Month: July 2021

God is writing a different headline for the kingdom

Nathan Lorick, executive director

Q&A:


A conversation with SBTC Executive Director
Nathan Lorick on his first day in the role.

Q: You’ve had a long relationship with the SBTC. How’s it feel to be responsible for it all? 

Every day I wake up humbled and honored God has allowed me to do this with my family of churches;

I really can’t fathom why he’s chosen to be so good to me and allowed me to do this. It’s the greatest joy of my ministry to be able to serve the churches of the SBTC.

When I sit in this chair in this office and look out these windows, I remember that moment God called me to be a pastor of my first church at 24. I want to always remember feeling so grateful he allowed me to serve in that capacity and how he has graciously brought me to the place I am today. 

Q: In the years since serving as SBTC evangelism director you led the Colorado convention; what did you learn about state convention work in those years? 

I believe being outside the South gave me a unique perspective. I learned just how significant it is to be a part of the SBC because of how much we can truly do together. It’s amazing, the synergistic results that actually come from us partnering together. We truly are better together.

I also learned that God is working all across the nation, not just in some pockets. He is working in really unique ways simultaneously in places like Texas, Illinois, Michigan, etc.—God is really doing some unique things all across America.

We get so focused on what we read on social media that we fail to recognize that God is writing a different headline for the kingdom. I want us to realize the stories God is writing rather than the things that distract us from the mission. 

I’ve also learned the importance of leading with love and humility. I’ve always lived by the principle that if you love people, they’ll let you lead them. I want to lead by truly loving churches and pastors well. I want every pastor in the SBTC to know I love them in the Lord and I believe in what God has called them to do, not only be there to walk alongside them in every way, but to help them fulfill the dream of what God wants them and their churches to be. 

I’ve always felt the future for state conventions is incredibly bright. As a national convention, we’re able to move a large body forward, but that connection [with pastors] really comes on a state level and associational level—walking together through heartache and victories in ministry. Those relational connections happen in the state conventions or associations. 

Q: How will the pandemic and quarantine of 2020 impact our fellowship of churches going forward?

I believe the reality of this moment is that there are no experts on future ministry now. In years past, before the pandemic, there were experts in the SBC.

This thing turned the world upside down in a way no one could have imagined or forecasted, and it affects us in ways none of us could have predicted. We’re in a unique time in the history of the church globally—not only specifically in states or the SBC, but a moment in the church where we’re going to have to figure out how to connect with churches and culture in a completely different way than we ever have. 

I’m not saying some [traditional] things will not work in the future, but the way we engage is going to have to be different. For me that’s an exciting thing. God’s going to utilize the pandemic in a way that causes us to be more creative, to be more intentional and to leverage technology in a greater way for kingdom expansion. As hard as the pandemic has been on pastors, churches and conventions, I think God is doing something we can’t see. God is in our tomorrow waiting on us to get there. I pray there is going to be an incredible movement of God because of the position it’s going to place churches and organizations in to reach people. Knowing that the pandemic didn’t take God by surprise, I believe he’s not going to waste something that turned the world upside down. My prayer is that he’ll take this pandemic and usher in a new gospel movement that will turn the world upside down. However, none of us truly knows the best way going forward; that’s why I think networks like state conventions are more practically valuable and relationally valuable than ever before.

I don’t think God’s going to waste this moment in church history. My hope is he will use it as a catalyst for the gospel like never before.

I think God may do some things through the pandemic that will shake up the church and ministry organizations from the status quo. Some of what we’ve already done will not connect with people in the future. People’s lives have changed, their priorities, the way they do things; we have got to be forward thinking about how to engage post-pandemic.

What the great depression was, a generational marker—everything was classified as “pre-depression” and “post-depression”—is what COVID is today. Even now as we talk church attendance, we say “before COVID” or “after COVID.” This is a generational marker so that 100 years from now the church will still be talking about a shift that took place in 2020. I am choosing to believe God is going to show up post-COVID in a greater way than we’ve seen in our lifetime. 

Nathan Lorick quote

Q: What do you see as the biggest challenge for the convention’s work?

First, we’ve got to figure out how to best advance the mission of God post-COVID in a post-COVID world, [as discussed earlier].

Second, we need to focus on the mission that God created us for and called us to as Southern Baptists and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. We cannot be distracted by all this noise out there that seeks to pull us away from the mission.

Third, specifically for the SBTC, God is moving the world to Texas in an expedited way, more than we have ever experienced. We must be laser focused on evangelism and church planting, helping struggling churches have new life to reach their communities. The SBTC will continue to commit to serving and assisting churches in their pursuit of fulfilling the Great Commission, because the time is too short, the lostness too great and God has given our generation a greater opportunity to reach Texas than any generation before us. 

Those are the greatest challenges of the hour.

My dream and my hope is that this is what God’s called me to for the rest of my ministry. I want to serve faithfully like Dr. Richards has and want to give it all I have. Somebody asked me to fast forward 20 or 25 years—to the time for me to retire. What is one thing we want to look back and say “Nathan accomplished that”? The answer’s simple: I want to be a man of God who walked closely with God and was known as a man of integrity, because if I don’t have integrity, none of those other accomplishments matter. I want to be known as a man of God, who loves pastors well and serves churches well. I want to pour out my heart and passion to see Texas won for Christ.

Q: How would you address the divisiveness of our age?

I tell people I feel as honored today to be a Southern Baptist as I did the day I stepped into the pulpit of my first church at age 24. I could not believe God allowed me to be part of a network of churches that sends missionaries around the world and trains up the next generation of church leaders. I could not believe that God would be so gracious to me to allow me to be part of that family making such a global impact.

If you fast forward 16 years from that moment, I’m still honored and humbled God would allow me to be a Southern Baptist. I’m not a Southern Baptist because of what everybody else thinks or tweets, but because of our doctrinal conviction, the mission God has placed us on together, and the opportunity he has entrusted to us. So I would encourage people to remember how good God has been to us to allow us to be part of a global network and remember that God has given us a mission together to focus on.

We’re at our best when we are absolutely sold out to things God has called us to. We have to get to a place where the burden of the lostness of our culture outweighs being bothered by secondary and tertiary issues in the SBC.

If we’re just gut level honest, the enemy doesn’t have to attack us when we’re attacking each other. The Scriptures never tell us to devour each other, but that our enemy is the devil. We are told to try to outdo each other with honor—walking in a spirit of love and community.

At the end of the day—because of God’s goodness and faithfulness, I believe he’s still going to use Southern Baptists—imagine what we could do if we were truly on mission together.

Q: What’s our greatest strength? 

The SBTC is going to stay focused on what really matters: our convictions on the inerrancy of Scripture, and our cooperation within the parameters of the BF&M 2000. We’re going to continue to link arms with pastors and churches all across Texas to reach lost people, plant churches and strengthen churches. We’re going to be resolved to carry out what God has entrusted to us as a network—and that is to do everything we can to see Texas won to Christ. The SBTC is a family of churches that is unified in doctrine and missions methodology. We’re unified in spirit and we’re going to keep going forward. That’s what Dr. Richards has led us to be and I plan on absolutely continuing that legacy with laser focus going
forward.

Q: A final word?

I’m humbled and honored to serve the churches in this capacity but also want to make sure that these churches know that Dr. Richards has been the greatest leader for the SBTC that we ever imagined. He has led us to such a place of clarity and unity that I am humbled to stand on the shoulders of a spiritual hero and giant of the faith. We honor him for how he has led faithfully. Everywhere I go I tell people that if I could just serve with his integrity and focus on moving the kingdom forward, we’ve got a bright, bright future.

A great question, an honest answer

A few weeks ago, I had the honor of having lunch with area pastors at the San Antonio Baptist Association building. It was a great time of wonderful food and even better fellowship.

It was a great time of wonderful food and even better fellowship. It was so good to reunite with friends I have known for years and make new friends with whom I will serve alongside for the acceleration of the gospel. The entire day was such a blessing to me, and I was encouraged by hearing pastors tell one another how God was moving in their churches. 

I was invited to the luncheon in order to introduce myself and allow pastors to get to know me. Prior to lunch, we had a time for me to share and then take questions from the pastors gathered. There were some great questions that were asked during this time. One question, however, stuck out to me and has not left my mind. I was asked something similar to this: “If you could look down the road in 25 years, what are one or two things you would want your time at the SBTC to be marked by or known for?” 

"If you could look down the road in 25 years, what are one or two things you would want your time at the SBTC to be marked by or known for?"

Nathan Lorick, SBTC Executive Director Tweet

I love this question. My answer was simple yet is the desire of my heart. I stated that I want to, first and foremost, be marked and known as a man of undeniable integrity. As I begin to live out my calling at the SBTC, the most significant priority of my time, energy, and focus must be on living out Ephesians 4:1-3. Paul states “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity in the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

This is my first pursuit before anything else—to walk closely with Jesus so that out of the overflow of my walk with him and through the integrity of my heart, effective ministry abounds. This is my hope, this is my dream, this is my pursuit. 

As I pursue living my life with utmost integrity, I may not always get it right, but I will always seek to do the right thing. I am asking the Lord for a long and effective ministry at the SBTC. It is my hope and desire to see God do great things among us in the coming years. If the Lord is gracious to allow me to find myself down that road in 25 years, I want my heart to still be singing a song 
I first heard at a Passion conference while in college. Mark 
Altrogge’s song “One Pure and Holy Passion” says it well: 

Give me one pure and holy passion,

Give me one magnificent obsession. 

Give me one glorious ambition for my life.

To know and follow hard after you.

I love you and am grateful to serve you.

The Prayer Assignment

Southern Baptists believe in prayer. And while most of us readily admit our own prayer lives could improve, we are, nevertheless, a praying people. In June, in Nashville, Southern Baptists took another important step in affirming our dependence upon the power of prayer. We voted to give the Executive Committee the “prayer assignment.” 

Dr. Ronnie Floyd, President and CEO of the Executive Committee, told Baptist Press that “the addition of a ministry assignment for prayer will enable the EC to provide strategic leadership for prayer in the SBC.” The keyword in that statement seems to me to be “strategic.” What can we do if we work together on common goals? When the common goal is prayer, the opportunities are limitless.

Why is the prayer assignment important? In Southern Baptist life, “assignments” define the purposes of the entity. Until June 2021, no SBC entity had been “assigned” the prayer ministry, even though everyone believes in and practices prayer. Mark Twain once famously quipped, “Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it.” The old adage suggests some things are easier to talk about than to act upon. Every believer, every church, every entity, and every agency in the SBC express belief in the power of prayer, but until now no one entity was ever given the responsibility or “assignment” of prayer.

Prayer appears so ubiquitous it seems to be everywhere and belongs to everyone and therefore it can be taken for granted. In our case, the danger is not that we don’t believe in prayer, but that we haven’t intentionally harnessed our energies. In other words, “everybody’s business can become nobody’s business.” Now, however, since one entity has been assigned the strategic ministry of prayer, the focus created can be intense. 

In our case, the danger is not that we don’t believe in prayer, but that we haven’t intentionally harnessed our energies.

Kie Bowman, SBTC President Tweet

What do I mean? Let me give you an example. An incandescent light bulb essentially sends light in every direction at once. A laser light, on the other hand, emits light in a focused beam. If you’ve ever used a laser pointer you know the results are staggeringly different than achieved from the soft light glowing from a living room lamp. A room light bulb might be 60 watts and seem appropriate for medium brightness, while a standard laser pointer only emits a 0.005 watt beam, but the brightness is intense because the laser is focused. Imagine a prayer strategy that was like a laser, rather than incandescent, in focus and intensity. Ask yourself, how might tens of thousands, or millions, of Southern Baptists affect church planting, evangelism, and missions if we were all rallied and resourced to pray together for big, bold, specific, God-sized objectives?

The late Jack Taylor once observed, “If prayer is anything, prayer is everything.” If we believe that, then we have an open door of opportunity to join a prayer movement through our Great Commission-focused churches. What can we do in the SBTC? How can we help?

To get the SBC-wide prayer strategy started, the Executive Committee has launched an initial way to encourage prayer, and thousands of people have already signed up. I joined the “Vision 2025” prayer team and I encourage you to join, too. All you have to do to join this team is text “VISION” to 90885. That’s it. Every day you receive a text message with a brief prayer request. The team has also offered pastors additional resources for leading a praying church and other help for all people wishing to grow in their prayer life. 

I would love to see thousands of believers in SBTC churches sign up. This is only the beginning, but it’s a great place to start. Join us today and together we will pray for spiritual awakening in our time and the fulfillment of the Great Commission. It’s time for all of us to accept our own prayer assignment. 

The mandate to forgive the foolish

It occurred to me the other day that most of the people I don’t like are those I’ve never met, or even been nearby. I don’t mean Joe Stalin or Saddam Hussein, but celebrities, living politicians who’ve not murdered millions, and pundits. 

Maybe developing strong opinions of strangers is the hazard of an era when everyone has a chance to say more than they should to millions around the world. I’m a little embarrassed to have such antipathy toward those who’ve done no worse than being silly or wrong.

How do you suppose Matthew 6: 12, 14 applies to forgiving those who haven’t actually trespassed against us? I’ve always considered Jesus’ repeated references to forgiveness and its connection to how God forgives us a hair-raising aspect of his teaching. He’s giving a dire warning that I’ve not taken seriously enough.

Maybe you’re like me and harsh snap judgments are a family tradition. My grandfather was widely known as a man of strong opinions harshly stated. He was said to have crossed the street to avoid even walking past a politician he disagreed with—and you thought that attitude was invented in 2016! He could, and I can, permanently categorize a stranger from a hundred yards away. Not sure if Grandpa considered that a bad habit; I do.

Although I think Jesus was referring to the truly hard things to forgive—someone who steals from you or damages your reputation—it seems fair to apply it to all the people we judge harshly for the sin of being foolish. It may be even more applicable when you think about it.

A stranger who impersonally offends us from a distance has caused an offense based on a great deal of ignorance on our part. If we apply Matthew 6 to this, we admit that we desire that God, who knows us perfectly, will forgive our actual sins; but a relative stranger whose imagined sin is being more idiotic than we are gets no grace from us. We have experienced no actual injury from this stranger to justify such hard feelings.

But there is also a category of those who do something more serious than just being wrong-headed. Not all of them have actually injured us, either. Should we forgive people for doing something that is objectively (from our perspective) wrong, but that only potentially ever causes us loss? An easy application is the way we judge our political or denominational leaders.

I am not actually diminished by the fact that Albert Mohler voted for Donald Trump in 2020 or that Russell Moore likely did not. I suffer no injury from the fact that some SBC leaders have a different opinion of Critical Race Theory or immigration reform than I do. That’s not to say these things don’t matter. I can, however, argue my side of the issue without assigning opponents to permanent Purgatory. Disagreeing with me about politics, the U.S. or the SBC, doesn’t make someone a heretic, a wicked person or a jerk.

Some basic disagreements imply a whole slate of beliefs regarding lesser issues. I will not, for example, disagree with someone only over women pastors, because our opinions grow out of different views of the nature of Scripture and, I think, of God. But our workaday differences often involve matters of taste or ill-informed opinion, not the nature of God. Even those who are wrong about the nature of Scripture have not necessarily done something to justify a personal grudge on my part. Everything is not my business to correct or punish, thank the Lord.

Everything is not my business to correct or punish, thank the Lord.

Gary Ledbetter, Editor Tweet

Total condemnation is rarely the pertinent response to a person who is wrong. Someone who believes a woman should be the pastor of a New Testament church will not be my pastor, my seminary professor or my SBC president. But he can be a member of my church, my lunch date and my brother for eternity. I should be measured in determining how these things matter. I am not always. Sometimes this crosses the line into unforgiveness or even judgment—something that apparently offends God when I do it.

It matters less to me every year that people will call this discernment “hate” or “compromise”; they are wrong. It is not hate to say that a brother or sister in Christ will not be my pastor because we disagree on an interpretation of Scripture. It is not compromise to be kind to them nonetheless. We can be kind when we have given others the grace to be wrong and forgiven them. On temporal matters we can be forgiving if we recognize that there is more than one sane opinion about nearly all political questions; I’m not so sure of mine that I’ll hate you for yours.

Of course, we must also forgive those who steal from us and lie about us. That’s not my main point here but it is the more difficult kind of forgiveness. More subtle is the habitual snap judgment that is more than a hot take on an idea, but is instead the hasty condemnation of a person for expressing an idea. I hope in this day when we can interact with the ideas of a million people, we’ll consider the command of God to forgive those who offend us unawares. Maybe we should also consider the possibility that we are too easily outraged in the first place. 

Senate acts to stymie China’s genocide of Uyghurs

WASHINGTON (BP)—The U.S. Senate approved an import ban on goods made by forced labor in western China on the same day global religious freedom advocates brought attention to the Communist Party’s genocidal campaign primarily against Uyghur Muslims in the region.

Senators approved by unanimous consent July 14 the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which would prohibit products made with forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region from being introduced into the U.S. market. The House of Representatives has yet to vote on the proposal in this congressional session, but it passed a similar bill nearly unanimously last September before the measure died in the Senate.

On the day the Senate took action, speakers at the inaugural International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit in Washington, D.C., decried the genocide of the Uyghurs and called for steps to bring about change in the Chinese regime.

The Senate vote followed the June 15 adoption by messengers to the SBC Annual Meeting of a resolution that condemned the Chinese Community Party’s treatment of the Uyghurs and called for the U.S. government to take “concrete actions” to end the genocide. The SBC reportedly became the first Christian denomination to denounce China’s campaign against the Uyghurs as genocide.

The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) praised the Senate action.

The vote moves the United States “one step closer to adding real teeth to our nation’s condemnation of the Chinese Communist Party’s vile human rights abuses,” said Chelsea Sobolik, a policy director for the ERLC. “This is welcome news for the SBC, which spoke with one voice last month and declared these atrocities to be genocide.

“By cutting off the financial incentive for the forced labor of Uyghurs, America will be confronting China economically and morally about its unacceptable practices,” she said in written comments for Baptist Press. “The House should swiftly pass this bill and send it to the president’s desk without delay.”

As part of its oppressive practices, the Chinese Community Party (CCP) tracks Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang by means of a high-tech surveillance system that has obtained genetic data on many residents, according to reports. More than one million Uyghurs, and maybe as many as three million, have been detained in “re-education” camps, and forced labor by prisoners is common. Life in the camps can result in indoctrination, as well as rape, torture and coercive organ harvesting. Uyghur women are also at the mercy of a population control program of forced abortions and sterilizations.

Then-Secretary of State Michael Pompeo announced in January on the last full day of the Trump administration his determination that China is guilty of genocide against the minority groups in Xinjiang. New Secretary of State Antony Blinken affirmed that designation after he took office under President Biden.

According to a 1948 United Nations treaty, genocide is defined as murder and other acts with the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”

At the IRF Summit, speakers described the Uyghurs’ suffering.

Tursunay Ziyawudun, a Uyghur Muslim woman, described being imprisoned twice in the camps. In addition to being beaten, she was raped one night by three police officers, Ziyawudun said. Some girls taken from their cells returned in a near-death state, and others disappeared, she told the summit audience. She witnessed some bleed to death, she said. The Uyghur prisoners were forced to swear loyalty oaths to the CCP, she said.

The experiences in the camps “have left indelible scars on my heart,” Ziyawudun said in her own language while the English translation was projected on a screen.

China’s detention of the Uyghurs “represents the largest mass incarceration of an ethno-religious minority group since World War II,” said Nury Turkel, a Uyghur-American lawyer and a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). “The CCP aims to eliminate the distinct Uyghur ethno-religious identity from the face of the earth.”

Turkel, chairman of the board of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, said China’s “digital dictatorship” includes facial recognition software that is “omnipresent in cities and villages.” He said Uyghurs “cannot do anything to escape the watchful eye of the Chinese government.”

He warned that “digital authoritarianism is on the rise globally.” More than 80 countries have adopted China’s surveillance technology, Turkel said. “The tools perfected by the Chinese regime will be replicated and multiplied for use against the vulnerable ethnic and religious groups.”

Former Republican Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia called for establishment of a bipartisan genocide caucus in Congress that would serve as an “early warning system.”

“[W]e cannot say that we do not know,” said Wolf, a champion for religious freedom and other human rights during his 34 years in the House. “So what remains to be seen is whether men and women of faith and others of goodwill will accept this challenge regardless of where it leads or will we simply choose to look the other way. The stakes could not be higher.”

The IRF Summit, held July 13-15, drew about 1,200 registrants to what Sam Brownback — co-chair with former USCIRF Chair Katrina Lantos Swett of the event’s steering committee — described as “the first-ever, civil society-led, global religious freedom meeting.” Multiple victims of religious persecution shared their testimonies during the event.

Brownback, who served as ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom under President Trump, had helped organize the State Department’s Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom, which was held in the summers of 2018 and 2019. Describing religious liberty as “the most abused human right in the world today,” Brownback said, “If we don’t have religious freedom for all around the world, we will have the clash of civilizations, full of death and carnage.”

The ERLC, a convening partner in the IRF Summit, commended Brownback and the event.

Brownback “has been an instrumental figure in advancing international religious liberty, and this event only enhances that impressive record,” said Brent Leatherwood, the ERLC’s vice president of external affairs, in written remarks for BP. “With multiple instances of persecution taking place around the globe, the IRF Summit comes at an important moment.

“This issue has long been of vital importance for Baptists,” he said. “Our hope in partnering with other organizations for this summit is that we will be able to bring more attention to areas where religious freedom is imperiled on the international front.”

Pompeo expressed concern the Biden administration would focus on climate change regarding China and the world rather than religious freedom. “[I]t would be a grave mistake to prioritize climate change at the expense of allowing religious oppression to fester and grow throughout the world,” he said.

In a video address, however, Blinken reiterated the Biden administration’s commitment to the protection of religious liberty. “With the support of everyone gathered at this summit, we will maintain America’s long-standing leadership on religious freedom,“ Blinken told attendees. An ambassador-at-large for religious freedom will be named in the “coming weeks,” he said.

Haitian turmoil increases hunger for Gospel, Christian workers say

THOMAZEAU, Haiti (BP) — Near anarchy in Haiti surrounding the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse has escalated the risk of starvation but has also increased a hunger for the Gospel in some areas, according to Christian workers in the country.

“Persecution in whatever form typically produces faith. And it’s interesting, with the lack of persecution sometimes faith is a little weak,” said David Vanderpool, a surgeon who leads LiveBeyond, a Gospel, medical and humanitarian group established in Thomazeau, Haiti in 2013. “There’s a lot of dismay because of the assassination, but there’s a lot of hope because they know Who is in control.”

Elsewhere in Haiti, an International Mission Board worker said a church where he ministers was overflowing Sunday (July 11), days after the July 7 assassination in Petion-Ville. Baptist Press is not disclosing the IMB worker’s identity to protect his safety.

“This is when people start asking the big questions,” the IMB worker said. “In our experience, these times open people to hearing the Gospel and responding. Our church was packed this past Sunday. It varies by area.”

While activities at his church have not been interrupted, he said other areas have struggled since May to worship in the country that has suffered high inflation, starvation and extreme gang violence for years and is said to be on the verge of anarchy.

The Baptist church at Martissant has not been able to meet since May, and the Baptist church at Duvivier has also been impacted, the worker said. The chaos has made it difficult for the pastor of the Baptist church at Grand Goave to visit the church, and the Convention Baptist d’Haiti has postponed its annual meeting.

Both Vanderpool and the IMB worker urged Christians to pray for the peace of Haiti, and to carefully consider other ways to help before responding too quickly.

“Don’t respond precipitously. It is a time for careful and thoughtful action in partnership with local believers,” the IMB worker said. “Throwing money at this situation will not make it better. For those already working in Haiti, focusing on spiritual, moral, and ethical formation of children and young people is crucial for the future of Haiti.”

Haiti’s airport has been closed since the assassination under a state of siege in the country that the U.S. State Department lists as a Level 4 country with a “do not travel” advisory. But the country’s land and maritime borders are open for commerce.

“Haiti is way too dangerous for any Americans to go to right now,” Vanderpool told Baptist Press. “People want to go, but in this situation, it’s just way to dangerous.

We “really, really need people to pray for the peace of God to permeate Haiti … that the Haitians would turn away from voodoo and would turn toward God, and that godly leaders would be raised up,” Vanderpool said.

Prayer needs citied are for Haitians to process the situation, that believers’ faith would be strengthened and they would be emboldened to stand up for the Gospel, and for leaders to have wisdom, discernment and a vision for the future.

Voodoo was the primary religion in Thomazeau in 2013 when LiveBeyond arrived, Vanderpool said, and is more prevalent in rural communities.

“The rural areas tend to be more controlled by Voodoo than say Port-au-Prince proper. It’s a Satanic worship. It’s openly Satanic. There’s blood sacrifices. And we’ve witnessed all these things. This is all firsthand accounts.,” he said.

LiveBeyond, formerly Mobile Medical Disaster Relief, has effectively spread the Gospel by first caring for physical, medical and educational needs.

“Around 150 – 200 people come to the Lord each year in our church. It’s overflowing. It’s packed on Sundays and the church is how we do most of the outreach,” he said. “We have seen just a tremendous revival in our area.”

Vanderpool encouraged Christians to financially support reputable, established humanitarian groups in the country to combat starvation and provide medical care.

“We’re not talking about missing a meal,” he said of Haitians. “We may be talking about not getting a meal for two weeks which, for a child, can be a death sentence. It’s a whole different level of poverty down there. About 80 percent of the people in Haiti live on less than $2 a day.”

House panel rejects SBC-backed Hyde Amendment

WASHINGTON (BP)—The congressional effort to continue to prohibit taxpayer funds from paying for abortions suffered multiple setbacks Thursday (July 15).

The House of Representatives Appropriations Committee rejected pro-life amendments to two spending bills for fiscal year 2022. The committee defeated an attempt to restore the 45-year-old Hyde Amendment, which has saved the lives of an estimated 2½  million unborn children. It also turned back an amendment to re-establish the ban on funding abortions for prisoners.

Rejection of the Hyde Amendment came a month after messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting approved a resolution that denounced any attempt to rescind the measure. First enacted in 1976, the amendment has barred federal funds in Medicaid and other programs from paying for abortions.

The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) expressed dismay over the committee’s actions.

“It is inexcusable that in the same week one chamber of Congress gets a step closer to rightfully confronting the Uyghur genocide in China, the other chamber also takes steps to utilize taxpayer funding for abortion,” said Chelsea Sobolik, a policy director for the ERLC. “This is not only inconsistent from a policy standpoint; it is morally incoherent.”

The Hyde Amendment and other pro-life “riders” should be restored immediately, Sobolik told Baptist Press in written comments. “We cannot advance the cause of human dignity if we fail to protect the most vulnerable among us.”

The Senate approved July 14 an import ban on goods made by forced labor in western China in an effort to combat the Chinese government’s genocidal treatment of Uyghur Muslims and other religious and ethnic minorities.

The Hyde Amendment and similar bans in other federal programs must be approved each year as “riders” to spending bills.

The SBC resolution, which gained nearly unanimous approval, condemned any attempt to overturn the Hyde Amendment as “morally abhorrent, a violation of Biblical ethics, contrary to the natural law, and a moral stain on our nation.” It called for the preservation of Hyde and all other pro-life amendments “to protect life, and to prevent taxpayers from being complicit in the moral evil of abortion.”

Republican Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma sought to restore the Hyde Amendment, as well as a measure protecting the consciences of pro-life medical workers, during the Appropriations Committee’s consideration of the spending bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.

The committee voted 32-27 against Cole’s amendment, with Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas the only Democrat to join Republicans in support of the proposal. The panel approved the overall spending bill in a 33-25 vote.

The rejected conscience measure, known as the Weldon Amendment, has barred since 2004 federal funds for government programs that discriminate against health-care individuals or institutions that object to abortion.

The Appropriations Committee refused to reinstate the ban on Department of Justice funds being used in abortions for inmates during its deliberations on the spending bill for Commerce, Justice and Science. The committee approved the overall bill by 33-26.

Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, called rejection of the Hyde Amendment a “campaign by pro-abortion Democrats to ensure that abortion is available on demand, for any reason, at any time, and paid for with taxpayer dollars.”

Abortion rights advocates applauded the committee’s actions. Adrienne Kimmel, acting president of NARAL Pro-choice America, described the votes as “a critical step towards ensuring that the discriminatory Hyde Amendment becomes a shameful relic of the past.”

The bills — minus the pro-life “riders” — must still gain passage from the full Democratic-controlled House. If adopted in that chamber, the spending bills without the “riders” are expected to face a challenge in the Senate, which is divided evenly between the two political parties.

President Biden released in May a $6 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2022 that excluded the Hyde Amendment and other abortion funding bans in federal programs. Biden supported the Hyde Amendment during his 36 years in the U.S. Senate, but he reversed his position in 2019 while running for the Democratic presidential nomination.

While Hyde has long been backed by a significant percentage of pro-choice advocates, Democratic opposition to the amendment has grown in recent years.

The ban has saved the lives of more than 2.4 million unborn children since its inception, according to an estimate in July 2020 by Michael New, veteran researcher and associate scholar of the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute.

The ERLC has sought enactment of a permanent, government-wide prohibition on abortion funding and included the protection of pro-life “riders” in spending legislation as one of its priorities in its 2021 Public Policy Agenda.

Republicans sought to bring a comprehensive, abortion-funding ban to the House floor for a vote in June. The procedural move failed in a 218-209 party-line roll call.

Explainer: Texas authorizes citizens to enforce new abortion law

Fetus Getty Images

Texas recently passed a new law that would allow citizens, rather than government officials, to enforce a new law that prohibits abortion as early as the sixth week of pregnancy.

“The Texas Heartbeat Act is novel in approach, allowing for citizens to hold abortionists accountable through private lawsuits,” says Rebecca Parma, a senior legislative associate with Texas Right to Life. “No heartbeat law passed by another state has taken this strategy. Additionally, the bill does not punish women who obtain abortions.”

Here is what you should know about this new pro-life legislation.

What is the Texas Heartbeat Act?

The Texas Hearbeat Act is the latest in state fetal heartbeat bills, legislation that bans abortion after the point where a heartbeat can be detected. By use of an ultrasound, the heartbeat of a child in the womb can routinely be detected as early as 6-7 weeks after conception.

The Texas law requires physicians to test for a heartbeat and prevents them from knowingly performing or inducing an abortion on a pregnant woman if they detect a fetal heartbeat for the unborn child or if the doctor failed to perform a test to detect a fetal heartbeat. A physician does not violate this law if they performed a test for a fetal heartbeat and did not detect a fetal heartbeat.

What is unique about the Texas law?

The Texas Heartbeat Act prohibits enforcement of the law by government officials. Instead, the law allows any private citizen — even those who do not live in Texas — to bring a civil lawsuit against any person who performs or induces an abortion in violation of this law or who knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion, including paying for or reimbursing the costs of an abortion through insurance or otherwise, regardless of whether the person knew or should have known that the abortion would be performed or induced in violation of this law.

If the plaintiffs win their case, the court is directed to force the defendant to pay costs and attorney’s fees, pay statutory damages in an amount of not less than $10,000 for each abortion that the defendant performed or induced, and award injunctive relief sufficient to prevent the defendant from violating this law or engaging in acts that aid or abet violations of this law.

Which states have passed fetal heartbeat legislation?

Fetal heartbeat bills have passed in five states: Arkansas, North Dakota, Iowa, Kentucky, and Texas.

They have failed to pass in 12 states: Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wyoming.

They have been proposed or re-proposed after failing to pass in 13 states: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

A federal Heartbeat Protection Act was also proposed in 2017.

What is the status of the legislation in the other states that passed fetal heartbeat laws?

Currently, all four fetal heartbeat laws have been blocked by the courts. A lawsuit has also been filed to block the Texas law before it takes effect on Sep. 1, 2021.

However, the the Supreme Court recently agreed to hear a case involving a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Pro-life activists are hopeful the ruling in that case could limit or oveturn Roe v. Wade.

Evangelism through testimony, tea bags and chocolate

Augustine, Jane, Hugh and Edmond help share the love of Christ by picking up trash in their community.

One year and seven months after moving to Cardiff, Wales, Joy Price was ready for something to happen.

Shaun and Joy, Augustine, Jane, Hugh and Edmond (in age order) Price

She and her family moved to the “castle capital of Europe” to share the hope of Christ with residents. Though the setting is a bit magical, in the shadows of the castles, the communities are plagued with drug use, prostitution and alcohol influence.

Joy, Shaun, and their four children felt led to settle into a diverse neighborhood and partner with a church that had a heart to reach the lost. They knew that seeing people come to Christ comes slowly in this post-Christian setting but were prepared to lay a good groundwork through acts of service.

COVID-19 complicated everything. They had three strict lockdowns and months of isolation, but the Price family took every opportunity to reach out in love to the people in their city.

They held Zoom sessions and Bible studies, helped with online church services and prayed, and they also threw themselves into the community service the church provides — a food bank, a night shelter for the homeless, and English classes. But that wasn’t enough, so they created their own opportunities in their neighborhood by picking up trash in the neighborhood, giving out home-made COVID care packages, making seasonal celebration gifts, and decorating their front window with Bible verses that were seen by frequent foot-traffic on their street.

But still, Joy was ready to do more.

“One night I couldn’t sleep, and I thought, you know, we’ve been here a year and seven months, and we’ve shared a lot of love and invitations for community, I think it’s time for these neighbors to know the reason why we are being so kind. So, I wrote out one of the boldest gospel presentations to date — my testimony and an invitation to know Jesus as Savior,” she said.

Augustine, Jane, Hugh and Edmond help share the love of Christ by picking up trash in their community.

Her family made small gifts that would fit through the mail slot in the neighbors’ door with her typed testimony, tea bags and chocolate. The kids joined in to help deliver, they asked friends to lift them up in prayer and they asked God to bless their efforts to be bold.

“Now…we wait patiently,” Joy said.

Joy and Shaun don’t know the impact that testimony has had, but they are trusting that God will use it to bring their neighbors to Christ while continuing to invest in building relationships by sharing God’s love through acts of kindness.

Joy and Shaun are constantly looking for ways to share Christ in Cardiff. How are you sharing the gospel with your neighbors?

Here are three things to remember as you demonstrate God’s love in your community.

Take every opportunity to share the love of Christ.

Not only do Joy and Shaun take every opportunity through the church, like prayer meetings, Bible studies and Zoom groups, but they are teaching their kids to share Christ through everyday life. They invite neighbor kids over to play, share Scripture and gifts during special holidays and serve the area by picking up trash in the name of Jesus.

Don’t let other’s criticism stop you from boldly loving in His name.

“I parked the car in front of our house, and no sooner had I stepped foot out of the vehicle than my Indian neighbor, in her broken English, bluntly interjected, ‘You’re killing the roses! You give them no water and they die,’” Joy shared.  “I nodded my head and went inside, defeated again by another comment from a critical neighbor that seems to get pleasure out of ‘telling it like it is.’”

Joy continued, “Just last month my other neighbor from Yemen told me that I was ‘so fat that I could use her outdoor trampoline to lose weight.’ I immediately ran inside, crying, and avoided her for a couple weeks.”

Thankfully, Joy decided she was not going to let these harsh words hinder these relationships anymore, and instead she asked her Indian neighbor to help her cut off the dead stems of all the roses. The neighbor was pleased to be asked and opened up about her life. She was still critical, but Joy remembered her identity in Christ and let the harsh words roll off her. Now she has a new relationship to foster because of her roses with Christ’s love.

Next…some trampoline time? No, but Joy and Shaun have had coffee with the Yemeni neighbor and have helped her with some home repairs.

Do what God calls you to do and wait on Him to act.

When God put it on Joy’s heart to share her testimony boldly with her neighbors, she did it, although she was scared.

“I’ve got to be honest, being a missionary doesn’t stop fear (in fact, I think we have it more often). I could list a million reasons to water down what I wrote or not send it — but instead we chose to have friends lift us up in prayer, let our kids deliver the gifts and pray for the Lord to bless our efforts to be bold,” she said.

Sharing Christ in a secular world is often uncomfortable, but Scripture tells us to live out what we believe. It could be life-changing for those around you and will be life-changing for you as you obey God and proudly proclaim His message.

Karen Pearce is a contributing writer for the IMB who serves among European peoples.

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FIRST-PERSON: Why churches need to be multigenerational, and why it’s hard to do

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following article originally ran at chucklawless.com.

Chuck Lawless

Many churches consist of one primary generation, and that’s not the healthiest church. At the same time, though, growing an intentionally multi-generational church is not easy. Take a look at these reasons to be a multi-generational congregation, and then be aware of why it’s hard to get there.

Why we need to do it:

Older adults, who should be teaching the younger generation, need opportunities. Paul was clear that older believers are to invest in younger believers (2 Tim. 2:2, Titus 2:1-8), thus strengthening the church for the future. That’s difficult to do if the entire church is older adults.
Your community is most likely multi-generational. Few communities consist of only one generation. If you want your church to reach your community, you’re more likely to do that if your church reflects that community.
Generations need to learn from each other. We have much to teach each other, from the older folks teaching lessons about long marriages to the younger folks helping the rest of us think about a rapidly changing culture. New Testament mentoring requires older and younger believers.
Some members need Christian “parents” and “grandparents.” I’m thinking of those younger members who don’t have a Christian heritage, or whose family lives far away. They need “close-by” folks to help fill these roles as they strive to follow Jesus.
A strong church learns from the past while preparing for the future. A church with only a young generation sometimes pushes unwisely in wrong directions. A church with only older folks, on the other hand, will ultimately die. Strong churches connect both generations.

Why it’s hard to do:

Generational differences are honest and real. The differences in worship style, for example, aren’t superficial. They’re real, and generations hold them deeply. Making any change, even for the sake of others, isn’t easy.
Congregations gravitate toward people most like them. That’s just natural. We tend to hang out with, and reach out to, people who are at the same stage of life as we are. Moving beyond our own generation requires work.
Intentionality requires action that can make everybody uncomfortable. Becoming multi-generational sometimes means that we joyfully worship through music we don’t like, listen to stories that seem irrelevant and welcome input from people who just don’t seem to “get it.” Everybody chooses to give up a little to gain much.
Many older believers want their church to be multi-generational, but without changing anything. Seldom does the process work that way, though. It’s genuinely hard for some older believers to accept changes needed to reach the next generations, even when they try. This is especially hard when the older folks have themselves never been truly discipled.
Some younger leaders want their church to be multi-generational, but they also want to be in charge. That is, they want older folks to contribute to their church, but not necessarily to suggest any changes. They appreciate the dollars of the older generation, but they don’t readily welcome their input.

It’s hard, but worth the effort.