Author: Jayson Larson

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:

²⁶Then 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.”

²⁷So God created man in his own image;

He created him in the image of God;

He created them male and female.

²⁸God 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.

EMPOWER 2025: Capacity crowd celebrates century of cooperation at CP luncheon

IRVING—It was a gathering of friends with a purpose: celebrating 100 years of the Cooperative Program, the Southern Baptist Convention’s funding mechanism supported by the generous contributions of its congregations.

Guests filtered into the Grand Ballroom of the Irving Convention Center for the annual CP luncheon on the final day of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s Empower Conference on Tuesday, Feb. 25. SBTC Associate Executive Director Joe Lightner reminded the capacity crowd of the importance of investing in the Great Commission, embodied in the SBTC’s mission focus of “mobilizing churches to multiply disciple-making movements in Texas and around the world.” The SBTC accomplishes that mission through resourcing churches, networking leaders, and advancing mission.

The SBTC continues its practice of forwarding 55% of undesignated receipts to the national SBC for CP use while retaining 45% for ministry in Texas, Lightner said. With 2025 marking CP’s 100^th anniversary, he encouraged guests to celebrate that landmark in three ways: by praying for record CP giving, by planning a CP Sunday event at their churches, and by posting about CP on social media using the hashtag #cp100story.

“Help us this year to flood” social media with CP testimonies, Lightner urged.

Three leaders with strong CP connections took the stage to pray. Barry Calhoun, IMB church mobilization strategist, thanked God for what He has done through CP giving. Calhoun related an anecdote about a small congregation of 89 members that set a Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goal of $7,000—only to exceed that by 26%.

Send Network SBTC director Julio Arriola praised God for the hundreds of new churches planted through the North American Mission Board last year, including 65 through the SBTC. He reminded guests that 20 million people remain lost in Texas, so the vital work must continue.

Carl Bradford, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary evangelism professor and dean of Texas Baptist College, expressed thanks for scholarships provided to seminary students by the Cooperative Program.

‘The value of our inheritance’

Byron McWilliams, senior pastor of First Baptist Church Odessa, served as the luncheon’s keynote speaker. “As a fellow Southern Baptist, [I want] to celebrate and encourage you to hang on and keep the faith as we remember some of the shining moments in SBC history,” McWilliams said.

Though challenges will always, McWilliams encouraged Southern Baptists to “lock our arms together and walk through these things,” urging the audience to bear in mind three truths in light of current and future challenges. Drawing from Hebrews 10:32-39, McWilliams cautioned listeners to guard against the perils of forgetfulness.

“Memory is a gift. You can’t live the spiritual life without having a great memory of what God has done,” he said, recalling the “shining moment” when the SBC was formed in May 1845 in Augusta, Ga. The founders never fathomed the movement would grow to include 47,000 churches today, he marveled.

A second shining moment occurred in 1925, when the Cooperative Program was adopted. McWilliams called CP a mechanism that SBC churches can “get their arms around.” Evoking Deuteronomy 6, he urged his audience to take care lest Southern Baptists forget the “spiritual giants” on whose shoulders we stand. Pastors such as W.A. Criswell, Adrian Rogers, and Charles Stanley, McWilliams said, “cut the road before us.”

“We must recall the value of our inheritance,” he said, interspersing exposition of Hebrews 10:32 and Joshua 4:7 with recollections of the Conservative Resurgence of the late 20th century. McWilliams recalled the 1979 SBC Annual Meeting, where Rogers—a conservative pastor and champion of biblical inerrancy—was elected SBC president in Houston on the first ballot.

“It took 20 years to turn the tide … to uproot the liberal professors from our seminaries. Twenty painful years. Was it worth it? Amen,” McWilliams said.

“We stand on the infallible Word of God. I am not going to be part of a convention that does not believe that,” he continued, praising the biblical leadership of Nathan Lorick and Jim Richards, executive director and executive director emeritus and of the SBTC, respectively. “We stand on the Word of God and we will not budge.”

Finally, McWilliams exhorted the crowd to “not shrink back, but stand firm.” Quoting statistics supplied by the International Mission Board, he noted there are 3,572 active IMB missionaries on the field and 1,500 in the pipeline waiting to be sent. These servants of God depend on CP funding.

“I’ll give you 3,572 reasons why [your churches] should not withhold CP funds,” McWilliams said, adding “gospel and kingdom advance do not come easy” and urging, “We must not take our foot off the gas or we will be calling missionaries home.

“Don’t disdain the shining moments of the past,” McWilliams said in closing. “Realize the rich heritage. … [Know] there are more shining moments to come.”

EMPOWER 2025: El récord de asistentes al evento Apoderados lanza el desafío de alcanzar más para Cristo

LEWISVILLE—Si hubiera una palabra para resumir Apoderados, la sesión en español de la conferencia anual Empower de la Convención de los Bautistas del Sur de Texas, sería “más”.

Con poco más de 500 asistentes que representaban a 66 iglesias, Apoderados atrajo a más asistentes que nunca, lo que indica que un número cada vez mayor de iglesias hispanas de la SBTC están deseosas de estar equipadas para cumplir la Gran Comisión.

Asimismo, 150 parejas, más que en cualquier otro año, asistieron a la cena para pastores y esposas que da inicio al evento anual.

Y a lo largo del evento, celebrado del 21 al 22 de febrero en la Iglesia Bautista de Lakeland, los asistentes se enfrentaron al reto de llegar a más personas para Jesucristo.

“No todos tenemos el don de evangelismo, pero todos somos testigos”, dijo Gilberto Corredera, pastor de Prestonwood En Español, quien predicó en el evento. “El plan de salvación sigue en marcha y Dios sigue buscando al pecador. Por eso debemos seguir proclamando el evangelio”.

Además de las sesiones de predicación principales, Apoderados ofreció una sesión para jóvenes y talleres para adultos que abarcaron una amplia gama de temas, desde identificar la sana doctrina y desarrollar evangelistas hasta involucrar a múltiples culturas con el Evangelio y construir ministerios dentro de la iglesia, como el de niños, cuidado, asimilación y seguimiento. Otras sesiones se centraron en aprovechar las redes sociales como herramienta evangelizadora y llegar a la próxima generación.

Uno de los ponentes de los talleres, José Arzate, pastor de la Iglesia Northlake, dijo que la Generación Alfa se convertirá en una de las generaciones con mayor diversidad étnica de la historia. El noventa por ciento se graduará de la escuela secundaria, dijo, y el 65 % de ellos tendrá trabajos que actualmente no existen. Por eso cree que la forma más eficaz de discipular a las próximas generaciones será mediante el desarrollo de relaciones.

La cena de apertura del 21 de febrero contó con Esteban Vázquez, pastor de enseñanza y director de residencia para plantadores de Send Network en la Iglesia Bautista Champion Forest en Houston. A él se unió su esposa, Karina, que sirve en el ministerio de mujeres de la iglesia y en el programa de plantación con las esposas. La pareja compartió algunos de los errores que han cometido en el matrimonio y en el ministerio, esperando dar a la audiencia herramientas para el éxito en sus propias vidas y ministerios.

También hablaron sobre compartir las responsabilidades del hogar y cuidarse el uno al otro. Además, el pastor Vázquez enfatizó a los pastores presentes la importancia de asegurarse de que escribir los sermones cada semana y hacer trabajo ministerial no reemplace su intimidad personal con Dios.

Cuando la conferencia se reanudó el sábado 22 de febrero, Julio Arriola, director de Send Network SBTC (la asociación de plantación de iglesias de la convención con la Junta de Misiones Norteamericanas), recordó a los asistentes que Dios está levantando más trabajadores para plantar y dirigir iglesias en Texas. Aun así, él desafió a las iglesias a seguir enviando plantadores al campo misionero, ya que todavía se necesitan muchos. Arriola también presentó a Arlene Sanabria, una nueva integrante del equipo de SBTC en Español, que dirigirá la parte hispana del ministerio de mujeres de la convención.

Después de un tiempo de adoración dirigido por Diego Manosalva y el grupo La Peska, Corredera compartió un mensaje de Lucas 19:1-10 titulado «Razones para buscar a los perdidos». Él ofreció tres razones:

Porque el plan redentor de Dios sigue en marcha;
Porque el poder de Cristo aún está transformando vidas; y
Porque el propósito de la venida de Cristo nos tiene trabajando.

Más tarde, Annel Robayna, director hispano de la Junta de Misiones Internacionales, predicó sobre Hechos 8:26-39, desafiando al pueblo de Dios a cumplir su misión. Robayna dijo que el llamado de Dios es específico en términos del lugar, el mensaje y las personas a las que Él está llamando a los creyentes para alcanzar. “Señor”, oró Robayna más tarde, “ayúdanos a estar presentes en el lugar específico en el que quieres aprovecharnos para tu misión”.

Honrando a Molina

La sesión final de la conferencia fue una emotiva, ya que Bruno Molina, que ha servido a la SBTC durante 16 años, fue reconocido en su último día de servicio en la convención. Él ahora servirá a tiempo completo como director ejecutivo de la Red Nacional Bautista Hispana.

En su nuevo cargo, Molina seguirá trabajando con la SBTC y otras convenciones para conectar iglesias y proporcionar recursos para alcanzar a las naciones. Jesse Contreras, que sirve en el ministerio en español de la SBTC, compartió amables palabras sobre Molina y le agradeció sus años de servicio a la SBTC.

“Ha sido una alegría y un privilegio de toda una vida haber servido fructíferamente con el equipo de la SBTC durante los últimos 16 años”, dijo Molina. “Pido sus oraciones y colaboración ahora que dirijo la Red Nacional Bautista Hispana para alcanzar y discipular a los aproximadamente 61 millones de hispanos perdidos en EE. UU. y, a través de ellos, multiplicar los movimientos de hacer discípulos en EE. UU. y en todo el mundo. La SBTC siempre tendrá mi sincera gratitud, oraciones y apoyo”.

EMPOWER 2025: Record Apoderados crowd challenged to reach more for Christ

LEWISVILLE—If there was a word to summarize Apoderados—the Spanish session of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s annual Empower Conference—it would be “more.”

With just over 500 attendees representing 66 churches, Apoderados drew more attendees than ever, indicating an increasing number of Hispanic SBTC churches are eager to be equipped to fulfill the Great Commission.

Likewise, 150 couples—more than any other year—attended the dinner for pastors and wives that kicks off the annual event.

And throughout the event, held Feb. 21-22 at Lakeland Baptist Church, attendees were challenged with reaching more people for Jesus Christ.

“Not all of us have the gift of evangelism, but we are all witnesses,” said Gilberto Corredera, pastor of Prestonwood En Español, who preached at Apoderados. “The plan of salvation is still in motion and God is still seeking the sinner. That is why we must continue to proclaim the gospel.”

In addition to the main preaching sessions, Apoderados offered a session for youth and workshops for adults covering a wide range of topics—from identifying sound doctrine and developing evangelists to engaging multiple cultures with the gospel and building ministries within the church such as those for children, discipleship, assimilation, and follow-up. Other sessions focused on using social media as an evangelistic tool and reaching the next generation.

One of the workshop speakers, Jose Arzate—pastor of Northlake Church Español—said Generation Alpha will become one of the most ethnically diverse generations in history. Ninety percent will graduate from high school, he said, and 65% of them will hold jobs that currently do not exist. That’s why he believes the most effective way to disciple the next generation will be through developing relationships.

The kickoff dinner on Feb. 21 featured Esteban Vázquez, teaching pastor and residence director for Send Network planters at Champion Forest Baptist Church in Houston. He was joined by his wife, Karina, who serves in the church’s women’s ministry and in the wives’ planting program. The couple shared some of the mistakes they’ve made in marriage and ministry, hoping to give the audience tools for success in their own lives and ministries.

They also talked about sharing the responsibilities of the home and caring for one another. Additionally, Pastor Vázquez emphasized to the pastors in the room the importance of ensuring that writing sermons each week and doing ministry work does not replace their personal intimacy with God.

When the conference resumed on Saturday, Feb. 22, Julio Arriola, director of Send Network SBTC—the convention’s church planting partnership with the North American Mission Board—reminded attendees that God is raising up more workers to plant and lead churches in Texas. Even so, he challenged churches to continue to send planters into the mission field, as much need still exists. Arriola also introduced Arlene Sanabria, a new member to the SBTC en Español team, who will lead the Hispanic part of the convention’s women’s ministry.

After a time of worship led by Diego Manosalva and the group La Peska, Corredera shared a message from Luke 19:1-10 titled, “Reasons to seek the lost.” He offered three reasons from the passage:

Because God’s plan of salvation is still in progress;
Because the power of Christ is still transforming lives; and
Because Christ’s coming requires His believers to work.

Later, Annel Robayna, Hispanic director of the International Mission Board, preached from Acts 8:26-39, challenging God’s people to fulfill His mission. Robayna said God’s call is specific in terms of the place, the message, and the people He is calling believers to reach. “Lord,” Robayna later prayed, “help us to be present in the specific place where you want to use us for your mission.”

Molina honored

The final session of the conference was an emotional one, as Bruno Molina—who has served the SBTC for 16 years—was acknowledged on his last day of service to the convention. He will now serve full-time as executive director of the National Hispanic Baptist Network.

In his new role, Molina will continue to work with the SBTC and other conventions to connect churches and provide resources to reach the nations. Jesse Contreras, who serves in the SBTC’s en Español ministry, shared kind words about Molina and thanked him for his years of service to the SBTC.

“It has been a joy and a lifelong privilege to have served fruitfully with the SBTC team for the past 16 years,” Molina said. “I ask for your prayers and partnership as I now lead the National Hispanic Baptist Network to reach and disciple the estimated 61 million lost Hispanics in the U.S. and, through them, multiply disciple-making movements in the U.S. and around the world. The SBTC will always have my sincere gratitude, prayers, and support.”

EMPOWER 2025: Women encouraged to embrace the ‘power of wonder’

IRVING—It began with prayer and ended with prayer.

In between, the 170 women who gathered in the upstairs ballroom at the Irving Convention Center worshipped God and learned to embrace the “power of wonder” during the women’s session of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s annual Empower Conference.

Those expecting speaker and author Marian Jordan Ellis to immediately launch into her keynote topic may have been surprised by her opening request. Ellis, founder of This Redeemed Life and women’s ministry director at Mission City Church in San Antonio, asked the moms of prodigals in the rooms to raise their hands.

“There’s no shame in that … I was [a prodigal],” Ellis said. “We are in a safe room. It’s hard to have a sheep that’s not in the fold.” With her voice cracking with emotion, she then led the room in prayer, asking the Lord to restore the prodigals.

“I am a prodigal. I am a miracle of the grace of God,” she said, beginning her story by showing a photo of her family. Marriage at 38 made her an instant mom with two stepsons; a “little miracle,” the couple’s daughter, was born five years later.

Using Psalm 107 as her text, Ellis interwove exposition with autobiography.

Born and raised in a “typical small East Texas town,” she admitted to running “as hard and far from God as possible.” At age 25, in a bar in Houston, she finally prayed what she called her first real prayer: “God, if you are real, help.”

“My sin had so clouded my vision that I didn’t know what truth was anymore,” she recalled.

But God had not given up on her. She later discovered her mother and friends had been praying for her. A coworker invited her to a large Southern Baptist church where she heard and finally understood the gospel.

David in Psalm 107 reminded the people the Lord delivered them in their distress as they cried out to Him. Likewise, Ellis’s salvation came from the same God who heard her desperate cry.

“The God of redemption restores us to what He originally meant … to be a people who glorify His name,” Ellis said.

Following her salvation, Ellis was discipled by godly women, an experience which reinforced the importance of small group Bible study and the “spiritual surgery” of the transforming power of the Word of God.

“Our identify in Christ is so important,” Ellis said. “Satan has been discipling people a long time. …When we take the Word of God and start discipling people … it transforms their minds,” resulting in a biblical worldview where believers “see the world as God sees it.”

Younger generations today experience crippling anxiety, Ellis said. Scientists are recognizing the importance of focused meditation, she said, noting that 20 minutes a day spent focused and in awe and wonder of God can rewire our minds.

“His Word heals us and delivers us,” she said. “As women, we need to learn the power of wonder … of God.”

‘Hope is a choice’

Ellis opened the afternoon’s second session with a call for women with unmet desires to raise their hands for prayer. She recalled her own days of singleness when, after becoming a Christian at age 25, she longed to meet a godly man to marry. Instead, she “was in more weddings” than she could count.

“Depression isn’t a label any of us wants to wear. Sometimes it can be like a low-grade fever. Your unmet desire is how the enemy can lead you into despair,” she said. “I would have despaired unless I believed.”

Drawing from Psalm 33, which David intended to be read to the people of God on Yom Kippur—an expectant time of the new year—Ellis spoke of faith and hope, two related yet distinct concepts.

“Faith is what happens, the choice, the decision of the will to look back on what God has done,” whereas “hope is faith activated forward,” the “confident expectation of God” based on “His person, promises, and presence,” she said.

The reading of Psalm 33 centered the nation on hope in the Lord, Ellis said.

“Praise is the password into God’s presence,” she said. Worship “drives out our anxieties and calibrates our souls to the frequency of heaven,” aligning the soul with the character of the redeemer.

Focusing on God changes reality, Ellis said, encouraging the audience that “if God has not redeemed your story, He is not done with your story.”

“When God is big, everything else is small,” she reminded the crowd. “Your God and my God is sovereign. He doesn’t say, ‘Oops.’”

“Hope is a choice,” she continued. “It’s the choice to believe what is true about the Lord. It’s the choice to look to Him as your secure one, your provider, your strength.”

Before concluding the women’s session with more prayer, SBTC women’s ministry associate Laura Taylor challenged the crowd that included women from all stages of life—from grandmothers to young mothers with infants in tow—asking, “Do we believe that? God is good. God is faithful because that is His character.”

EMPOWER 2025: As SBTC prepares to mobilize churches to new European opportunity, IMB missionary proclaims ‘now is the time’

IRVING—On Monday night at the 2025 Empower Conference, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Executive Director Nathan Lorick interviewed Jacob Boss, vice president of global engagement for the International Mission Board. They spoke about the SBTC’s Reach Europe partnership with the IMB and an upcoming opportunity for pastors or strategic church leaders to travel to Europe on a vision trip in May. The following is an excerpt of their main stage conversation at Empower.

Nathan Lorick: Tell us about the lostness and the need for churches just like these to come alongside you guys at the IMB in Europe.

Jacob Boss: Europe is about 1.1% evangelical—820 million people. That means, in terms of percentage of evangelicals, it’s the most lost continent on earth.

My son, Philip, he’s 11. He plays football, or what we [Americans] would call soccer. I go to his practices and I talk with some of the dads. And there’s one dad who’s a 42-year-old British guy who works in Central London. He has a great job, drives a nice car, has a good family. If you look at him, he has everything the world would say you need to be happy and successful.

As I was engaging him in conversation, I found that actually he was miserable and beginning to realize that everything he had wasn’t giving him what he really needed. His marriage was falling apart. He felt shame as a dad. So, I just began to talk with him about the gospel and asked him if he had a Bible. He said no. The only experience he’d had with the Bible was when his grandma used to force him to go to mass in Ireland when he would go visit her when he was a kid.

I used this word “gospel” with him several times and he said, “What is the gospel?” This is a 42-year-old British guy who had never heard the gospel even though he drives by a church every day and lives in what used to be a Christian nation. I asked him if he had ever read the gospels. He didn’t know what the gospels were. He literally didn’t know who Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were. So, he downloaded a Bible on his phone and began to engage with the Scriptures for the first time.

That is the state of the gospel, the state of the church in Europe. It is in desperate need of the gospel, and that’s why we’re excited about this partnership.

Lorick: If churches go with us on this vision trip and they decide to partner together in Europe, how can they best serve you guys? What can churches do to help you advance the gospel in Europe?

Boss: The two primary ways are to help us mobilize and to help us catalyze.

There is an existing church in Europe, even though it’s fairly small, and they need to be and want to be mobilized on mission to take the gospel to their people. So as churches come, there’s one pathway to partner and help us equip and train existing European churches to be on mission. That could look like helping us with a marriage conference, with some theological training, some evangelism training, and getting out into the harvest with them.

We also need to catalyze a lot of work. There are way too many places in Europe today that don’t have a church, where there is no Bible-believing church to even give people meaningful access to the gospel. Catalyzing could look like walking alongside one of our missionaries and going places in Europe we’ve identified that do not have a church and beginning to take the gospel to those places to see disciples made who can become a church in that location.

What’s exciting is, while we talk about the lostness in Europe—over the last 20 years it’s been a really hard field—since the war in Ukraine and Russia, since COVID, we’ve seen a new hunger for the gospel. We’ve seen over 10,000 Ukrainians saved since the war and over 200 churches started. Now they’re in Europe because they scattered from Ukraine. We’re seeing a new hunger amongst young people in Western Europe who are saying, “All this education that I was told would solve my problems, they’re not solving my problems.”

That doesn’t mean they’re spiritually hungry for Jesus. We have to help them see that it’s Jesus who will answer their questions. There’s a window for us to get the gospel there. That’s why it’s really important that we mobilize churches from the SBTC and from around the world to help bring the gospel to Europe for this moment in time.

Lorick: What would be your appeal be to these pastors and church leaders out here about engaging in this new ministry opportunity with Europe?

Boss: We have a vision trip coming up May 1-9 where we’re going to be in London first where we will [share] our big vision for Europe and what we’re seeing, and then scatter into seven different places across Europe and the Mediterranean to see what the work looks like in those local places and how these churches can come alongside and serve these local teams. (Editor’s note: The seven cities are Leeds, England; Nantes, France; Copenhagen, Denmark; Budapest, Hungary; Bucharest, Romania; Ljubljana, Slovenia; and Athens, Greece.)

I think that would be a great way for [SBTC churches] to come and experience it and see it. But man, Southern Baptists need to come together around mission because the state of the church and the need for the gospel in the nations is critical, and now is the time.

EMPOWER 2025: Students urged to share Jesus ‘anytime, anywhere, with anyone’

IRVING—The third annual Empower Student Rally rocked the fourth floor of the Irving Convention Center Sunday evening, drawing more than 600 students and leaders from nearly 100 churches from across the state.

Students packed the room to hear Christian rap and hip-hop artists Dillon Chase and Zeke Garcia, experience worship led by the Cross City Euless praise band, and to be challenged by Chip Luter, senior associate pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans.

Hip hop and rap with a message

Drawing from his work in Japan with RAGE Ministries (Reaching a Generation Endangered), Chase taught the crowd to say hello in Japanese: “Ohayou,” pronounced like “Ohio.” It was a preview of what was to come, as he later performed an interactive version of his song, “That’s Right,” in Japanese and English, calling on the audience to respond with a Japanese phrase meaning “There is no doubt” at key moments.

Students stood, waved their hands, and danced in the aisles or at their seats as Chase urged them to “make some noise for Jesus … the Savior of the world!” before introducing fellow RAGE artist Garcia.

As the stage lights burned red, Garcia announced that the “Word of God is the power of God,” and began a rousing version of “Not That Guy,” again with heavy audience participation.

“Every song has a message. I want you to hear the message of the song,” Garcia proclaimed, describing his own salvation in which, “The old Zeke who used to exist has died,” referencing, as Chase had done, trials and suffering.

“Following Jesus is not easy. … The reason I struggled so much is that I was not ready to surrender my life,” Garcia said.

Ryan Fontenot, RAGE Ministries founder and lead evangelist, followed Garcia, explaining a simple way to share Jesus using a four-emoji bracelet each guest had received.

“I believe everyone who is a follower of Jesus is a fisher of men,” Fontenot said. “It’s one thing to know you ought to be sharing Jesus, but it’s another thing to do it. You can do this.”

The bracelets students received featured emojis of a heart, a division sign, a cross, and a question mark. Fontenot explained that the heart emoji represents God and His love; the division sign indicates sin; the cross symbolizes Jesus; and the question mark calls for a decision.

“You can learn to share Jesus anytime, anywhere, with anyone,” Fontenot said.

‘I promise He can save you’

Luter preached a message from Acts 9, which traces the life of Saul of Tarsus from being a persecutor of Christians to becoming a Christian himself and being renamed Paul.

“Saul thought he was persecuting Christians,” Luter said. “He was persecuting Jesus, but Jesus doesn’t lose a fight.”

Later in the historical account, Saul becomes a follower of Christ on the Damascus Road—a radical salvation not only because of the transformation in Saul’s life, but because of what Jesus did for everyone when He died on the cross. “Jesus loves us and saves us radically,” Luter said. “No matter what you’ve done, no matter where you’ve been, Jesus saves.”

“You may be thinking, ‘God can’t save me,’” Luter continued, speaking to those in the crowd who had not trusted Christ. “If Christ can save Saul, I promise He can save you. … You’ve got to yield and say yes to Jesus.”

Luter issued an invitation for students to be saved, but also challenged those who had already trusted Jesus. “Tonight it’s not just lost people who have a decision to make, but it’s also the found people,” he said, calling for believers to be “willing to be sent” and “go to the Sauls of the world.”

When prompted, a sprinkling of hands rose across the room signifying those who responded to either the gospel invitation or the opportunity to surrender their lives to God’s plan.

Luter ended with a final challenge: “Even if we can’t see what’s going on, God sees the heart. Don’t just leave it up to [people on] the stage to do the ministry. You know people who need Jesus.”

“Tell somebody,” echoed Grant Byrd, SBTC student ministry associate. “It’s a life-changing decision.”

Chase and Garcia closed the evening by introducing “Do It Scared,” Chase’s new song.

“Even if we have fear,” Chase proclaimed, “we should go all out for Jesus.”

“Our student rally was incredible,” said SBTC Executive Director Nathan Lorick, who praised Byrd for his leadership of the event. “Students from all over came to lift high the name of Jesus. I am praying God will use this night to spark a revival in this generation. I believe the best days for this generation of students are in front of us.”

Study: Protestant pastors bring attention to global Christian persecution

BRENTWOOD, Tenn.— As pastors speak and pray with their congregations, they say they’re also keeping persecuted Christians around the world in mind.

More than nine in 10 U.S. Protestant pastors (93%) say their church has engaged in at least one of six ways to bring attention to Christians suffering persecution within the past year, according to a Lifeway Research study. Around 1 in 14 (7%) say they haven’t done any of those six, and less than 1% aren’t sure.

“The United States has extensive freedom for people to practice their faith without fear of retribution,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “Despite the distance from persecution, pastors and churches are not ignoring the persecution Christians are experiencing throughout the world.”

Prayers for the persecuted

Praying isn’t all churches are doing for global persecuted Christians, but it is what the most congregations are doing. More than five in six pastors say they have encouraged their congregation to pray (86%) or prayed in a worship service (85%) for persecuted Christians worldwide within the past 12 months.

“While persecuted Christians may be hard to reach, churches are bringing requests to God on their behalf,” said McConnell.

Evangelical pastors are more likely than their mainline counterparts to include prayer as part of their churches’ response to persecution. Compared to mainline pastors, evangelical pastors are more likely to say they have encouraged their congregation to pray for persecuted Christians worldwide (92% v. 80%) and have prayed in a worship service for Christians suffering persecution (89% v. 79%).

Pastors in the South are among the most likely to have encouraged their congregation to pray (89%) and to have done so during a worship service (88%). Those in the Northeast are among the least likely to encourage prayer (80%) and pray during a service (78%) for persecuted Christians.

Denominationally, Presbyterian/Reformed pastors are among the least likely to have encouraged their congregation to pray for Christians experiencing persecution around the world (75%) and prayed specifically for those persecuted during a service (72%).

Other means of ministry

Most pastors have used their sermons as an opportunity to bring up the topic of persecution, but fewer have gone beyond that. Two in three (66%) have talked about modern persecuted believers from around the world in a sermon.

Pastors are less likely to say they’ve handed out information about persecuted Christians (31%). Even fewer had an event to bring awareness of Christian persecution (17%) or showed a video during a worship service about persecuted Christians (16%).

“Examples and stories of newly persecuted Christians worldwide are readily accessible, and most pastors are sharing this news in sermons at least annually. Whether pastors are preaching from Bible passages that include persecution or those that promise Christians will face persecution, today’s global persecution is relevant to today’s biblical teaching,” said McConnell.

As with prayer, evangelical pastors are frequently more likely to be involved in other ways of raising awareness for Christians suffering persecution. They are more likely than mainline pastors to have talked about modern persecuted Christians in a sermon (75% v. 53%), handed out information about the issue (36% v. 24%) and shown a video about the persecution of Christians worldwide (22% v. 9%).

Pastors at larger churches are among the most likely to have included something about modern persecuted Christians worldwide in a sermon in the past year. Pastors at churches with 100-249 attendees (75%) and those with 250 or more (74%) are more likely than those with fewer than 50 (59%) to have broached the subject in a sermon. Pastors of the smallest congregations are also the least likely to have shown a video (10%).

Additionally, Pentecostal (82%), Baptist (74%), non-denominational (72%) and Restorationist movement (70%) pastors are more likely than Lutheran (56%) and Presbyterian/Reformed (47%) pastors to have mentioned modern global persecution in a sermon.

Non-denominational (39%) and Baptist (33%) pastors are more likely than Presbyterian/Reformed (23%) and Restorationist movement (20%) pastors to say they handed out information about persecuted Christians in the past year. Non-denominational pastors are among the most likely to have had an event focused on the issue (27%). Lutherans are the least likely to have shown a video about persecution (4%).

Pastors 65 and older are among the most likely to say they have handed out information about persecuted Christians (37%) or hosted a related event (23%).

“Pastors are quick to say they are praying for persecuted Christians, but remembering them with other emphases or events is much less common,” said McConnell.