I am changing the story to protect identities.

Richard and Gina are two precious church members. They both work hard to make a living, to cover their bills and to give their offerings to the Lord each week without fail.

Richard lost his job. Gina works in the mailroom for a local oil and gas firm.

To help cover expenses, Gina, a great cook, bakes a load of goods each week for Richard to sell during the week to make ends meet. They needed a good central location. So, I let them sell their goods at church during the week until Richard gets a good job.

This is where mission creep sets in.

One thing leads to another

Before long, more and more come to the church parking lot to buy Gina’s baked goods.

Gina has built a great reputation for her cooking. Richard is a kind man who helps everyone who stops by. If people can buy the goods, he gladly sells them. But whatever is left, he gives to those in need.

Soon, their baked goods began to sell out. So, they added boxed lunches to their product line. They needed extra space to do all this, along with warmers, tables, take-out containers, utensils, bags, signage and chairs for those who want to eat on-site.

The sweet couple did not have all these things. So, they started using church equipment during the week to accommodate their customers.

They got tired of hauling things from their home. So, they started storing them in the church. Storing things in church takes away from the storage the church needs for its normal needs.

The couple started to put church stuff out behind the building, because they didn’t want their items to be stolen. The result? Church things were exposed to the elements and stolen.

When I found out, I asked Richard and Gina to please stop putting the church things out in the parking lot.

I knew they needed storage, but the church doesn’t have room to store personal items. This also was complicated when other church members asked if they could store things at the church because they didn’t have money for storage.

When I said they could not, the members would ask, “Why do you let Richard and Gina do it, if we can’t?”

Do you see the problem?

Pushing

Richard and Gina were so kind to accept my guidance. They did what I asked … for about two weeks.

Then, their things began to pile up inside the church again. They even began to use classrooms for their items, which meant on Sunday mornings, some of our Sunday school classes had nowhere to meet.

When I found out, I asked Richard and Gina, as kindly as I could, to please remove their items, to stop storing in the church, or I would not be able to let them use the church grounds for their business.

They agreed. Their business was booming.

Even so, they continued to abuse the privileges we gave. Nine times they abused the privileges, even sneaking around trying to do what they wanted where I would not catch wind of it. But our sins always find us out.

On a recent Sunday, I called them into my office to tell them they no longer could use the church for their baking/catering/dining business.

It is hard to be hard on people, but those who mistake kindness for weakness, who try to game the system—especially in the Lord’s house—must face consequences.

Forgiving

Monday, Gina asked for a private meeting.

It doesn’t matter what conflicts we’ve had. I always want our relationships to continue, never to stop worshipping the Lord together.

So, there was Gina in my office. She began to cry.

She said: “Pastor, we lied to you. We have abused the church. You gave us chance after chance, and we took advantage of you and the church. I am asking you to forgive us.

“Do you remember when Peter asked Jesus how many times he was to forgive?” she continued. “He wondered if seven times was too many. Jesus told Peter, not seven times but 70 times seven. Pastor, will you forgive us 70 times seven? Will you give us one more chance?”

She began to cry some more.

She got me. She was right. Because she admitted their sin. Because she was broken. Because she reminded me of the Scripture about forgiveness.

And mostly because I remember how many times I ask God to forgive me for the same sins I commit over and over, I could not not forgive. I could not help but give them another chance. And I have.

There is a note to make with regard to forgiveness. The Lord says we must be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. We can forgive, but we also should do all we can to protect ourselves and prevent recurrence.

As a result, I forgave, but I had them sign a document stating they would not take advantage of the church again. If they broke their word, there would be no further discussion. With the next offense, all their things would be moved out without one plea.

I cemented it by having the couple come before the church as I stated our agreement publicly, since their offense had been public.

Johnny Teague is the senior pastor of Church at the Cross in West Houston and the author of several books, including his newest The Lost Diary of Mary Magdalene. His website is johnnyteague.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

When my mom died of leukemia, I was exhausted from the hospital stays, from moving into her home to care for her, and having her and her sitters live with me for a time. Our mother-daughter relationship was very close, and saying “good-bye”was anguish, stressful to the max.

When mother passed, it was a shock, as we thought she would live at least another few months. In fact, on the day she died, lab results showed her in remission from leukemia. Yet, she died from complications of the disease.

Life and death just cannot be predicted with certainty. They truly are in God’s hand, and we stand back in awe of his judgment and wisdom, weighing factors we do not know exist. To know God is to know he is purely love and mercy toward his children.

When we planned mom’s funeral service, I was half-numb and chose for a soloist to sing “Holy Ground.” I knew that was the right song but did not know why. Was this a poor choice, because we were burying our loved one in the ground? Were we thinking the burial site was holy? I surely did not mean to communicate that.

What is holy ground?

Recently I came to understand the concept of holy ground better. It is anywhere we meet God, where he speaks to us and transforms us—as God said to Moses at the burning bush, “Take off your sandals for you are standing on holy ground” (Exodus 3).

Holiness is where God stands and teaches us with tenderness and tough love. It can mean where God frees us.

Ann Voskamp has written we meet God in our “breaking”—which I take to mean our grief and deep sorrow. The God of mercy and love does not wish us to stay broken, but to be healed and refreshed in our relationship with him and ready to accept new life circumstances.

I stayed broken too long. I made God meet me over and over and carry me through years when I could have been more productive for his kingdom. But drawing me to intimacy and dependency on him, it was all holy.

Holy rebuilding

Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries with the empty chair—I have been there. Now, most of the chairs are empty.

New babies have been born into the family, but they do not replace a precious spouse, revered parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. We older folks are the “elders” now—the patriarch and/or matriarch in a long line of believing family.

It is wise to prepare for this phase of life and pray for every kind of leadership strength—physical, emotional, financial and spiritual.

Note to the young: Use every day of life to finish strong. The end requires of us all we are.

If you are alone or lonely this holiday season, if you feel broken by recent grief or grief that seems to last forever, remember: This can be your season of “holy ground” as God rebuilds you.

I see the picture of a broken, hardened pot reworked on the potter’s wheel and made even more beautiful and useful than before. That can be us with the touch of the master potter’s perfect pressure and heat.

There are some changes that only come through fire, a burning bush and the holiness of God. Refining fire changes the heart and life.

Ruth Cook is a longtime Texas Baptist. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

The alarm clanged. I’m not a morning person, and I hated that loud thing.

Staggering through the house, I woke up kids. Three sleepy girls stumbled from beds, made their way to the den and turned on the television.

I kept my eyes on the clock and gave orders: “Turn off the TV. (These days, it would be “turn off the cell phones.”) Eat this, wear that, comb your hair.”

Mornings were chaotic at our house during those years with young children.

The frenzied activity halted for 15 minutes each day. Regardless of where our daughters were in their routine, their dad would say, “Come on, girls, it’s time.”

Planting devotional seeds

Dad, dressed in suit and tie, called us all to the living room. He chose the middle section of the sofa, and our three daughters argued over who would sit next to him, until we adopted the rotation system.

We put the hurry-scurry on hold while we spent a few minutes with the Lord. We had no clue how important this daily custom would mean to each of us in later years.

My husband, their preacher-dad, read a chapter from a children’s Bible. The children’s edition featured pictures and stories in modern, simple English.

After the story, we memorized a Scripture. He chose one each week for us from the 1972 edition of the Living Bible. The Living Bible is easy for children to understand and learn.

After the story, we recited the new Scripture in unison, and then we each prayed. Listening to our daughter’s prayers could be eye opening. We discovered their depth of understanding and heard their candid ideas and needs.

After the serenity pause, the dash-about activities began again. The youngsters ran to pick up lunches and rush out the door.

Family devotionals began with the birth of our first child. The habit continued until our grown daughters left the nest. The children’s Bible sits on our library shelf these days. It is a sweet memory of yesteryear.

Now, the two of us, husband and wife, keep the tradition. We read a passage silently from our adult Bibles and then discuss it.

Fast forward 50 years. Our daughters can still recite those Scriptures, and through the mountains and valleys of life, those godly words brought comfort.

Bearing devotional fruit

Our firstborn developed early-onset dementia before she reached age 50. For 10 years, we watched this smart, vivacious, young woman decline with this horrific disease.

One day, while she was in the early stages, we waited for a doctor. Sitting on the exam table, she said, “I’m so scared.” She knew what awaited her with this illness.

I replied, “Quote your favorite Scripture.”

She looked at me and smiled: “Don’t worry about anything, instead, pray about everything. Tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank Him for His answers” (Philippians 4:6 NLT).

It was one she’d leaned at her dad’s knee.

We discussed the Scripture and what it meant. Over the next few years, the ones where memory existed and she could still speak, she quoted this one constantly to herself over and again.

Another favorite verse she recited as long as she could: “Just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust him too for each day’s problems. Live in vistal union with him” (Colossians 2:6 NLT).

She learned others: Romans 8:28. Romans 8:38-39. Psalms 23. 1 Peter 5:7.

Her retention eventually totally failed, and I quoted them to her. Occasionally, a flash of lucidity entered her brain as her dad or I cited them, and she smiled. Deep down inside her frail body and deteriorated mind, the Scriptures spoke.

I often wondered how she would have coped without them. Or how would we? These Scriptures carried comfort during dark days.

Sustained by devotionals

In late October 2024, hospice gave us the sad words: “She is transitioning rapidly now. We can’t say when she will go, but it will be soon.”

I didn’t know when she was going, but I knew where.

On October 26, I stood by her bed and watched her tiny, atrophied body slip away. Oxygen helped the irregular breathing. Often the gasps stopped, but then breath continued with its slow, unpredictable irregularity.

I prayed Philippians 4: 6 over her, and I personalized each phrase:

“Don’t worry about anything, sweet girl. Don’t be afraid. You are going to heaven. Don’t worry about leaving us. We are fine and we will see you again in heaven.

“You and I are praying about everything, and God knows our needs. He’s taking care of us, and you will be well and happy again. He knows you need to laugh and hug again. God will provide your needs, and we thank him because he hears us.”

As I reworded the familiar Scriptures, too weak to open her eyes, she blinked. She heard me, and I believe God allowed her understanding in that moment we shared.

Those Scriptures she learned as a child brought her peace and encouragement during the death hour, as they did us.

The power of those family devotionals helped us through life and death. When we began the routine, we didn’t know how vital and essential these Scriptures would become to us.

Suggestions for family devotionals

1. Set aside 10 or 15 minutes each day for family devotions. Work out the best time for your family. Some may prefer morning, and others may prefer before bedtime.
2. Read from a children’s Bible and show the kids the pictures. Switch to an adult Bible when the children outgrow the children’s Bible. Read a chapter each day.
3. Let your children ask questions.
4. Choose one Scripture and recite it daily until all have memorized it.
5. Allow each one to pray after the recitation of Scripture.

Children will remember and cherish, and that alone is powerful.

Gay N. Lewis is married to Paul H. Lewis, pastor of Second Baptist Church of Rosenberg, and is the author of 15 Christian novels and two blogs. You can find her books on Amazon. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

In Baptist life, the title “director of missions” creates various images of people and responsibilities.

Urban DOMs

In urban settings, the DOM often is a mission strategist. He or she is an executive director who oversees a plan to extend the gospel among diverse people groups, a variety of economic circumstances and in a specific region. There often is a sense of executive coaching among urban DOMs.

I recall an urban DOM at a pastor’s retreat who spent two days explaining how to use various phone apps to manage time better in 15-minute increments. In a region that requires three hours to make a hospital visit, his view of time was different than ours.

In Houston, San Antonio or Fort Worth, the title “director of missions” means something very different than it does in Mexia, Pittsburg or Hico.

Rural DOMs

In rural life, the concept of a director of missions is rooted in the relationship between an individual and the churches.

In my first pastorate, I heard stories of Franklin Swanner (retired 1969), the director of missions for District Nine of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. District Nine was a vast area of West Texas. Over the years, District Nine has been served by as many as five associations.

Winifred Lee, a beloved member of First Baptist Church in Matador, said: “It was always a treat when Dr. Swanner came to check on us.”

Franklin Swanner was the primary point of contact for dozens of churches regarding the BGCT. He was the person who created connections, helped churches dream and let them know their work for the kingdom was important.

Les Griffin

When Les Griffin became the director of missions for the Caprock Plains Baptist Area in May 2011, he was tasked with working with three of the five associations in District Nine. He was responsible for the 89 churches from Paducah in the east to Farwell in the west, Tulia in the north to Hale Center in the south, and everything in between.

Little did Betty, Les’ wife, know she would travel more than a quarter of a million miles over the next 15 years.

In 2019, Les oversaw the effort to combine three associations into the Caprock Plains Baptist Association. With every position, there is an administrative component. Les met those responsibilities. He organized, reminded, publicized and did everything that goes with leadership.

However, the gist of Les’s service as a DOM was walking alongside churches, deacons and pastors.

When G.J. Walton, the pastor at First Baptist Church in Silverton’s father, passed away on a family vacation, Les stood alongside their family. Twice, Les traveled by bus with the Happy Union Baptist Church to spend a week with a sister church in Bessemer, Ala.

Les enthusiastically supported the work of Compañerismos, despite having negligible Spanish skills. Working with other DOMs, he organized an annual pastor’s retreat that was both helpful and refreshing. Les led trips to the northwestern United States, helping to form mission partnerships.

Hard times

A director of missions requires God-given wisdom and decades of experience—God’s wisdom that sees a way through and experience that promises a better tomorrow. Les has both.

Les often stood in the gap between a struggling staff member and a disappointed church. He put oil on troubled waters. He would bring direction and a path toward peace.

It is not easy work, but it is important work of trying to redeem a staff member and their family, all the while encouraging a church that has endured difficult days.

Hard decisions

Les has been involved in starting new churches in places like Friona, Muleshoe, Farwell and Plainview. However, the declining rural population often has meant walking alongside “country churches” as they make the difficult decision to discontinue their services. It is a hard decision to close a church.

Churches and schools are the anchor points of community life. However, when the school closes, difficulties quickly arise for the church. Churches may find themselves with only one or two participating families.

Les developed a caring approach with a gentle touch. He established an endowed mission fund with HighGround Advisors, enabling a church’s assets to continue supporting missions for generations to come.

‘The relationship business’

Over the years, Les Griffin wove his life into the lives of the pastors and the churches of the Caprock Plains Baptist Association. The churches returned the favor.

Betty was severely injured in an accident while walking down the street in Florence, Italy. Be aware: When the police decide to raise the traffic barricades, you may be walking on one.

Les was injured in an accident while trying to trim a wayward tree branch.

During those complicated surgeries and lengthy recoveries, the churches of the Caprock Plains Baptist Association provided in every way possible.

Les’ tenure as DOM has been a reminder of the life lesson: No matter the business you conduct, you are first in the relationship business.

‘We are grateful’

When Les became the director of missions, he sought sage advice and wisdom from his aged father Joe. Joe was the pastor of First Baptist Church in Abernathy when the legendary Franklin Swanner was director of missions.

“Dad, what makes for a good DOM?”

Joe paused and reflected. Finally, he answered, “Things were always better when the DOM left the church alone.”

Speaking on behalf of the pastors and churches of the Caprock Plains Baptist Association, we are grateful Les disregarded his father’s advice and became a part of our lives and fellowship. He and Betty have been a blessing to the churches for almost 15 years. Our hearts are full of gratitude for the service they have given, and may the Lord bless their busy retirement.

Stacy Conner is pastor of First Baptist Church in Muleshoe. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

Have you ever known a Charlotte? I have known two.

There was Charlotte who lived in a web. No, I didn’t know her personally, but I did get to see her as a boy many times—on television.

Then there was Charlotte Keese. She was a sweet mom and hairdresser in Glen Rose whose kids went to school with us.

Charlotte Keese always was upbeat and kind. When a kid needed something, Charlotte would reach into her purse to get money she earned working hard all day on her feet to help. I know this firsthand.

One day, we had a football game. I forgot my socks. I was going to call my mom, but Charlotte said, “No need.” She quickly ran to Bill’s Dollar Store to get me a pair for the game. That was so many years ago, but I still remember her kindness.

But I am telling you of neither of those Charlottes today.

A radio show

Let me start by telling you about my good friend and the radio manager at KKHT—the radio station that airs my show “Carpooling with Johnny Teague.” His name is Steven Kay. He’s also a popular radio host on KKHT.

We were recording one of my shows recently, and our conversation turned to the homeless in our city. As we visited, we talked about the personal struggle we face when we see the homeless on practically every street corner.

We both are conflicted. Do we give to them? Do we give to one, or do we give to everyone as we make our way down the Houston streets? That would break us. We both concluded we give as the Lord compels us.

Some need the money for necessities. Some want money for vices. We decided to trust the Lord to lead us to help those who truly are in need.

Steven Kay was talking about this one day on his evening radio show. He discussed his perplexity in light of the fact we are to be Jesus’ hands and feet.

While he was talking about this, a Walmart employee named Charlotte was listening on her car radio on her way home from work.

Charlotte tuned in

Charlotte had passed an older couple moments before, whose SUV was broken down on the feeder road off I-10. Convicted, she took the next exit and drove back to help the couple, if she could, praying all the while for her own safety.

Charlotte pulled behind the broken-down SUV. She got out of her car, cautiously made her way to the couple and asked them if she could help.

The man told her their radiator hose was busted. He asked if she would drive to an auto parts store and get one, along with two gallons of antifreeze. He said he would have walked to an auto parts store but had no idea where one was nearby.

He didn’t want to leave his wife with the stranded car alone nor make her walk with him when he had no idea where he might find such a store.

He reached into his pocket to give Charlotte the money he had. She told him not to worry about it.

Happy to help a family in need, she hopped back in her car to get the radiator hose and the two gallons of coolant.

This kind woman, an employee who had just left work at Walmart and tuned in to hear Steven Kay talk about helping the needy, was convicted and made a U-turn to help a family she had passed by.

She found an Auto Zone nearby, got what the couple needed and drove back to where they were stranded. With a smile, she gave the man the radiator hose, two bottles of drinking water and two gallons of coolant. The man and his wife were grateful. He assured Charlotte he could take it from there, and they expressed their gratitude.

God used Charlotte

Before Charlotte left, she asked the couple if she could pray for them. They shyly accepted.

After Charlotte prayed, the woman whose car was broken down, noticed Charlotte’s name tag. She hadn’t taken it off after her shift at Walmart.

The woman told this Good Samaritan: “Your name is Charlotte? That was the name of our daughter. She died tragically three months ago.

“We have been devastated and overwhelmed with grief. We decided this afternoon, that we had to get out of the house. We would start slow by going out for a bite to eat.

“No sooner did we get to I-10, our car overheated. I felt everything was against us. Then, you pulled behind us to help. And you have the same name as our daughter. You prayed for us.

“God sent you—a Charlotte—to remind us of the sweetness of our daughter and the love of God. Thank you so much.”

As tears welled up in the woman’s eyes, Charlotte’s matched hers, tear for tear. They hugged, and Charlotte drove off.

She had one more thing to do. She called the radio station to tell Steven Kay how God had used him to compel her to turn around and help a family who recently lost a daughter, whose name just so happened to be the same as hers—Charlotte. His eyes moistened in gratitude to hear faceless people with their radios on actually do listen.

God is willing to use any of us to help those hurting, if only we’ll listen and act.

Johnny Teague is the senior pastor of Church at the Cross in West Houston and the author of several books, including his newest The Lost Diary of Mary Magdalene. His website is johnnyteague.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

On Aug. 8, 2024, I woke up to find my wife Ashley unresponsive. No one expects this in their 30s. I didn’t know it at the time, but she was suffering from a cardiac arrest event.

Those moments are hard to describe—calling 911, performing CPR (Ashley endured around 90 minutes of CPR), watching first responders do all they could do to save my wife.

When she was transferred to a hospital in Plano, I remember praying over her with two close friends: “God, I am praying for my wife to be healed. But you love her more. May you use her life for your glory.”

Unknowingly, God had been preparing me for this season.

What’s next?

In August 2023, I graduated with my second degree—a doctorate in ministry—from Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University. It was an amazing experience and renewed my sense of calling to the local church.

After five years at First Baptist Church in Eastland, I began to ask a question familiar to many pastors after a season of completion: “What’s next, Lord?”

What I didn’t realize was God already had been answering that question long before I asked it.

In fall 2022, a church member approached me one day and asked if I had any books on prayer. He recently had retired and was praying through what God had in store for him in this new season. He informed me he was going on a prayer retreat in Colorado with a ministry called Strategic Renewal.

When he made it back to Eastland, he simply told me, “I know what I’m supposed to do.”

Over the next year, he and three others committed to praying every Sunday evening for their pastor, his family and their church.

A year later, on a Sunday evening, after Ashley had made homemade pizza, I told her I felt an urge to go and join these men in prayer. I left home, arrived late and planned to attend this one time to show my support for them.

The Lord, however, had other plans for that night. I didn’t know it then, but God brought me to this prayer gathering exactly one year after these men began praying faithfully for me and our church. In that moment, praying with them, my perspective on the importance and power of corporate prayer was changed.

A burden for corporate prayer

That fall 2023, I began reading about pastors and churches that had committed to making prayer central to their church.

To be honest, I believed in prayer and prayed as a pastor. I knew my prayer life could improve, but praying corporately with other believers was not part of my life.

I soon realized how prayer easily can become one ministry among many, rather than the foundation of all ministry. Prayer is not just the responsibility of a few while others “do” ministry. Rather, prayer is the power from which ministry flows.

At a Strategic Renewal conference that September, a speaker quoted Jesus’ words from Matthew 21:13: “My house shall be called a house of prayer.”

In that moment, conviction filled my heart. I had led in many areas but not in this one. I could not say I was a praying pastor or that I was leading a praying church.

Our Sunday evening prayer gathering remained small, but we prayed for vision and clarity on next steps.

While attending church during a Christmas trip to Oregon, I sensed God’s leading. Our church was to gather every Sunday evening for one hour of prayer. Since then, we’ve built a rhythm of corporate prayer that shapes everything we do.

I often tell our congregation our Sunday evening prayer gathering is my favorite hour of the week.

What does our Sunday prayer gathering consist of? Our entire hour is filled with Scripture-based prayer and worship. We spend half our time in praise and thanksgiving before we ever get to requests, and you always must pray your requests.

Creating a culture of prayer

Creating a culture of prayer doesn’t mean prayer is the only thing we do, but we want it to be the first thing we do.

We seek to spend half our time in prayer before committee meetings, and we have started praying in small groups during our Sunday morning worship service. Our ministerial staff is weaving corporate prayer into the rhythm of their ministries.

We are a long way from where I want us to be as a church, but I’m thankful for the Lord’s faithfulness.

When Ashley was in the hospital, she was on the most critical life support. On Saturday, Aug. 10, doctors wanted to bring her out of sedation. Two days prior, our music minister Mandi had called our church to pray corporately on Saturday, Aug. 10.

More than 200 people gathered to pray for Ashley that morning. Thankfully, Ashley would be spared and healed through the power of God in response to the prayers of God’s people.

Vision for the future

We still are striving to be a praying church, and I’m still striving to be a praying pastor. We haven’t arrived.

I’m often encouraged to hear how other pastors and churches are making corporate prayer the foundation of their churches. In these places, prayer is not a strategy, but it is woven into the culture of that congregation.

Over the past three years, the Lord has done something special in my life and in First Baptist Eastland. It’s our story, but it is a work God alone has done through the power of corporate prayer.

I tell my congregation this regularly: Even if God never answers another prayer you pray, he still is worthy to be praised because of the hope we have in Jesus.

My desire is to see co-laborers in the kingdom—especially those in rural churches like mine—seek the face of God through corporate prayer and, in doing so, become a house of prayer.

Kevin Burrow is the senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Eastland. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

On Sept. 27, the Israeli government filed a FARA request with the United States government.

A FARA request—Foreign Agents Registration Request—is simply a request to lobby the citizens of the United states on behalf of a foreign government.

This particular FARA request was filed so the Israeli government could have the right specifically to lobby evangelical Christians regarding their opinions about the state of Israel and their opinions about Palestinians.

My concerns

Foreign influence

The first reason I find this troubling is any foreign government requesting permission to influence specifically Christians, specifically churches, and then the United States government granting that is troubling.

It doesn’t matter if it is Israel, who is an ally of the United States. It is really troubling that a foreign government would want to be involved in lobbying evangelicals at all, and that our own government would allow it. It sets a really bad precedent.

Involuntary

Second, if you read the filing, I’m worried about it, because it’s involuntary.

They use geofencing. Geofencing is a technology where, if you drive onto a church campus, one of those listed in the filing, and your phone is then picked up, you will be served up targeted messages.

One could call those messages propaganda designed to get you to have a different opinion regarding the nation of Israel and/or the Palestinians.

I mentioned this because you don’t get to opt in.

So, the pastors of these churches don’t get to decide if they want to be part of this program. The leadership of these churches, the membership of these churches, don’t get to decide. They’re just targeted, because the government has given permission to a foreign actor to target the phones of these particular groups.

Dangerous precedent

The next reason I’m really worried is it sets a really dangerous precedent.

If we allow a foreign government to request and get permission to lobby our churches, what might happen next?

Now, I don’t want to act like churches have been political neutral zones, but I really do think this is a step that is a little dangerous, where we allow a foreign entity to begin to lobby and to do so openly.

I really worry about it opening Pandora’s box here, specifically with political influence on churches, specifically when pastors and church leaders don’t have the opportunity to reject that.

What to do

If you’re worried about this and you’re wondering what you can do, you can read through the filing and see if your church is listed. There are a lot of churches listed in Texas. There also are some in California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada.

If you see your church listed, you might want to make your church leadership aware they’re being targeted. They might want to think about how is best to handle that in whatever way is appropriate in your particular church setting.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The full list of targeted churches begins on p. 34 of the FARA filing. An interactive map of targeted churches is available here. Numerous Texas Baptist churches are included.

Steve Bezner is associate professor of pastoral theology and ministry at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary and has served churches throughout Texas. This opinion article is an edited transcript of Bezner’s Facebook story posted Oct. 21 and used by permission.

Contrary to the belief of a lot of church-going folks, pastors are not hired servants.

They are servants, for sure, just as police officers and firefighters and nurses. But they are servants of God and, as such, are here to help each of us to garner a better understanding of how we can glorify God and please him.

The pastor is not there to wait on us. The pastor is not there to unplug our toilet or change our flat tire. The pastor is there to help with our spiritual needs the same as a nurse helps with our medical needs or a police officer with our legal issues.

Pastoral salaries

Pastors have families and need downtime. Our churches must require our pastors and their families to take vacations and time off. They cannot be treated as robots to hop and jump for our pleasure.

Is your congregation aware of the salary being paid to your pastor? Is it enough for the pastor to live on? Is the pastor stressed due to financial worries? If we get stressed over money issues, have we ever thought our pastors might have the same problem as well?

What can we or our church do to help them?

Our churches give millions of dollars annually to various ministries across the globe, but look at that 15-year-old car our pastor is driving around in. What can we do to make driving safer for the pastor and the pastor’s family?

Weddings and funerals

While we are at it, what days off does our pastor have?

Let’s see, weddings usually take place on Saturdays, with rehearsal dinners on Friday nights. Funerals often are on Saturdays, as well. These are scheduled for the convenience of the families, to allow for their family members to travel for the event.

While these might be joyous in the case of weddings or sad in the case of funerals, the pastor may not know the participants and probably doesn’t feel the same emotions as the families, especially if the pastor has lost a day off.

There’s also the matter of paying pastors an honorarium for services rendered. In many cases pastors receive little or nothing for performing weddings and funerals on their days off.

Of course, weddings and funerals are part of any clergy’s duties and responsibilities, but the timing of these events should be considered in relationship to the pastor’s working schedule. Events scheduled outside of normal working hours should be compensated.

Churches could give out a pamphlet explaining how funerals and weddings work and that payments for these services are appreciated, even suggesting customary amounts. At a minimum, a pamphlet can explain the pastor’s responsibilities during weddings and funerals.

At my age, I might die at any time. Do you think it is going to matter to me who presides over my funeral service? I am not going to be there. I don’t care if some associate pastor or someone else takes charge of my service.

Weddings and funerals are significant rituals of our lives, but let’s get real and consider what it takes for a minister to officiate at these events.

The pastor’s family

Our pastor has a family. Our pastor may have kids who go to school, play in sports, perform recitals, have roles in drama programs. They also have birthdays and anniversaries and may be taking care of their own parents.

When our pastors’ daughter stars in a play at school on the night we want our pastor to attend a rehearsal dinner for our daughter’s wedding, how do we think our pastor’s daughter is going to feel? Is she going to be happy or resentful? We know the answer to this.

Is our event so important and so special we couldn’t consider the church providing us with some other staff member to perform our service?

Pastors have the same stresses and problems we do. They can’t complain about their issues. They certainly can’t discuss their issues with members of the church, and they certainly can’t afford to offend their largest “donors” who want them to perform some special function.

In short, they are not free or at liberty to use a truly short word: “No.”

Our church’s largest tither wants the pastor and only the pastor to perform the marriage service for his only daughter on the weekend the pastor had scheduled a trip to Paris for the pastor’s wedding anniversary.

Tickets are paid for, passports secured, hotels booked, and now Mr. Warbucks comes and tells the pastor his daughter must be married on such-and-such date because it has major significance for one reason or another. No other date will do.

What the pastor wants to do and what the pastor feels has to be done probably don’t match.

But that’s not the question. The question is what are we going to do?

Are we going to be inconsiderate Christians demanding things that give rise to resentment, or will we be Christlike and realize our pastor has feelings and needs like all the rest of us?

The choice is ours and ours alone.

Peary Perry is an author and husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. To learn more about him, you can visit www.pearyperry.com or email him confidentially at pperry@pearyperry.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

Since joining Texas Baptists by way of assuming the pastorate of a historic Texas Baptist church, I have grown to love and deeply respect Dr. Julio Guarneri. He and the whole of our network of churches have been nothing but kind and welcoming.

What follows in no way is a contradiction of what Dr. Guarneri wrote and expressed in his recent weekly update, but rather a continuation of the thoughts he raised, at least from my perspective.

Guarneri’s weekly update

In his weekly update, dated Oct. 15, 2025, Guarneri laid out a convincing plea for churches to work together in what he refers to as doctrinal affinity. As he states it:

“Doctrinal affinity is not the same as doctrinal uniformity. While there are Christian doctrines and Baptist principles that are non-negotiable, there are beliefs and practices where local churches have freedom. It is enough for a church to hold to Christian orthodoxy and historical Baptist principles to collaborate with Texas Baptists for the cause of missions.”

I wholeheartedly agree.

As he also reminded us, “We should resist the temptation to demand uniformity in every secondary issue, because that diminishes our ability to work together for the sake of the gospel.”

That truth is both freeing and motivating, allowing us to be generous with one another in areas of freedom.

Where I would offer caution, however, is in urging readers to think through these things with greater nuance—especially as it relates to different groups and organizations within our convention.

The local church: Doctrinal alignment

The Bible repeatedly calls for unity and for believers to be of the same “heart and mind.” The early church devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and that shared doctrine fostered unity, generosity and love. For that reason, a local church must expect doctrinal alignment among its leaders and teachers.

Alignment means walking in the same direction together, united in core convictions and practices. No other group or organization should force a local church to abide by their particular standards, but within the congregation itself, there must be a shared commitment to doctrine and mission.

This means one church may organize its staff differently than another or may arrive at a different conviction about, say, women preaching on a Sunday morning. Each local body should have the freedom to determine what it believes best aligns with Scripture. But within that body, clarity and alignment are essential.

The network of churches: Doctrinal affinity

When we gather as a network of churches, doctrinal affinity is both necessary and sufficient. As Guarneri emphasized, “It is enough for us to be orthodox Christians and historic Baptists in order to lock arms for missions.”

This “big tent” approach allows us to pursue missions together without demanding identical positions on every issue as it relates to the local church. What binds us together is a family resemblance of belief and practice rooted in Christian orthodoxy and historic Baptist principles.

Affinity makes cooperation possible, even across lines of difference.

The entities we support: Doctrinal agreement

Entities—our seminaries, universities and mission boards—are in a different category altogether.

These organizations exist to serve and resource the churches. Because they are entrusted with teaching, training and sending, they should be expected not only to share doctrinal affinity, but to fully affirm and champion the doctrinal stances of the network as a whole. In other words, our entities must operate in doctrinal agreement.

Agreement conveys a binding commitment to the statements of faith adopted by our network. These standards are not restrictive for the sake of control, but for the sake of confidence. They ensure those who are trained and sent out by our entities faithfully reflect Baptist convictions.

This is how we, as churches, can support them in good conscience—knowing they are aligned with us in belief, conviction and mission.

A framework of use

Doctrinal statements are valuable so long as we recognize their different uses in different contexts:

• The local church: Doctrinal alignment—leaders and members walking in the same direction.
• The network of churches: Doctrinal affinity—a generous, cooperative spirit across differences.
• Our entities: Doctrinal agreement—formal affirmation of Baptist convictions.

None of this is about control or restriction. Rather, it is about fostering genuine partnership, mutual assurance and a free, open spirit of cooperation.

We are a large body of churches, and while we will not all agree on every particular, we should be confident those who represent us—especially in education and missions—do so with convictional faithfulness.

Conclusion: Cooperation with conviction

I am deeply encouraged by the vision Dr. Guarneri has cast. His call for doctrinal affinity is a much-needed reminder we are better together when we unite around the essentials and extend grace in areas of freedom.

By carefully distinguishing between doctrinal alignment in the local church, doctrinal affinity in our cooperative network and doctrinal agreement in our entities, we can remain both convictional and cooperative.

We do not have to choose between clarity and cooperation, between conviction and unity. We can hold fast to the truth with courage, while also locking arms with one another for the mission of Christ.

That balance—anchored in Scripture, guided by Baptist principles and motivated by the gospel—will allow Texas Baptists to flourish as a centrist, cooperative, mission-minded family of churches clear on what we believe and eager to work together for the kingdom.

Josh King is pastor of Valley Ridge Church, formerly known as First Baptist Church of Lewisville. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

I received an email from a business associate in New York. We were supposed to visit this week about a launch date for one of my books. She apologized for not following through.

She emailed in part: “Hello, Johnny. I was going to contact you yesterday, but honestly, my heart was too heavy. The overwhelming senseless loss of life lately is truly awful.

“I can see it in my own life,” she continued. “Friends I have had for most of my adult life are suddenly questioning our friendship all based solely on different political views. It’s just awful. I pray the angels in heaven will somehow show us the way to peaceful debates again.”

There is a division because of a broken cord. Let’s visit about this.

Two instances of brokenness

Charlotte, N.C.: A young woman from Ukraine, looking for a better life, boards a train heading home after taking care of some errands. A few minutes later, she is stabbed repeatedly.

The young girl is left in her seat, bleeding and horrified. She knows she’s been hurt, but that’s not her thought. Her confusion is: What just happened? Why did this man attack me?

She might not even have known for sure she was stabbed, nor was she aware she was bleeding out. Silently, 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska slumps, dead within minutes. Why?

Orem, Utah: A man not much older than Iryna takes his seat under a portable white tent. He has a heart for young students. He does not use a gun or a knife. He chooses to use the instrument of words.

He chooses to speak the truth as best he can and to encourage others to dialogue with him, to prove him wrong when possible. He believes the truth can permeate even the darkest thoughts. Charlie Kirk’s influence is effective. He is holding court with 3,000 students hanging on every word.

Charlie can be seen on a little platform, under his tent, in clear view from 22-year-old Tyler Robinson’s vantage point. The man has climbed a building 200 yards away, lying on a perch with his rifle and scope. He has decided to silence Charlie rather than debate him.

At exactly 12:23 p.m., Robinson squeezes the trigger. In a millisecond, Charlie is hit by the bullet, right after speaking of his faith in Jesus.

A cord has been broken in our nation, which has brought division. What cord? The cord of truth. When people leave truth, division follows.

Our nation is divided. We have been here before. In the Civil War, half the nation walked away from the truth that no man ever should own another. Because the South walked away from that truth, our nation divided. A Civil War ensued to decide if we would stand with the truth or stand with a lie.

Truth versus division

I am not writing about my truth or your truth. There is no such subjective thing. There is only the truth.

For years our nation was united in the truth that life begins at conception. But half of our nation has moved away from that truth. So, now there is division.

The truth is every person should be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. This is the truth that united us, thanks to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, but we have moved away from this, and there is division.

The truth is a man cannot become a woman, nor a woman a man. The history of civilization once was united in this truth. But now a large percentage of our nation and world have moved away from the truth. So, there is division.

The truth is a person who wants to live, eat and enjoy life should work and earn their own way if they are physically able. We once held to this biblical mandate as a nation. We were in agreement. But many have left this truth out of misplaced compassion, and there is division.

Truth can be found in the sacred unit of the biblical family. Husband, wife, children once were revered. As a result, our nation thrived. Now, we have left this life-giving unit, and there is division, especially in our own homes.

The truth is there is one God who reigns in heaven. That God sent his Son Jesus to save us by dying for our sins and defeating death for us through his resurrection.

The truth is God’s word is inerrant, unchanging, authoritative and the reference for all truth. Throughout the history of our nation, we believed this, and we righted our wrongs, we healed the breaches, and we reunited time and again.

But now we have left God, his Son, his word, saying all should do what is right in their own eyes, and there is a division for which we have no reference for healing.

Praying for return to truth

Those who speak truth are hated. Truth, God’s word, is called “hate speech” and has been forbidden at every sector of society.

Truth is not subjective. Truth is as irrevocable as gravity. DNA tells us the truth. Mathematics tells us the truth. Nature around us declares the truth as all creation bows down before our shared Creator God.

The truth: Life is valuable. Life in the womb. Life on a Charlotte train. Life in the center of Utah Valley University. All life, which God gave.

Pray with me that we return to the truth as a nation. If we do, divisions will be sewn back together in unity and senseless murders will become a rarity.

Johnny Teague is the senior pastor of Church at the Cross in West Houston and the author of several books, including his newest The Lost Diary of Mary Magdalene. His website is johnnyteague.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

Aug. 15, 2025, was a difficult day for First Baptist Church and the community of Muleshoe. Within a 24-hour period, three influential men passed away.

The first was Dr. Bruce Purdy. Jim Daniels was the second. The last was James Byers. Each of their funeral services was held at 11 a.m. on three consecutive days. Jim’s service on Thursday, James’ on Friday, and Dr. Purdy’s funeral on Saturday.

Jim Daniels

Jim Daniels was a much-beloved agriculture and world geography teacher. Before coming to Muleshoe, Jim was a nomadic “ag” teacher. He and Lynn settled in Muleshoe and stayed for 18 years.

He possessed a warm personality that drew students to him. He gave most students a personal nickname. Jim taught with a relaxed demeanor, while John Wayne kept an eye on the students from an obvious bulletin board. In retirement, Jim won a seat as a Bailey County Commissioner.

He was a living lesson: Regardless of our profession, we are first and foremost in the relationship business.

Yadira Garcia was the lead paramedic on the Bailey County Ambulance Crew who carried Jim home to begin his hospice care.

Yadira told Jim’s wife, Lynn: “I am a paramedic because Jim told me, ‘You can do whatever you believe you can do.”

His funeral service was well attended by Muleshoe Independent School District faculty, former students, community members and church friends.

James Byers

James Byers was a model of Christian service and marital devotion. James’ wife, Terry, passed away in October 2024. She struggled with Crohn’s disease for more than 50 years.

They lived most of their married life with an immediate medical need. James retired from the local phone provider to give 24-hour care to Terry. He learned to lift, manage medication and operate a home dialysis machine, along with many other tasks. He was a model of constant selfless giving.

After Terry’s death, James told his doctor, “I am having trouble swallowing.”

The series of tests revealed James had throat cancer. It was beyond treatment.

I asked, “James, have you been ill for a while?”

“Yes, I knew something was going on, but I could not go to the doctor. I needed to care for Terry.”

It was another example of James giving himself for Terry. Members of the church, phone cooperative and community came to pay tribute to a man who lived out Christian service.

Bruce Purdy

On Saturday, patients, nurses, physician assistants, the community of Muleshoe and friends from across Texas gathered to say, “Thank you,” to the hometown doctor who served our area 44 years. Bruce’s highest ambition was to be the town doctor in the place where he grew up.

Dr. Purdy delivered more than 2,000 babies, traveled to the emergency room at 4 a.m. countless times, stitched endless cuts and set numerous bones. He practiced medicine in both English and Spanish.

His best friend noted Bruce was willing to give anything for any patient. At 44 years of age, he had his first heart attack. The helicopter waited on the pad while Bruce wrote prescriptions for his hospital patients.

Bruce was also the Boy Scout troop leader, who assisted 14 young men in earning Eagle Scout badges. Eagle Scout projects dot the landscape of our small town.

Dr. Purdy enhanced the landscape and the lives of the people in Muleshoe.

Three funerals

On three consecutive days, First Baptist Church in Muleshoe held funeral services for beloved members of our church and community. Behind the scenes, dozens of people gave their time, energy and gifts to support these families.

There is a locally owned funeral home with deep roots in the community, offering personalized service and meticulous attention to detail. The staff of the flower shop was sleep-deprived.

Two of our members took care that our grounds were presentable each day. The pianist gave time and effort to meet the requests of each family. The sound and video team was present early to ensure the equipment was ready, livestreamed every service and made sure the unique elements of each service were provided at the right time.

The deacons of First Baptist Church were present and prepared to assist the families and those who attended the service. If the sanctuary was filled, they were prepared to provide additional seating.

The security team was at their post before, during and after each service.

The hospitality committee served two meals to large families. For the third service, the committee provided a dessert reception for more than 300 people. Innumerable members of the church provided food for all three services.

Also, unseen in those days was the custodian who cleaned the sanctuary and fellowship hall four times in one week, the music minister who organized and sorted out the various media requirements for each service, the youth minister and children’s minister who learned to test the video feed, just in case.

Our media manager was paying attention to every detail during each service.

The reality of ministry

When young ministers struggle with a call to serve and the realities of life, we often say things like, “I just want to love Jesus and help people.”

When we say that—at least when I said it—it is a statement of ignorance. We assume loving Jesus and people are easy. I uttered that pseudo-spiritual phrase trying to justify my poor effort in a college algebra class.

The reality of ministry is helping people in the name of Christ requires a great deal of time, energy, organization, commitment and flexibility. It involves stamina.

We all can be grateful for the body of Christ that rallies with great effort and energy to give witness to the gospel in acts of kindness and respect.

Stacy Conner is pastor of First Baptist Church in Muleshoe. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

Violence is one of those features of the world we no longer recognize so much as simply live with. School shootings, international wars, political killings and suicides now are just background noise to the daily hum. The wars and rumors of wars barely register notice.

But let us suppose violence is not a blessed feature of the world, not part of what God intends for creation.

If we begin from this very bland presumption, a lot of things we assume as necessities for creation come into sharp relief. Instead of being background noise, they become signs of contradiction to God and offenses to the life in which the people of God are intended to share.

This is complicated further by the paucity of Baptist thought on the matter beyond the occasional appeal to Romans 13: Because governmental entities commend violence, it must be commendable.

Much needs to be done to remedy this situation, particularly in a violent world like ours. But even the best education on this question cannot forget questions of violence are, for the Christian, matters of theology as much as they are social policy.

This brings us to this week’s comments by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

Warfighting words

Speaking to a room full of top military officials this week, Hegseth laid out an agenda for America’s military future, one departing sharply in dramatic ways from the last 75 years. As with any speech, much of the text of his was for the people in the room, filled with marching orders and new directives to modernize America as a warmaking country.

For context, the years since the Second World War have been ones of ascendant international laws of war, rules that exist to moderate and mitigate violence, even if many of them are openly violated.

In his comments, Hegseth addressed issues of combat readiness, and took issue with past policies of promotion, religious accommodation and gender identity. To the outside observer, it could be simply a laundry list of procedural changes.

But within the speech is a distinctly different vision of how this new age of war is to be fought:

“We also don’t fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement, just common sense, maximum lethality and authority for warfighters.”

For Hegseth, this is precisely because the people in the room represented a kind of people who he at one point called “created in God’s image,” but later refers to as those who “kill people and break things for a living. You are not politically correct and don’t necessarily belong always in polite society.”

It is easy, in appealing to a text like Romans 13, to simply say the government is able to do as it wishes and to walk past these sentiments. But let us look again: These statements allow us, as Christians, to see what is behind the curtain in the otherwise mundane list of orders for top military officials.

The operating assumption behind turning America’s attention away from peacekeeping and restraint and moving toward a focus on lethality is the people doing the killing are just those kind of people already. They are, for Hegseth, loving children of God created to kill and destroy.

Demonic nature of war

In his fifth-century masterpiece, The City of God, the church father Augustine described the Roman army as those whose “peace will not be everlasting” and stated “the earthly city is generally divided against itself by litigation, by wars, by battles, by the pursuit of victories that bring death with them or at best are doomed to death.”

His description of Rome throughout the book is one of an empire that wages unbridled wars, drunk on the worship of the goddesses Injustice and Victory.

Baptists are not quick to speak about angels and demons, but it is with good reason we ought to, particularly when it comes to violence. For if the final enemy—of both God and creation—is death (1 Corinthians 15:26), then what are demons but those entities that justify death, celebrate the destruction of life and encourage humans to bake death into our very structures of living?

By Augustine’s lights—and by Scripture’s—to promise safety and security through unrestrained violence—through the willing proliferation of death and the dehumanizing even of our own soldiers—is the work not of the wise or the just, but of the demonic.

A different way than war

For the people of God, it is not permitted to think of even our enemies as anything other than those for whom Christ has died.

As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So, from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.”

The “message of reconciliation” Paul invites the Corinthian church into just after this is not reconciliation of the soul alone, but of the whole person. Those Christ has died for are meant to be raised up again, body and spirit.

The Christian just war tradition—thrown out in the trash in Hegseth’s comments—holds, above all things, war is for the sake of peace, correction must be the intent even if fighting occurs, and war is lamentable and to be mourned. For there is never a case when an enemy is anything other than one for whom Christ has died.

We routinely struggle to name violence not just as a problem for flesh and blood, but of the powers and principalities. We grasp vainly to name it, not just as a lamentable problem for civic life, but as that which the demons celebrate, for it brings more of God’s creation into the grips of Death.

It is time for Christians to shake off the slumber we are accustomed to surrounding violence and to say once again Christians are those bound to working for a better and different peace—with God, with our neighbors and even with our enemies.

Such a calling invites us to a very different kind of preparation, into a very different kind of way.

Myles Werntz is director of Baptist studies at Abilene Christian University. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.