Month: March 2025

Crisis in Sudan hits close to home for some in Amarillo congregation

‘It’s been forgotten’

South Sudanese attending All Nations Worship Church, a ministry of Paramount Baptist Church in Amarillo, know the pain of those displaced by the war in Sudan, which has created a great humanitarian crisis globally.

Paramount Missions Pastor David Preston, who copastors All Nations with Paramount Missionary in Residence Danial Habte, heard the families’ stories long before he heard of Empower One, a gospel humanitarian outreach aided by Southern Baptist Send Relief to help those fleeing the war.

“Through my ESL (English as a Second Language outreach) I just remember … South Sudan becoming a country on its own (in 2011), just the war and the torture, it has really never ceased.” Preston told Baptist Press. “A lot of them have had family in that area that are from South Sudan or just across the border, some in Sudan. They’re feeling that weight because of family still in the area, or close relatives that have dealt with it directly.”

Preston met Matt Jones, Empower One’s director of biblical education and pastoral care, who told him of a connection with Send Relief that would allow him to provide aid directly to the location he had in mind, impacting those at the center of the Sudanese families’ concern.

“We sent some money to do some food relief. Went through Send Relief, and yet Matt was able to guide that,” Preston said. “I’m so thankful for that connection and I’m thankful for what we’re doing.”

Empower One secured a $100,000 grant from Send Relief in December 2024 in support of a proposed $336,000 project to support households in several South Sudanese refugee camps for six months, Zach Potts, Empower One’s South Sudan liaison, said.

With the $100,000 grant, Empower One will support 1,460 households through February, Potts said, providing sorghum, beans and mosquito nets, hopefully helping the families rebuild their lives.

“It’s been forgotten,” he said of the war in Sudan, “and national and international attention is going to Ukraine and Israel. This is not just another small tribal skirmish in Africa. This has impacted well over 10 million people, predominantly mothers and children.”

Send Relief gave $68,000 to Empower One last year for food distributions, Potts said, citing three church plants, 392 professions of faith, and 173 baptisms among the nearly 20,000 people the money supported with food and nonfood items.

Jason Cox, Send Relief’s vice president of international ministry, said Empower One is among Send Relief partners in four countries serving Sudanese refugees.

“Since the war began, we’ve facilitated 27 relief projects to meet acute physical needs of the most vulnerable, while also giving powerful expression to the gospel in word and deed,” Cox said. “Many of those receiving help are encountering Christ for the first time, and even in the midst of the horrors of war, the church is growing—in this case, among some of the least-reached people in the world.”

— This article originally appeared in Baptist Press.

Panel discusses role of Cooperative Program during Southwestern Founder’s Day chapel

FORT WORTH—Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program and the seminary’s role in its beginning during a Founder’s Day chapel service March 13 on the Fort Worth campus.

Southwestern Seminary President David S. Dockery noted the event usually involves an address about one of the early leaders of the seminary. However, he said, “we’re tying today’s Founder’s Day together with an important event in the life of Southern Baptists as a whole, in that 100 years ago … the Cooperative Program was birthed, and God has used that to advance the gospel, to strengthen the work of Southern Baptists through the years.”

This year’s event featured a panel discussion with Nathan Lorick, executive director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention; Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director of the Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU); Madison Grace, provost and vice president for academic administration at Southwestern Seminary; James Spivey, church historian and pastor of Gambrell Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth; and Andy Pettigrew, director of NextGen Mobilization for the International Mission Board (IMB).

Dockery asked Grace to define the Cooperative Program, noting that he is a co-editor of a forthcoming book, “A Unity of Purpose: 100 Years of the SBC Cooperative Program.” Grace explained that Baptists previously had multiple organizations that would go to churches and ask for donations for missions. They realized they were “spending a lot of money trying to raise money,” he said, and began looking for a better way.

In 1919, Southwestern Seminary’s second president, L. R. Scarborough, led a five-year campaign to raise $75 million to fund Baptist mission and ministry efforts. That effort fell short of its goal, and in 1925, “there was a reassessment of it, and the Cooperative Program was birthed,” he said.

Grace said the Cooperative Program is more than a funding mechanism.

“This is a way to unify us as Southern Baptists in that one sacred effort that we are engaging in for Kingdom advance,” he said.

Grace said that in teaching classes on Baptist heritage, they also talk about what the Cooperative Program is doing today. He said Cooperative Program funding goes to such programs as the IMB, the North American Mission Board, and to Southwestern Seminary, among other entities.

“I think it’s important for us to understand that the No. 1 scholarship at Southwestern Seminary comes from the Cooperative Program,” he said.

Lorick said churches can be thankful for the 100-year history of the Cooperative Program, “but we can’t [give] answers to questions that are no longer being asked.” A previous generation never questioned the need to give, but a different generation today is asking why they should give. He said he speaks to churches on the value of giving, noting that they may be in Fort Worth, but through the Cooperative Program, they’re ministering in Africa, Europe, Israel—anywhere missionaries are sent.

Pettigrew said he personally benefited from the Cooperative Program.

“So many things that I have done throughout my journey … more than 25 years, just being as a result of the Cooperative Program, being able to go to school and so many different things that I’ve done, and obviously being a missionary … for 13 years,” he said, adding he feels indebted to the Cooperative Program.

“I’m grateful to you for giving, and I hope you recognize the role that you play in giving,” he added.

Jesus doesn’t want part of you

We live in an age when people resist and even resent the idea of authority. A rugged individualism that says, “You cannot tell me what to do!” governs our thinking. Misguided moral relativism whispers the lie that what’s true for you may not be true for me. Added to this is an increased skepticism which insists we should never believe or trust the strong and powerful.

Recently in our home, one of my precious daughters whom I adore and for whom I would do anything, looked up at me and said, “You can’t tell me what to do, Daddy!” No sooner than my frustration began to rise, the Holy Spirit immediately convicted me that I often respond the same way to Him.

Indeed. From a young age, our fallen nature prods us that all authority is bad and should be resisted. Admittedly, we can all point to examples of abuse that stem from unchecked power. Authoritarianism frightens us, and for good reason. Each of us has seen the strong take advantage of the weak and the empowered cheat to keep the upper hand. Additionally, most personally know the misery that comes when a person is forced do what he does not want to do.

Yet, abuses like these notwithstanding, God has woven healthy authority into every part of our world. Humanity has authority over this earth (Genesis 1:26-28). Government has authority over its citizens (Romans 13:1-7). Pastors have authority over their congregations (Hebrews 13:17). Husbands have authority over wives (Ephesians 5:22-33). Parents have authority over children (Ephesians 6:1-4). Employers have authority over employees (Ephesians 6:5-8). Most importantly of all, Jesus Christ has authority over each of us (1 Corinthians 11:3).

The gospel of Mark goes to great lengths to demonstrate Christ’s sovereign dominion over all creation. After shaming the chief priests and scribes into silence for their efforts to entrap Him over John the Baptist (Mark 11:27-33), Jesus offered a parable to expose these religious leaders who rejected His authority (Mark 12:1-12). The underlying lesson that remains for us today is that God’s condemnation awaits those who resist His Son, who has every right to act with the unlimited authority of heaven.

Next, the Pharisees and Herodians present Jesus with the conundrum of paying taxes to Caesar, specifically the unpopular poll tax reserved for residents of Judea and Samaria (Mark 12:14). Though the sum of the charge was small (one denarius), the imposition was greatly offensive to Jewish loyalists. If the Lord instructed them to pay the tax, His own people would have rebelled against Him. But, if He gave Jews permission to disobey the state’s demand, Roman soldiers would have arrested Him immediately.

Refusing to fall for their deceit, Jesus held up a Roman coin and asked whose likeness appeared on it (Mark 12:15-16). With Caesar’s face on every denarius, the caption would have read, “Tiberius Caesar, Augustus, son of divine Augustus.” Because ancients believed that coins belonged to whoever’s picture was on them, Jesus wisely instructed onlookers to render unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar (Mark 12:17a). His next statement, however, ought to arrest our attention.

“Render unto God, the things that are God’s (Mark 12:17b). But what exactly was Jesus referring to with these words? If we return to Caesar that which has his image, what exactly bears the image of God?

The answer is as old as creation itself. The first chapter of Genesis reveals the trinitarian agenda of heaven: “Then God said,’“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness …” (Genesis 1:26a). Scripture then adds, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27).

The idea is that every human soul is God’s property because each uniquely bears His image as Creator. Fourth-century theologian Augustine went as far to instruct that we should render “to Caesar his coins and to God your very selves.” How far does Christ’s authority extend over your life? Over every single part of it.

With this mind, we can better understand why Jesus insisted the following Him requires dying to ourselves and taking up our crosses daily (Matthew 16:24-26). Practically, the authority of our Lord means He determines what we believe about right and wrong, how we define success, who we spend our time with, and where we plant our lives. God unapologetically desires to dictate how you live, love others, spend your money, treat your spouse, forgive your enemies, put in a day’s work, and enjoy your spare time.

Jesus has no interest in having part of your life; He lays claim on your entire life. God wants your whole heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:29-30). He has every right to expect you to follow Him and love Him.

If you do, you will find His authority is good and life-giving, as He leads us down the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake (Psalm 23:3).

Eyes up, screens down: Phone free is becoming more common at youth events

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (BP)—Peer pressure can be a good thing.

It’s not something usually pressed in a student ministry setting, but Bill Newton has discovered its value at Immanuel Baptist Church.

Talk to youth ministry leaders and you will soon learn the expansive impact cell phones have on students. Approximately 95% of American teenagers have one.

To get an idea on the speed at which that point came, consider that in 2011 nearly a quarter of teens (23%) had a smart phone. That figure exploded to 73% in 2014 and by 2022, practically all of them carried one.

Cell phones had been available before, but the release of the iPhone in June 2007 changed everything. The device not even old enough to vote fundamentally altered youth culture with constant connectivity that tends to become constant distraction.

One step that ministries are taking to combat this is having phone-free zones, whether on trips or even at weekly gatherings.

It’s not a requirement, but at Immanuel the peer pressure has become not to have a phone during student activities.

“We created a ‘cell hotel,’ and it has worked,” said Newton, interim student ministry leader at the church and Next Gen and Discipleship strategist for Arkansas Baptists. “We don’t super-police it, but it’s been a win.”

Similar to parents checking children into the nursery, students check in their phones and receive a matching tag. A “phone valet” watches over them.

“I knew I had a winner when a junior high mom gave me positive feedback,” said Newton, who had done something similar in a previous church.

Students were told about the cell hotel three weeks before it was implemented. Now, a phone ring or chime during the gathering gets looks from students, not just adult volunteers.

Dan Gibson, the Missouri Baptist Convention’s Next Gen strategist, began implementing a standard as a student minister limiting cell phones when he noticed students using them—so they said—to follow along on an app rather than a printed Bible.

Missouri Baptist Convention camps have a policy that limits cell phone availability and may become more stringent, he said.

“It comes down to culture, and you want one where students are focused on the Word,” Gibson said. “Phones are filled with distractions. One moment you’re focused, the next moment a notification completely derails your thoughts.

“When I saw students replacing their print Bible with using an app, I became insistent that we begin using a print version.”

He added that convincing students not to rely on phones won’t happen overnight but will be worth it.

“No one wants to be the outlier,” he pointed out. “Pursuing cultural consistency is going to take some time.”

Mike Fitzgerald tells students at First Baptist in Kearney, Mo., that he has a phone cubby saved in his Amazon account and isn’t afraid to buy it.

“It’s a firm rule for them to use physical Bibles,” he said. “There has been good buy-in on it and no pushback from parents.”

Students’ collective ability to leave phones in their pockets prevents the addition of a cubby for that purpose. Fitzgerald has been with First Baptist for more than a year, about the amount of time the church went without a youth minister before his arrival.

“There were a lot of great people to step in and keep the ministry going. So when I put this into place from the start, they were very supportive,” he said.

He added that it helped that the church had attended a camp for several years with a no-phone policy, so it wasn’t a completely foreign step for students.

“They saw the impact it made,” Fitzgerald said. “Our current juniors and seniors are at a point where they recognize issues and difficulties with phone and social media addiction.

“Our adult volunteers go by the rule too, of course. It’s important for them, and parents, to be the example. This generation is very sensitive to hypocrisy. If they see us on our phones all the time, they’re going to notice.”

This article originally appeared on Baptist Press.

‘That’s what we go for’: SBTC DR volunteers work, pray over victims of California wildfires

LOS ANGELES—January’s devastating wildfires in Southern California prompted a massive response from recovery and disaster relief agencies, including Southern Baptist Disaster Relief.

SBTC DR, the disaster arm of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, answered the call, sending feeding and chaplaincy volunteers to Los Angeles County at the request of California Baptist DR.

And they may go back.

“Today our bunkhouses [dormitory trailers] are at alert status to support volunteers in LA County sifting through the ashes to help survivors recover personal property,” said Scottie Stice, SBTC DR director. SBTC DR recovery teams are also on alert for potential travel to LA, Stice said.

From late January to mid-February,11 SBTC DR volunteers deployed under the overall direction of California Baptist DR to address feeding needs at one LA area disaster recovery center and a Red Cross shelter. SBTC DR volunteer Debby Nichols of De Kalb hopped in her vehicle on Jan. 29 to start the 26-hour drive to LA, first picking up fellow volunteer Carmel Porter in Arlington and then Freddy Dykes at Abilene.

The trio arrived at Mandarin Baptist Church of Los Angeles in Alhambra where they would stay, preparing and delivering meals with Nichols as team leader of a Texas crew mostly from First Baptist Pflugerville and including two Arkansas residents who deploy with that SBTC DR team.

“California DR already had a cooking kitchen set up. All we had to do was get in and start cooking,” said Paul Wood of FBC Pflugerville.

It was a different deployment in some ways, Nichols noted. “We normally cook the food and send it out to be served by the Red Cross or Salvation Army, but here we were required to cook, take the food, serve it, clean up, and return to our location.”

They transported meals packaged in Styrofoam clamshells packed in insulated Cambro containers to a central disaster recovery center where survivors could find representatives from numerous federal, state, and county agencies including FEMA, the Veterans Administration, and public health services. They fed workers and survivors who came in for assistance.

They also served meals to survivors at the Red Cross shelter set up at Westwood Recreation Center in LA, by early February populated mostly by people waiting to arrange housing.

“A lot were waiting on housing or leases or insurance to get them out of the shelter,” Nichols said. “Many were homeless, some before the fire. It doesn’t matter if you live in a house or a tent. You are still a victim.”

Not obstacles, but opportunities

DR volunteers encountered some restrictions at the Red Cross shelter, where they were instructed not to distribute gospel tracts, Bibles, or otherwise share their faith, Nichols and Wood said. They could not pray with survivors unless specifically approached to do so.

“We did respect their wishes, but if somebody came to our people and asked for prayer, we did that,” Nichols said. “If asked, we explained the gospel.”

Wood, who started the deployment working in the quick response unit kitchen, delivered meals later in the week. He, like the other yellow-shirted volunteers, greeted survivors with a smile and asked how their efforts in securing lodging were going. Theirs was a ministry of presence.

They privately prayed for the survivors they served, as well.

“Each day, after we loaded up the food to go to different locations, we gathered as volunteers to pray for safe travels, divine appointments, for the Lord to bless the food and those receiving it,” Nichols said.

They also prayed for the truck drivers and food service workers delivering propane and food supplies to the church to be cooked.

“None turned us down when we asked if we could pray for them,” Nichols said. One truck driver, with tears in his eyes, said, “You have no idea how much I needed that today.”

Another said, “You don’t know how long it’s been since somebody prayed for me.”

“That’s what we go for. The food is secondary to the Scripture, to the gospel,” Nichols said.

A cooperative ministry

Becoming acquainted with different cultures even in the U.S. is another bonus of deploying with SBTC DR. Mandarin Baptist Church was among the “most alive I have ever seen,” Nichols said. Located in a heavily Asian American community, the church offers services in Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, and English and is a hub of activity with youth and Bible study groups.

“The church was very nice and appreciated us being there,” Wood said. At age 73, he estimates he has deployed more than 100 times since 2015. His wife had undergone knee replacement surgery in December, so when the call to California came, he initially hesitated. Reassured by his wife that she was doing well and knowing family and church members were nearby, Wood set off.

“It’s a ministry that God gave me to do,” he said.

At Alhambra, Wood joined not just his fellow SBTC DR volunteers, but SBDR workers from California, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, New Mexico, Hawaii, and the Pacific Northwest—their numbers averaging about 35 a day, Nichols said.

January’s wildfires burned nearly 58,000 acres and claimed 29 lives, destroying more than 16,000 structures, according to the website of CAL FIRE, the fire response arm of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. While the LA County fires are considered contained, much work remains to help survivors recover.

Those who would like to give toward the disaster relief response in California can do so here.

Imago Dei discipleship 

Editor’s note: The following opinion column was written by a member of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s Young Pastors Network.

The greatest confusion we are facing centers around anthropology. What does it actually mean to be human?

Transgender ideology that demands men can play women’s sports is really just a symptom of a deeper confusion about the essence of our being. But this kind of confusion is not just at work in the culture, but also in our churches.

Digital technologies are eroding our sense of what it means to live as physical beings. I’m quite convinced that much of the anxiety and fear we see crippling so many, even in our churches, is connected to this erosion.

The way forward is “Imago Dei discipleship.” We need a robust formation of our people around what it means to be a human. In so doing, we will not only root our people in the truth, but also prepare them with an apologetic that engages culture.

Let me suggest five quick dimensions to our humanity that need to show up in our formation, all pulled from Genesis 1:26-28:

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image;

He created him in the image of God;

He created them male and female.

28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.

1. Relationality (“according to our likeness”)

The core of our humanity is not merely an issue of function, but essence. We are made in God’s likeness, meaning we exist fundamentally in a way that’s similar to His existence. I believe this is speaking to relationality: the capacity for reciprocating intimacy with God and others. What makes us unique—different from all of creation—is our ability to experience intimacy horizontally with other humans and with God. Like a plug that points up and out, only humans can experience this intimate connection.

Isolation is sub-human. Our discipleship must raise the essential requirement of deep communion with God and others. In this light, spiritual disciplines like Bible reading and prayer can be taught as ways to experience communion with God, our most fundamental reality as humans. Also, the importance of church membership, community groups, and Sunday school flow downstream from relationality.

2. Embodiment (“So God created man in His own image”)

Moses uses the word “created” three times in v.27 to emphasize that we are indeed created beings. The crown of creation to be sure, but still created beings with physical bodies. These physical bodies are a gift we are to steward and enjoy. We are not merely brains on a stick or floating spirits, but beings whose spiritual lives are intertwined with our physical lives.

Diet, sleep, and exercise are essential to flourishing humans. Our discipleship must not just teach people how to read their Bibles and pray. It must challenge people to care for their physical bodies. Too often, the spiritual problems I’m asked to diagnose as a pastor are actually a physical problem, like a lack of sleep or exercise.

3. Gendered (“male and female He created them”)

God does not just create humans—He creates gendered beings. Men and women are not just different at a biological level, but a spiritual level. Salt and sugar are both white, granular substances, but they are different at the molecular level. Men and women enjoy a difference at the spiritual level. Both are equal in their worth, but fundamentally different not just in role but in ontology.

We must challenge men to protect and provide, using their God-given strength for the good of others. We must encourage women to nurture and cultivate, using their God-given care for the good of others. This must extend beyond norms like hunting and fishing or cooking to the deeper wiring God’s implanted in each of us. I’ve found demonstrating this through examples is essential.

4. Entrusted (“rule the fish of the sea”)

God entrusts each human being with a contribution in a meaningful way to this world. Recently, many have sought to recover the doctrine of vocation around this idea. Indeed, God has placed a call on each person to work for His glory and by His grace. There’s a flourishing humans will not reach without this contribution, regardless of their age, ability, or season of life.

We must challenge our people to give themselves to hard work. Young people especially need to learn the value and joy of exhaustion for the glory of God. Vocational guidance is not something we should relegate to a guidance counselor at school. We must engage our people with real pastoral wisdom on how to discover God’s call on their lives. Tim Keller’s “ability, affinity, and opportunity” from his book, Every Good Endeavor, seem to be a good place to start.

5. Redeemed (“in our image”)

I’ve argued above for an ontological understating of humanity through the “relationality” idea. But this doesn’t mean we don’t have a clear function. In the ancient world, the image you saw on coins or statues demonstrated the ruler you were living under. Humans are meant to be God’s image, demonstrating that all of us live under His rule. Sadly, humanity rebels against this design, unleashing judgment and brokenness in every direction. God graciously promises a redeemer and covers Adam and Eve with the skin of an innocent sacrifice.

We must root our people in the grace of God not just as a means of getting to heaven, but as the only way to be truly human. Humanity can only flourish if we operate according to God’s design, living as image bearers who represent Him. We can only live according to this design if we repent of sin and trust Christ. The gospel is not a tack-on to “Imago Dei discipleship”—it’s the very core of it.

Given the confusion in the culture and the church, I pray you’ll include in your discipleship a robust biblical anthropology that roots your people in what it truly means to be human. This kind of formation will not only protect our people from error, but unleash them to flourish as the image bearers God made them to be.