Author: Marie Delph

How the church can serve Afghans and other refugee communities

Fady Al-Hagal was born and raised in Damascus, Syria, mere steps away from the house of Judas where the Apostle Paul came after meeting his Lord on the road to the city (Acts 9). Although Al-Hagal was aware of many things about Christianity in this context, he never experienced a personal relationship with Christ until a pastor in Martin, Tennessee, began to take interest in the young Syrian man who was attending his congregation in 1983.

Today Al-Hagal serves as the executive director of the International Leadership Coalition, a ministry focused on creating awareness of the international community in Middle Tennessee, supporting international ministers in the United States and creating partnerships between the the international church and local church in the States.

Over 300,000 internationals live in the area of Middle Tennessee, with 91 people groups represented in Nashville alone. Al-Hagal’s ministry regularly connects him with immigrants and refugees in the state and Christians all over the world. He is currently ministering to local Afghani families that are still trying to help their relatives leave Kabul, Afghanistan, as well as corresponding with Christians leaders who have remained in the embattled nation.

He shared with the ERLC his perspective on the Afghani church, as well as the ways Christians and local churches can serve refugees.

Jill Waggoner: What are you hearing from Afghani believers? What is the ILC doing at this time?

Fady Al-Hagal: We are trying to provide instant humanitarian support for people who are wanting to come out [of Afghanistan]. We have an active efforts to generate resources and support for things like flights or transportation to nearby nations.

We are also in communication with several house churches in the underground church of Afghanistan where the believers have decided that it is their mission to stay. According to history, any time there is a shift politically, historically, geographically, there is always a shift spiritually. Just as it was after 9/11, for example, the Holy Spirit brought about an awakening and an awareness, and the underground church was empowered through suffering and endurance to continue the mission. Many believers in Afghanistan and the surrounding nations feel like these coming few months are critical to reimpress the story of the gospel into the hearts of those who are searching. This type of shifting politically creates an opening for the gospel spiritually, and many people will be open to hear where mercy, goodness, purpose and eternity can be found.

The physical danger is awakening many to the fact that they need to examine their safety and survival eternally. Is it found in the religion they grew up with and had no choice in? The gospel provides them with a will and a choice to follow. Many believe this is our time and what we do today is what will last for generations in Afghanistan and the surrounding nations.

JW: How can American Christians remain involved after the public attention has faded from Afghanistan?

FA: Believers in the West should become involved with refugees in four ways:

1. Practically: We must engage the suffering nations, such as Afghanistan. This is the ‘what’ we need to do. First, we must learn. What is a refugee? What do they go through? Why do they leave? Most people don’t know that a refugee is a person who has been pushed out because of race, religion, nationality, or social affiliation. What do they go through to get to America? What are the stages? What is their experience like? They have tough decisions to make, and they must make them instantly. There is a lot of waiting. And when they do arrive in a new place, a refugee has to live with a new identity, most often in a place where they don’t speak the language. It is good for American believers to know what refugees, as well as immigrants, go through. Then we are able to better relate to them and learn how to assimilate them in a healthy way.

Secondly, we must practice the goodness of God to refugees. This means you take the fruit of the Holy Spirit and flesh it out: peace, kindness, long-suffering. Practice hospitality in a way that their ethnic community understands. This requires relationships and availability.

2. Ethically: ‘Why’ are we doing this? Our mandate comes from no other place than the Word of God. God cares about the alien and sojourner. He is the provider to those who are vulnerable (See Psa. 9; 146:9; Deut. 10:18; Isa. 25; 58:6-11; Luke 10) Scriptural mandates give us the ethical reasons for why we do what we do. We demonstrate God’s love for those in need. We become God’s ambassadors to fulfill what he desires in people’s lives. We become God’s healing agents for those who have gone through suffering and persecution. We become God’s way of bringing joy and celebration in people’s lives. We become an expression of God’s kingdom to people who have never known there was another. We display God’s peace to people who haven’t had peace. We show God’s sufficiency to those who are without.

3. Intentionally: Our engagement must become intentional, having direction and goals to accomplish. We should all have the missionary spirit about us. Not everyone is going to another country, but every believer in America should have a missionary spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Great Commission Spirit, making disciples of all nations. The missionary spirit leads us to the ‘where’ we should go and makes us consistently aware that we have a mission to fulfill. This is why some Afghani believers are remaining in the country, but also why others are headed into Pakistan. The missionary spirit is leading them. The church in America needs to come alive to the missionary spirit inside of us so that he can lead us to our neighbors, as well as the refugees in our midst.

4. Eternally: If things are shifting all around us, they are not shifting in the story of God. In spite of calamities and disasters, the kingdom is the Lord’s, and he rules over the nations (Psa. 22:28). God will give Jesus the nations as his inheritance (Psa. 2). Even if the nations rage against God and his anointed, God’s eternal mission hasn’t changed. He is not willing that any would be lost but that all would come to salvation in Jesus (2 Pet. 3:9). He desires that all mankind would be saved (1 Tim. 2:4). This means we present the gospel to all. The body of Christ needs to stay focused. While we hand [out physical] bread, we remember that the eternal bread is Jesus Christ. While we give clothing and shelter, we remember that eternal shelter is through Jesus.

We [must be] prepared in prayer and ask God for opportunities to share our story. We are to be prepared by being informed and not just instructed. Take the time to learn and discern what needs to happen—not just instructed by news, but informed by the Holy Spirit. Learn the people groups in your city. Learn how to associate with them and how to help them assimilate. And at some point, we are called to invite them into the hope of Jesus Christ. There are some organizations that will shy away from this point, but this is our mandate. Many people will feel cheated if you do not invite them to follow Christ. They have been longing for the message of freedom all their lives. Let the Holy Spirit guide you.

JW: What can a reader do to become involved in this type of ministry in their city?

FA: Connect with nonprofits with a gospel intention, like ILC, or other resettlement ministries who serve refugees. They have practical programs to help you get started. Look for churches that are actively involved in international communities. Retired missionaries are an amazing resource who can educate us about people groups, as well.

The most important thing is for every church to make margin in their ministry life to “do international missions” locally, training their people to look for internationals they can serve in their own communities. When the church makes that an intentional purpose, the missionary spirit is developed, and people will create their own mission opportunities.

The post How the church can serve Afghans and other refugee communities appeared first on ERLC.

FIRST-PERSON: Have we forgotten?

NASHVILLE (BP) – On Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021, America will observe the 20th Anniversary of 9/11. On this day, it seemed the world stopped as all eyes and hearts observed the horrific events that were occurring before us on live television.

The events of 9/11 were shocking

Terrorism struck our nation in a devastating manner. A total of 2,996 people were killed in America on that day, and more than 6,000 others were injured by the deadliest terrorist attack in world history. It was the most devastating attack on American soil since the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, almost 80 years ago.

On the morning of 9/11, I was in my home office studying. Jeana walked in and said, “You need to see what is happening in New York City.” Immediately, my eyes became fixed upon these events as I simultaneously was on the phone with my church staff. The entire day, evening and days to come were altered as we lived with a tangible fear of what was happening in America.

Has America forgotten 9/11?

I will never forget the way our nation unified and resolved that we would “never forget” this tragic day in American history. Under the courageous leadership of President George W. Bush, America resolved to bring an end to terrorism around the world. Unity with this cause was resounded by millions upon millions of Americans.

This was not a partisan decision, but a resolve to advance freedom throughout the entire world, beginning right here in America.

Nothing has been the same in this nation since 9/11. In fact, as I think back through the last 20 years, I cannot recall a time since that day when our nation has been more moved, more resolved and more unified.

In many ways, America will never forget. This is true for those of us who were and old enough to recall the effects of 9/11 on us personally and nationally.

However, sadly, some Americans have forgotten and perhaps have created or imagined some revision of it in their minds that would be more accommodating to their worldview today. For example, the heroes of 9/11 were the first responders and many ordinary Americans who lost their lives that day as they tried to save the lives of others.

What America needs to remember on the 20th anniversary of 9/11

America needs to remember that evil still exists in this world, including in our own country. We need to always be on the alert and never dismissive of the evil that may be around us.

America needs to remember that as a nation, we need God and we need one another. On 9/11 and the days following, people were not cursing God and berating the importance of religious freedom. Attendance in local churches surged greatly for a season, as millions upon millions saw the need for God and to join together.

America needs courageous leaders today who will consider others more important than themselves. Americans need to realize the value of our first responders and the members of our military as we face these uncertain days.

The 20th anniversary of 9/11 should Be a new call to the church

We are Christians. We are the Church. We believe in the power of prayer, right?

Prayer brings the walls down! Prayer crosses over the perceived barriers of ethnicity, race and generations, bringing down the walls that divide us. Let the walls fall down! It is our sinful nature and choices that have built these walls. But, it is Jesus’ work on the cross that has brought them down.

On this 9/11, I believe God is calling us back to Himself. He is saying, “Come back to Me!”

This is why the Church should wake up and return to God in humility, in prayer, in seeking His face and in deep repentance of our sin. We need to repent of our unbelief! We need to get right with God and with one another.

When the unchurched, the lost and those away from God enter our churches, they need to see us believing in the power of prayer and the power of God.

Jesus alone is the answer. He always has been, and He will always will be.

On this 20th Anniversary of 9/11, may each of us turn our eyes on Jesus.

La IMB anuncia el Domingo de las misiones hispanas el 26 de septiembre

In English

Como parte del Mes de la Herencia Hispana, que se celebra del 15 de septiembre al 15 de octubre, la IMB ha designado el domingo 26 de septiembre como Domingo de las misiones hispanas. La IMB anima a las iglesias a reconocer los logros y las contribuciones de las iglesias hispanas y los misioneros hispanos de la IMB en llevar el evangelio a las naciones.“La IMB tiene misioneros hispanos que sirven entre las etnias no alcanzadas de todo el mundo”, dice Oscar Tortolero, el movilizador estratégico hispano de la IMB.

Más de 60 millones de hispanos viven actualmente en los EE. UU. y Oscar informa que los Bautistas del Sur tienen más de 3,000 iglesias hispanas.

“Tenemos una gran oportunidad de movilizar a las iglesias hispanas para que oren, ofrenden, vayan y envíen”, dice Oscar, refiriéndose al objetivo de la IMB de ver una relación más estrecha con las iglesias hispanas y los aliados misioneros globales de los países hispanos.

Los recursos, incluyendo los videos, en español e inglés, los pueden encontrar en imb.org/misiones-iglesias-hispanas.

The post La IMB anuncia el Domingo de las misiones hispanas el 26 de septiembre appeared first on IMB.

Litton, Wright visit Louisiana Baptists to encourage Southern Baptist Ida responders

NEW ORLEANS – A year after taking a battering from Hurricanes Laura, Delta and Zeta, the people of Louisiana have been recovering from another direct hit by one of the stronger tropical systems ever to hit the mainland United States: Hurricane Ida.

As Southern Baptists rally to help local communities recover, Southern Baptist Convention president Ed Litton and his wife Kathy visited the affected areas Monday (Sept. 6) along with Bryant Wright, president of Send Relief, the compassion ministry arm of Southern Baptists.

First Baptist Church, Laplace, La., pastor Shane Newton explains the aftermath of Hurricane Ida to Send Relief president, Bryant Wright (blue shirt); Southern Baptist Convention president, Ed Litton (black shirt); and Louisiana Baptist Convention president, David Cranford. Laplace is a community just west of New Orleans that received major damage when Hurricane Ida made landfall Sunday, August 30. Photo by Alexandra Toy.

“This has been an eye-opening experience to see the vast destruction of Hurricane Ida,” Litton said. “A director of missions told me during my visit here that Ida is worse than Hurricane Katrina in a lot of ways, in its impact on churches, pastors, members and local communities that were devastated by the powerful winds, floods and now extended periods without electricity.”

David Cranford, current Louisiana Baptist Convention president and pastor of First Baptist Church Ponchatoula, La., and John Hebert, state director of missions for Louisiana Baptists, hosted Litton and Wright as they visited churches and communities that had been wrecked by the storm.

“After seeing more devastation in Louisiana from another hurricane,” Wright said, “I’m so thankful for the state disaster relief teams that have come in quickly to provide tens of thousands of meals for people in need.”

Shane Newton, pastor of First Baptist Church Laplace, La., rode out the storm in his church building since it was one of the safest facilities in Laplace.

“It was six hours that was pretty intense because we stayed in the eye wall the whole time,” Newton said. “The building was sturdy. When the roof came off, that’s when we ran for shelter. It was constant, the wind blowing.”

First Baptist Laplace was not the only building to suffer significant damage in the town. The Celebration Church campus in Laplace is expected to be a total loss as wind tore and shredded the building’s metal roof, strewing sheets of the metal roof across a small field behind their property.

The River Parishes campus of Celebration Church in Laplace, La., suffered significant damage when Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana on August 30. The facility is likely going to have to be torn down and is one of roughly 80 churches in the state that were significantly damaged during the storm. Photo by Alexandra Toy.

Laplace, Kenner, La., and many other communities just west of New Orleans received a massive blow from Ida as the storm migrated inland 100 miles from shore.

North Carolina Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) volunteers set up their operation in the parking lot of First Baptist Church New Orleans to feed and serve residents as the power was being restored to the city.

“We are so appreciative to Louisiana Baptist disaster relief for inviting North Carolina Baptists to assist in the feeding and recovery efforts after Hurricane Ida,” said Tom Beam, disaster relief coordinator for North Carolina Baptists. “We hope in the midst of all our work, Jesus will shine through and people will hear and respond to the gospel.”

Send Relief president, Bryant Wright, addresses a group of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers with North Carolina Baptists On Mission. The North Carolina group stationed at First Baptist Church, New Orleans following Hurricane Ida to prepare meals and serve residents who were in need after the storm knocked out power for more than a week. Photo by Alexandra Toy.

Beam and North Carolina SBDR volunteers showcased their state’s SBDR kitchen, which had prepared 12,500 meals that morning with The Salvation Army delivering them out into the surrounding communities.

Chad Gilbert, pastor of First Baptist New Orleans, only recently became the senior pastor of the church after serving as an associate pastor at Trinity Baptist Church in Lake Charles, La., a city that was devastated by Hurricane Laura in 2020. Trinity served as an SBDR recovery site following Laura, so Gilbert has experienced how Southern Baptists come together during crises like Hurricane Ida.

“In a way, I feel like this is how Christ fulfills His promise in the Great Commission, ‘Surely, I’m with you always to the end of the age,’” Gilbert said. “I feel like He manifests that promise through the Body of Christ. There wasn’t a moment in my time in Lake Charles or here where I felt like, ‘I’m going through this alone.’ I already knew we were going to be enveloped by Southern Baptists and disaster relief.”

Robert Mabry, a Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteer with North Carolina Baptists, explains how their large, mobile kitchen operates to be able to provide up to 30,000 hot meals a day following major crisis events. Photo by Alexandra Toy.

The Littons and Wright also visited Woodland Park Baptist Church in Hammond, La., where an SBDR team from Arkansas set up a feeding and recovery site. There, SBDR volunteers prepared meals from their mobile kitchen, and chainsaw teams helped remove downed trees and other debris as residents requested help.

“There’s not a single person in our church, not a single person in this entire community that hasn’t been significantly impacted by this storm,” said Tim Moffett, pastor of Woodland Park. “Our church gets to be this bridge between the hurting folks who are in our community and the help that comes through Jesus Christ.”

Southern Baptists have united in responding to Hurricane Ida to help meet desperate needs with tangible, material help and with the eternal, spiritual hope of the gospel.

“I am deeply moved by the spirit of cooperation that exists among our Southern Baptist family,” Litton said of the trip. “State conventions, associations, the North American Mission Board and Send Relief all lead us to bring relief and the love of Jesus to stricken areas and hurting people.”

Southern Baptist Convention president, Ed Litton, shares a word of encouragement and prayer for Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams from Arkansas as they served at Woodland Park Baptist Church in Hammond, La., in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. Photo by Alexandra Toy.

Herbert expressed his gratitude to Baptists from across the nation, including their fellow state convention partners, Send Relief and the entire SBC family, saying it would be impossible to respond without their help.

“Our thanks are for the cooperation and for God’s grace for helping people in our state,” said Herbert. “Without a strong cooperative effort, Louisianians would be in dire straits. So, thank you Southern Baptists for that blessing.”

The Louisiana Baptist Convention is available to help connect Southern Baptists with Louisiana churches that are facing challenges in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. Through church-to-church partnerships, Southern Baptist churches from across the nation can serve churches and assist those churches in meeting needs in their communities.

“This recovery will be a long process for the people of Louisiana,” Wright said. “But the opportunities to show the love of Christ and share the gospel will be great when we serve others who are in the middle of this great time of need.”

Does justice or profit drive abortion?

By now, the controversy in Texas over the Supreme Court allowing its near total ban on abortion to take effect has become part of the public ether. For some, the current moment offers a foretaste of what a post-Roe world could look like. For others, it is a dystopic descent into a religious theocracy. But in this intervening period where the Texas Heartbeat Act is in effect, it is worth wondering if the threat of financial ruin brought on by the prospect of the law will lead to the continuation or a decrease in abortion. Whether it continues or abates is a valuable opportunity to unearth what is really at the center of abortion and why abortion receives the degree of protection it does in our country. In short, it’s a question of justice. Is abortion a natural right worthy of pursuit and protection no matter the cost, or is it something else?

Abortion, justice, and civil rights

There is no right to an abortion before God or before the Constitution. Legal rights are enacted to protect natural rights. Natural rights are those attributes of human personality so essential to human happiness and human flourishing that to deny the exercise of these faculties is to deny citizens their right to basic self-constitution. Abortion fundamentally negates this. Rather than allowing life, it ends a life. In the Christian tradition, abortion is never a right, and the only reason it is in our public lexicon is because “rights” talk has been completely severed from its Christian beginings.

But that brings us to our central concern: If abortion is not happening with the frequency its proponents demand is essential, it raises the question of whether the cause of abortion is grounded in the sacrosanct category of a right, or whether access to abortion is about something more fundamental, namely, profit.

If abortion access is about a so-called “right” to reproductive justice, it would seem essential that for the sake of justice and the common good that abortion providers break the law, engage in civil disobedience, and pay the consequences for their prophetic indignation

This is what the classic formula is when it comes to engaging in civil disobedience. It is what motivated Martin Luther King Jr. and he appealed to it in his famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Citing the Christian natural law tradition, he appeals to the existence of a moral law that offers a higher standard to define what is just. “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God,” writes King. “An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law […] Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.”

Abortion as predatory and lucractive

If abortion is morally right, it should align with the moral law of God and be pursued regardless of the consequences. In this scheme, a failure to offer abortion services for fear of legal challenge is, in effect, a refusal to honor one’s conscience. But as of right now, there is no push for civil disobedience in Texas. It is likely that abortion numbers will dramatically lessen. Why, though? If the cause is righteous and truly grounded in a right, these so-called enablers of justice should be bursting through the legal barricades to do what they know is right.

But they aren’t.

All of this just exposes the abortion lobby for what it is: a predatory scheme that traffics in “compassion” while garnering rich profits in the form of human death. Abortion providers do not really care about women. They do not really care about rendering justice. They care about the profit margin that unplanned pregnancy garners them and their investors. It is an unspeakably sordid reality — in America, people are becoming rich off murder.

God is the author of life (Acts 3:15). The truth is that every person is made in God’s image (Gen. 1:27). The Bible tells us that. Human embryogenesis tells us this, too. Every person was once a “fetal heartbeat” or “cardiac activity.” We only use such inane vacuous euphemisms because our morally bankrupt culture has no honest reckoning with teleology.

The problem with culture is not that personhood is not known or apparent, but that we know it is real and suppress this truth with euphemisms, reducing human origins to “electrical activity,” as NPR did. We are a Romans 1 nation drinking from the cup of judgment. Only biblical judgment means getting what we want no matter the cost to ourselves.

Andrew T. Walker is Associate Professor of Christian Ethics at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Fellow with The Ethics and Public Policy Center.

The post Does justice or profit drive abortion? appeared first on ERLC.

Louisiana pastor organizing hurricane relief for hard-hit Hispanic community

BATON ROUGE, La. (BP) – Hispanic residents are likely among those needing the most help in recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Ida that killed 13 people in Louisiana alone, Baton Rouge Pastor Guillermo Mangieri said.

As campus pastor of Istrouma en Español, Mangieri is mobilizing Hispanic Southern Baptists as part of the larger disaster relief outreach of Istrouma Baptist Church in Baton Rouge.

Volunteers from Istrouma Baptist Church in Baton Rouge have focused on chain saw work and large debris removal after Hurricane Ida’s destruction.

“The Hispanic community and our Hispanic Baptist brothers and sisters will undoubtedly be one of the groups most affected and with the least help,” Mangieri said. “Most of the Latino community live in rental properties and trailer parks. Very few are homeowners.” He added that Hispanic residents often do not have access to pertinent relief information from the government or aid organizations.

Mangieri, Istrouma Baptist Church Senior Pastor Tim Keith and other Istrouma campus pastors mobilized about 75 volunteers, a third of them Hispanic, in disaster relief in Baton Rouge in the days following Ida’s landfall as just short of a Category 5 hurricane. Mangieri is directly responsible for outreach to the Latino community.

“Our primary focus is chain saw work and large debris removal, though we do have a mud-out that needs to be done for a member that flooded,” Mangieri said. “This will be a weeks- if not months-long process of clean up. We are also contributing to other organizations and churches in harder hit areas.”

Southern Baptist Convention President Ed Litton toured much of the devastation in Louisiana this past weekend with Send Relief President Bryant Wright.

“It was truly an eye-opening experience to see the vast destruction of Hurricane Ida in Louisiana,” Litton said. “The storm’s terrible impact on churches, pastors, members and communities who are devastated by the powerful winds, floods and now extended periods without power is just overwhelming.

“Still I am deeply moved by the spirit of cooperation that exists among our Southern Baptist family of state conventions, associations and Send Relief as these organizations come together to bring relief and the love of Jesus to stricken areas and hurting people.”

Baton Rouge Southern Baptists have been able to respond to community needs without requesting disaster relief teams from the Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief (LBDR) and Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, LBDR representative Clark Fooshee told Baptist Press today (Sept. 7).

In response to Ida, LBDR has mobilized feeding, chainsaw, tarp and mud-out units in 13 Louisiana communities, aided by volunteers from several states including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas, including Texas Baptist Men and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.

Pastoral outreach is particularly important when disasters strike, Mangieri said.

“It is time for the congregation to see their pastor up front, as human as everyone, as weak as everyone, but being in front of every situation, ready to pray, hug, work a chain saw or prepare meals and together, as a congregation, be witnesses between ourselves and our neighbors,” he said. “It is the best moment to be a good neighbor.”

Mangieri and his wife Fanny rode out the storm at their home to allow outreach as soon as possible, aided by the congregation.

“My first reaction was to evaluate and check on the needs of each family that decided to stay. Our small-group leaders immediately started working on this,” he said. “One of the most satisfying experiences as a pastor was that every time I visited with a family in need, due to us being unable to communicate because of no cell phone service, one of our small-group leaders had been with those families already, organizing the necessary aid, whether it be removing trees or offering shelter and food.”

While the Center for American Progress reports that Hispanics have been disproportionately impacted economically by the COVID-19 pandemic, Forbes reported that the Hispanic homeownership rate has increased in recent years, rising from 45.4 percent in 2014 to 50.1 percent in 2020. The Hispanic homeownership rate increased faster in those years that that of whites and Blacks, Forbes reported.

“Our brothers and sisters have opened up their homes so other families could stay with them,” Mangieri said. “Our own home has served as a refuge for many families, where they find hot meals, a fresh shower and a bed for all those who need it.”

Istrouma Baptist’s outreach continued Monday and today with volunteers dispatched from its Ascension and Baton Rouge campuses, according to istrouma.org. About 2,000 worshipers attend the church weekly, with 100 attending the Spanish service, Mangieri said.

About 1,500 Baton Rouge customers remained without electricity this morning as cleanup from the hurricane continued, Entergy Louisiana reported. Emergency contractors were scheduled to begin picking up debris in East Baton Rouge Parish today, The Advocate reported.

No storm deaths in Baton Rouge have been reported.

Road to Ida recovery continues for Louisiana, SBDR, Send Relief

HAMMOND, La. (BP) – A week before Hurricane Ida hit southeastern Louisiana, William Bekemeier had just endured a heart attack. After he rode out the storm and felt the shock of a tree landing on his family’s house, he didn’t have the strength or stamina to clear the tree from his yard. He also didn’t have the funds to pay for the work to be done.

Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) volunteers from Arkansas arrived and were able to remove the tree from his house and clear his yard.

William Bekemeier endured a heart attack a week before Hurricane Ida hit southeast Louisiana on August 30. The Category 4 storm knocked a tree down onto his carport, damaging his truck in the process. Volunteers with Southern Baptist Disaster Relief removed the tree from his home and cleared other downed trees on his property. Photo by Alexandra Toy

“I wasn’t able to get out and do the clean-up myself,” Bekemeier said. “Thankfully, they showed up and started doing the clean-up for me, which was definitely a Godsend. I didn’t have the money or the energy to do it. They’ve been a big help.”

In the week since Hurricane Ida made landfall on Sunday, Aug. 30, hundreds of SBDR volunteers have spread across 12 sites in Louisiana, preparing meals, chain sawing trees, removing debris and securing temporary roofing.

Volunteers with SBDR have already provided more than 26,000 work hours and prepared more than 175,000 meals as of Tuesday (Sept. 7).

“This means so much to us for people to come out and help everybody because we still have a lot of people without water and lights and food,” said Gracie Colona, a resident of Loranger, La. “It has touched us from the bottom of our heart for these people to come here and help us in Louisiana, and I want to thank you.”

Colona and her friend, Pam Hamilton, drove from Loranger to check up on Hamilton’s cousin in Independence, La.

“We came in to try and help and to drive up and him tell us yesterday, ‘They already cleaned up my trees,’” Hamilton said. “We were like, ‘Praise you, Jesus.’ There are so many other things, so many things [to do]. We were all so grateful that you guys are showing up and doing this from another state. … It touched him so much that you gave him a Bible.”

Jimmy Blackford chainsaws a tree that was felled on an Independence, La., homeowner’s property after Hurricane Ida hit southeast Louisiana on August 30. Blackford, a volunteer with Arkansas Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, is a member of First Baptist Church Marion, Ark. Photo by Alexandra Toy

Jimmy Blackford, a volunteer from First Baptist Church Marion, Ark., traveled to Louisiana with Arkansas Baptists as a part of a chain saw team that removes downed trees that have fallen into hurricane survivors’ yards or on their houses.

The services these SBDR teams provide, which can save residents thousands of dollars, is provided for free by the volunteers.

“We’re here showing the love of Christ. That’s what we’re here for. These people, some of them don’t even know what to do,” Blackford said. “It gets kind of rough. They need to have somebody come by and help them, and we’re here to do that. We also share the Gospel where we can.”

With SBDR volunteers arriving from North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Mississippi, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, it has taken a cooperative effort from Southern Baptists to get sites up and running at the same time.

“Hurricane Ida is one of these storms that’s overwhelming – the magnitude and the extent of destruction and damaged and the number of people hurting, the number of churches and homes that have been damage,” said Stan Statham, director of SBDR for Louisiana Baptists.

A group of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers from Arkansas attach a tarp to the roof of an Independence, La., homeowner following Hurricane Ida. Photo by Alexandra Toy

An SBDR team with Texas Baptist Men cooked meals at Ascension Baptist Church in Gonzales, La., and they helped the church deliver those meals to a nearby neighborhood in need. The church had been struggling to make inroads into that community and were able to use the meals to make connections with the residents.

“Each one of the state conventions disaster relief teams adopted a region of southeast Louisiana to do ministry,” Statham said. “Our director of missions and associations across our state have been a big support. Send Relief, the North American Mission Board, provided more than 100,000 meals to help kitchens start providing food.”

A second tractor trailer from Send Relief, the compassion ministry of Southern Baptists, delivered more recovery supplies – temporary roofing and flood recovery supplies among other resources – to southeast Louisiana on Monday (Sept. 5).

Also included on the trailer was a donation of generators and box fans from The Home Depot for Children’s Hospital New Orleans that the home improvement retailer asked Send Relief to deliver to support the hospital.

A Kentucky SBDR team arrived in Houma, La., over the Labor Day weekend and began surveying the storm damage. Just 60 miles inland from where the hurricane made landfall near Port Fourchon, La., Houma experienced severe damage.

“This is certainly one of those storms where it takes everybody working together,” Statham said. “To know, from Louisiana’s standpoint, that we have so many people who are willing to commit resources and people, it’s a humbling thing to know and something that we praise God for.”

O.S. Hawkins’ latest book met with a swarm of interest

The book, “In the Name of God: The Colliding Lives, Legends and Legacies of J. Frank Norris and George W. Truett,” was released Sept. 1 and has already earned the title of being Amazon’s No. 1 new release in Christian Church Growth. Hawkins said via Twitter the book is now back in stock on Amazon.

“In the Name of God” tells the stories of two iconic figures who each led one of the largest churches in the world in the 1920s and 30s: George W. Truett, of First Baptist Church Dallas, and J. Frank Norris, of First Baptist Church in Forth Worth. According to B&H Academic, which published the book, each man shot and killed someone during their lifetimes (one by accident, the other in self-defense) and their lives were “a panoply of intrigue, espionage, confrontation, manipulation, plotting, scheming and even blackmail – in the name of God.” Yet each man, Hawkins notes, changed the world.

“(This book) is full of important applications for our day,” said Hawkins, Guidestone Financial Services president and chief executive officer. “When you finish ‘In the Name of God’ my desire is the reader can see that there is good even in those for whom we may think the worse. Those we tend to place on pedestals actually dwindle into ordinary men when you learn more about them. We are all crippled and need a crutch – Jesus!”

Hawkins, the author of more than 50 books, is currently working on a biography of legendary FBC Dallas pastor W.A. Criswell.

Montana church expands reach with CP

HAVRE, Mont. (BP) – Chris Richards’ job for 28 years was keeping America safe. Since his retirement from the U.S. Border Patrol in 2015, he’s turned his focus to shepherding Immanuel Baptist Church in Havre. And in 2018, he added Chief Cornerstone Baptist Church, 30 minutes south on the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation in north-central Montana.

As a border patrol agent, Richards nabbed illegal immigrants, drug smugglers, felons and even terrorists. (See today’s related story.) As a teacher and now Southern Baptist pastor, Richards has reinvigorated a dying church, led in efforts to reach out to the communities of Havre and the nearby reservation, started a church boxing club and is training others to be Christian leaders.

Two years ago, Immanuel Baptist started the Rock Hound Boxing Club. An oversized upstairs room at the church was turned into a gym, complete with boxing ring, punching bag and gloves.

“Leaders who earn the love and respect of their people, will have people who are invested in helping them succeed,” Richards said. “Leaders must also cast vision and direction.”

Since the Cooperative Program’s origin in 1925, it has earned love and respect by what it has produced, Richards said. The Cooperative Program is the way Southern Baptists work together in state conventions and throughout the world.

“I understand how much more we can do cooperatively, and I can’t help but support that,” the pastor said. “Southern Baptist missionaries don’t have to worry each month about losing support the way other missionaries do. Our missionaries are free to focus on the ministry God called them to.”

His congregation, which has grown to about 60 people, allocates nearly 12 percent of undesignated offerings to missions through the Cooperative Program.

“The Cooperative Program comes back to us through the Montana Southern Baptist Convention and the Triangle Baptist Association in support of Chief Cornerstone Baptist Church,” Richards said. “I see the start-up of church plants and house churches and realize it is Cooperative Program funding that makes them possible, and that’s how God is using Southern Baptists to grow His kingdom.”

While Richards served a two-year stint in Washington, D.C., in his role as a border patrol agent, Immanuel Havre was in decline, withering to a handful of families.

After preaching at Immanuel Baptist on Sunday mornings, Chris Richards travels to the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation to preach at Chief Cornerstone.

“We [the church] were too poor to pay the electric bill and the pastor,” Richards said, “so the pastor was leaving. We had a ‘What are we going to do?’ meeting and decided that we had our Bibles, so why not just open them and learn? So I started by teaching adults in Sunday School.

“We were a sad, small, little church, with hit-and-miss supply pastors, and then a young couple came in. He was a new highway patrol officer, and one Sunday we talked and I told him, ‘If the church is OK with it, you take over Sunday School and I will preach.’”

The church has slowly rebounded over the last decade, Richards said, as God has brought people who have a desire to hear God’s Word.

“One family at a time,” he said. “We are a teaching ministry, verse by verse, this way it’s the Word that elicits convictions. Every week I prepare a sermon, I’m discovering new truth for myself. More than anything I don’t want to get it wrong. This is God’s message, not mine.

In addition to Immanuel’s active small-groups ministry and outreach to students at nearby Montana State University-Northern, the church started the Rock Hound Boxing Club in 2019.

“A Rock Hound is someone who seeks out precious stones or diamonds in the rough,” Richards said. “It reminds us to look for those who may come from rough circumstances in hope of showing them their worth in Christ.”

The idea for the boxing club ministry came from his youngest daughter, Taylor, who started training under Ted Reiter, a one-time professional boxer and member of the church.

An oversized upstairs room at the church was turned into a gym, complete with boxing ring, punching bags, gloves and related items. It started as a ministry to reservation youth, picked up each week in a newly purchased church bus for the 30-minute ride to the Havre church, and gained steam as word spread.

“It’s got real potential as an outreach,” Richards said. “We want our fighters to consider that they’re fighting for Jesus. It’s also about character because club members not only represent Immanuel Baptist Church, they represent the name of Jesus.”

Chief Cornerstone Community Church was started by Alabama Southern Baptists Carl and Rose McElrath in the mid-1990s in Box Elder, and the church lies among the poorest villages on the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation. Yet a building constructed by mission teams in 2001 was paid for in seven months.

Earl and Lorna Shetler followed after the McElraths retired in 2010, and led Chief Cornerstone for six years. They were followed by a series of short-term, fill-in preachers until Richards was called to take on the ministry.

After preaching at Immanuel Sunday mornings, Richards travels to the reservation to preach at Chief Cornerstone. Services for an average of eight adults plus a dozen youngsters start at 1 p.m. each Sunday, followed by a potluck fellowship meal.

“There’s much spiritual opposition going on here,” the pastor said, including both Havre and the reservation in his statement. “Sometimes I feel like we’re on the front lines of battle, and there’s always temptation toward discouragement.

“The Gospel is the only answer, and I’ve seen it penetrate hearts in the most unlikely circumstances. During a baptism service one Sunday evening, I preached a small verse in Romans 6, and in the midst of chatter and crying children, a young mother heard the Gospel and was saved. God’s Word overcomes. It just takes prayer and people doing what He wants them to do.”

Explainer: What you should know about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan

Earlier this week, the military completed its mission to evacuate American citizens, third-country nationals, and vulnerable Afghans from Afghanistan. Over the previous few weeks, more than 123,000 civilians were extracted in what was the largest noncombatant evacuation in the U.S. military’s history. Here is what you should know about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Why was the withdrawal and evacuation from Afghanistan conducted so suddenly?

In February 2020, the Trump administration signed an agreement with the Taliban to withdraw the U.S. military presence by May 29, 2021. President Biden renegotiated that agreement to complete withdrawal from Afghanistan to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. That deadline was moved up by the Biden administration to Aug. 31.

The military withdrawal was completed on Aug. 30 at 3:20 p.m. EDT, officially ending the 20-year war in Afghanistan.

How many Americans remain in Afghanistan, and what happens to them now?

In the weeks since the Taliban took control of major cities and the capital of Kabul, roughly 5,500 U.S. citizens were airlifted out of the country. There are between 100 to 200 Americans remaining in the country. President Biden has said that most of those remaining are dual citizens who did not want to leave because of family ties.

Biden has promised to help get out any Americans who still want to be extracted from the country. “For those remaining Americans, there is no deadline,” said Biden. “We remain committed to get them out if they want to come out.” But getting those Americans out will now require diplomatic negotiation with the Taliban.

How many Afghan allies were extracted from the country?

From Aug. 14 to Aug. 31, U.S. military aircraft have evacuated more than 73,500 third-country nationals and Afghan civilians from Hamid Karzai International Airport in the capital city of Kabul. That category includes those with special immigrant visas, consular staff, and at-risk Afghans as well as their families. Regarding those left behind, the ERLC joined other organizations in an Evangelical Immigration Table letter to President Biden and requested that the administration “keep our commitment to those at risk for their service to the United States and to others fleeing a credible fear of persecution globally.”

How many Afghan refugees will be coming to the U.S.?

The U.S. government is currently declining to say how many Afghan refugees have arrived in the U.S. since the evacuation from Kabul began last month.

How many translators, interpreters, and other workers were extracted from the country?

Afghan nationals who worked for the U.S. government in such roles as translators and interpreters and who feared reprisal from the Taliban were allowed to apply for a special humanitarian visa.

In July 2021, the Emergency Security Supplemental Appropriations Act authorized 8,000 additional Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) for Afghan principal applicants, for a total of 34,500 visas allocated since Dec. 19, 2014. These visas were available to Afghan nationals who meet certain requirements and who were employed in Afghanistan by or on behalf of the U.S. government or by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), or a successor mission, in a capacity that required the applicant to serve as an interpreter or translator for U.S. military personnel while traveling off-base with U.S. military personnel stationed at ISAF or to perform activities for the U.S. military personnel stationed at ISAF. Afghans seeking SIVs must complete a 14-step application process that includes a visa interview and security screening.

An estimated 5,000 SIV applicants have already been evacuated from Afghanistan, according to a report released by the Association of Wartime Allies, a group advocating for SIV applicants in Afghanistan and Iraq.

There is also a SIV program available to persons who worked with the U.S. Armed Forces or under Chief of Mission authority as a translator or interpreter in Iran and Afghanistan. This program offered visas to up to fifty persons a year (plus spouse and children).

The Association of Wartime Allies estimates there are around 65,000 SIV applicants remaining in Afghanistan.

How much military equipment was left behind in Afghanistan?

The U.S. Central Command says that about 170 pieces of equipment were left in Kabul during the evacuation. The equipment left behind included 70 light tactical vehicles, 27 Humvees, and 73 aircraft. All of this equipment was demilitarized (i.e., rendered unusable for military purposes). The only equipment left operable were a couple of fire trucks and forklifts that could be used at the Kabul airport.

The post Explainer: What you should know about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan appeared first on ERLC.