Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission has made combatting inhumane temperatures in Texas prisons a priority. Those efforts received a positive tailwind this week, with a judge’s 91-page ruling declaring the lack of temperature regulation in some state prisons unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman stopped short of mandating air conditioning be installed in the ruling, signed on March 26, but he classified incarceration in un-air-conditioned state facilities as cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The ruling notes: “At the outset, the Court notes that the parties are in agreement that air conditioning all TDCJ facilities is necessary as a matter of inmate health and safety.”

It also acknowledges the defendant, Brian Collier, executive director of Texas Department of Criminal Justice has not already installed air conditioning in all housing areas throughout TDCJ units only because “the Texas Legislature has not appropriated the funds to do so.”

The ruling explains about 95,000 inmates currently are housed in un-air-conditioned facilities. The state’s 46,000 “cool beds”—beds in proximity to partial or full air conditioning—are prioritized to inmates based on an individual’s susceptibility to heat illness.

Inmate risk is measured with a “heat score metric,” which Judge Pitman described in the ruling as, “in practice, arbitrary, inadequate, and ineffective.”

About 12,000 TDCJ inmates have health risk factors that meet requirements for placement in a “cool bed.”

The additional cool beds “are available to inmates without heat scores.” Some cool beds have been assigned to inmates who have suffered heat-related illness but do not have a heat score, the ruling explains.

Of TDCJ’s 101 units, 32 are considered fully air conditioned in the housing areas, and 55 units are classified as partially air conditioned, “though a number of these units have fewer than ten cool beds,” the ruling states.

The ruling also says respite areas and other forms of temporary heat relief currently offered in un-air-conditioned facilities are “inadequate and ineffective,” concluding “air conditioning is the only effective protection from extreme heat” so often experienced in Texas.

The ruling includes testimony of harms caused by the present environment from plaintiffs—Bernhardt Tiede II, who suffered heat stroke, incarcerated without air conditioning at 65 years old with several serious existing health conditions; Prisons Community Advocates; Justice Impacted Women’s Alliance; Texas Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants; and Coalition for Texans with Disabilities.

Testimony cited in the ruling included reports of a temperature of 136 degrees observed on a thermometer in a women’s unit in Gainesville, where one plaintiff said she and fellow inmates “were able to cook a raw egg on the concrete floor.”

Extensive injuries related to the heat were noted, including 23 admitted deaths between 1998 and 2012, though the ruling states credible evidence indicates deaths from heat in Texas prisons likely are significantly undercounted, with Collier having admitted in a prior court testimony five years ago to knowing of ten deaths from heat stroke in summer of 2011 alone.

The ruling recounts the story of several inmate deaths, listing those who died by name and describing the conditions that led to their deaths while incarcerated.

In 2022 and 2023, “TDCJ staff filed nearly 80 workers’ compensation claims related to the heat.”

TDCJ wants A/C but lacks funding

Additionally, the ruling explains, “Collier knows that TDCJ’s heat mitigation policies are inadequate,” and that air conditioning is the only real solution to the unsafe conditions caused by Texas’ summer heat.

TDCJ’s facilities director, Ron Hudson, testified air conditioning currently is the division’s “number one priority.” Both Hudson and Collier acknowledged installing temporary or permanent air conditioning was feasible, and TDCJ would do so if the court ordered it.

However, the retrofitting required to install temperature control units and the purchase of the estimated 65,000 tons of A/C equipment needed to heat and cool the entire system might take up to two years or longer, the ruling says.

An article in the Texas Tribune notes some funding allocated to TDCJ last year has been used to install air conditioning.

While the Texas Commission on Jail Standards has required all Texas jails to maintain indoor temperatures between 65 degrees and 85 degrees since 1994, consistent with many other states’ standards, the ruling notes. “TDCJ has nevertheless refused to implement the same (or similar) standards.”

Judge Pitman concluded though the plaintiffs’ arguments likely merited a preliminary injunction requiring temporary air conditioning, granting the injunction would work against the goal of all parties—permanent air conditioning in all TDCJ units—significantly delaying its installation by devoting considerable resources to a temporary solution.

Pitman emphasized to Collier his belief the plaintiffs will prevail in court and advised him to begin preparing for that outcome. For the plaintiffs and the public’s good, the judge denied the injunction and ordered both parties to “file a joint proposed scheduling order on or before April 10, 2025.”

How Texas Baptists can help

CLC Public Policy Director John Litzler said: “While Judge Pitman’s ruling stopped short of granting the temporary injunction that plaintiffs requested, the judge was clear in his opinion that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in their lawsuit against TDCJ.

“If they succeed, TDCJ will likely be ordered to install all heat and air in the 2/3 of Texas prisons that don’t currently have it in the living quarters. The Christian Life Commission calls on the Texas lawmakers to fully fund this project now, during the budget passed in the 89th legislative session, before TDCJ is ordered to install heat and air by courts.”

This legislative session the CLC is tracking five House bills and one Senate bill related to air conditioning in Texas prisons.

The House bills are HB 489 by Rep. Jon Rosenthal, HB 1315 by Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, HB 2997 by Rep. John Bryant, HB 3006 by Rep. Terry Canales, and HB 3443 by Rep. Ron Reynolds. Each of the bills has been referred to the House Corrections Committee, but none has been scheduled for a hearing yet.

Rep. Sam Harless of Spring chairs the House Corrections Committee. His office number is (512) 463-0496, and his email is sam.harless@house.texas.gov. Litzler noted it “could help the bills gain momentum if Baptists contacted Rep. Harless’ office and requested a hearing on these five bills which would require air conditioning and heat in Texas prisons.”

Additionally, Texas Baptists may reach out on the Senate bill (SB 169) the CLC is tracking. Sen. Jose Menendez is the primary author on the bill, joined by co-authors Sen. César Blanco, Sen. Molly Cook, Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, Sen. Roland Gutierrez and Sen. Nathan Johnson.

SB 169 has been referred to the Senate Committee on Finance, chaired by Sen. Joan Huffman of Houston. Her office number is (512)-463-0117, and her email is joan.huffman@senate.texas.gov.

“It could help SB 169 gain momentum if Baptists contacted Sen. Huffman’s office and requested a hearing on the bill which would require air conditioning and heat in Texas prisons,” Litzler suggested.

If a bill mandating temperature regulation in TDCJ units passes without a line item in the budget designated toward air conditioning in TDCJ units, or the plaintiffs prevail, as expected, in court, the legislation becomes an “unfunded mandate.”

But while the surplus in the Texas budget is less this year than last, there is still plenty to fund this basic human right for inmates and prison workers, without jeopardizing funding for other important initiatives, Litzler said.

(ALEXANDRIA, Va.)—A “movement” focused on reengaging North America with the gospel that has been brewing for almost a decade is beginning to take a more defined shape, and Texas Baptists have quite a few seats at the table.

Dennis Wiles, pastor of First Baptist Church in Arlington and chair of the Ascent council, welcomed around 200 invited participants—called curators—to the second formative gathering of Ascent.

When asked when the movement began, Wiles said he “would say it began when Jesus ascended into the heavens and gave the church this message and this mission.” However, the Ascent council, a group of eight at the time, first began conversations in 2016.

The initial group included Texas and Virginia Baptists, who felt like they’d lost their denominational home beyond their local and state affiliations—particularly the national and international missions agencies of their denomination.

It became clear in the years of dreaming about this new network, a sense of disenfranchisement from denomination was not limited to moderate Baptists in two states, Wiles explained.

Centrists across denominational lines were finding themselves in a similar place of loss.

Wiles said he’d been praying God would use the gathering—this new group assembled from orthodox, centrist Christians from a variety of denominational backgrounds—to discern together what God is up to in this time.

And like the “200 sons of Issachar” in 1 Chronicles 12:32, “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do,” he hoped the curators would understand the times and know what it is God wants them to do to “re-evangelize North America, and ultimately take the gospel to the world.”

Chris Backert, senior director of Ascent, explained when the group who envisioned Ascent began meeting to talk about a new way to cooperate for the gospel mission, they recognized the world was heading into a time of rupture.

They observed this era of upheaval was evident in social-political shifts and uneasiness. And the council began to wonder if this upheaval might be the sort of upheaval God sometimes uses to bring in a new season of revival in the church.

Starting with the gospel

Backert said they asked themselves: “What if we don’t start with the church? What if we started with the gospel?”

The early council decided to look at things from the perspective not of what does the church need, but of what does the gospel need in order to re-evangelize North America, “and we worked backwards from there.”

As they began to talk about that, “a great unity came around the idea that we really need a fresh evangelization, reengagement, awakening, whatever word you prefer. We really need a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit to see new generations come to faith in Christ all over North America. That’s the gospel need.”

COVID-19 slowed Ascent’s development but accelerated centrist believers’ sense of loss of ecclesial identity for the sake of the mission, Backert said. “People feel not home in their own home … and yet we feel this need, we really want to re-engage North America with the gospel.”

Backert said coming out of the season of rupture exacerbated by COVID, “we’re in a season of realignment—and you can see this playing out all over the world—and we’re in a season of ecclesial realignment.”

The gathering of individuals of diverse ecclesial backgrounds with a common gospel goal “couldn’t even have been conceived of 10 years ago,” Backert noted, but “in 2025, it makes perfect sense.”

As in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, “the old alliances have died.” And in this time of realignment, “it’s time for new alliances that make sense for the days ahead,” he asserted.

Backert explained Ascent is a voluntary, or “opt-in” network—“a cooperation of the willing”—but with the framework of a covenant to provide stability. The guiding covenant comes from the Capetown Commitment of the Lausanne Movement.

Based on the “connectionalism” that led to conventions, conferences, dioceses or other forms of association, Ascent aims to provide a common future for previously disparate groups—cooperating to re-evangelize North America and beyond.

“We’re trying to walk and work together for the sake of the Great Commission,” Backert said.

But Ascent is not going to look like what has been seen before, because it’s composed of individuals who may share a common future, but who do not share a common past, Backert said.

Texas connections

Texas Baptists participated in or moderated several panel discussions, highlighted the ministries they lead and led breakout sessions. Those sessions were treated as “task force” opportunities both to discuss how curators’ ministries currently meet needs in the subject area under discussion and to envision how Ascent can continue developing and/or supporting ministries.

Wissam al-Saliby, president of Baptist World Alliance-connected 21Wilberforce, spoke about the organization’s work to advocate for religious freedom during a panel about “sowing the gospel in the face of opposition.”

Al-Saliby noted sowing the gospel brings persecution. The good news is “churches are present, active and engaging all over the world,” he said, but with that comes challenges of persecution, as well as lower-level forms of discrimination and opposition.

In India in 2023, conflict among tribal groups in Manipur claimed the lives of 200 Christians, destroyed 300 churches and left 28 missionaries without salaries, he noted. The violence there and similar violence in other countries has led to “a hardening of the church’s heart towards the Muslim population,” and that’s also opposition to the spread of the gospel.

Al-Saliby explained 21Wilberforce was founded 11 years ago in Texas, to work with churches “to address the plight of religious persecution” and advocate for religious freedom for everyone, “because either everyone has religious freedom, or no one has religious freedom,” he noted.

Additionally, the organization seeks to strengthen the transfer of advocacy knowledge to locals around the globe so they can advocate for religious freedom in their contexts. Al-Saliby urged Ascent curators to be sure to factor in the mission work being done locally to fight for religious freedom, as the movement continues to take shape.

Todd Still, dean of Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary, moderated a panel discussion on sowing the gospel through preaching and developing preachers of the gospel.

Kevin Nderitu, executive pastor of District Church in Washington, D.C.; former Texan Mark Goodman, lead pastor of Rabbit Creek Church in Anchorage, Alaska, a congregation recently removed from the Southern Baptist Convention; and Ashley Berryhill, director of Global Engagement at First Baptist Church in Arlington, participated in a panel discussion on “sowing the gospel through the local congregation.”

Cindy Wiles, of First Baptist Church in Arlington, director of the Restore Hope mission organization; Jim Ramsay of TMS Global; and Jennifer Lau of Canadian Baptist Ministries participated in a panel on “sowing the global gospel … beyond the local congregation.”

John Upton, retired executive director of the Baptist General Association of Virginia, facilitated the discussion on how to do global missions responsibly—out of love, with humility and with a “round table” approach, based in mutuality that breaks down barriers between local and global missions.

Other Texans who presented included: Rand Jenkins, chief strategy officer with Texans on Mission/On Mission Network; Arthur Jones, pastor of St. Andrews Methodist Church in Plano; Craig Curry, pastor of First Baptist Church in Plano; and Bruce Webb, pastor of First Baptist Church in The Woodlands.

Carey Sims of Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Dallas will be project lead for the Junia Network, a yearlong Ascent cohort initiative offering a place for women in ministry to share, learn and resource one another.

The initiative is named after Junia, who Paul affirms along with her husband in Romans 16:7 as being “in Christ” before he was and outstanding among all apostles.

The gathering also included a celebration service recognizing curators who had been ordained or licensed by their churches during the past year and anointing minsters who had assumed new ministry roles. Several current Texas Baptists and others who previously served in Texas were among those recognized or anointed.

HUNTSVILLE—Ray Cucancic is the master builder guiding the work of Texans on Mission Church Builders in Huntsville this spring. However, the retired contractor does more than build on the work site. He also teaches.

“I love working with people who are eager to learn,” said Cucancic, a member of Northside Baptist Church in Huntsville.

The eager learners in Huntsville recently were from First Baptist Church in Hempstead. Each year, the Hempstead congregation involves a group of high school and college students—both young men and women—in a spring break project with Texans on Mission Builders.

“These spring break projects have not only increased the students’ knowledge of construction but also fostered a greater appreciation for the wisdom and experiences of the older generation,” said Rooster Smith, leader of the Hempstead group.

“They have helped our youth grow more comfortable in sharing their faith, both how they came to know the Lord and how he continues to work in their lives.”

Wayne Pritchard, coordinator of Texans on Mission Builders, said having the group from Hempstead join them was “extremely encouraging” to the veteran Builders.

“It gives us a sense of purpose as we get the opportunity to share our knowledge with the next generation of Christian men and women to serve our God,” Pritchard said.

Providing additional space for Covenant Fellowship

This year’s spring Church Builders project is converting a covered patio into enclosed space for Bible study and other ministries at Covenant Fellowship in Huntsville.

“We are out of classroom space,” said David Valentine, senior pastor at Covenant. “The original bid to do this project was about a quarter of a million dollars, and we’re cutting that expense by about 60 percent because of the volunteers with Texans on Mission, and we’re very appreciative of them.”

Covenant Fellowship emphasizes community ministries, some of which received initial funding from Texas Baptists about 15 years ago.

As the congregation has engaged with the community, worship attendance has grown from about 120 to almost 400, Valentine said.

The new space will be used throughout the week for ministries such as Celebrate Recovery for those dealing with addictions, and other Bible studies and activities.

“Our facilities are being used seven days a week, and we’re just out of space, and so we praise the Lord for what he’s doing,” Valentine said.

Texans on Mission Builders framed the exterior walls and internal rooms to prepare for sheetrock installation, said Wayne Pritchard, coordinator of Texans on Mission Builders.

The Hempstead group worked the first week of the two-week project to coincide with local school spring break. The team included Royal Ambassadors and Challengers from the Hempstead church.

Beyond working together with the experienced Builders, “we challenged our youth to share their testimonies with the Builders, who, in turn, shared their own faith journeys with the students,” Smith said.

“It was incredible to hear how God had worked in their [the Builders’] lives and to witness those experiences being passed on to the next generation. This exchange of testimonies was the first step in forming relationships that deepened throughout the week.”

Each evening, the students “eagerly shared what they had learned from the more experienced Builders,” Smith said.

The humanitarian crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo grows worse, but Texas Baptists are responding to needs there.

In a message to Mark Heavener, director of Texas Baptists’ Intercultural Ministries, Pastor Manassee Ngendahayo of Rest for the Nations Baptist Church in Abilene requested funds to “help the hopeless” in the DRC’s North Kivu Province and South Kivu Province.

Ngendahayo, who was born and raised in the DRC, is president of Rest for the Nations Ministries. The international ministry provides spiritual and physical support to refugees, internally displaced people and the impoverished in Central Africa.

Ngendahayo noted ongoing violence in areas of eastern Congo controlled by the M23 rebel paramilitary group, which “has led to mass displacement, loss of life [and] widespread suffering.”

“Their lives are even more difficult each day,” he wrote. “The most challenging part is the scarcity of food and lack of water.”

Specifically, Ngendahayo requested funds to provide rice, flour, sugar and beans for families and individuals in the eastern DRC.

Texas Baptists’ Intercultural Ministries authorized program support for humanitarian assistance for the eastern Congo, using funds made available through Texas Baptists’ worldwide missions.

Heavener noted members of Texas Baptist Congolese churches have family directly affected by the violence, unrest and hunger in the eastern Congo—and that means members of the larger Texas Baptist family are impacted.

“If you are a Texas Baptist, this conflict is touching you, too,” he said.

Abductions, violence increasing

The situation in eastern Congo continues to grow increasingly dangerous, Léon Lepamabila, secretary general of the Communauté Baptiste des Fidèles en Afrique and a pastor in Kinshasa, wrote in an email to the Baptist Standard.

“Every day, new missing persons reports pour into the city of Goma,” he wrote. “They are accompanied by frightening stories from desperate families looking for their loved ones. The latter are said to have been arrested by the occupying forces or kidnapped by unknown persons.”

Pastor César Tabu Munumbo was abducted from his home at gunpoint by men in civilian clothes on March 2, and his whereabouts still were unknown four days later, Lepamabila reported.

In addition to abductions, he noted several hospitals in recent days were targeted by armed gunmen, “marking a new escalation of violence against medical facilities and health personnel,” he wrote.

Attacks on health care workers “directly compromise the humanitarian aid on which millions of people depend,” he noted.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The seventh paragraph of this article was edited shortly after it initially was posted to clarify the source of the funds allocated to eastern Congo.

AUSTIN—Christians can change the world by practicing “radical obedience to Jesus,” Pastor Steve Bezner of Houston Northwest Baptist Church told participants at Christian Life Commission Advocacy Day in Austin.

“Jesus taught his disciples to pray, ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,’” said Bezner, author of Your Jesus is Too American. “‘On earth as it is in heaven’ is the shorthand definition for the kingship of Jesus—the kingdom of God.”

Positive change moves on two parallel rails—the gospel of the kingdom and the government, he said.

The church should consist of believers “living in a Jesus-centered community with an open heart for our world,” Bezner asserted.

“We should create a church community that is so compelling, people are drawn to be part of it,” he said.

The gospel message of salvation made possible in Christ should cause Christians to view the world differently and live a new reality, he insisted.

“Whenever we put on our gospel glasses, we finally see the world as God would have us see it,” Bezner said.

Living in radical obedience to Jesus according to the new reality of God’s kingdom means elevating service over power, diversity over division and intimacy over sex, he said.

Because not everyone will accept and acknowledge the kingship of Jesus, government is a useful means to promote the common good and bring about positive change, he added.

Christians should speak truth to power prophetically rather than yielding to the temptation to “cozy up” to power, he insisted.

“The church’s first role is to stand up and speak up for those who don’t often have a voice and to do so in a way that may be unpopular with those who sit in cushy offices,” Bezner said.

In an American culture that values winning, Christians instead should focus on faithful service, he insisted.

‘Pilgrims as Citizens’

Julio Guarneri, executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, discussed “Pilgrims as Citizens.” Guarneri worked from Hebrews 11 and 12 to demonstrate Christians are called to be nomads who rely on the supremacy of Jesus.

In circumstances that “may not look like what we thought God said he was going to do,” Guarneri said, “faith waits for God’s timing,” believing the future belongs to God.

“The early church faced suffering and persecution,” Guarneri noted. And it was to primarily Jewish-background congregations under Roman occupation the author of Hebrews writes.

In difficult circumstances, the author of Hebrews encourages the early church to remain faithful because “Jesus is better” than all things, including their plight.

The faithful witnesses of the past, listed in Hebrews 11, are to serve as exemplars, Guarneri noted.

In Hebrews 11:8-10, Abraham is described as a nomad, who lived in tents in a foreign land, called by God to go on a journey of faith to the land that eventually would be the promised land.

“The Bible tells us the children of Abraham are nomads. They admit that they are strangers and foreigners on Earth, looking for a better country.”

But, Guarneri noted, the destination, the city that endures, is not any earthly city. The final destination is the City of God.

The legacy for Abraham and Issac and Jacob, that of sojourner, is the same for anyone who has trusted Jesus, Guarneri said. “We hold loosely to our citizenship here on Earth, because our citizenship in heaven is better. … We’re pilgrims marching on to Zion.”

However, citizenship in heaven doesn’t mean Christians “live irresponsibly” here, Guarneri said. “On the contrary, because we know our destiny, then we can make a great difference here.”

Citizens of a heavenly kingdom should be the best citizens here, Guarneri said.

“Because we are pilgrims” and sojourners, “we identify” with the Hebrew people in the Old Testament, the struggling Jewish church in the first century, Baptist forefathers and mothers—who were forced to be on the move from persecution—and migrant people of today, Guarneri asserted.

“Our entire biblical and Baptist legacy is tied to a migrating people. That should mean something to us,” Guarneri said, noting that doesn’t mean not securing borders or caring for the rule of law.

But, it should mean caring for sojourners and identifying with those who are on pilgrimage.

“When a marginalized group grows in power and influence, it should never become the bully. Jesus is better,” he continued.

In Hebrews 12:2, “our attention turns to the main character of the sermon … fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of faith, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorned its shame, and sat down at the right hand of Jesus.”

As dual-citizens, the supreme exemplar Jesus shows that while the kingdom of God’s end outcome is success, suffering is the path to that victory, he said.

“When we fix our eyes on Jesus, we see a king on a throne, but we also see a cross.”

If Jesus didn’t avoid pain and suffering, “neither will we.” And, God will use suffering, “to shape us into Christ-likeness” and “make us holy.”

Today’s Christians want to be respected and “wield our power to show the world that we are better than them. That’s not the way of Jesus,” he observed.

Pilgrim-citizens should live in a way that draws people to Christ and makes them want to know why Jesus’ followers are so different.

Jesus not only finished the race victoriously, he also made it possible for Christ-followers to reach the reward. We can begin to build now something we know God will make reality, he concluded.

Jesus’ stump speech

Tim Alberta, author of American Carnage and The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, gave the final keynote address.

Alberta began by explaining he’s gotten to know Texas well in the past few years, since about 1 in 3 of the talks he’s been asked to give since his books were published have been here.

Alberta said in the time he’s spent in Texas over the past decade writing his books and working as a political journalist, he’s observed a particular emphasis on toughness and bravado is required for political campaigning in the state.

While politics throughout the country have seen culture, theology and politics become enmeshed, Texas politics are extra “gritty,” he noted. So, he suggested, the “stump speech” of Jesus, found in Matthew 5 in the Sermon on the Mount, seems particularly difficult to reconcile in Texas.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,” and the other beatitudes and imperatives that follow, would have a political rally audience squirming, Alberta said.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus lists examples of how his instructions for his followers differ from what they believed was required of them, he pointed out.

“You’ve been told to ‘love your neighbor and hate your enemies,’ and I tell you to love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you.”

But, Alberta suggested, it’s important to consider how the entire story of humanity’s relationship to God in Scripture, from the Garden of Eden all the way to the Ascension, to present day is one of our continually misinterpreting and misunderstanding what it is we are called to be.

In “lowest common denominator politics” that leave no room for mercy or grace, Christians must ask “who we’re called to be,” he said.

Alberta noted Micah 6:8 makes God’s requirements so clear, he believes “we will be judged” for failing to follow them.

“We waited for a conqueror, and we got a child,” he said. “Are we still, today, misreading who God is calling us to be?”

Believers always have struggled with living out being a citizen of another world while still living in this one.

But, he urged, the Matthew 5 “stump speech can be yours” and the transformative power of the gospel will help Christians get that proportionality right.

With additional reporting by Managing Editor Ken Camp

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

M23 rebels occupy Goma and Bukavu

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DALLAS—Texas Baptists’ Executive Board adopted a new agreement with the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board regarding church-starting in Texas and approved the initial reserve investment, officers and board for the Texas Baptist Insurance Program.

Last May, Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Director Julio Guarneri told the Executive Board NAMB no longer would fund church starts in Texas of congregations uniquely aligned with the BGCT, since the state convention did not affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message. The 2000 version of the SBC confession of faith limits the role of pastor to men.

In response to a question from a Texas Baptist pastor at the SBC annual meeting in June, NAMB President Kevin Ezell reiterated NAMB would not fund church starts in partnership with the BGCT unless Texas Baptists changed their statement of faith.

When a messenger to the 2024 BGCT annual meeting in Waco made a motion for the convention to affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message, messengers soundly defeated it.

After the annual meeting, BGCT and NAMB leaders met to negotiate a new agreement regarding church-starting in Texas. The NAMB board approved the agreement two weeks before the BGCT Executive Board met.

The approved agreement states:

• NAMB will make available church planting materials, training resources and coaching identified in other states as “Send Network” resources in a “white label” format.
• NAMB will provide a $300,000 a year grant to the BGCT exclusively for church planting and will consider the application of any SBC-affiliated church in good standing. Church planters who receive funding will complete an approved assessment process. The church plants will be expected to affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.
• NAMB and the BGCT will explore the possibility of conducting planter pathway training events.
• NAMB and the BGCT will work together to “make sure that pastors, churches and associations have reliable, true and updated information as to how BGCT churches can relate to NAMB.”

Guarneri pointed out NAMB funds represent about 10 percent of what Texas Baptists invest in church starting. Texas Baptists wants to double the number of church starts in 2025 from 2024, he added.

The agreement means if a Texas Baptist church that affirms the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message wants to start a church with NAMB funding, they can do so as a congregation singly aligned with BGCT.

Guarneri said he wanted to “go on record stating that when I started this inquiry, it was not necessarily about asking for more money, but about making sure that our BGCT churches had access to resources without having to join another state convention.”

BGCT still a ‘big-tent’ convention

In a related action, the BGCT Executive Board reaffirmed its existing practice of “receiving into harmonious cooperation churches that affirm traditional Baptist beliefs as generally stated in either the 1963 or 2000 Baptist Faith & Message, or similar confessional statement.”

In his report to the board, Guarneri noted concerns he’d heard after the BGCT annual meeting vote against affirming the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message. Some wondered whether it might mean the BGCT was moving toward the left. Others worried 2000 Baptist Faith & Message churches would no longer be welcome in the BGCT.

Guarneri said he could give a “resounding no” to both of those concerns, asserting the BGCT is still a big-tent convention that serves all Texas Baptist churches.

So, it was important for the Executive Board to affirm the BGCT practice of welcoming churches that affirm various Baptist confessions of faith.

Guarneri also noted a recommendation approved at the 2010 BGCT annual meeting that Texas Baptists review the Baptist Faith & Message in 2020 and every 10 years, in order to keep it “relevant” or “fresh.”

The review did not happen in 2020 because of COVID-19, he noted. Also, some concerns have been voiced about whether the document could be changed or whether it was proprietary to the SBC.

But the preamble affirms Baptists making faith statements as they see fit, Guarneri said, even if the decision is to call it something other than the Baptist Faith & Message. The preamble states “any group of Baptists, large or small, have the inherent right to draw up for themselves and publish to the world a confession of their faith whenever they may think it advisable to do so.”

“It’s a delicate matter,” he acknowledged, saying he felt no urgency to act, but did not want to ignore something BGCT messengers already approved.

“I would like to suggest at the appropriate time that we study what that recommendation means for our day and time,” he said.

Taking steps to make church insurance accessible

In another significant action, the Executive Board approved a recommendation from its executive committee regarding a means to make property, casualty and liability insurance available to Texas Baptist churches.

After receiving the findings of a feasibility study, the executive committee recommended the BGCT Executive Board proceed with forming a captive insurance corporation.

In response to previous action by the Executive Board last September and a motion approved at the BGCT annual meeting in November, the board authorized investing up to $12 million from the convention’s undesignated investment fund in the Texas Baptist Insurance Program to fund the necessary insurance reserve.

The board elected as initial officers of the corporation Craig Christina, associate executive director of the BGCT, as president; Sergio Ramos, director of the GC2 Network, as vice president; and Ward Hayes, BGCT treasurer-chief financial officer, as secretary-treasurer.

The nonprofit corporation’s board will consist of the BGCT associate executive director and treasurer-chief financial officer; one additional BGCT executive leader; the pastor of a BGCT-affiliated church; and the director of missions of a partnering Texas Baptist Association.

The initial board includes Christina as chair; Ramos as vice chair; Ward as secretary; Dennis Young, pastor of Missouri City Baptist Church; and David Bowman, executive director of Tarrant Baptist Association.

The Texas Baptist Insurance Program will be a corporation separate from but controlled by the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The program hopes to begin taking applications in June or July and will be open only to churches affiliated with the BGCT.

When asked where the initial $12 million would come from to fund the needed insurance reserve, Hayes said investments from 2020 COVID-relief in the form of Payroll Protection Plan funds and an employee retention tax credit, along with having stayed under budget in recent years supplies those funds.

In other business, the Executive Board:

• Elected Cynthia Jaquez from Segunda Iglesia Bautista in Corpus Christi to fill a vacancy on the Committee to Nominate Boards of Affiliated Ministries.
• Allocated $375,000 in available JK Wadley Endowment Fund earnings with $150,000 earmarked for Baptist Student Ministries campus missionaries, another $150,000 for BSM building maintenance; $50,000 for western heritage churches; and $25,000 for MinistrySafe.
• Approved the realignment of some sectors from which Executive Board members are elected. Sector boundaries are created based on resident church membership, the number of churches and Cooperative Program giving. Sector boundaries are evaluated every five years.

The university’s board of trustees voted to elevate the Logsdon School of Theology by making it a distinct college, five years after Hardin-Simmons University closed Logsdon Seminary.

Soon after the board voted on Feb. 6, the university announced the Logsdon School of Theology will transition out of the Cynthia Ann Parker College of Liberal Arts, where it has been housed, effective June 1.

The public announcement from the university stated the move will allow for “a stronger focus on ministry education, deeper connections with churches, and a continued emphasis on HSU’s Baptist heritage.”

The Logsdon School of Theology will focus its offerings on undergraduate education “with the intent to thoughtfully and strategically expand.”

The new college will offer a major or minor in Christian studies—with courses in biblical studies, church history, ministry and theology, the release said.

Students majoring in worship leadership within the College of Arts and Media will continue to take Logsdon ministry courses, and the new college will continue to provide the instruction for Bible courses all undergraduate students must take.

“The Logsdon School of Theology has proudly carried its official name since 1983, a tradition that remains unchanged” a follow-up email noted.

“To honor Logsdon’s legacy, the Board of Trustees chose to preserve its name, ensuring continuity and recognition for generations to come.”

With Logsdon’s elevation, the university has six colleges: Logsdon School of Theology, College of Arts and Media, College of Health Professions, Cynthia Ann Parker College of Liberal Arts, Kelley College of Business and Professional Studies, and Holland School of Sciences and Mathematics.

In March 2024, the university named Jacob West associate dean of Logsdon School of Theology. West has a long history with Hardin-Simmons and ministered in several West Texas churches, including an extended time as pastor of First Baptist Church in Plainview.

A dean for the new college is yet to be named, but West will continue to provide leadership for the school until a dean is named.

“HSU has a strong group of students, and I believe God will do a great work in their lives. We have men and women in the Christian studies program eager to share the gospel,” West said.

“Logsdon has a strong partnership with the College of Arts and Media to assist the preparation of worship ministers. Logsdon ministers to nearly 400 students every semester through foundational curriculum courses, in addition to being the host site for campus chapel,” led by Director of Spiritual Formation Shelli Presley.

West also noted Logsdon School of Theology has forged a new partnership with the North American Baptist Fellowship. Additionally, the school will host the Pinson Lectures on April 23. Elijah Brown, Baptist World Alliance general secretary, will provide the luncheon keynote.

“Since its founding in 1983, the Logsdon School of Theology has been an integral part of Hardin-Simmons University,” the university stated.

“Logsdon has remained steadfast in its mission—preparing students for ministry, deepening their understanding of Scripture, and equipping all students across campus with the tools for Christian leadership.

“After much prayer and thoughtful consideration, we look forward to this significant step in meeting the growing demand for well-equipped leaders.”

Background

When the HSU board of trustees voted in February 2020 to begin the process of closing Logsdon Seminary as part of a larger university restructuring, President Eric Bruntmeyer wrote in a letter to the “HSU family” the action was “solely a financial decision,” reached after an extended period of analysis.

Bruntmeyer released his letter after some Logsdon Seminary alumni asserted a “small, but very influential group” had undermined the seminary by accusing its professors of liberalism.

“While theological issues did come up in our discussions, this was solely a financial decision,” Bruntmeyer wrote. He did not elaborate on the nature of the “theological issues” discussed.

“From the very beginning, the seminary lacked appropriate funding,” he wrote.

Over a course of 15 years, when the seminary graduated more than 400 students, funds designated for the seminary had to be moved from the Logsdon School of Theology “to cover the deficits that occurred from the initial and continual lack of funding,” he wrote.

Four years earlier, HSU administrators launched a serious analysis of the university’s financial situation and “created metrics to identify low-performing programs,” he continued.

“In this process, the seminary and School of Theology were identified as low-performing programs,” Bruntmeyer wrote, citing declining enrollment both in Logsdon Seminary and in the Logsdon School of Theology.

A few days later, Bruntmeyer addressed the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board. He told the board the HSU trustees made the decision to close Logsdon Seminary and redirect endowment earnings back to the undergraduate programs in the Logsdon School of Theology because the university could not “keep two financially weak programs going.”

Bruntmeyer said about 300 students would be needed to make the programs financially sustainable. At that time, he reported, 40 to 45 undergraduates were pursuing majors in the Logsdon School of Theology, and the program had experienced a study decline in enrollment.

About 90 students were enrolled in seminary graduate classes in Abilene and San Antonio, but those numbers did not represent full-time equivalency.

In the previous academic year, combined losses from the Logsdon School of Theology and Logsdon Seminary totaled $1.26 million, Bruntmeyer told the BGCT Executive Board.

Looking to the future

HSU did not provide current information about enrollment in the Logsdon School of Theology, but stated: “Logsdon School of Theology has maintained steady enrollment since 2020. However, with churches across the state and nation expressing a growing need for well-equipped leaders, the goal is to expand our reach and cultivate even more high-quality candidates for ministry and service.”

Kyle Tubbs, now state coordinator for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Oklahoma, was president of the Logsdon Alumni Council at HSU when the seminary closed in 2020. He offered a significantly different perspective on the health of HSU today.

“Since the trustees closed Logsdon in February 2020, Hardin-Simmons has experienced an overall student enrollment decline from 2,324 in 2019-2020 to 1,665 in 2024-2025. Losing nearly 30 percent of its population is deeply concerning,” Tubbs wrote in an email.

The university also reported enrollment of 1,665 but noted that represented an increase from the prior year and an 8.5 percent increase in first-time freshmen.

Additionally, the university noted by email it achieved “an 88.51 percent persistence rate for Fall 2024, a 2.67 percent increase from 2023 and higher than the national average of 76.5 percent,” reported by National Student Clearinghouse.

Several new entities came into existence or expanded in the aftermath of the decision to close Logsdon Seminary.

Abilene Christian University launched a Baptist Studies Center within its Graduate School of Theology. ACU named Myles Werntz, formerly the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology at Logsdon, as the center’s director.

Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary opened an extension campus in San Antonio, offering classes at Trinity Baptist Church—the previous host site of Logsdon Seminary’s San Antonio campus. In addition to its flagship campus in Waco, Truett Seminary also offers courses in Houston at the Lanier Theological Library and Learning Center.

With a start-up grant from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation, the Jesse C. Fletcher Seminary—named for the 14th president of HSU—began offering classes in 2022 at Baptist Temple in San Antonio.

Don Williford, dean of Logsdon Seminary from 2011 to 2017, was the founding dean of Fletcher Seminary. Dan Stiver, a former professor of theology at HSU, succeeded Williford in 2024.

Regarding the future of Logsdon School of Theology, Bruntmyer commented: “Logsdon has long been a cornerstone of Hardin-Simmons University, shaping students with a strong faith, ministry and Christian leadership foundation.

“As we take this next step, we reaffirm our commitment to equipping future leaders with the knowledge, skills, and spiritual depth needed to serve their communities. This transition reflects the board of trustees’ dedication to meeting the evolving needs of our students, churches and the world around us.”

An inaugural open house for the new Logsdon School of Theology, guest lectures with church leaders and theologians, and meet-and-greet sessions with faculty will be announced at a later date.

Additional information may be found on Hardin-Simmons’ Logsdon School of Theology FAQ page.

With additional reporting by Managing Editor Ken Camp

Editor’s note: The story was posted at 5 p.m. on Friday. It will be updated if additional information is made available. The paragraph regarding enrollment figures was edited the next morning to clarify that the 8.5 percent increase was among first-time freshmen.

The Texas Senate approved an education savings account bill that would allow public funds to go to private religious schools. The measure now will be considered in the House of Representatives, where it has faced stiff opposition in past legislative sessions.

Senate Bill 2, sponsored by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, passed 19-12 with all but one Republican in favor and all Democrats in opposition. Sen. Robert Nichols of Jacksonville was the lone Republican who voted in opposition.

Creighton asserted the education savings account program the bill creates would offer “expanded education freedom to our students and our families” in Texas.

John Litzler, director of public policy for the Christian Life Commission, noted Texas Baptists’ moral concerns agency “historically opposed vouchers, including Education Savings Accounts, on many grounds, but chief among them is concerns about infringement on religious liberty.”

Senate Bill 2 provides a $10,000 education savings account for an approved student without disabilities and $11,500 for a student with disabilities to attend an accredited private school. Payments are directed by parents but sent directly to the schools.

“Many of the private schools that will receive tax dollars are religious and include religious instruction and worship as part of the curriculum,” Litzler noted.

Supported by governor and lieutenant governor

Both Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Gov. Greg Abbott have expressed strong support for the education savings account program.

Patrick made Creighton’s bill a priority item for the Senate, second only to the state budget.

“Texans across the political spectrum agree that parents must have options to choose the school that best fits the needs of their child to ensure their success,” Patrick said.

During his State of the State address Feb. 2 in Austin, Abbott declared “school choice” an emergency item for the 89th Texas Legislative Session. Emergency items can be voted on during the first 60 days of the session, a period typically devoted to forming committees and other organizational matters.

“Government-mandated schools cannot meet the unique needs of every student. But Texas can provide families with choices to meet those needs,” Abbott said.

“We will continue to fully fund public schools and raise teacher pay, while also giving parents the choice they deserve.”

The Senate has passed school voucher-style initiatives in previous legislative sessions, but those bills have been defeated in the Texas House by a coalition of rural Republicans and urban Democrats.

However, Abbott targeted House Republicans who voted against the education savings account bill he supported in 2023. He successfully campaigned to replace 11 House Republicans with new lawmakers who support his voucher-style plan.

Of the $1 billion allocated for the education savings account program in the proposed budget—twice the amount of a similar bill that passed the Senate in the 2023 session before being defeated in the House—the Senate bill makes $200 million available to any students.

The bulk of the funds—$800 million—would be earmarked for special-needs children and “low-income” families, broadly defined as families making five times the federal poverty level.

That means a single parent making $105,000 a year—or a family of four making more than $150,000 a year—would qualify. During the Senate debate, Creighton repeatedly referred to the maximum as the combined income of a firefighter and a schoolteacher.

Opposition voiced

“Pure and simple, this voucher scheme is a scam,” said Charles Foster Johnson, executive director of Pastors for Texas Children.

It would benefit “private schools that do not take every child, that do not provide transportation, breakfast and lunch, and that will likely raise their tuition the amount of the voucher anyway,” he said.

A majority of Texas senators long ago “forsook their oath” to support “free public schools,” as required by Article 7 of the Texas Constitution, he asserted.

“So, this is no surprise,” said Johnson, interim senior pastor of Second Baptist Church in Lubbock.

“It is the Texas House that has held the line against private school vouchers session after session, because that is the chamber closest to the people, who clearly do not want their public-school dollars diverted to subsidize private schools far away from them and religious schools that teach religion contrary to their own,” Johnson said.

However, stopping the measure from passing in the House will be “harder than ever,” he acknowledged.

“Out-of-state billionaires wanting to make money off our kids are pouring millions of dollars into Texas elections to defeat pro-public-education candidates,” he said. “The only resistance we have to this filthy lucre are committed people of faith who refuse to bow to Caesar coming into their church schools.”

Jeff Yass, a billionaire school voucher advocate from Pennsylvania, gave a $6 million contribution to Abbott’s campaign—the largest single donation in Texas history.

Litzler said the CLC anticipates the House version of an education savings account “may differ significantly” from the Senate bill, noting House members “have a different perspective from senators on this issue.”

Governor insists on ‘universal’ program

Abbott has stated he will oppose any “school choice” bill that is not a “universal” program. Although the Senate bill prioritizes certain students if the number of applicants exceeds available funding, the education savings account “would be universal in the sense that every student, except for children of legislators, would be eligible to apply,” Litzler noted.

“It’s certainly possible that a bill filed in the House would not be universal and would limit ESA availability based on certain criteria like household income or attendance at a school assigned a failing letter grade by TEA,” he said.

“The House and the Senate would then have to agree on the bill’s language—or reconcile the differing bills. If the Texas Legislature passes a version of an ESA that is not universal, the governor may veto the bill.”

Litzler noted the importance of voters communicating their concerns to elected representatives.

“The most persuasive argument to a state representative is the one that affects you, the constituent, directly,” he said.

“We’ve heard from parents who are concerned because many private schools can’t accommodate their child who has a disability. We’ve heard concern from parents that their public school will be underfunded and may have to cut programs, extracurriculars, or close campuses all together.

“Many of our state representatives are Christians, and several are Baptists. They often share our religious liberty concerns. Legislators want to hear the concerns that their constituents are most passionate about.”

Jalil Dawood, pastor of the Arabic Church of Dallas, understands the plight of refugees. He wishes President Donald Trump—for whom he voted three times—understood, as well.

Trump issued an executive order suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program “until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.”

Dawood—who fled Iraq to escape violence and persecution before he resettled in the United States as a refugee in 1982—sees that as a missed opportunity for the United States to be the “shining city on a hill” President Ronald Reagan envisioned.

“Be a voice for the voiceless, the persecuted and the oppressed. … That will make America great again,” Dawood said.

He still considers himself “an enthusiastic supporter” of Trump. Dawood applauded the conservative judicial appointments Trump made in his first term as president, and he supports Trump’s positions on abortion, gender identity, national security and illegal immigration.

However, he believes the United States has a responsibility to welcome properly vetted victims of persecution—particularly persecuted Christians.

“The leader of the world can execute the justice and mercy of God,” said Dawood, founder of World Refugee Care, a small Texas-based nonprofit organization that offers spiritual and physical aid to refugees.

Refugees  can ‘be blessed and be a blessing’

Trump’s executive order states: “The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees.”

Churches can help reduce the burden on the government by sponsoring refugees, providing them with short-term support until they are able to provide for themselves and their families, Dawood said. But they need a system that offers them that opportunity.

He agrees refugees have a responsibility to become assimilated, and he sees the need for “balance” in considering security issues and compassion for people escaping persecution.

However, refugees who work hard, pay their taxes and obey the laws can “be blessed and be a blessing” to the United States, rather than a drain on society, Dawood asserted.

Trump and other elected leaders need to be reminded refugee policies “have human consequences,” a statement the Burma Advocacy Group released on Jan. 24 said.

The group—which focuses particularly on displaced Burmese nationals who have fled Myanmar after a military coup in February 2021—asserted Trump’s executive action ignores the “solid contributions” refugees have made to the United States.

“Burma adult refugees have created new businesses across our country and have provided a trustworthy workforce in the communities where they live,” the group stated. “They bring with them core religious values rooted in their Christian, Buddhist and Muslim faiths that strengthen our moral fiber as a nation.”

‘Light of hope has been extinguished’

The Burma Advocacy Group—led by Roy Medley, executive director emeritus of the American Baptist Churches USA—noted refugees “are subjected to a thorough vetting by U.S. Homeland Security before they are approved for resettlement” and undergo cultural orientation to help them assimilate.

“Just two year ago, a light of hope shone again in Thailand when the Thai government, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the U.S. government agreed to again resettle Burma nationals—Rohingya, Christian, Buddhist and other, who have been in the camps there,” the group stated.

“The Burma Advocacy Group was there to witness the thorough effort of all three bodies to vet those eligible for resettlement.”

However, “that light of hope has been extinguished” by Trump’s executive order, the group stated.

“Families that have bought tickets for their resettlement flights awoke on Jan. 22 to the news that all flights had been cancelled and no new arrangements were to be made,” the group stated. “This is a blow to those on the cusp of long-awaited resettlement who had been thoroughly vetted and approved for entry.”

The executive order also directly affects the level of care provided in refugee camps. The Karen Information Center reported health care services were suspended Jan. 27 in refugee camps operated by the International Rescue Committee along the Thailand-Myanmar border.

The Burma Advocacy Group also pointed to the impact of another executive order halting Temporary Protected Status for migrants who seek to enter the United States to escape violence and persecution.

“Not only do these presidential executive actions lead to despair within Malaysia, India and the camps in Thailand; it also leads to despair among the Burma nationals here in this country, whose hope has been to be reunited with family members in the promise of freedom and security that America offers,” the group stated.

When refugee resettlement was curtailed during the first Trump administration, resettlement agencies had to lay off staff and close offices.

The Burma Advocacy Group pointed to the long-term impact the latest executive orders will have on the United States’ future ability to respond to the urgent needs of refugees in crisis.

“We have seen in the past four years how difficult it is to rebuild the components for the regulated, compassionate and carefully vetted resettlement of those who have fled persecution and war waged against them by despotic, anti-democratic forces that are guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the group stated.

Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission filed a legal brief urging the Texas Supreme Court to refrain from overly narrowing the scope of the Religious Service Protections amendment to the Texas Constitution.

The CLC filed the amicus brief Dec. 30 in response to oral arguments on the religious freedom case Perez v. City of San Antonio.

John Litzler, CLC director of public policy, explained the case involves the Religious Services Protections amendment to the state constitution.

Voters approved the amendment in 2021 in response to restrictions imposed by local governments on religious services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background

The lawsuit concerns the City of San Antonio’s development plan for Brackenridge Park—a city-owned park surrounding a bend in the San Antonio River where Native Americans have an ancestral connection and have worshipped for hundreds of years.

The suit, brought by Gary Perez and Matilde Torres, asserts the city’s plan would prevent the free practice of their religion by preventing them from performing ceremonies essential to their beliefs.

The original opinion in the case was filed April 11, 2024. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held the appellants’ argument lacked merit, affirmed the district court’s judgment and denied an emergency injunction pending appeal to stop the city’s public improvements in the Lambert Beach area of the park.

The Fifth Circuit Court later withdrew its opinion and certified a question to the Supreme Court of Texas to interpret the Religious Services Protections amendment for the first time.

Perez and Torres—ceremonial leaders of the Lipan-Apache Native American Church—sued the city citing the free exercise clause of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Texas Constitution.

The suit sought to require the city to grant them access to the area for religious worship, minimize tree removal and allow birds to nest there.

“Following a preliminary injunction hearing, the district court ordered the City to allow Appellants access to the area for religious ceremonies but declined to enjoin the City’s planned tree removal and rookery management measures,” a report on FindLaw explains.

At issue is access to the Lambert Beach area—which will be limited during renovation to the San Antonio River retaining-wall—and the removal of many trees in that section of the park to allow for construction and discourage cormorant nesting in the area where people frequently concentrate.

The Lipan-Apache Native American Church—which blends Native American and Christian beliefs—consider the waters, trees, birds and constellations above the bend in the river a “sacred ecology.”

Perez and Torres contend relocating the birds and removing the trees will prohibit them from performing religious ceremonies dependent on the “sacred ecology” of the riverbend—“the only place in the world” where the practices can be performed, according to Notre Dame Law School’s Lindsay and Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic.

John Greil, an attorney and professor at the University of Texas law school’s Law & Religion Clinic, represents Perez and Torres in Perez v. City of San Antonio. He told a reporter last month Perez and Torres are the first claimants to bring a suit under the Religious Services Amendment. So, the decision in the case will carry significant weight as a precedent.

Concerns about oral arguments

In an email Litzler noted, “while I didn’t ‘take a side’ of either party in the case, I did write to the Court asking them not to agree with an interpretation of the amendment presented during oral argument which we feel would have unnecessarily limited the scope of the amendment.”

The brief points to oral arguments offered by the State of Texas given by Deputy Solicitor General Billy Cole, in which the state suggested the right to take communion “was not within the scope of the amendment.”

The state’s argument relative to these points begins at 3:04:55 in the linked video.

When asked about the right to sing during a worship service, the brief points out, the state suggested “the amendment’s scope was designed to protect the right to gather,” but suggested the amendment’s protections did not extend to the acts of worship taking place at religious gatherings.

The state suggested questions about worship practices, including singing and communion, would be handled under the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act and are protected by the First Amendment, but Cole asserted they are beyond the intended scope of the 2021 Religious Services Protections amendment.

However, the CLC brief notes Rep. Jeff Leach and Sen. Kelly Hancock—authors of the amendment—specifically addressed efforts to prohibit singing in worship when they talked about the impetus for introducing the amendment. They told a gathering of pastors the amendment was designed both to protect the freedom to assemble and the freedom to worship.

“The distinction between the Amendment only protecting the right to gather as opposed to the right to gather and freely engage in worship practices is not merely academic, but essential to protecting religious freedoms of Texas Baptists,” the CLC brief reads.

Using as an example the Baptist ordinances of believer’s baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper as core practices of all who identify as Baptist, Litzler argued Article 1, Section 6a of the Texas Constitution should extend to protecting these practices, not merely the freedom to gather.

The amendment reads: “This state or a political subdivision of this state may not enact, adopt, or issue a statute, order, proclamation, decision, or rule that prohibits or limits religious services, including religious services conducted in churches, congregations, and places of worship, in this state by a religious organization established to support and serve the propagation of a sincerely held religious belief.”

Litzler said the CLC is not siding with either the city or the appellants in Perez v. City of San Antonio, but emphasized, “However the Supreme Court decides this case, they should definitely not decide it doesn’t protect singing and the Lord’s Supper, especially on private property.”

DALLAS—Trucks and trailers rolled out of Texans on Mission headquarters in Dallas early on Jan. 15 to support California churches responding to devastating wildfires.

Shower/laundry units are on the way. A semi-truck load of supplies also left Dallas with masks, water filters, Tyvek suits, Bibles, cots and gloves.

A Texans on Mission team already is in California meeting with church partners to determine how best to respond.

The churches have asked Texans on Mission to help establish on-site services, thus “creating a respite for people that don’t have another place to go to get away from the stress, be encouraged and have someone pray with them,” said Chief Strategy Officer Rand Jenkins.

“Their children will have a place to play,” Jenkins said. “They’ll have their clothes washed for them. They’ll get a hot cup of coffee and be able to talk to some of our volunteers and some of the local pastors.”

While Texans on Mission focuses now on helping churches provide respite for weary residents, fire recovery efforts—commonly called “ash out”—likely will emerge in the coming weeks.

“As with the 2023 fires in Maui, authorities have to keep sites secure for a time,” said Texans on Mission Chief Mission Officer John Hall. “And, in this situation, fires are still blazing and battling the flames is a top priority.

“Recovery time will come, and Texans on Mission will continue to work with churches in how best to be of support. As we like to say, we’re bringing help, hope and healing now, and we will need to do so for quite some time.”

In a video for Texans on Mission supporters, Jenkins said: “Thank you for what you’re doing. Thank you for the prayers you’re sending this way. This is an amazing need, and you are an amazing group of people that come together every time.”

To give financially to support Texans on Mission disaster relief, click here.