Six Texas Baptist pastors participated in a trip to El Paso to learn about the Immigration Service and Aid Center, River Ministry and ministries supported by the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering.

The Christian Life Commission hosted the pilot program last month to offer pastors an immersive learning experience and allow them to hear directly from people involved in ministries along the Texas/Mexico border.

Katie Frugé, director of the CLC and Texas Baptists’ Center for Cultural Engagement, began several months ago to explore ways to connect pastors to the CLC’s work.

“Our ministry assignment is unique in the convention and often takes us to exciting places,” Frugé said.

“I wanted to invite pastors to come and see the work that is being done across the state, so they could have confidence knowing that, even if their local church was hundreds of miles away, [they are] having an impact because of our Texas Baptists partnerships.”

The CLC chose El Paso for the first of several planned immersive opportunities because it is a “convergence point for several vital [Texas Baptists] ministries,” she said.

Frugé cited several goals for the pilot program:

• To provide experiential learning rather than just reports.
• To help pastors witness ministry needs along the border firsthand by hearing from ministry leaders and border agents in El Paso, and understanding how the faith community can effectively support them.
• To showcase what Texas Baptists already are accomplishing in critical ministry locations like El Paso.
• To create space for pastors to pray intentionally with those serving on the front lines of border-area ministries.

“My prayer is that these pastors left [El Paso] with a stronger connection to the kingdom-building work we’re doing together and a clearer vision of how their congregations can participate,” Frugé said.

‘Sparked a lot of thought’

Upon receiving an invitation to participate from Frugé, Sam Bunnell, pastor of First Baptist Church in Henrietta, said, “It seemed like a no brainer” to join the CLC in El Paso.

Having the opportunity to learn about the work ISAAC, River Ministry and the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering are doing on the border “and the opportunities [to serve] there and the needs there was very valuable,” Bunnell said.

“Seeing very grassroots ministries that are actually trying to step into that gap and meet that need was very moving and very powerful and sparked a lot of thought in my mind on what our church could do and what we could help support convention-wide,” he said.

It’s “absolutely crucial” to get his church involved in mission opportunities, Bunnell said.

In addition to encouraging his church members to support Texas Baptists’ ministries along the Rio Grande financially, Bunnell said, “I would love to now see them be more of a stakeholder in God’s mission by saying: ‘These are real felt needs in Texas, and the organization that we love and are a part of—Texas Baptists—is taking an active role in meeting these needs, and we can do that.

Meeting a person whose life was transformed

Bunnell recalled the testimony of a volunteer who serves with a ministry supported by the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering in El Paso. The ministry operates a restaurant that grows its own produce and offers free meals throughout each week.

“We met one lady who was reached by that ministry,” he said. “She was someone that somebody said: ‘She’s probably having a hard time. … Why don’t you just come to this place and get a free meal?’… Fast forward years later, she volunteers there every week.”

Hearing about how the woman’s life has been transformed through that ministry, Bunnell said he will encourage churches to ask: “How can we look outside our day-to-day realities and notice those who maybe we weren’t noticing before?”

“That translates to any community anywhere, whether you’re on the border or not,” he said. “We’ve all got people like that, that we’re just kind of walking by every day, and those are the kind of people that Jesus stopped for.

“So, I think we can definitely learn a lot from exploring these ministries and then actively supporting them and being involved.”

‘Collective work that no church can do by itself’

Josh King, pastor of Valley Ridge Baptist Church in Lewisville, said hearing from River Ministry leaders on the trip was impactful.

“It was encouraging to see how much work Texas Baptists are doing in what we would normally think of as confusing and dark spaces. But they’re not dark. We’re already there. We’re already doing work. That was very encouraging,” King said.

King believes it’s important for his church to be involved in these ministries by learning how to “be solid and strong here [in Lewisville]” to join the “collective work that no church can do by itself.”

“The churches in El Paso are under-resourced to accomplish what they need to accomplish,” King said. “We have resources. They have skill. And collectively, we can put that stuff together to accomplish the vision together.”

Trips like the experience in El Paso “pull back that curtain a little bit and to see that we are part of a really big [ministry] that’s doing really important work,” King added.

“The CLC strives to be a resource to Texas Baptists churches as they intentionally engage their communities and practice the Great Commandment of loving their neighbors well,” Frugé said.

“Through experiences like this, I’m praying that churches and ministry leaders feel both confident and inspired by the work the CLC is doing. I also hope these visits open doors for the CLC to serve churches in new and innovative ways we haven’t yet imagined.”

Baylor University acknowledged a long-unrecognized part of its history on Nov. 7 by dedicating a Memorial to Enslaved Persons on Founders Mall.

The memorial grew out of a report and series of recommendations by Baylor’s Commission on Historic Campus Representations in 2020-2021.

It recognizes the role enslaved laborers played in the university’s construction and confesses race-based chattel slavery built the wealth of many of Baylor’s early benefactors and founders.

It specifically acknowledges Judge R.E.B. Baylor—whose statue long has anchored Founders Mall and for whom the university is named—owned enslaved people.

The memorial includes Scripture references, a cascading water feature constructed of the same limestone used to build Baylor’s original campus in Independence, a population density map depicting the number of enslaved people in Central Texas in 1860 and a resonance garden for reflection.

Michael McFarland, a Baylor regent who served on the Commission on Historic Campus Representations, called the memorial on Founders Mall “a sacred space that acknowledges the courage, persistence and enduring legacy of the enslaved men and women whose hands helped build Baylor University.”

“Their names may not appear in Baylor’s official record, but their fingerprints are etched forever in the stones, the soil all over this campus,” he said. “Their spirit is woven into the very fabric of this awesome institution.”

‘Not turn away from painful truths’

McFarland urged those in attendance at the dedication ceremony to remember and honor the “great cloud of witnesses” who “labored in the heat, carved the stone, cleared the land, and carried the burdens of others.”

He called the memorial “a testament to truth, courage and reconciliation.”

“It reminds us that Baylor’s story—like the story of our great nation—is both complicated and redemptive,” McFarland said.

“It calls us not to turn away from painful truths, but to face them with courage, to persist in our pursuit of justice, and to honor those who labored in obscurity by ensuring that their descendants and all God’s children experience dignity and opportunity.”

McFarland pointed to the memorial as “a testament to what is possible when a community chooses honesty over comfort, reconciliation over denial, and truth over silence.”

“This moment reflects Baylor at its best—willing to look back, not with shame, but with purpose; not to rewrite history, but to redeem it,” he said.

He offered hope the memorial will remind all who see it “that progress is born of persistence, that courage often comes from the unseen, and that the truest measure of a community is how it honors those who had no voice.”

The dedication service for the memorial was scheduled in conjunction with the fall meeting of Baylor’s board of regents.

Racial reckoning ‘an ongoing effort’

In a Zoom call with news media following the board of regents meeting, Baylor President Linda Livingstone addressed the importance of Baylor acknowledging “difficult parts of its history” and honoring the role of previously unrecognized enslaved people.

Livingstone voiced hope the memorial will serve as “a place of reflection, reconciliation and redemption for our campus.”

Acknowledgement of all of Baylor’s history is “an ongoing effort,” she said.

“I think that reckoning with the truth of your past as an institution is never done. It is always something we have to keep working on,” Livingstone said.

In addition to constructing the Memorial to Enslaved Persons, Baylor has implemented other recommendations from the Commission on Historic Campus Representations.

They included:

• Adding inscriptions to the existing statue of R.E.B. Baylor acknowledging his role as a slaveholder and providing historical context.
• Erecting statues of Baylor’s first Black graduates­—Robert Gilbert and Barbara Walker—in front of the Tidwell Bible Building.
• Moving a statue of Rufus Burleson—a slaveholding former president of Baylor and proponent of the “Lost Cause” view of the Confederacy—from a prominent place in a quadrangle that previously bore his name.

The university will create additional community space on what is now the Baylor Family Quadrangle, Livingstone said.

Baylor also plans to develop space along Speight Avenue acknowledging the Indigenous people who occupied the land on which the university was built and recognizing the Hispanic community’s contribution to Baylor’s history and heritage.

GORDON (BP)—Albert Oliveira, pastor of First Baptist Church in Gordon, voluntarily returned to his birth country of Brazil after a visa rule change and years-long processing backlog blocked him from renewing his legal status.

“We exhausted all the possibilities,” Oliveira told Baptist Press from his mother’s home in Brazil, where he, his wife Caroline and their 3-year-old son arrived Nov. 9. “What I’m doing isn’t necessarily self-deporting, but simply leaving before the visa expires.”

Oliveira plans to continue to serve the church in Gordon, preaching and holding meetings online while the church’s pastor of discipleship handles local duties.

After a year, he will reapply for an R-1 visa for religious workers in an attempt to return to Texas and continue to serve the church.

“For this visa, you need to stay out of the country for at least 12 months in order to reset the possibility to apply again for another possible five years,” Oliveira said.

“I will stay here (in Brazil) until we can go back after the 12 months. But our hope is that something still happens and we possibly can go back earlier, maybe a rule change.”

Unexpected rule change

Oliveira was among an unspecified number of pastors in a line of 214,771 individuals seeking EB-4 visas as of March 2025, according to an analysis of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data by the CBS News Data Team.

An unexpected rule change in April 2023 lumped R-1 visa applications with others in the EB-4 category. In March 2022, there were 71,147 applicants, already a backlog for the program that issues 10,000 EB-4 visas a year. The numbers indicate a 200 percent increase in applications in a three-year span.

Oliveira, who speaks five languages, earned his degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary after coming to the United States in 2010 as a 19-year-old on a student visa.

He was called to the lead pastorate at First Baptist Gordon in May 2022, after serving as the church’s youth and missions pastor.

The Oliveiras’ son was born in the United States and holds citizenship here.

Oliveira continued to work legally in the United States under an R-1 religious worker visa until the rule change exacerbated a backlog in applications and later limited the number of visas that could be distributed.

Afterward, he sought to remain on an EB-4 visa for general workers, but the requirements could not be met, he said, under his service as a pastor.

‘Suffering uncertainty’

Oliveira estimates he already has spent $25,000 to $30,000 on attorney fees, application fees, airfare and other costs that he has no way to recoup.

“I know of other pastors in other churches that are going through this,” he said. “And you can only imagine that many of them don’t have the resources to help them in this way. And all that is left for them is really to leave.”

He expressed appreciation for the love and support of his church, sharing his desire that other Baptists consider the plight of similarly situated religious workers.

“I would like them to know that the church is being affected, that there are brothers and sisters in Christ that are suffering uncertainty and they’re unable to make plans with their church for the gospel,” he said.

Religious Workforce Protection Act still in committee

Messengers to the 2023 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting adopted a resolution “On Wisely Engaging Immigration,” commending Southern Baptists for their work on the issue and urging Congress to improve legal pathways to immigration while protecting U.S. borders.

A bill to establish the Religious Workforce Protection Act, which would allow certain EB-4 visa applicants to remain in the United States while their applications are pending, was introduced in both houses of Congress in April.

Although it has bipartisan support, it remains in committee, according to the congress.gov bill tracking service. The National Immigration Forum stated several benefits of the legislation in its analysis, including extending the R-1 visa status beyond the five-year cap.

Oliveira encourages fellow Southern Baptists to study such issues that hold interest within the church community.

“Personally, the feeling that I have is that people should study and be knowledgeable of the topic that they care about,” he said. “There are a lot of people with opinions on things that they don’t understand, and it just doesn’t help. It just hurts those that are being affected.”

Oliveira remains thankful

More than 200 worshipers attended the Nov. 2 service at First Baptist Gordon, a congregation that averages 150 in attendance. It was Oliveira’s last in-person sermon before he left for Brazil.

He baptized four new believers Nov. 2, and 11 others joined the congregation, he told Baptist Press. The church will continue to support him as a full-time pastor as he seeks a new path to legal residency here, he said.

Oliveira remains thankful.

“I’m thankful for what God has done. I have seen his providence through everything,” he said. “I’m thankful for the church, for their love and care. I honestly feel very loved by that church. And I’m thankful for everyone that was once unaware of this problem and learned about it, and started supporting and making a difference.”

Messengers to Texas Baptists’ annual meeting in Abilene next week will consider a $37.5 million total Texas budget for 2026 that depends on about $28 million in Texas Cooperative Program giving from churches.

If Cooperative Program giving reaches that mark next year, it will be the first time since 2018, when churches gave close to $28.2 million, and it will be about $2 million more than they gave last year.

Cooperative Program receipts from churches have declined gradually from $30.2 million in 2015 to $26 million in 2024, with the exception of one year.

During the past decade, 2022 was the only year that registered a slight uptick—about $230,000 above 2021 receipts.

However, investment income grew from $2.6 million in 2015 to more than $9.3 million in 2024.

Understanding the budget

When messengers to the annual meeting hear the budget presentation, several different terms may be used.

• The net Cooperative Program budget—dependent exclusively on receipts from churches to the unified giving plan—is $28 million.
• The net Texas Baptist budget includes both the $28 million in Cooperative Program giving from churches and an anticipated $7.98 million from investment income. The $36 million total undesignated budget is up from the $35.16 million in the 2025 budget.
• The $37.5 million total Texas Baptist budget includes the net budget, plus a projected $1.48 million in additional revenue from conference and booth fees and product sales. The proposed total Texas budget for 2026 is an increase from the $36.7 million budget adopted for 2025.

Beyond the total budget messengers will consider, other anticipated revenue in 2026 earmarked for specific causes includes $7 million in donor-designated gifts, $1.86 million in grants from the Mary Hill Davis Missions Offering and $300,000 from the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board.

An anticipated $1.2 million in worldwide missions giving will allocate $850,000 to international missions and partnerships and $250,000 to North American missions and partnerships.

Supporting GC2 Strong

The 2026 budget is organized around the main objectives of Texas Baptists’ GC2 Strong movement: Strengthening Churches, Strengthening Leaders and Engaging Missions, along with the areas of resource development and relationship development.

The proposed 2026 budget devotes more than $3.5 million—almost 10 percent of the budget—to the GC2 Strengthening Churches initiative.

The Strengthening Churches area includes the Pave church revitalization program, discipleship, evangelism, church architecture, music and worship, and the Christian Life Commission.

About $2.7 million—7.5 percent of the budget—is dedicated to the Strengthening Leaders initiative, with $1 million devoted to area representatives.

The Strengthening Leaders area also includes the Pastor’s Common, counseling services, pastoral health networks, chaplaincy, women in ministry, bivocational pastors, interim pastors and western heritage churches.

More than $3 million—8.5 percent of the budget—is devoted to the Engaging Missions initiative, including $2.745 million for church starting.

In addition, about $9.6 million—27 percent of the budget—goes toward the offices of the executive director, associate executive director and chief financial officer and the areas with which they work.

Those areas include information technology, finance and accounting, building support and operations, human resources, the Texas Baptist Historical Collection, ministerial benefits and retirees’ insurance.

Resource and relationship development

More than one-third—about 35 percent—of the budget is devoted to two underlying aspects of Texas Baptists’ GC2 Strong initiative: resource development and relationship development.

About $2.6 million—a little more than 7 percent—is dedicated to resource development, which includes communications, the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation and GC2 Press.

Almost $9.8 million—27 percent of the total—is earmarked for relationship development.

Under relationship development, support for educational institutions and human care institutions accounts for $8,286,286—about one-fourth of the total budget. Affinity groups account for a little more than $970,000 or 2.7 percent of the total.

Texas Baptists’ total budgeted support for other educational and human care institutions remains unchanged from 2025 to 2026.

Support for educational institutions

The $6 million for educational institutions—with $1,537,600 earmarked for ministerial financial aid—represents about 18 percent of the budget.

Ministerial financial aid is paid in arrears to institutions, which means the 2026 payment is for students enrolled from summer 2024 through spring 2025.

The total ministerial financial aid for the 2026 budget is comparable to the 2025 budget. However, the total number of students funded in the 2026 budget increased. The 2026 budget reflects an increased percentage of undergraduate students in the program, who are funded at a significantly lower scholarship level than graduate students.

Six universities affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas each will receive $500,000 in annual base support, an amount unchanged in the proposed 2026 budget. Texas Baptists elect a supermajority of the governing boards of affiliated institutions.

Affiliated universities are Baptist University of the Américas, East Texas Baptist University, Hardin-Simmons University, Howard Payne University, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and Wayland Baptist University.

Support for related universities

Two universities currently relate to the BGCT by special agreement, meaning Texas Baptists elect a minority of the institutions’ governing boards.

A third university anticipates moving from affiliated to related status, pending approval by messengers at Texas Baptists’ annual meeting in Abilene.

Dallas Baptist University, which previously received $500,000 in base support as an affiliated institution, will see that support decrease to $250,000 if messengers to the BGCT annual meeting approve its new relationship agreement with Texas Baptists.

DBU also is expected to see a drop in ministerial financial aid from $293,188 in 2025 to $283,475 in 2026.

BGCT budget support for DBU in 2026 totals $533,475. According to last year’s Book of Reports, DBU’s annual operating expenses at that time were more than $135 million.

Houston Christian University will receive $250,000 in annual base support. Its ministerial financial aid will decrease from $49,575 to $35,200.

BGCT budget support for HCU in 2026 totals $285,200. According to last year’s Book of Reports, HCU’s annual operating expenses at that time were more than $127 million.

DBU and HCU worked out special agreements approved by Texas Baptists’ institutional relations committee and the BGCT Executive Board, with final consideration by messengers to the BGCT annual meeting.

Although Baylor University grants Texas Baptists the right to elect a minority of its governing board, the university does not receive any base support from the BGCT. Baylor unilaterally changed its charter in 1990.

However, Baylor is slated to receive the largest total budgeted support from Texas Baptists due to ministerial financial aid. Even so, Baylor will see its total budgeted support from the BGCT decrease, from $689,525 in 2025 to $649,575 in 2026.

In May, Baylor’s board of regents approved a $995.8 million university operating budget for 2025-2026.

Texas Baptists’ support for Baylor’s Truett Theological Seminary also will decrease—from $458,150 to $452,750.

Affiliated universities, health and human care

Hardin-Simmons will see its total budgeted support decrease from $515,550 to $507,575 due to a drop in ministerial financial aid.

Six educational institutions will receive increases in their total budget support, due entirely to a rise in ministerial financial aid.

Among all educational institutions, Stark College is set to receive the largest increase in total budgeted support, from $76,125 in 2025 to $103,775 in 2026. Stark College does not receive any base support from the BGCT.

ETBU—now home to B.H. Carroll Theological Seminary—will see an $11,275 increase, from $582,750 to $594,025.

Four other universities will see varying increases in ministerial financial aid. Howard Payne is due to receive a $10,200 increase, UMHB is slated to receive a $2,550 increase, Wayland will receive a $975 increase, and BUA will receive a $275 increase.

The $2.2 million for health and human care institutions represents a little more than 6 percent of Texas Baptists’ proposed 2026 budget.

That includes $500,000 each for Children at Heart Ministries and South Texas Children’s Home Ministries, as well as $250,000 for Buckner Children and Family Services and $160,000 for San Marcos Baptist Academy.

It also includes $150,000 each for chaplaincy and pastoral care at Baylor Health Care system, Hendrick Health System, Hillcrest Baptist Health System and Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas.

Collegiate ministry is slated to receive $4.668 million in 2026, about 13 percent of the total undesignated budget.

Mahala Griffin-Halvorson, nursing student at Baylor, gave birth to her son, Hudson, 13 weeks early, while her husband, Caleb, was in the hospital from serious injuries fighting a fire.

Caleb was at the scene of a house fire when the roof of the garage in a burning home fell on him and trapped him in the flames and smoke, NBC News reported.

“I thought I was going to die because it was so hot,” Caleb told NBC News.

Caleb, a Fort Worth firefighter, went through surgery for burns and a serious knee injury.

Halvorson is in her final semester of nursing school at the Louise Herrington School of Nursing in the Distance Accelerated Bachelor of Science program track.

She gave birth to Hudson at Texas Health Resources Alliance Hospital.

Mahala and Caleb credit their faith, resilience and the support of others that brought them back together.

“Here at the [Louise Herrington School of Nursing], we are keeping Hudson and Caleb in our prayers as they both grow stronger while Mahala returns to nursing school to complete her degree with the anticipated graduation date of December 2025,” said Kathryn Osteen, clinical professor and associate dean for pre-licensure program at the nursing school.

“Just like Mahala’s family recently experienced, we all need a nurse at some point in our lives, and the need for caring and compassionate nurses has never been greater.

“We are proud of Mahala’s determination to press on amidst all that her family has endured. She is a testament to the belief that nursing is more than just a profession but a lifetime calling to make a genuine difference.”

Her newborn baby and husband fought for their lives but made it out of the hospital, reuniting with each other through prayers and support.

Caleb was able to come home to continue his healing journey. Four days later, Hudson came home.

The experience strengthened Mahala’s resolve to her call into nursing.

“This whole experience has really shown me the value of nurses as more than just a means of care,” she said.

“The nurses were my sounding board. They never made me feel stupid for being mad. They let me sit in my feelings. And they never left me feeling alone in this. They were who I needed, and I hope to one day be the person a family member needs in the future.”

The neonatal intensive care unit meant more to her than the definition of its services, Mahala said.

“If you google NICU, it will say ‘neonatal intensive care unit,’ but to me it’s so much more than that. It’s a place where the walls hear more prayers than a church,” she added.

“It’s often more quiet than a place full of babies should be. It’s full of growth and heartbreak. It’s where little miracles happen along with worst nightmares. This is the place where I want to make a difference.

“Plus, the burn unit is unlike any place I have ever been before. The distinct smell, cries and care is something I will never forget. It’s one of the most painful, but quickest healing units at the same time.”

A Texans on Mission emergency response team is in Jamaica to help coordinate relief efforts by churches after Hurricane Melissa devastated the island, and all other Texans on Mission disaster relief volunteers are on alert for possible deployment.

The emergency response team left Texas on Nov. 1 to help organize and maximize the relief ministries of Jamaican churches.

The highly trained volunteers are working with regional church leaders “to assess immediate needs, develop structured recovery plans and implement actionable strategies for long-term community resilience,” Texans on Mission officials announced on social media.

“Their extensive experience in disaster relief, church mobilization and logistics will empower church members to live out their faith by meeting needs and sharing God’s love in these difficult days,” said Mickey Lenamon, chief executive officer of Texans on Mission.

All Texans on Mission disaster relief units—including food service workers, chainsaw crews and heavy equipment operators—were placed on alert status on Nov. 3, meaning volunteers need to prepare for deployment on short notice.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica as a Category 5 storm on Oct. 28, packing sustained 185 mph winds with heavy rainfall.

“Homes and churches have been demolished, and communities have no power or running water,” Texans on Mission posted on social media. “Many have lost everything.”

‘A disaster unlike anything we’ve had before’

Texans on Mission personnel participated in a Nov. 3 Baptist World Alliance call with Marilyn Hide Riley, general secretary of Jamaica Baptist Union.

“We experienced a disaster unlike anything we’ve had before. We are used to hurricanes, but nothing like this,” Riley said.

While damage was concentrated in the western part of Jamaica, 70 percent of the country still lacked electricity, water was unavailable in some regions, and some areas remained inaccessible, she reported. Communication is limited due to lack of cell phones and internet access.

“I do not think I can find the words to describe what has happened,” Riley said. “We have never seen this extent of damage to churches.”

In Jamaica, the average pastor leads three congregations, and communities depend on service churches provide, she noted. They need food and water, generators, tents for temporary housing and tarps to cover damaged roofs.

To support Texans on Mission disaster relief financially, give online here, call (214) 275-1100 or mail a check to Texans on Mission, 5351 Catron Dr., Dallas, TX 75227.

John Hall of Texans on Mission contributed to this report. 

EDITOR’S NOTE: A federal judge in Rhode Island on Oct. 31 ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make SNAP payments. The Trump Administration announced Nov. 3 it would use contingency funds to provide partial SNAP benefits that will cover about half of each eligible household’s benefits in November.

Community ministries and Texas Baptist churches with food pantries prepared for a sharp rise in needs after Nov. 1, when 3.5 million Texans—including 1.7 million children—expect to lose food assistance benefits due to the ongoing government shutdown.

Barring some stopgap measure by Congress, up to 42 million Americans will lose access to benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, previously known as food stamps.

“When those benefits disappear, families will face impossible choices—between food and rent, groceries and medicine,” said Jeremy Everett, executive director of the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty. “Small businesses, grocery stores and local food pantries will all feel the strain.

“If loving our neighbor is the standard by which we demonstrate our faith, then our response in moments like these reveals where our faith truly lies.”

In addition to the loss of SNAP benefits to low-income families, some government employees have been furloughed or temporarily are working without pay.

Churches seek to ‘reflect the kindness of Christ’

Churches in Midland are working cooperatively to “reflect the kindness of Christ and our calling to care for people,” said Pastor Darin Wood of First Baptist Church.

“With the government shutdown and the end of SNAP benefits looming, we—the pastors and shepherds of our city—want to say we’re in it for those who are affected,” Wood wrote in a social media post.

Beginning Nov. 1 and continuing “until the shutdown ends and benefits are restored,” churches are working together to meet as many needs as possible daily on a rotating basis, he wrote.

For its part, First Baptist Church will provide a free hot meal from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 4. Fannin Terrace Baptist Church will provide a meal from 5 p.m to 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 6.

Other churches involved in the Midland effort include Greater Ideal Church, Mount Moriah Disciples of Christ Church, Golf Course Road Church of Christ, First Presbyterian Church, First Methodist Church and First Christian Church, along with several local ministries.

“Here’s our plan. No ID required and no costs,” Wood announced on social media. “Just come eat and know that Jesus loves you and sent us to do the same.”

Texas Baptists offer grants

The Baptist General Convention of Texas wants to help churches meet the increased needs of their neighbors, Executive Director Julio Guarneri announced in an Oct. 30 email.

“We are thankful for churches that have food pantries and hunger ministries. Many of these, we know, are stretched as they seek to serve clients who have a greater need due to not receiving government pay or benefits,” Guarneri stated.

In response, the BGCT is allocating a $100,000 grant to be distributed by the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering office.

Grants range from $1,000 to $10,000, said Irene Gallegos, director of hunger care ministries with Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission.

Churches with food pantries and hunger ministries can inquire about a grant by clicking here, and they will be provided more information about how to apply.

About 20 churches and ministries responded within the first 12 hours after Guarneri sent his email, Gallegos noted.

How to help

To contribute to the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering, click here.

When giving—whether to a local ministry, a regional food bank or through another avenue—Everett suggested contributing what a family in Texas will lose in SNAP benefits: an average household benefit of $356 a month or $12 a day.

He also encouraged concerned Christians to volunteer.

“Local pantries and meal programs will be stretched thin in the weeks ahead as they consider how to meet an influx of community needs,” he stated.

“They cannot extend their hours, serve more neighbors or manage donations without help. Offer your time, your hands and your presence.”

A proper understanding of God’s Triune nature offers insights into the nature of humanity created in God’s image, theologian Rowan Williams told a gathering at First Baptist Church in Waco.

The ancient Nicaean Creed not only affirmed the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, but also influenced the Western understanding of politics and power in varying degrees over the next 1,700 years, the former head of the worldwide Anglican communion said.

Williams, who served as the archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012, delivered the Parchman Lectures, sponsored by Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary on Oct. 28-29 in Waco.

Truett Seminary moved the lectures from Powell Chapel on the Baylor campus to the sanctuary of nearby First Baptist Church to accommodate the exceptionally large crowd, Dean Todd Still said.

Williams’ lectures focused on “The Word Was with God: Trinitarian Reflections on the Anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.”

The Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. affirmed the Christian doctrines of belief in “one God, the Father Almighty;” in “one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,” who is “eternally begotten of the Father;” and in “the Holy Spirit … who proceeds from the Father and the Son.”

The council rejected the Arian heresy that Christ was a created being altogether distinct from God the Father, insisting instead that God the Son and God the Father are “of the same substance.”

‘Theological tension at work’

Williams acknowledged the “theological tension at work” in affirming one God in three Persons who is both giver and receiver—unchanging in some sense and yet fully identifying with suffering humanity in his incarnation.

In part, the unity of the Triune God is the unity of action, he suggested.

“We can’t talk about God without talking about creation and redemption” involving God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, he said.

Jesus is both the heavenly High Priest and the sacrifice itself offered on the heavenly altar, Williams said.

In describing the Trinity, Williams used the analogy of a musical chord in perfect harmony rather than an isolated note.

“The unity, the indivisibility, of God is an indivisible interaction—symphonic or harmonic, not a single line of music,” he said.

No ‘trickling down’ of divine power

The divine power exercised by the Triune God is inherent, not delegated or hierarchical, he said.

“There is no trickling down from the Father to the Son or from the Son to the Spirit,” he said.

Jesus declared himself to be one with God, while at the same time, he called upon God as “Father” and taught his disciples to do the same, emphasizing the relational aspect of the Trinity.

The unity of the Triune God is eternally familial, interactive and relational, Williams asserted.

“There is no way to speak about God without speaking of God’s relatedness,” he said.

While God the Father is the Creator of life and the Sustainer of life, the same can be said of God the Son and God the Spirit. Giving life is “the same family habit,” Williams said.

Image of God means giving and receiving life

So, as adopted children of God created in the image of God, redeemed humans live out their role as image-bearers most fully through giving life and giving of themselves within the body of Christ, he said.

“To be in the divine image is for us to be so constituted that the life given to us is a life we share with and receive from one another. The pattern of creation itself is a pattern of life giving,” Williams said. “In the new creation, the pattern of life giving is renewed and intensified.”

Humans are part of the larger web of creation, and they are not created to be alone or to live in opposition to the created order, he asserted.

“Violence against the world is a kind of violence against ourselves,” Williams said.

The “radical mutuality” evident in the Triune God should be reflected in humans who bear his image and in the church as the body of Christ, he said.

Politics and power

In what he described as “a slight digression,” Williams explored the political implications of how Western Christianity has understood the Trinity, particularly how power is understood.

He pointed to an early 20th century debate in Germany between Carl Schmitt and Erik Peterson over political theology—specifically the relationship between the doctrine of the Trinity and monarchical authority.

Schmitt emphasized the “sovereign will” of God. He believed the sovereignty of God meant God can do whatever God chooses, including intervening in the created world and suspending the laws of nature, Williams explained.

By the same principle, the earthly monarch—or other authoritarian ruler of a nation—had the right to suspend the rule of law in the event of an emergency, Schmitt asserted.

Furthermore, the sovereign ruler alone possessed the right to declare a state of emergency in Schmitt’s view. That belief provided theological justification for the National Socialist Party in Germany and Hitler’s rise to power.

‘Unity of agency’

Peterson, on the other hand, saw absolute divine monarchism as incompatible with a Nicaean view of the Trinity, Williams explained.

“Monarchy belongs to the entirety of the divine life. Monarchy belongs to the Trinity in its full relatedness,” he said.

Peterson saw the sovereign will of God exercised in the “unity of agency” by the Father, Son and Spirit working in concert. He rejected any view that considered the power of God the Son or God the Holy Spirit as delegated or subordinate to God the Father.

So, Peterson rejected any political theology that granted absolute sovereignty to any single earthly ruler—including the German Führer.

Drawing on lessons learned from that debate, Williams drew applications both for secular politics and the church.

“We need to know where sovereignty resides,” he said.

No single individual or political system can “embody the sovereignty of God,” but the church embodies it through kingdom actions, Williams suggested.

Politics effectively tells people “who the enemy is,” because “the other” is seen as “a threat to be contained,” Williams said. The Trinity, on the other hand, may offer a model in which difference does not mean enmity.

“What if, in the divine life, we have a vision of otherness which is wholly interdependent and in no sense a threat to be resolved?” he asked.

“This nail … takes me to Italy,” said Dallas Jenkins, creator of “The Chosen” hit TV series that follows the life of Christ.

Jenkins held the Roman-era crucifixion spike in his hand while being interviewed on stage during the Oct. 28 Veritas Lecture sponsored by the Institute for Global Engagement at Dallas Baptist University.

“We filmed the crucifixion sequence in Italy. It’s a place that multiple films have been filmed about the crucifixion because it’s one of the only places in the world that still has the first century backdrop.”

“Filming season six has been without a doubt the hardest thing I’ve ever done … in my career and for my family,” Jenkins said.

“It has been in many ways a test of what I believe God asks of all of us: Can you surrender? Can you be humbled before me? And can you have faith and trust even when you don’t necessarily understand or know the outcome?”

Jenkins admitted, while he was uncertain of the outcome of the series’ next season, he was encouraged by how God has kept him, his family and his production team.

The opportunity to film the death of Jesus in Italy was a chance for God to show Jenkins and his team both the beauty and pain that came with Christ’s sacrifice for humanity. It was a point during production Jenkins had to step away as he processed the moment and considered what the disciples might have felt.

“Everyone in this room faces moments where we don’t know the outcome,” Jenkins said.

Reliance on God and others

During season one, Jenkins was moved by a moment when God provided what was needed during a film shoot.

Five days before filming the miracle where Jesus told Simon to let his net down to catch fish, the crew was without a boat, a lake or fish.

 “The lake flooded. So, we didn’t have a shore. The boat we tried to build was taking too long. I do not have the tools I need. I was in that place where I couldn’t solve this. Five days later, the lake had gone down exactly to the part where we needed to get down,” Jenkins said.

 The boat was delivered the same day, and the fish were provided through the special visual effects team.

“When I’m directing a scene, I can see how it’s going, and I can control how it’s going. In this case, I couldn’t. It was out of my own control. I was relying so much on others,” Jenkins said.

While filming “The Chosen,” Jenkins learned to trust God, including with the crew and the provisions needed for telling stories of the Bible.

“I realized this is not my project. I am going to have to get used to this notion that other people in my life are going to, of course, be smarter, better than I am in some areas. I’m going to have to rely on that, too. And then we’re all going to rely on God to perceive these things,” Jenkins continued.

“And that was a really, really powerful and encouraging lesson, when you realize, ‘I’m not good enough to do this,’” Jenkins said.

What God thinks

During his time filming “The Chosen,” Jenkins has received an overwhelming amount of praise and criticism.

Jenkins said there are plenty of people struggling with God’s call on their lives.

“What is miraculous is who I was before ‘The Chosen,’” Jenkins said. “My drug of choice was affirmation, legitimacy. I cared deeply about what the movie industry thought of me. I wanted to be taken seriously. I wanted fans. I wanted my films to be top of the box office.”

Jenkins added it was through failure God told him he was ready to work on “The Chosen.”

“The reason our company is called ‘5&2 Studios’ is because in that moment of failure, in that moment of desperation, I was reminded by God that your job is not to feed the 5,000 but to provide the loaves and fish,” Jenkins said.

“Whatever gifts God has given you, you make them available to God to use them. He deems them worthy of acceptance. And that’s a hard pill to swallow for someone who cares about results and wants to get credit for the results,” Jenkins said.

It is equally important not to be moved by praise nor by criticism, but to care about what God thinks, Jenkins added.

A yearlong study of Waco’s Church Under the Bridge reveals lessons about how to create a welcoming community where people who never felt accepted in church can find a place where they belong.

When Melody Escobar arrived at Baylor University, she asked a colleague where individuals in Waco with mental, physical or developmental disabilities liked to worship.

Her co-worker pointed her to the congregation that has met regularly for three decades beneath the Interstate 35 overpass at South Fourth St.

After she attended the 2024 Palm Sunday service at Church Under the Bridge and became acquainted with Pastor Jimmy Dorrell, she realized “something really special was going on at the Church Under the Bridge” that deserved serious examination.

Escobar, associate research scientist at the Baylor Collaborative on Faith and Disability, and research assistant Caroline Reed conducted the “Belonging Under the Bridge” study, funded by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.

Worshipping community ‘united in diversity’

“For me, the key dimension that emerged in the study was how they are so united in diversity,” Escobar said.

Of the 33 individuals interviewed by researchers, more than 20 percent are unhoused. More than half—55 percent—reported a disability, and more than one-fourth reported a history of substance abuse disorders.

Many members live in extreme poverty and some previously have been incarcerated. However, Church Under the Bridge also counts among its members Baylor students, teachers, medical professionals, ministers and nonprofit workers.

“People spoke of discovering a sanctuary under the bridge—this place where diversity isn’t an obstacle but a driving force of the community,” Escobar said. “And so, there’s this palpable and powerful sense of belonging.”

Worshippers reported an “immediate felt sense that each person is indispensable to their life together,” she said.

“They described a powerful sense of belonging fostered by the embodied presence and celebration of diverse backgrounds, identities and spiritual gifts,” a summary report of the study states.

“United in diversity reflects the church’s theological commitment to honor each person’s inherent dignity and to actualize the compassionate discipleship Jesus prescribes in Matthew 25—frequently referenced by the senior pastor and members alike as a guiding ethos for ministry—encountering Christ in all people.”

Church Under the Bridge’s open-air setting—“worshipping without walls”—contributes to fostering an environment where everyone is welcome, and worshippers encounter God outside conventional spaces, she noted.

Engaged in using spiritual gifts

Dorrell’s approachable “relationship-first style of leadership” creates an atmosphere of genuine acceptance and a sense everyone is “seen and valued,” she said.

“I witnessed him every Sunday welcome people warmly, ask them their name and stop to hear their story,” Escobar said.

Individuals interviewed said they not only felt welcomed to worship, but also to serve and engage meaningfully in the life of the faith community, she reported.

“The spirit of welcome naturally flowed into the church’s commitment to the sense of ministry by all,” Escobar said.

“Everyone is seen as having a gift to contribute. They devote a lot of time to holding sessions on spiritual gifts, nurturing those gifts and getting people connected to meaningful roles.

“The conviction that every person is needed for this ministry is a conviction that shapes all aspects of their life together.”

The study revealed worshippers not only received acceptance and friendship at Church Under the Bridge, but found “family” there through small-group gatherings and shared meals, she said.

Found family, experienced transformation

Members told interviewers “they felt cared for,” were missed when they were absent, and discovered “a sense of stability that many had not experienced before,” Escobar said.

“Belonging reflects something biblical—an understanding of community and mutual care,” Escobar said. “Belonging is a desire placed in our heart by God. It’s a reflection of our need for relationship.

“When we turn away from that life together, we lose that sacred opportunity to be shaped by others, to know ourselves more fully, and to experience the transformation God intends for us in our communities.”

The yearlong study revealed participants not only reported spiritual transformation and holistic well-being, but also shifts in their worldview about people different from themselves.

The study concludes with recommendations for the wider church, based on suggestions by participants who were interviewed:

• Remove physical and social barriers to worship.

“Listening is a real gift,” Escobar said, encouraging church leaders to pay attention to the “lived experience” of people who have felt excluded.

In addition to making practical accommodations for individuals with disabilities, church leaders can remove barriers by raising awareness, educating members and “sharing stories that open people to different ways of thinking about community,” Escobar said.

• Embrace freedom and flexibility in worship.

Escobar emphasized the importance of “making room for every voice and people of all abilities to participate.”

• Prioritize authenticity.

“Belonging grows when communities prioritize that genuine connection … putting community over image or presentation so that you have spaces for people to show up as they are,” Escobar said.

“It’s found in simple things—learning names, valuing each person’s story.”

• Welcome and empower historically excluded people.

“Make every member feel invited and equipped to take part in the life of the church,” Escobar said.

“Church Under the Bridge does that really well—helping people to see that they are gifted and have something to contribute for the vitality of the congregation.

“When those who have been left out are invited into discipleship and given visible and meaningful roles, I think we truly see what it means to be the body of Christ where every person’s presence and contribution matters.”

IRVING, Texas (BP)—Matt Queen, the former interim Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary provost who pleaded guilty a year ago to making a false statement to federal investigators, has joined the staff of Plymouth Park Baptist Church in Irving as associate pastor.

Plymouth Park Church pointed to Queen’s “three decades of experience in a variety of roles and contexts as a leading voice in evangelism” and called him “a passionate evangelist and author” of several books.

Queen’s case came about through the Department of Justice’s investigation into allegations of mishandling claims of sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention. He ultimately received a judgment of time served with one year of supervised release and six months of home confinement, alongside paying a $2,000 fine and $100 special assessment.

Supervised release required Queen to participate in outpatient mental health treatment and continued usage of prescribed medications.

Queen’s plea centered around falsified notes investigators said he provided in the spring of 2023 following a report of sexual abuse by a student at Texas Baptist College, Southwestern’s undergraduate arm.

Plymouth Park Pastor Matt Henslee told The Roys Report news outlet that while he did recommend Queen, a longtime friend, for the position, he was not part of the hiring process.

The church’s trustees and legal counsel “perused every single page of those court documents,” Henslee told The Roys Report. Church leaders also interviewed Queen for two and a half hours.

Queen was the only individual publicly indicted in the Department of Justice investigation launched in August 2022 and concluded in March of this year. No sexual abuse-related charges were filed as a result of the investigation.

Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission is urging church leaders to sign a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi calling on the Department of Justice to prohibit foreign governments from using tracking technologies to send targeted messages to worshippers in U.S. churches without their consent.

On Sept. 27, Show Faith by Works—an organization acting as an agent of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs—filed disclosures with the Justice Department as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

The disclosures revealed the organization’s intent to use geolocation and geofencing technology to send targeted messages to the mobile devices of individuals on the property of 465 churches—including more than 200 in Texas—without their knowledge and consent.

‘Crosses a line that should concern all Americans’

“We recognize the importance of diplomatic relations and the legitimate interests of allied nations. However, the surreptitious targeting of American worshipers on the grounds of their churches crosses a line that should concern all Americans who value religious freedom and privacy,” the letter to Bondi from Texas Baptists states.

John Litzler, CLC director of public policy and general counsel for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, noted most smartphone apps request user permission before accessing a user’s geographic location.

“Because of privacy rights, users typically have a choice whether to deny access to their location, always grant access to their location, or grant access to their location only while using the application. In these instances there is a knowing and voluntary decision by the user,” Litzler explained.

“If I allow a restaurant to know my location, for example, I may be able to place mobile orders and receive an occasional free chicken sandwich.

“In contrast, the targeting described in this filing would be done without the knowledge or consent of pastors and congregants.”

The letter to Bondi raises five key issues:

• Violations of religious liberty, freedom of association and free assembly.

Houses of worship historically have been “protected spaces where Americans gather freely to practice their faith without government surveillance or foreign interference,” the letter states.

“Allowing government-sanctioned foreign surveillance and influence operations within church sanctuaries fundamentally undermines this separation by entangling houses of worship with state-approved foreign political campaigns.”

Targeting individuals in places of worship also can have a “chilling effect” on the freedom to assemble and freely exercise faith, the letter notes.

“Allowing a foreign government access to geolocation data to every phone located on a church premises is akin to requiring the churches to turn over their membership lists,” the letter states.

• Violations of property and privacy.

Most of the places of worship listed in the filing are the private property of the faith communities that assemble there, the letter notes.

“Property rights are built on the principle that property owners should have the right to exclude others from their property,” the letter states.

“Geofencing, without the knowledge or consent of the property owner, circumvents these ownership rights by tracking individuals’ whereabouts everywhere on church property from the prayer room to the bathroom.”

• Lack of informed consent.

Individual worshippers “have no knowledge they are being targeted and are provided no ability to opt out,” the letter states.

• Violation of religious autonomy.

Houses of worship and their leaders “should have the right to determine what outside influences, particularly from foreign governments, are permitted to communicate with their congregations on church property,” the letter states.

• Sets a dangerous precedent.

“Allowing agents of foreign governments to use surveillance technology to target faith communities sets a troubling precedent that could be exploited by any foreign actor, whether allied or adversarial to the United States,” the letter states.

‘Potential for gross violations’ of civil rights

Two years ago, Calvary Chapel in San Jose, Calif., sued Santa Clara County for geofencing its premises to track congregants who attended worship services during a COVID-19 pandemic “shelter-in-place” order.

The claims in that lawsuit “demonstrate the potential for gross violations of Americans’ civil rights when foreign or domestic governments are allowed to use this technology to track church attendees,” Litzler said.

“If a local, state or federal government entity tried to compel churches to turn over their membership lists, Christians would rightly be concerned about infringement on our rights of religious freedom and freedom of association,” he said.

“By setting a geofence around a church and collecting information about who enters that area each Sunday, foreign actors will gain enough information about church attendees that it’s tantamount to turning over a membership list to them.”

The letter from Texas Baptists to Bondi asks the Department of Justice to:

• Prohibit agents of foreign governments from using geolocation, geofencing or similar tracking technologies “to target individuals at houses of worship in the United States without their consent.”
• Establish an opt-in requirement that would allow foreign governments and their agents to use tracking technologies only at places of worship that have “explicitly and voluntarily consented in writing.” It would require full disclosure of “the foreign entity involved and the nature of the messaging to be delivered.”

“Houses of worship should remain sanctuaries free from uninvited foreign government surveillance and influence,” the letter to Bondi states.

“We ask that you act swiftly to protect the integrity of our religious institutions and the rights of all Americans to worship freely according to their conscience.”

Church leaders can sign the letter by clicking here.