held by some, though not all, Latino evangelicals and referring to the time that Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, have led the country.

Durán, who was interviewed in Spanish, serves as pastor of a senior team of advisers of María Corina Machado, the Venezuela opposition leader who was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.

He’s also the executive director of Movimiento de Ciudad, an organization that supports urban ministry throughout Latin America.

Though Machado is a Catholic, her inner circle in the Vente Venezuela Party includes several evangelicals, who have taken up her charge that opposing Maduro is a “battle between good and evil.”

“We’re in agreement that we want the liberty of Venezuela from satanic communism, socialism,” Durán said.

But with Maduro’s successors increasing repression in the country and President Donald Trump insisting the U.S. will “run” Venezuela without calling immediate elections, the future of the country is uncertain.

Latino support a key role

The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, an evangelical adviser to President Trump and the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, told RNS that U.S. Latinos’ support in the 2024 elections played a key role in the administration’s decision to remove Maduro from office and that Latino evangelicals will have a voice in the country’s future.

“ You combine the evangelical vote plus the Latino vote, and you get Nicólas Maduro in New York City in prison,” Rodriguez said. “That’s the result because we demanded that.”

Rodriguez said the NHCLC would be sending the Rev. Iván Delgado Glenn, the Colombian leader of the NHCLC’s new Latin America expansion, to Venezuela along with four other faith leaders to observe the leadership transition after Maduro’s arrest and how it “will impact the church.”

Rodriguez added that “appropriate governmental authorities stateside on our side” will ensure their safety.

He applauded Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statement that the U.S. does not want to govern Venezuela and said the secretary wants to help the country transition to a “legitimate form” of democracy.

“The White House and the Trump administration have given the evangelical community more than an ear,” Rodriguez said, adding he’d met with Trump just before Christmas.

Rodriguez said, while evangelicals are not weighing in on specific tactics, such as the boat strikes near Venezuela that preceded the operation that removed Maduro, the administration is “ taking action based on what they hear from an evangelical community that really would like to advance an agenda of righteousness and justice, truth and love.”

Even before Maduro’s capture, the U.S. government had been applying pressure to effect regime change in Venezuela, particularly through sanctions. The Washington Post reported those sanctions contributed to an economic contraction in the country roughly three times as large as the one caused by the Great Depression in the United States.

Grassroots efforts during Maduro government

Marcos Velazco, a director of Vente Venezuela’s grassroots organizing who fled the country in August 2024, attributed reports of political prisoners and their Maduro-government torturers accepting Jesus to the presence of God, as well as his own escape from the country and his movement’s ability to connect with allies abroad.

“If something has been a true miracle, it’s how God has drawn our cause near to influential and important people, not just in the United States, I should say, but in the whole world,” Velazco said in Spanish via video.

Beyond praying with Machado’s team, Velazco said, Durán has been a key “architect” for making important connections.

“We have seen how faith has generated sufficient trust to defend the Venezuelan cause,” Velazco said, mentioning relationships with Rubio and Republican members of Congress such as U.S. Reps. Bill Huizenga of Michigan and Mario Díaz-Balart, Carlos Gimenez and María Elvira Salazar of Florida.

But Velazco said these victories have not come without pain.

As a result of his advocacy, he said, his father, who is not involved in the movement, was accused by the Maduro government of inciting hate, criminal association and terrorism.

He is being held as a political prisoner in a location unknown to his family and could face a sentence of up to 30 years, the Machado advisor said.

Velazco, 26, also said he became a key leader at such a young age because his boss was imprisoned and is now being held at El Helicoide Jail, where there have been reports of systematic torture.

Chávez and Maduro together have been “a regime that, from its position of power, has spiritually delivered the country to the forces of evil,” said Velazco.

Durán and Velazco both point to public accusations that Maduro has engaged in witchcraft and Santería, which Velazco said gives the president the feeling he is “spiritually protected while they slam civil society and while they dilute the structure of the free and democratic state.”

Durán said his group continues to count on God to act.

Machado allies are praying interim President Delcy Rodríguez and other prominent figures of the regime will be removed, and while he said he did not understand Trump’s approach to Rodríguez, “God is the one that removes and places kings.”

Machado has heaped praise on Trump publicly, even offering her Nobel Peace Prize to the president.

Velazco said the Trump administration “has done a fantastic job” with Maduro’s “Cartel de los Soles,” a slang term for corrupt government officials taking drug money.

Machado prays with her evangelical advisers, Durán said. “We’ve prayed, and she’s Catholic, but she cries like a person very sensitive to the Holy Spirit.”

Durán said Christians must influence society, though he said they should not be partisan.

“The church must be the church, and that’s the problem. The church has been locked away in thinking just about the spiritual, or that there’s a dichotomy between the secular and the spiritual. And that’s a plan from Satan,” he said.

Venezuelan evangelicals have heard God’s intentions for the country since the 1980s, said Durán. “We have heard prophetic words that God has a plan for Venezuela and that liberty for Venezuela is coming and a new Venezuela will be born.”

Durán, who had been ordained in the Foursquare Church, said he trained hundreds of Latinos for Billy Graham’s 2000 Nashville Crusade after he came to the U.S. Durán is now affiliated with the Reformed Church in America.

Rodriguez, the leader of the NHCLC, also said the church was “not done” in Latin America. He said the Venezuela policy is the beginning of a “domino effect” and called on the Trump administration to effect change in Nicaragua, Cuba, and Brazil, explaining he was calling for “geopolitical pressure,” not the same exact tactics because the other countries are “a different reality.”

He said a major policy goal of the NHCLC is to build “a multigenerational firewall against communism, socialism” in Latin America.

“ I want Christianity to thrive, and I do believe that a political apparatus that is counterintuitive to religious liberty serves as an impediment to Christianity expanding, to people coming to Christ as Lord and Savior,” he said.

Maduro’s capture “is not the period—it’s the comma,” Rodriguez said.

Support for capturing Maduro

The response from pastors within Venezuela has been more muted, reflecting a significant difference in views between those still living in the country and those who’ve joined the diaspora.

Almost two-thirds (64%) of Venezuelans living abroad support U.S. military intervention in the country, compared with only a third (34%) of those in Venezuela, according to an October AtlasIntel poll.

But the same poll found majorities of Venezuelans everywhere considered Maduro a dictator and said the country would be better off without him.

About 4 in 10 (41%) Venezuelan residents and 55% of those in the diaspora said they trusted Machado to lead a transition to democracy.

The Evangelical Council of Venezuela wrote in a statement the day of Maduro’s capture that its members were praying for their fellow citizens “that go through moments of uncertainty or fear” and for “the peace of the country and for a true and enduring transformation that honors the justice, the truth and the dignity of every citizen.”

The next day, the council announced a week of fasting and prayer for the nation.

On Sunday back in Orlando, the Rev. Gabriel Salguero, president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, the Venezuelan evangelical council’s U.S. counterpart, told his congregation at The Gathering that in Venezuela, “the last chapter has still not been written,” referencing “powerful forces” still in place.

“We have to pray,” alongside thousands of other churches in his network, he told them, “for the freedom of the Venezuelan people and for democracy that respects the self-determination of the people.”

Nigerian Christians express appreciation for U.S. military action against Islamic militant targets in far northwestern Nigeria on Dec. 25.

The strike follows U.S. President Donald Trump announcing on social media Nigeria’s designation as a Country of Particular Concern in response to the ongoing killing of Christians in the country.

In a separate social media post, Trump threatened military action in Nigeria “to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”

Since the Dec. 25 strike, several news outlets have reported continuing attacks against Christians in parts of Nigeria.

Baptist Standard reached out to contacts in Nigeria for their response to the Dec. 25 strike.

‘Joy, relief and encouragement’

“Many Christians celebrated President Trump’s” social media post threatening military action and “were looking forward to a concrete action,” Joseph John Hayab, Baptist minister and chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria Northern Region, stated.

While the strike was a surprise, it was “a surprise that brought joy, relief and encouragement that has strengthened the faith of Nigerian Christians” in U.S. promises “that something serious would happen to the terrorists and bandits that have been terrorizing innocent citizens, especially the killing of Christians,” Hayab continued.

No churches or religious places were affected by the strike, Hayab reported. And “no record of any attempt for retaliation was recorded apart from a few elements” who politicized the U.S. strike “but did not gain ground and have since [gone] mute,” because the majority of Nigerians want the killing of fellow Nigerians stopped, he added.

Impact on churches

Asked what churches in the region anticipated ahead of the U.S. strike, pastor and peace advocate Gideon Para-Mallam said churches in the area of the strike did not expect anything “and were not afraid to meet on Christmas Day for service, but they were security conscious.”

Some churches did anticipate “possible terrorist bombings and attacks on Christmas Day, especially during Christmas Day church services and in Christian communities,” Para-Mallam stated. “So, news of the strike by America was seen as a welcome development in the fight against terrorism.”

Though churches are located where the U.S. strike occurred, “none was affected by the air strikes,” Para-Mallam said.

Echoing Hayab’s comments, Para-Mallam said “the U.S. Christmas Day attacks came as a pleasant surprise. Nigerians, both Christians and Muslims, are tired of the deadly activities of these terrorists’ killers. … Make no mistake about it, both Christians and Muslims in the area welcomed the air strike targeting terrorists.”

“There are concerns about possible retaliations by the terrorists in response to the air strikes,” Para-Mallam acknowledged.

Nigerian security failures

Many Nigerian Christians believe the Nigerian government has failed to maintain security in their country.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared a nationwide security emergency in Nigeria on Nov. 26, three weeks after Trump issued his threat of military action in Nigeria.

One source who must remain unnamed for security reasons said he “wholeheartedly support[s] this action as the Nigerian security authorities [have] clearly failed to protect its citizens, both Christians and Muslims.”

“If it will take the U.S. intervention for [the Nigerian government] to sit up and prioritize the safety of their citizens, then this is most welcome,” he added.

This support does not extend to “the U.S. military on the ground,” which the source is concerned “may escalate the conflict and turn Nigeria into a theatre of war. But targeted airstrikes to demobilize these terrorists or weaken their capacity to do evil is most welcome and appreciated.”

The source went on to describe the complexity of “handl[ing] the terrorists who have assimilated into local communities” and elsewhere.

“Any attempt to go after this category of terrorists will result in high civilian casualties and can turn the civil populace against the U.S. and Nigerian government. It’s a dicey situation,” he stated.

(RNS)—Philip Yancey, a beloved evangelical author and speaker, will retire from public ministry after admitting to a long-term affair.

“My conduct defied everything that I believe about marriage,” Yancey, 76, wrote in a letter to Christianity Today. “It was also totally inconsistent with my faith and my writings and caused deep pain for her husband and both of our families.”

Christianity Today, where Yancey had been a columnist and contributor for decades, reported the news of his retirement.

Known for his thoughtful and poignant books on faith, with titles such as What’s So Amazing About Grace, Disappointment With God, and Where Is God When It Hurts, Yancey connected with millions of evangelical readers, helping them wrestle with doubts about their faith and the hardships of life.

His books sold a reported 15 million copies, and Yancey was a popular speaker at churches and Christian events, continuing to accept speaking engagements even after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2023.

He had been scheduled on Wednesday, Jan. 7, to speak at Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena, Calif., at a service commemorating the wildfires that struck that community, before news of his retirement broke.

In his letter to Christianity Today, Yancey, who has been married for 55 years, said he has withdrawn from all writing, speaking, and social media, and entered a counseling program to deal with the damage caused from what he called an eight-year affair with a married woman.

“Instead, I need to spend my remaining years living up to the words I have already written. I pray for God’s grace and forgiveness—as well as yours—and for healing in the lives of those I’ve wounded,” he wrote in his letter to Christianity Today.

In a statement, Yancey’s wife, Janet, asked for prayer, saying she knows God has forgiven her husband. She also said she was dealing with the trauma of betrayal.

“God grant me the grace to forgive also, despite my unfathomable trauma. Please pray for us.”

Former Christianity Today editor David Neff, a longtime colleague of Yancey, said news of Yancey’s misconduct left him speechless.

“Fortunately, Philip makes no attempt to gloss over his deeds, blame the victim, or turn this into a launching pad for further ministry,” he said in a post on Facebook. “His statement shows a solid biblical understanding of the nature of sin and grace. Pray for Philip and Janet at this difficult time.”

Baptist world leaders are responding to the developments taking place in Venezuela after the U.S. entered Venezuela to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

The Baptist World Alliance released a pastoral statement in response to the event:

“We recognize that these recent developments have drawn public attention and given rise to diverse and multifaceted opinions at a time when polarization is too often accepted as normative. We urge churches as well as religious, social and political actors at the local, regional and multilateral levels to exhaust all resources and means to promote civic responsibility, safeguard human life and dignity, and uphold a firm commitment to democratic values.”

The National Baptist Convention of Venezuela issued a statement via Convención Bautista Hispana de Texas:

“These events, framed within a political and military scenario, have a direct impact on a population that longs to live in calm, in order to contribute to the progress and well-being of the family.

“And in the midst of the situation currently being experienced,” according to the statement, “the fervent desire of the faithful Christian for a Venezuela that recognizes God as sovereign Lord and Savior is highlighted—one capable of providing health and integral life to every person who submits to His Word.

“The prayers of the Christian people are for a country that places its trust in the Lord Jesus Christ,” the statement continues, “while at the same time assuming personal and family conduct marked by prudence and caution in light of the events occurring throughout the national territory.

“To believers and nonbelievers alike, our exhortation is to remain attentive to developments and to foster an atmosphere of tranquility—first within the family environment and also within the community. In this regard, Christians are called to be a blessing to others,” the statement adds.

President Trump gave U.S. forces the signal to initiate a surprise U.S. strike on Venezuela that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in the capital of Caracas in the early morning on Jan. 3.

Details regarding the U.S. strike on Venezuela and Maduro’s ouster by the U.S. were discussed at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, Jan. 4.

Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio continue to emphasize the U.S. will run Venezuela until the transition of power to a new leader takes place.

Maduro appeared before a federal court judge in Manhattan on Monday, where he pled “not guilty” on U.S. drug trafficking charges and added, “I am still president of my country,” the Associated Press reported.

Debate continues over the intent of the U.S. strike on Venezuela, who will run the country, and whether Maduro’s removal was for the purposes of ceasing the traffic of illegal drugs into the U.S. or to take control of oil reserves within the region.

NIGER STATE, Nigeria (BP)—Militants have killed at least 58 individuals in Christian villages in northeastern and northcentral Nigeria since Christmas, and kidnapped others from a Catholic boarding school, according to numerous reports.

The attacks Dec. 29 and Jan. 3 followed U.S. launches of more than 16 Tomahawk missiles on targets in northwest Nigeria Dec. 24, which the U.S. said were aimed at Islamic terrorists who have targeted Christians there.

Reported attacks

The Nigerian government blamed the killings of dozens of individuals Jan. 3 in two villages in Niger State—a state in northcentral Nigeria separate from the neighboring country of Niger—on “terrorists suspected to be fleeing from Sokoto and Zamfara following the United States’ airstrikes on Christmas Eve,” the New York Times reported Jan. 4. But the full impact of the U.S. strikes on Christmas Eve has not been reported.

The Jan. 3rd attacks occurred in Kasuwa Daji village in the Borgu Local Government Area, where residents initially reported 37 deaths, and in the neighboring village of Kaima, where five people were killed, the Times reported.

Reuters News Service attributed the Jan. 3 attacks to the deaths of at least 30 individuals, but said the attack was on a Kasuwa Daji market in Demo village, which is in the vicinity of Kasuwa Daji.

The combined death toll for Kasuwa Daji (or Demo) and Kaima had risen to 50 by Jan. 5, Anadolu News Agency reported. A mass funeral was held as the injured were hospitalized, Anadolu News reported.

Attackers kidnapped an undetermined number of individuals during the attacks on Kasuwa Daji and Kaima, including some who attended St. Mary’s Catholic School in the village of Papiri, the Times reported.

Islamic militant attacks

On Dec. 29, Islamic militants killed 14 people in attacks on villages in a predominantly Christian area of Adamawa State in northeastern Nigeria, Open Doors reported Jan. 6. Days earlier, militants killed a couple as they fled an attack on a church in the neighboring country of Niger during a Christmas Eve service in Mailo village, Open Doors said in its Jan. 6th report.

“It’s reported that armed individuals entered the church at around 11 p.m., firing shots into the air,” Open Doors said. “As the worshippers fled, one man and his wife tried to hide in their home, but they were caught and shot dead.”

The attackers also stole cattle, witnesses reported, leading many to believe the attack was perpetrated by Fulani herdsmen. Fulani have conducted numerous deadly Christmas attacks on Christian villages in the Middle Belt of Nigeria, but none during the 2025 Christmas season have been reported to date.

Open Doors cited researcher and analyst Brant Philip, who posted on X a statement Islamic State in West African Province reportedly released with a video.

“All Christians in Nigeria are legitimate targets, and they have an opportunity to ‘spare their blood’ by converting to Islam or paying the jizyah tax to ISWAP,” Philip paraphrased the Islamic State in West African Province statement.

The jizyah tax is a penalty levied by Islamic State in West African Province on non-Muslims in predominantly Muslim areas, allegedly in exchange for the right to practice their religion without being murdered.

Christians in Nigeria

In its 2025 World Watch List, Open Doors ranks Nigeria as the seventh most dangerous place for Christians to live, based on several factors including violence and church, community and national life. Nigeria remains the deadliest country for Christians globally, with 3,100 Christians killed there in the 2024-2025 reporting year ending in January 2025.

Attacks on the Middle Belt primarily target Christians, while attacks in northern Nigeria, where several Islamic Caliphates have been established, have targeted Christians as well as moderate Muslims, according to decades of reporting by watchdog groups.

A study by Pew Research Center shows shifting religious demographics among young men and women. Young women, previously considered “more religious” than young men, are now considered roughly as religious as men in the same age group.

According to the 2023-2024 Religious Landscape Study, there is little difference between religious identification of young men and women. Fifty-seven percent of women ages 18 to 24 identify as religious, a statistical trend nearly mirroring that of men in the same age group (58 percent). 

While seemingly insignificant, the closing religious gender gap between young men and women reflects changing historical trends. A two-year study by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity revealed women’s historical attitude toward religion, with women reporting higher rates of church attendance, prayer, and identification. 

Changing attitudes toward religion are a big factor

The change in this historical tendency seems to be due in part to growing “unaffiliated” religious identification among women. Research conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute expressed changing trends in 2024, where 40 percent of women ages 18 to 29 identified as religiously unaffiliated, representing an 11 percent increase from 2013. The percentage of men in the same age group remained stable (35 percent in 2013 vs. 36 percent in 2024). 

These statistics seem to further reflect fluctuating attitudes of women toward churches, particularly those with more conservative views regarding women in church leadership positions. 

Growing rates of feminism in the U.S. have contributed to changing cultural attitudes as female congregants focus more on the unequal treatment of women. A recent survey highlighted higher rates of female disaffiliation in churches, with 65 percent of women claiming men and women are not treated equally. 

This seeming gender disparity is tied predominantly to Protestant denominations, particularly those that require women to submit to male leadership. 

As modern culture continues to push increasing female independence and empowerment, more traditional religious ideas have become difficult for women to reconcile within a transforming cultural background, the study indicates. 

In an interview, Faith Brack, a former Southern Baptist, argued: “A lot of women are driven away by patriarchal beliefs. Women see that the church is dominated by men and are told [to] submit to their husband and not worry about helping in the church [in more meaningful ways].” 

Shifting sociopolitical beliefs contribute to this change

A Survey Center on American Life study suggests women are not driven from churches purely due to gender roles. A lot of women have grown increasingly progressive, focusing more on church equality, individual rights, and social justice. 

Rates of women identifying as members of the LGBTQ community have also increased, resulting in many American women leaving churches that are not LGBTQ-affirming. 

Most American women leaving their faith do not attribute it to a single reason, but rather an accumulation of negative experiences and teachings that do not reflect the beliefs of a growing diverse culture. 

Some of these women also cite the inability of many more conservative Protestant churches to adapt to more commonly seen lifestyles and identities as having driven these women out or leaving religion altogether and identifying as atheists. 

Women contribute to church community-building

Further research indicates religious American women tend to participate more actively in churches, contributing more time to community building and volunteer efforts. 

Women also provide the bulk of church childcare, with mothers playing significant roles in the faith formation of their children, both within and outside of church.

Americans raised in religious households often cite their mothers as having greater influence in leading their religious upbringing than fathers. This trend is especially prominent in interfaith families, in which nearly half (46 percent) of those raised by interfaith parents cite the mother as having a more prominent role in religious upbringing.