BRENTWOOD, Tenn.—Most pastors expect one of their largest crowds of the year at church on Easter, but those expectations have tempered some in the past decade.

The three highest-attendance Sundays for pastors—Easter, Christmas and Mother’s Day—have remained the same since 2011, but each is now less likely to be among the top days, according to a Lifeway Research study of U.S. Protestant pastors.

“While many churches consider high attendance as something from their pre-pandemic past, seasonal changes have resumed,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “Church attendance is predictable again with periods of consistency in the fall and early spring, as well as holiday crowds at Christmas and Easter.”

Today, 90 percent of pastors identify Easter as the day their church has its highest, second-highest or third-highest attendance for worship service. Four in 5 (81 percent) say the same for Christmas, and 51 percent identify Mother’s Day.

But fewer pastors point to high attendance on those three days compared to 2011. Easter, down from 93 percent to 90 percent, and Christmas, down from 84 percent to 81 percent, dropped three percentage points, while Mother’s Day fell eight points from 59 percent to 51 percent.

A day the church designates to invite friends is the only day to have a statistically significant increase in the past decade, climbing from 14 percent in 2011 to 20 percent in 2024.

An additional study finds several of the top days for church attendance are among U.S. Protestant churchgoers’ favorite holidays to celebrate.

More than half of U.S. Protestant pastors (52 percent) identify Easter as the day their church typically has its highest attendance for worship services, statistically unchanged from the 55 percent who said the same in 2011.

Another 30 percent say Easter is the second most attended day at their congregation, while 8 percent identify it as the third-highest-attendance worship service.

 “On any given Sunday, a large minority of a congregation may not be present for worship,” McConnell said. “Easter is the day when the most church members get to church—and for a good reason: No other theme is as profound to a Christian than celebrating that they died with Christ and as Jesus was raised to life, so too Christians are now alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Pastors of churches that top 100 attendees are more likely than small church pastors to say Easter is one of the highest attended services, if not the highest, at their churches.

Those at churches with 250 or more for an average weekend worship service (67 percent) and those with 100 to 249 (60 percent) are more likely than pastors at churches with 50 to 99 on average (51 percent) and those with fewer than 50 (44 percent) to say Easter is their highest-attendance service of the year.

Additionally, those at churches that average 100-249 for worship services (93 percent) and those at churches with 250 or more (98 percent) are more likely than pastors of churches with attendance of less than 50 (87 percent) to rank Easter in their top three high-attendance days.

Nondenominational pastors are more likely than Presbyterian/Reformed pastors to have their largest crowds on Easter (64 percent v. 45 percent). Also, Lutherans (98 percent) and Methodists (95 percent) are more likely to have Easter near the top than Presbyterian/Reformed (87 percent), Pentecostal (84) or Restorationist Movement pastors (78 percent).

Churchgoers identify favorite holidays

Among churchgoers, Easter ranks third among their favorite holidays to celebrate (10 percent). Those who attend worship services at least four times a month are more likely than those who attend one to three times a month to pick Easter (14 percent v. 5 percent). Also, churchgoers with evangelical beliefs are more likely than those without to choose the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection (13 percent v. 6 percent).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, U.S. Protestant pastors say Christmas is also one of their most well-attended services.

More than a quarter (28 percent) say they typically have their highest attendance for worship services as they celebrate the birth of Jesus, statistically unchanged from 29 percent in 2011. Around 2 in 5 (39 percent) point to Christmas as the second in their attendance rankings, while 14 percent place it third.

“Pastors may have been thinking of different types of worship services for Christmas since the question did not specify a Sunday morning or weekend worship service,” McConnell said. “Different churches have different traditional Christmas celebrations that may not land on December 25. The largest attendance may be on Christmas Eve, the nearest Sunday or the day of a concert.”

Mainline pastors are more likely than their evangelical counterparts to identify Christmas as their best-attended service (35 percent v. 26 percent). Protestant pastors in the Northeast also are more likely than those in the South to have Christmas at the top of their attendance rankings (33 percent v. 24 percent).

Additionally, pastors in the Midwest are more likely than those in the South to have Christmas in their top three (84 percent vs. 78 percent). The largest churches, those 250 or more, are more likely than the smallest churches, fewer than 50 in attendance, to say Christmas is one of their three most well-attended services (89 percent v. 79 percent).

Christmas is by far the favorite holiday of Protestant churchgoers (63 percent), but those at the smallest churches are least likely to agree. Those attending churches with weekly worship services that average 500 or more (69 percent), 100 to 249 (69 percent) and 50 to 99 (63 percent) are more likely than those at churches with fewer than 50 (53 percent) to say Christmas is their favorite holiday to celebrate.

Mother’s Day still a big day, just not as big

While pastors identify Christmas and Easter as far and away their highest-attendance seasons, Mother’s Day remains the clear third, despite dropping in popularity in the past decade.

Few Protestant pastors say Mother’s Day is their highest (6 percent) or second-highest attendance day (14 percent), but a plurality (31 percent) point to the holiday as their third highest.

African American pastors are more likely than white pastors to say they have their highest attendance for a Mother’s Day service (12 percent v. 5 percent). They are also more likely than white pastors to rank the holiday in their top three (66 percent v. 49 percent).

Additionally, pastors 65 and older (55 percent) are among the most likely to say Mother’s Day is one of their three highest attendance services.

Nondenominational pastors (64 percent), Baptists (59 percent), Restorationist Movement pastors (59 percent) and Pentecostals (54 percent) are more likely than Presbyterian/Reformed (39 percent) and Lutheran pastors (30 percent) to place Mother’s Day in their top three.

U.S. Protestant pastors say the other days that make their three highest-attendance services include a day the church designates to invite friends (20 percent), homecoming or anniversary of the church’s founding (18 percent), Fourth of July (3 percent) and Father’s Day (3 percent). Around 1 in 8 say part of their top three includes no particular Sunday (12 percent).

Around a quarter of pastors (22 percent) said another specific day. The top choices offered among those included Thanksgiving, Palm Sunday, a baptism service, Reformation Day, Confirmation Sunday, Christmas Eve and All Saints Day. Each of those had fewer than 3 percent mention them.

Personal invitations matter

The special day to invite friends is the only day that saw significant growth since 2011, with 20 percent of pastors now including it in their top three, compared to 14 percent in 2011. The special friend day is more popular in the Northeast (29 percent) than the Midwest (18 percent) and South (17 percent).

Pentecostals (32 percent) are among the most likely to include this as part of their three highest-attended services. Pastors at churches with an average attendance of 250 or more are among the least likely (11 percent).

“Only the most visible church in the community is likely to get visitors who simply appear at church on Christian holidays,” McConnell said. “People who don’t think of themselves as Christians or who do not have a church typically need a personal invitation before they will show up at a church. Many are open to these invitations, as evidenced by higher attendance when they are emphasized.”

Large churches are also among the least likely to say homecoming or the anniversary of the church’s founding is one of their most popular services (8 percent). For African American (33 percent) and Baptist pastors (28 percent), however, this is more likely to be among their top three attended services.

U.S. Protestant churchgoers also have clear favorite holidays to celebrate, whether that includes a visit to church or not. Christmas (63 percent) and Easter (10 percent), along with Thanksgiving (14 percent) are the most popular holidays among churchgoers, followed by Halloween (4 percent), New Year’s Eve and Day (3 percent) and Independence Day (3 percent).

Fewer choose Memorial Day (1 percent), Labor Day (1 percent), Juneteenth (1 percent), Columbus Day (less than 1 percent) and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (less than 1 percent), while 2 percent say they’re not sure.

The phone survey of Protestant pastors regarding high attendance days was conducted Aug. 29, 2023, to Sept. 20, 2023. Analysts weighted responses by region and church size to reflect the population more accurately. The completed sample is 1,004 surveys, providing 95 percent confidence that the sampling error does not exceed plus or minus 3.2 percent.

The online survey of American Protestant churchgoers regarding favorite holidays was conducted Sept. 19 to 29, 2023, using a national pre-recruited panel. Quotas and slight weights were used to balance gender, age, region, ethnicity, education and religion to reflect the population more accurately. The completed sample is 1,008 surveys, providing 95 percent confidence that the sampling error from the panel does not exceed plus or minus 3.2 percent.

WACO (BP)—In 1945, a group of Baylor University students began leading a series of worship gatherings that came to be known as the Waco Youth Revivals. The meetings sparked a nationwide Youth Revival Movement, one of the largest student-led revivals in American history.

Today, FM72 leaders believe God can “do it again.”

“The components of God doing it again are prayer and more prayer, in the enthusiastic aspect and the expectancy,” said Drew Humphrey, who serves as FM72’s chief of operations and college pastor at Highland Baptist Church in Waco.

“We’re ready for God to do it again. … People are fired up in prayer. People are fired up in unity. People are fired up in outreach. So, why not again? Let’s do it again. Why not us? Why not now?”

FM72 began in 2018 as a 72-hour worship and prayer gathering on Fountain Mall—the heart of Baylor’s campus. Beyond nightly worship gatherings at 8 p.m. from Sunday to Wednesday, the defining symbol of the meeting is a large prayer tent, open for 72 consecutive hours to anyone who wants a space to pray.

Rooted in the Youth Revivals of the mid-20th century

The organization traces its spiritual origins back to the Waco Youth Revivals of the 1940s and 1950s. Humphrey calls it a “proof of concept” for FM72. From prayers that God would “do it again” to FM72’s rallying cry of “I’d Rather Have Jesus,” much of today’s language is built on yesterday’s revivals.

“They’re looking at this time coming out of World War II where everybody’s focused on economic prosperity,” said Charles Ramsey, Baylor’s director for campus ministries and church connections. “And in that is this movement that says, ‘No, no, no—wait a minute. Without Christ, all of that is meaningless. I’d rather have Jesus.’”

Former Baylor student Bruce McIver documented his experience in the Waco Youth Revivals in his book, Riding the Wind of God. He details the history of a student body deeply shaped by two experiences: World War II and prayer.

“You have all these students who had been former military, who are incredible leaders,” Ramsey said. “It was amazing to see them kind of have vision. … They’d hand out leaflets. They’d take out an ad in the newspaper. And people would start gathering, and what would they do? Well, they’d pray, they’d sing and they’d take turns preaching.”

Despite beginning around the same time as Billy Graham’s ascent to national popularity, the Waco Youth Revivals weren’t the story of a single charismatic leader.

Seven or eight students would speak at meetings—including Jackie Robinson, a two-time All-American basketball player; Howard Butt Jr., heir to the H-E-B grocery empire; and Reiji Hoshizaki, a Japanese-American who preached through hecklers and death threats amid the deep anti-Japanese prejudice in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor.

Participants recalled ‘divine electricity’

It was in these settings of an unlikely community, the Waco Youth Revivals flourished. McIver writes that the “divine electricity” of those meetings was in no small part due to its involvement with the Waco community.

On one occasion, a group of students paraded over 20 blocks from campus to the prayer tent, accompanied by a motorcycle escort, a large banner and the songs of the faithful. The march was 600-strong by the time it reached the prayer tent. Nightly revival attendance soon “soared” beyond 3,000.

“It was an atmosphere of electricity and excitement,” Ralph Langley, one of the revival leaders, said in Riding the Wind of God. “There’s always something exciting about something new that people think and feel is God-blessed.

 “There was a kind of charisma in some of those involved, charisma in the healthiest sense of the word, of holy expectancy. There was a holy hush—a group of kids leading a group of kids, with adults around … quietly affirming them with an amen from the heart.”

The movement grew far beyond Waco, sparking similar revivals across the country for decades to come. From post-Pearl Harbor Hawaii to Atlanta, it coincided with evangelists like Graham and carried into the Jesus Movement, which was immortalized in TIME Magazine. With the number of religiously unaffiliated college students tripling over the past 30 years, leaders of revival efforts like FM72 hope the spirit of 1945 will visit Waco again.

“I think it’s 100 percent worth aspiring to, and I think people are aspiring to it,” Ramsey said. “Movements are built on the faithfulness of individuals who bond together in community. When small expressions of community start coming together and being faithful in the small things, I think there’s kind of this ignition that happens.”

Humphrey hailed the power of God through prayer as the only thing that could create such a revival. He quoted Florida pastor and revival leader John Kilpatrick as calling prayer “the premium you pay for revival.”

“God never puts revival on sale,” Humphrey said. “He never cuts it 50 percent or 75 percent. It will cost this generation what it cost other generations, and that’s prayer.”

Student prayer essential

McIver wrote of prayer as the lifeblood of the Waco Youth Revivals. He tells one story of a prayer meeting the night before Robinson was scheduled to preach. The future Olympian, “overwhelmed with the responsibility facing him,” abandoned his kneeling posture to lie prostrate on the floor.

“I still remember verbatim his prayer: ‘O, Lord, use me. Use me as I try to preach. But Lord, if you can’t use me, let me die, for I’d rather be dead than unusable,’” McIver wrote. “When we rose to leave, I lingered for a moment and saw a puddle of tears where he had prayed with his face on the concrete floor.

“There’s no need for me to tell you that God did use him then—and for more than half a century that followed.”

The past two years have seen increased visibility of student prayer movements, from the Asbury Revival to student-led worship services at Baylor’s own Elliston Chapel. In late February, the Collegiate Day of Prayer marked another major event in the Waco prayer movement.

Throughout every meeting, the message has remained consistent with the Oswald Chambers quote declared again at the Collegiate Day of Prayer: “Prayer does not fit us for the greater works. Prayer is the greater work.”

Thousands of students are gathering on Fountain Mall for FM72. The branding is more contemporary, as is the music, and the meetings have migrated from empty lots downtown to the center of campus.

But the message and prayers of those in attendance sounds a lot like their predecessors: “I’d Rather Have Jesus.”

“We talk about the prayer meetings because they were wonderful,” Butt said of the prayer gatherings leading up to the Waco Youth Revivals. “They were times of very earnestly seeking God’s face and celebrating his love and grace and power … and, in confidence, believing that he was going to give us a revival at Baylor.”

This story first appeared in the The Baylor Lariat.

Members of the East Texas Baptist University volleyball team provided books for the library at a Baptist college, led sports clinics, competed in three matches and shared their faith during a spring break trip to Chile.

The eight-day trip was part of the Tiger Athletics Mission Experience, which allows student-athletes to use their talents and abilities to share their faith in international settings.

The team and ETBU administrators worked alongside two of ETBU’s educational partners—Grace College-Santiago and Temuco Baptist College—during the mission trip.

The student-athletes hosted sports camps, worked with local students in the classroom, led prayer sessions, and had conversations aimed at making an impact on the lives of those they encountered.

“The Spirit of God was present in this trip, and we were all moved by it,” said Maddison Harris, a junior management and marketing major. “We were pushed out of our comfort zones like we had never been before. We had opportunities to pray out loud over large groups of people, share our testimonies, and share the Word of God with nonbelievers.

“Through volleyball clinics, one-on-one time with the kids, and worshipping the Lord together, we hope we impacted their lives as much as they did ours. Seeing the love for Jesus each of my teammates had was inspiring.”

The student-athletes were given several opportunities to present their Christian testimonies and pray over the people they encountered.

Madison Chandler, a sophomore business administration major, recalled a particular interaction she had with her host family on the trip.

“During my time at the host home, we began to talk about our faith. Our host mother shared that her daughter did not have faith in Jesus Christ. She had been struggling with depression that caused her to be apprehensive about a relationship with Jesus,” Chandler said.

“After getting to know the family, I was able to share my testimony of how the Lord saved me from depression and led me to his glorious light. I was able to share the gospel with this sweet girl, and it was the most beautiful moment on the trip for me. I cannot thank the Lord enough for placing me exactly where I needed to be at the perfect time.”

At Temuco Baptist College, ETBU donated 1,000 books to expand the school’s English library. The team also served in several classrooms, helping students with their English, as well as hosting volleyball clinics and interacting with the children on the playground.

“Our team and coaches held a volleyball clinic for students at the school who play volleyball or wanted to learn volleyball,” said Avery Reid, a junior nursing major. “It was really cool to see the students play with so much joy. They didn’t care about who won or lost, they were just happy to be there and participate.

“I was touched by this because sometimes it’s easy for us to get distracted by other things and lose sight of the simple joys that sports bring us.”

The team competed in three games—and won all three—in front of large crowds. In the final game, they played Club Morano, which has four players on the Chilean National team.

After each game, ETBU volleyball players talked with the fans in attendance.

“The crowds were some of the largest many of us have ever played in front of, and the atmosphere was incredible, every single person was involved and cheering throughout the games,” graduate student Lillie Hill said.

“I can truly say I have never experienced something like that before. After the game, we were able to talk to the girls on the other team, and all of the fans came down to the floor to meet us. We signed autographs for so many fans who were there and took pictures with them. A lot of our friends from the churches we went to were there also, so it was touching to see their support for us.”

Since 2016, ETBU Athletics has sponsored TAME trips to Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Serbia, Israel, Jamaica, Slovakia, France, Japan, Greece, Scotland, Australia, Spain, Portugal, Northern Ireland, New Zealand, and Chile.

“Our trip to Chile was life changing for myself and the team,” Head Coach Mallory Matthews said. “Watching our athletes pour into the students of Chile and share the gospel was something I will never forget.

“They showed courage and boldness throughout the entire trip, doing things they had never done before. It was amazing to see that even when there was a language barrier, God makes all things possible.”

WASHINGTON (RNS)—The most popular church in America might be St. Mattress, followed by Bedside Baptist.

Those two—euphemisms for sleeping in on Sundays—increasingly describe the attitude of many Americans toward attending churches or other houses of worship.

More than half of Americans (56 percent) say they seldom or never attend religious services, according to new data from Gallup. Less than a third (30 percent) say they attend on a weekly or almost weekly basis.

Gallup found almost all of the so-called Nones (95 percent) say they seldom or never attend services. More than half of Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and Orthodox Christians say they rarely attend as well.

Among religious Americans, Latter-Day Saints (67 percent) are most likely to say they attend weekly or almost weekly, followed by Protestants (44 percent), Muslims (38 percent) and Catholics (33 percent).

Percentage of nonattenders doubled in 30 years

Overall, the percentage of Americans who never attend services has more than doubled since the early 1990s, while the share of those who say they rarely attend has stayed stable, according to Gallup data.

An earlier report from Gallup found that in 1992, those who attended weekly (34 percent) outnumbered those who never attended (14 percent) by 2 to 1. Since 2018, the number of Americans who never attend services has outnumbered the number who attend weekly.

Gallup Senior Editor Jeffrey Jones said the decline in attendance is driven mostly by generational shifts. Not only are younger Americans less likely to identify with any religion, they also are less likely to have been raised with a religion.

“If you were raised in a religion and you have fallen away, you can come back to it,” he said. “Younger people, a lot of times, weren’t brought up in any religion. So, they don’t have anything to come back down.”

Americans today are also less religious overall and less likely to identify as Christian, meaning the nation’s largest religious tradition—whose adherents are most likely to attend weekly services—has declined, leading to lower attendance.

Jones said an overall loss of faith in the nation’s institutions likely plays a role in the declining attendance. A Gallup poll last year found only a third of Americans had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the church or organized religion.

But the growth of the “nones”—those who do not identify with any religion—likely played a larger role in the attendance decline, Jones said.

Gallup’s findings echo the data from other major organizations, such as Pew Research Center, that track religion and other cultural trends and have found both religious identity and participation are declining.

A recent Pew study found most Americans believe religion’s influence is waning. Half think that is a bad thing. The other half think the decline is good or don’t care.

NASHVILLE (BP)—North Carolina pastor J. Allen Murray plans to nominate fellow North Carolina pastor Micheal Pardue to be second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention at the 2024 SBC annual meeting.

Pardue is the pastor of First Baptist Church Icard in Connelly Springs, N.C.

“I’ve had the privilege of serving beside him in the board room and the mission field overseas and seen his character on display first-hand,” Murray said. “Micheal’s heart for missions both local and abroad inform his life and ministry as he and First Baptist Icard have made a gospel impact around the globe.”

Pardue, 40, has been pastor at First Baptist Church Icard since February 2013. He previously served as pastor of High Shoal Baptist Church in Mooresboro and in other ministry positions in several North Carolina churches.

He served as president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina from 2020 to 2022. He was the state convention’s first vice president in 2018 to 2020. He led the state pastors’ conference in 2015, serving as the vice president in 2011.

He has served on the North Carolina convention’s board of directors and communications committee. He has been moderator of the Catawba Valley Baptist Association and currently serves on the Fruitland Baptist Bible College board of directors.

“I’ve never seen anyone as dedicated to serving the church through convention ministries as I witnessed him serve as president” of the North Carolina state convention, Murray said. “I believe this executive experience will allow him to serve Southern Baptists well.”

First Baptist Church Icard reported total undesignated receipts of $255,661 in 2023, and gifts of $22,250 (8.7 percent) through the Cooperative Program, $5,570 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and $1,805 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. The church reported four baptisms and 100 people in average worship attendance in 2023.

“Micheal is an all-in servant who loves the SBC and wants to see it honor the Lord Jesus and make his name known in every tribe, tongue and nation,” Murray said.

Pardue holds a bachelor’s degree from Gardner-Webb University, a Master of Christian Ministry degree from North Greenville University and an Ed.D. from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

He is an instructor for North Greenville University and Liberty University, according to Murray.

He and his wife Rachel are parents to seven children.

THOMAZEAU, Haiti (BP)—Nearly a dozen gunmen attacked the LiveBeyond ministry compound about 20 miles outside Port-au-Prince March 21. 

But ministry security repelled them, CEO and cofounder David Vanderpool told Baptist Press.

“Our security personnel repelled the attack, so nobody was injured. But it’s just constant gunfire, constant danger,” said Vanderpool, a physician who cofounded LiveBeyond in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. 

“It was just eight or 10 guys that came and started shooting at the gate, trying to get in, that we were able to repel them. So, it didn’t become an issue.”

As they are able, children continue to attend classes at the LiveBeyond ministry base 20 miles from Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital city held hostage to gang violence. 

Gunmen likely were looking for food and supplies to steal and sell, and people to kidnap for ransom, Vanderpool said.

Escalating gang violence

Numerous gangs comprising tens of thousands have mobilized under the leadership of Jimmy ‘Barbeque’ Cherizier since the July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. Gangs have taken control of the city, it is widely reported.

Gang are heavily supplied with military style weapons. According to a February report from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, they increasingly are bureaucratic and self-funded—gaining perhaps $25 million a year in ransoms, forcing individual businesses to pay more than $20,000 a week to remain operational, and earning as much as $8,000 a day at checkpoints. 

There’s evidence gangs are killing individuals to steal and traffic body organs, the report said, as corpses missing organs are left lying in the streets.

“It’s one of the most dangerous places in the world right now,” Vanderpool said. “It just really demands some kind of intervention. There has got to be some international intervention.”

The United Nations is best positioned to intervene, Vanderpool said, as it is within the group’s charter to provide security in unstable nations. 

The thousand police officers offered by Kenya would be woefully inadequate to fight the gang population of about 100,000, many of whom are former police officers themselves, Vanderpool said.

“People need to understand that Americans do not need to go to Haiti for any reason,” Vanderpool said, citing a U.S. State Department “do not travel” alert in place since 2018. 

“No American should be in Haiti. There’s nobody there that can help them if they get into trouble. They need to understand that.”

Many Americans, including several Haitian Southern Baptist pastors from Florida, were trapped in Haiti when the violence escalated Feb. 29. As recently as March 18, two U.S. staff members of the Louisiana Reach Haiti’s Children’s Village were trapped in Port-au-Prince, having traveled there to visit family members before the most recent escalation in violence.

‘Poorest of the poor’ suffer most

Vanderpool’s LiveBeyond ministry is operated by a staff of 120 Haitian employees, he told Baptist Press. He was in Huntsville, Ala., on a fundraising tour when he spoke with Baptist Press March 21, but lived in Haiti 13 years after the ministry purchased a 63-acre plot of land there in 2011.

LiveBeyond operates a hospital, school and church to serve Haiti’s poorest residents.

Vanderpool was last at the LiveBeyond compound eight months ago but communicates daily with the team there as the ministry’s CEO. Most recently, he had been in Israel establishing a LiveBeyond compound in an economically disadvantaged area there.

The “poorest of the poor” are left behind in Haiti, Vanderpool said, unable to leave. They are among the population LiveBeyond serves.

“They’re the ones that are suffering the most right now,” he said. “They’re getting out every way they can. The United States has opened up visa processes for Haitians, and so it’s easier for them to get to the United States. But many are boarding boats that are rickety, and they capsize in the ocean, and people are lost that way.

“It’s a very, very dire situation.”

Despite the violence, LiveBeyond’s entire ministry compound remains open, Vanderpool said, although some children who typically walk six miles to get to class aren’t able to attend every day. 

The hospital is busier than ever, he said, serving 20,000 patients a month at a facility designed to treat 6,000 monthly. At any given time, 1,500 pregnant women receive weekly prenatal care. Worship continues at the church on the base.

As he met with churches requesting financial support for LiveBeyond, many were skeptical of whether their financial resources should be allocated to the work, Vanderpool said.

“We make the case that it’s the poor and it’s the people whom we serve who are the most vulnerable,” Vanderpool said. “And they’re the ones that are suffering the most.”

Vanderpool encouraged Christians to pray for Haiti.

“We really are wanting people to pray, because the people of Haiti are under a tremendous amount of pressure,” he said. “A thousand civilians died in January.”

WASHINGTON (RNS)—The man who left a recording on Appaswamy “Vino” Pajanor’s voicemail earlier this month spoke with an even keel, but his message was anything but calm.

Over the course of about 40 seconds, the caller accused Pajanor, the head of Catholic Charities San Diego, of “facilitating illegal immigration,” “breaking the law” and being “not really Christian.”

The man saved his most volatile remarks for last, calling Pajanor, an immigrant and U.S. citizen, “scum” and much worse before ending with “Go back to India, you piece of garbage,” according to a recording provided to Religion News Service.

Over the past few months, Pajanor and staffers at Catholic Charities across the country—a decentralized, 113-year-old faith-based nonprofit—have become the targets of some media personalities, conspiracy theorists and even members of Congress.

Critics of Catholic Charities oppose offering aid to immigrants, which they frame as incentivizing illegal immigration. Some even accuse faith groups of breaking the law or working with drug cartels.

Rapidly growing safety threat

The result has been a series of unsettling incidents that have transpired near or even inside Catholic Charities facilities in what officials say is a rapidly growing threat to their safety.

“We have never seen this level,” Pajanor said, referring to the avalanche of vitriol he and his staff have received. “Some of our team members have been here for 20, 30 years, and they have said they have never seen such a thing happen.”

Some local agencies of Catholic Charities assist migrants after they’ve been processed by Customs and Border Protection, providing resources such as food, clothing and short-term housing before asylum-seekers depart for other parts of the country ahead of a scheduled court date with immigration officials.

The Catholic group is one of several faith-based organizations—including Lutheran and Jewish groups, among others—that have partnered with the federal government a long time to offer such services.

“Catholic Charities agencies staff and volunteers all around the country choose to spend their time serving those most in need, like families whose homes were destroyed by a natural disaster, seniors who can’t afford their medicine, and hungry children in need of a nutritious meal,” said Kerry Alys Robinson, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA. “Their work should earn respect and admiration, not demonization.”

For Pajanor, whose group operates homeless shelters and 14 food pantries in San Diego, the recent avalanche of hate followed a visit by provocateur James O’Keefe.

O’Keefe appeared earlier this month with a film crew outside a hotel being used by Catholic Charities San Diego to house migrants who had been processed by Customs and Border Protection.

Videos posted on social media

In videos posted to social media, O’Keefe and his team can be seen questioning security guards outside the hotel. O’Keefe even posed as an exterminator to try to gain entry. On multiple occasions, O’Keefe suggests migrants in the hotel came into the country illegally and speculates, without offering evidence, that some were being trafficked.

Pajanor reacted to the allegations with exasperation.

“We are helping those individuals who are here legally,” he said. “Every one of them has a notice to appear in a court of law.”

In his video report, O’Keefe included an image of a whiteboard containing the names and contact information of Catholic Charities and their staff.

“Immediately after that post went viral online people started calling team members with threats,” Pajanor said, adding that his team has now increased security at facilities throughout the city—including ones that have nothing to do with migrants.

‘Christ weeps’

San Diego Cardinal Robert McElroy condemned O’Keefe’s actions in a statement to RNS. Describing the incident as an “assault” on Catholic Charities, McElroy accused O’Keefe and his team of “illegal entry,” of victimizing legal immigrants and of criticizing the church for providing food and shelter, “as the Lord commands.”

McElroy also condemned the publicizing of staff’s personal identities and data, “subjecting them to death threats and the destruction of their private lives.”

“Christ weeps at the invocation of his name to justify such outrages,” McElroy stated.

Efforts to reach O’Keefe for comment were unsuccessful.

Catholic Charities officials say the incident is just the latest in a string of attacks on their work.

Similar videos were made at Catholic Charities facilities in Laredo and in Southwestern Ohio, prompting a slew of threatening phone calls and leading the organizations to increase security, the directors of both facilities told RNS.

On Oct. 28, 2023, Stew Peters, a far-right influencer who has expressed pro-Nazi views, said in a speech broadcast to his more than 500,000 followers on both Rumble and X that Catholic Charities helps “coach illegals on how to get admitted here.” He then called for shooting Catholic Charities workers, in addition to migrants.

Involvement by members of Congress

Peters’ speech came after over a year of accusations by a handful of Republican House Representatives that Catholic Charities was complicit in “a secretive, taxpayer-funded, and likely illegal operation to move unknown migrants into the United States.”

Often led by Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas and Rep. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin, a small group of GOP lawmakers have penned letters to Biden administration officials echoing those accusations.

Lawmakers also formally called on Catholic Charities, Jewish Family Services and other faith groups to preserve documents “related to any expenditures submitted for reimbursement from the federal government related to migrants encountered at the Southern border.”

House Republicans also passed a border bill that included a provision stripping funds from a program that reimburses those offering certain aid to migrants.

Jared Holt, an expert on political extremism and senior research analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, noted upticks in anti-immigrant rhetoric are common among conservatives during an election year. But when media outlets and personalities home in on specific groups, he said, the situation can escalate quickly.

“To the degree that this might intensify or escalate any more than it has, I think a lot of that depends on how political leaders in this country conduct themselves,” Holt said.

Both Gooden and Tiffany conducted extensive interviews with Michael Voris, the ousted head of now-defunct far-right Catholic media outlet Church Militant who has also been critical of Catholic Charities and their work with migrants.

In addition, Rep. Andy Biggs, who signed the letter asking Catholic Charities and others to preserve documents, hosted activist Ben Bergquam on his podcast last May, where Bergquam accused Catholic Charities of operating as a “middle-man” between drug cartels and the CBP.

Synergism between lawmakers and far right

The synergism between lawmakers and far-right figures was evident during recent incidents surrounding Casa Alitas, a shelter for asylum-seeking migrants run by Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona, an agency of Catholic Charities.

As in San Diego, O’Keefe posted a video on X Feb. 7 outside Casa Alitas, this time disguised, in his words, as a “homeless vagrant drunk.” Bergquam also previously highlighted Casa Alitas in one of his January videos.

Citing O’Keefe’s video at Casa Alitas, Tiffany and California Rep. Doug LaMalfa visited a Casa Alitas facility two days later and posted their own video, asking employees to allow them to make an unannounced visit, and when turned away, claiming the facility was operating in secrecy and denying them access to information.

Joe Leisz, the director of development for Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona, said lawmakers visiting Arizona at that time had all been invited to tour the organization’s regular shelter operations. He said Tiffany “chose to show up, unannounced” at a temporary overflow site.

Representatives for Tiffany, Biggs, Gooden and LaMalfa did not respond to interview requests for this story.

Similarly, Rachel Campos-Duffy, co-host of FOX & Friends Weekend and wife of former Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy, filmed segments inside and outside Casa Alitas on Feb. 25 and 26, where, after being asked to leave the facility, she approached clients and walked around filming. At one point, she claimed rocks were thrown at her car.

Campos-Duffy showed up outside business hours, and according to Leisz, was asked to come back during regular working hours, something FOX denies.

According to a statement sent to RNS by a FOX News spokesperson, “Rachel Campos-Duffy said she was never told to come back during business hours and was only told to leave the property.”

The videos from O’Keefe, Tiffany and Campos-Duffy each had millions of views on X.

Flurry of obscene and threatening calls

Leisz said after the incidents, his colleagues received about 75 “obscene and/or threatening calls” over the course of about a month.

When he shared with callers that his organization’s work comes from Matthew 25’s call to care for people in need, including strangers, Leisz said, “they tell me the Gospel is wrong.”

Rebecca Solloa, the executive director of Catholic Charities in Laredo, said that, while the threatening calls her facility had received were not local, she still instructed her staff to take precautions like avoiding wearing Catholic Charities’ apparel in public.

“Having seen and learned about what happened in El Paso, anybody can come from the outside to hurt the community,” said Solloa, referencing a 2019 mass shooting that killed 23 and which the shooter said was a response “to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”

Despite the vitriolic rhetoric and conspiracy theories, Tony Stieritz, the CEO of Catholic Charities Southwestern Ohio, which was the target of a Feb. 9 Bergquam video linking the organization to migrants on the border who said they were going to Cincinnati, said that the over 800 volunteers at his facility fall “in love with the work that we do.”

“We will stand resolute in serving the poor and vulnerable regardless of where they come from,” Stieritz said.

To the members of Congress spreading accusations about Catholic Charities, Stieritz said, “It is Congress’ and the (Biden) administration’s job to fix the broken immigration system. We continue to pick up the pieces for the federal government’s lack of a policy that promotes order and human dignity for migrants.

“Let’s not stoop so low as to pick on the people who are trying to do the Christian work of the gospel. Please work together in a bipartisan way to figure out the challenges that we all share,” he said.

NASHVILLE (BP)—Trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission voted March 21 to re-designate $250,000 toward the SBC Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force.

Trustees approved funds for the task force as it “wraps up its work in response to the mandate given by the messengers.”

Those funds originally were set aside following the 2021 SBC annual meeting when a motion requested the ERLC “hire an outside organization to oversee an audit and assessment of sexual abuse within the SBC.”

When task force leaders reached out to the ERLC in the following years to request a pause in the “audit and assessment,” the ERLC agreed, holding those funds in reserve.

Providing the $250,000 to the task force will help it “with the next phase of implementing what messengers overwhelmingly have requested at multiple SBC annual meetings,” ERLC President Brent Leatherwood told trustees during the meeting, which was held virtually.

Doing so would ensure the ERLC “continue[s] playing the supportive role that we have had with them for the last several years,” he said. “This will not only be consistent with our ministry assignment. It will align with what is called for in the [2021] motion.”

‘Steadfast support for abuse reform’

Task force Chairman Joshua Wester expressed gratitude for the ERLC’s “steadfast support for abuse reform.”

“For many years, the ERLC has stood at the forefront of our convention’s efforts to raise awareness, change the culture and care for survivors of sexual abuse,” Wester said. “This latest act of generosity will only strengthen our ability to advance this work among Southern Baptists.”

A motion at the 2023 SBC Annual Meeting in New Orleans by Maryland pastor Keith Myer asked that the SBC Organization Manual be amended “to ask the ERLC to assist churches and entities in responding to abuse.”

The motion was voted down by ERLC trustees, but Leatherwood made clear it wasn’t over disagreement to its sentiment.

“He is a strong voice for abuse reform and someone who understands the desperate need that we have in our convention to combat abuse,” Leatherwood said of Myer. “Not only did I thank Keith at the time when he made this motion, I wholeheartedly agree with it.”

However, Leatherwood went on to highlight the ERLC’s work through areas such as the Caring Well Initiative, the Church Cares curriculum and Caring Well Sunday.

“We obviously view [response to sexual abuse] as part of our ministry assignment, and we consider it a privilege to do so. Therefore, it doesn’t necessarily require any sort of an amendment,” he said.

Other trustee business

Longtime Baptist Press contributor Tom Strode was presented the Richard D. Land Distinguished Service Award for his career in journalism, primarily through his 32 years as BP’s Washington bureau chief.

Originally hired by Land under the ERLC’s predecessor organization, the Christian Life Commission, Strode continued his work of reporting on political and public policy areas for decades.

Congressman Chris Smith, R-N.J., received the John Leland Religious Liberty Award.

Smith was cited for his more than four decades as a leading advocate for international religious freedom and efforts for raising global awareness over religious persecution.

One of the 19 letters the ERLC issued in 2023 was in support of Smith’s resolution regarding violations of religious freedom in Nigeria and for that nation to be designated a “Country of Particular Concern.”

WASHINGTON (RNS)—In the month since moving from Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration to the White House, Thomas L. Bowen keeps encountering familiar faces.

“It’s kind of funny, because there hasn’t been a meeting yet that I have not walked into a room and known somebody from previous interaction, be it through the mayor’s office or years gone by with the Children’s Defense Fund,” said Bowen, who was recently appointed a senior White House adviser charged with keeping faith leaders informed about national policy.

There’s an old adage that our nation’s capital is a small town, but in Bowen’s case, the phenomenon may have as much to do with his previous interactions.

A graduate of Morehouse College who studied at the University of Chicago Divinity School, the Ohio native worked in religious advocacy alongside now-Sen. Raphael Warnock and Chicago pastor Otis Moss III before moving to the Children’s Defense Fund, a nonprofit championed by first lady Hillary Clinton.

In 2002, he joined the staff at Shiloh Baptist Church, a historic Black congregation, where he is minister of social justice. There he became known as a voice for the faith community in the district, and in 2016, Bowser made it official by naming him director of religious affairs.

At both the local and national level, Bowen’s portfolio has gone beyond the realm of faith. He also was the director of African American affairs for the District of Columbia and led its Office on Fathers, Men and Boys.

At the White House, his responsibilities in the Office of Public Engagement also include outreach to “the diaspora of white, ethnic countries in Europe, such as Ireland, Italy, Greece.”

Bowen also is likely to be engaged in shoring up democracy, a major theme of Biden’s presidency and now his reelection campaign.

“He understands the moral and ethical underpinnings of democracy,” said Eddie S. Glaude Jr., religion scholar and professor of African American studies at Princeton University, of Bowen, with whom he attended Morehouse.

Mediating with former colleagues

Bowen has already been in touch with Barbara Williams-Skinner, a Washington-area faith leader and coordinator of Faiths United to Save Democracy, who describes Bowen as “the consummate example of faith in action.”

Williams-Skinner said she hopes one of his primary aims will be to arrange a meeting, something the Black faith community has long sought, between their leaders and Biden. After years of seeking to advocate with the president about anti-poverty legislation and raising the minimum wage, more recently Black church leaders have joined ardent cries for cease-fire in the Hamas-Israel war.

“Black clergy are the most consistent, faithful messengers of hope for vulnerable people, for reluctant voters, particularly younger voters,” said Williams-Skinner, who also co-chairs the National African American Clergy Network. “And it is a little bit shortsighted not to close the gap in that communication.”

Bowen is now in the position of mediating with his former colleagues on these issues.

“We always try to share with them how we are leading the humanitarian efforts in Gaza, and how we continue to try to negotiate, broker with both sides,” he said.

Continuing to serve church and community

While shifting to national domestic and international issues, he will still be acting as a clergyperson in the city that he has long served.

“Whenever there is a funeral of an unhoused person, and the pastor is unable to do it, Rev. Bowen is always our go-to person,” said George Mensah, executive minister at Shiloh Baptist.

Bowen said he conducted a funeral at Shiloh for “a beloved church member who unfortunately was experiencing homelessness” three weeks after starting his White House job.

“One of my commitments in ministry is I believe that everyone deserves a proper homegoing,” said Bowen, who also leads the church’s 7 a.m. prayer service via conference call on weekdays.

Bowen also takes part in the celebrations of different religious groups, including iftars, the meals when Muslims break their fasts during Ramadan, and Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.

“I think that we all can be better if we can learn from our neighbors and co-workers, how they celebrate their faith, and how it informs their life,” said the minister, who is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA and the Progressive National Baptist Convention.

Muslim and Christian clergy spoke of his concern for the safety of their houses of worship amid threats and violence.

Imam Talib M. Shareef, president of Masjid Muhammad, also known as The Nation’s Mosque, in Washington, described Bowen as “very responsive” when religious communities had been targeted with hatred.

“Any time an incident has occurred where a faith community was the target of violence, he would always check on us, and most of the time with a physical visit,” the imam said in an email message about Bowen, who he said has regularly visited the mosque.

William H. Lamar IV, pastor of Washington’s Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church and co-chair of the Washington Interfaith Network, also spoke of Bowen’s “very pastoral presence,’’ recalling how he supported the congregation “when the Proud Boys desecrated our congregation” by tearing down and destroying its Black Lives Matter sign.

Bowen expects to continue his public engagement work with people of no faith, including “nones,” or those with no particular affiliation, as well as atheists and humanists.

“I know that there are people who have something to offer in this space, who may not be associated with any organized religion,” he said.

Address security issues for houses of worship

Bowen said he also hopes to continue to address issues of security for houses of worship in his new role that interacts with the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

He has collaborated with the Department of Homeland Security office that administers the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which provides funding to congregations at risk of attack.

“I don’t think that houses of worship can be told too much,” he said about the need for protection and planning to shore up their buildings, “because there are a lot of vulnerable congregations out there.”

Lamar said he prays that his colleague can be prophetic in the midst of the powerful.

“Whether he represented Mayor Bowser or he represents Joe Biden the question is this,” said Lamar, “when a decision is in front of him that he knows clearly goes against the dictates of the revolutionary gospel of Jesus Christ and against the tenets of the world’s religions that believe in faith and justice and fairness and all human beings being treated with dignity, what decision will he make?”

Bowen said he has had to make some choices, including giving up membership in a couple of religious roles as he moved to the White House position—the Socially Responsible Investing Advisory Council of the American Baptist Home Mission Societies and the board of Sixth & I, a Jewish cultural center in Washington for which he was the sole Black non-Jewish member.

But he also said he’s “comfortable” in his new post. “I’m happy to be in a room and in a space where I can just share not only my concerns, but the concerns of people that I talk to like Rev. Bill Lamar—not only that I talk to, but I respect,” he said.

Bowen said he believes there are listening ears in the White House, even if answers to concerns do not always come quickly.

“I gladly get into the arena to help share the thoughts and stand in the gap,” he said.

Adam Greenway, who was forced out as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in September 2022, filed a personal injury lawsuit against the seminary and the past chair of its trustee board.

The lawsuit, filed March 20 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, asserts the seminary administration and Danny Roberts, then chair of the trustee board, “began a defamatory campaign against Dr. Greenway that included both specific false statements, along with publication of a narrative that created a substantially false and defamatory impression.”

“The defamation of Dr. Greenway has been widely publicized, resulting in severe damage to his reputation and rendering him unemployable in the professional capacity for which he is qualified,” the lawsuit states.

Many of the statements alleging financial mismanagement by Greenway concerned expenditures made to repair and restore the president’s home on the seminary campus. The suit maintains Greenway’s predecessor—Paige Patterson—left the president’s home “in a state of disrepair and unfit for habitation or use.”

Last fall, Greenway’s attorney sent a demand letter threatening a $5 million lawsuit, which was not filed at that time. The current suit says the plaintiff is seeking damages “in excess of $75,000,” but that only establishes the baseline.

The suit calls for a judgment awarding compensation for actual damages, exemplary damages, past and future economic loss, attorneys fees, statutory and civil penalties, and “all other proper relief.”

Seminary responds to lawsuit

In response, Southwestern Seminary issued the following statement: “It is regrettable that Adam Greenway is suing the seminary he has previously claimed to love in response to Southwestern’s refusal to agree to his demand of $5 million last fall.

“It is also disappointing that his lawyer turned down multiple invitations to inspect the evidence supporting the public statements previously made by the seminary.

“We categorically deny the allegations contained in the lawsuit, will defend vigorously the institution, and are confident the outcome will demonstrate that these claims are entirely baseless.”

The lawsuit asserts the defendants were negligent and “acted with actual malice and/or a reckless regard for the truth.” It seeks compensation for defamation of character, asserting the defendants “created a false and defamatory impression” that he secretly “spent seminary funds for his own benefit in a manner akin to embezzlement.”

Expenditures related to president’s home

The lawsuit offers specific allegations regarding the condition of the president’s home when the Pattersons left it after removing “the majority of furnishings and décor.”

“Visible mold could be seen growing on interior walls of the facility,” the lawsuit states.

Later inspections “revealed that mold and mildew existed through the HVAC system, including the ductwork,” and a risk manager for the seminary advised that the HVAC system be replaced “for the safety of occupants and guests,” the suit continues.

The lawsuit notes the president’s home is not simply a single-family residence, but also is “designed, equipped and maintained as a multi-purpose institutional facility, equipped to host institutional functions and gatherings, including meetings, fundraising events and receptions.”

The lawsuit includes an explanation for an expenditure publicly singled out in a report released by the seminary as an example of extravagance—an $11,000 espresso machine.

 “The kitchen is equipped with commercial grade appliances, suitable for hosting gatherings beyond those typical in a single-family dwelling,” the suit states. “As part of the renovations relating to hospitality, the president’s home was equipped with a commercial grade coffee bar at a cost of $11,123.49. The cost included an espresso machine, water filtration system, accessories and installation.”

The kitchen was used by seminary staff for receptions and other functions attended by more than 1,000 people, the suit notes.

All expenditures related to the repairs and restoration of the president’s home were made in accordance with seminary financial guidelines and practices, the suit asserts.

Furthermore, the suit states Greenway cut costs by eliminating 14 full-time staff positions related to the president’s home, which Patterson called “Pecan Manor.” The suit also notes four offices with up to 27 active phone lines existed in the president’s home during Patterson’s tenure.

Internal dissent and political controversy

Nevertheless, the suit asserts the trustee chair and seminary administration used those expenditures in a “behind-the-scenes initiative” to remove Greenway from office.

The suit asserts Colby Adams, then vice president for business administration at the seminary, drew on a $1.6 million line of credit without the president’s knowledge.

Greenway subsequently removed Adams from that post—a decision that triggered dissent within elements of the staff and involvement by board leadership. Instead of being dismissed, Adams was reassigned, against Greenway’s wishes.

The lawsuit also alleges Greenway was forced out because he “voiced opinions relating to political issues that were met with disapproval by influential alumni, members of the Executive Committee of the board of trustees, administration and faculty.”

In particular, the suit notes Greenway’s social media post criticizing a conference. He tweeted: “If America really was/is a Christian nation—as my Twitter feed indicates some are claiming today—then where are the cries to repent and believe instead of just calls to register and go vote? Don’t reduce the Bible to a political prop and Jesus to a candidate consultant, please.”

According to the suit, Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, demanded Greenway remove the tweet.

The lawsuit accuses the seminary administration and trustees of breaching the terms of a settlement agreement regarding Greenway’s resignation, including a “promise of mutual non-disparagement.”

The suit asserts trustees received “only selected and incomplete financial records,” which left a false impression regarding Greenway’s handling of finances.

Response from Greenway’s attorney

When the Baptist Standard contacted Greenway to ask specific questions regarding the lawsuit and its timing, he referred all inquiries to his attorney, Andrew Jones, and he provided the lawyer’s email address.

Jones sent the following statement: “Dr. Adam W. Greenway has dedicated his life to studying and spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What he has been met with at the hands of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary since his departure has not shaken his faith or his resolve.

“To be victimized by one’s own alma mater is a particular form of cruelty, but Dr. Greenway is heartened by the wisdom found in 1 John 3:18—‘Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.’ We look forward to the litigation process and for the public to finally learn the truth, as described in the lawsuit we filed on Wednesday.”

DALLAS—The SBC Executive Committee unanimously approved Jeff Iorg as its next president/CEO.

Iorg will serve as president/CEO-elect until May 13, when he will assume his Executive Committee role. The delay allows him to complete the semester as president at Gateway Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Trustees entered closed session within ten minutes of noon and arrived at their decision quickly. At 1:30 p.m., the press was invited to return for the introduction of the new president and CEO-elect.

Sixty trustees were present for the vote.

‘A force for good’

Iorg thanked the search committee for their confidence in him and shared he and his wife’s backgrounds in Southern Baptist life. He expressed gratitude for his long-standing relationship of support from Southern Baptists.

Iorg described his salvation experience, resulting from the witness of Southern Baptists at a fair. He recounted meeting his wife in a Southern Baptist college and going on to Southern Baptist seminaries. And he detailed his experience in church, denominational and institutional leadership on the West Coast.

Iorg earned his bachelor’s degree at Hardin-Simmons University, a Master of Divinity degree from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

He characterized Southern Baptists—and their Executive Committee—as “a force for good.”

“So much of the time, the Executive Committee, rightly so, is asked to deal with the difficulties of Southern Baptist life. We face those honestly, with greater transparency than almost any organization imaginable,” he said.

“So, it’s easy sometimes to come to a meeting of the Executive Committee and think it’s all problems. Well, it’s not. … We’re a force for good.”

Search Committee members included Neal Hughes, chairman; Nick Sandefur, associate chairman; Nancy Spalding, secretary; Drew Landry; Sarah Rogers; Corey Cain; and Philip Robertson, SBC Executive Committee chairman, as voting ex-officio member.

“Today is a new day at the Executive Committee, and I am excited about what God has in store for us moving forward,” Chairman Philip Robertson said.

Iorg responds to questions

During a press conference, Iorg said he was surprised to be there, in some ways. A few months ago, he was heading toward retirement, he acknowledged. But when he was asked to consider taking the leadership role at the SBC Executive Committee, he ultimately decided he would accept.

Iorg said the most challenging part of his role would be “keeping the focus of Southern Baptists on God’s eternal mission and getting the gospel to the nations.”

When asked about primary issues he’ll face, Iorg said the three issues of highest priority are sexual abuse prevention and response, IRS form 990 issues, and issues related to amendments to the constitution about women pastors that will either be before the Executive Committee or might require executive leadership.

Additional concerns include legal issues and financial challenges that may relate to a potential sale of the building in Nashville still ahead, but they may not be as pressing, he said.

When questioned about recommendations for the Executive Committee detailed in two appendices to the “bombshell report” by Guidepost Solutions delivered in May 2022, Iorg said he “has a long track-record of promoting women in ministry leadership, supervising women in a ministry organization and doing that effectively.”

Iorg said he would take the report very seriously but declined to identify a specific recommendation from the appendices that he would consider most important to address.

When asked about how he will restore trust in the Executive Committee in light of the many issues facing it since the 2022 report came out, Iorg said, “Organizational trust is earned by two things: sacrificial service and by demonstrating competence.

“You don’t gain trust by asking people to trust you. You gain trust by doing the right thing, serving sacrificially, demonstrating competence, and people trust organizations that do that.”

He pledged to focus on trying to do trustworthy things so Southern Baptists will trust their Executive Committee.

Iorg’s wife Ann said she feels good about their new change of course, adding God gives you what you need for what he has for you. She said they both feel like this is what God has for them, so they are excited.

Bart Barber, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, stated: “Jeff Iorg has already brought unity to the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention and to the Southern Baptist Convention, as evidenced by the acclaim from far and wide in response to the initial announcement and by today’s unanimous vote.

“Jeff Iorg has said today that the SBC is a force for good. I believe that God will use Jeff Iorg as a force for good, and I will cheer him on and pray toward that end.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: The article originally was posted Thursday evening, March 21, and it was edited online Friday morning, March 22, to correct two typographical errors and to remove one statement that was in question.

DALLAS—Liturgy as practiced in everyday life shapes character and connects Christians to “a story bigger than themselves,” author Tish Harrison Warren told a Dallas Baptist University gathering.

Warren, an Anglican priest in Austin and author of Liturgy of the Ordinary, the 2018 Christianity Today Book of the Year, spoke March 19 as part of the Veritas Lecture series, sponsored by DBU’s Institute for Global Engagement.

When Warren first pitched Liturgy of the Ordinary to InterVarsity Press, her editors told her to change the title, because evangelicals wouldn’t buy a book about liturgy. They reversed course after internal staff discussions.

She recalled her editors saying: “We talked to our marketing team. They are all younger and hipper than us, and they told us evangelicals like liturgy.”

The marketing staff discerned an emerging shift among young evangelicals toward renewed interest in ancient practices, she noted. Liturgy of the Ordinary became an enduring bestseller.

Warren offered three reasons she believes the theme of liturgy and ordinariness has resonated with many Christians.

• People hunger for “rootedness” as an antidote to consumerism.

“Consumerism is not a big enough story to support the soul,” Warren said.

In particular, she said, ancient liturgical practices offer Christians the opportunity to be part of “a longer story.”

“People are craving something that came before us and will last beyond us, and liturgy is this ancient, enduring thing,” Warren said.

Liturgy “resists trendiness” and offers believers connection to something beyond their own time, place and culture, she observed.

• People desire “formation” in addition to information.

“We are an information-addicted culture. We are a distraction-addicted culture,” Warren said.

She pointed to smartphones as a symbol of current American society. Makers of smartphones care about the habits of consumers, not their attitudes or beliefs.

“Technology companies understand human formation much, much better than the church does,” she said.

Discipleship involves more than simply gaining the right information about God. While doctrine matters, habits and practices shape character and change hearts, she observed.

“The Christian life, I have come to see, is a craft as much as it is a set of beliefs,” she said.

• People crave “incarnation as opposed to abstraction.”

Christians can be tempted to profess love for the world in general while demonstrating hateful attitudes toward the actual people they encounter, she said.

“I think we can come to see following Jesus or seeking justice as having the right opinions, using the right hashtags and being a part of the right subgroups in culture but not loving and serving the actual people on our block, or in our dorm, or in our families,” Warren said.

“We’ve come to have something of an excarnate faith—a faith that resists incarnation.”

In contrast, people desperately want to know what God has to do with their actual, everyday lives and the daily challenges they face, she observed. The incarnation of God in the person of Jesus answers that question.

“The incarnation of Jesus that we celebrate every Christmas dealt a deathblow to any spirituality that is abstract,” Warren said. “We don’t serve a God that is far off but one who came in the concrete—in the ordinary.”

A holistic understanding of salvation as formation explains why Jesus lived 30 largely unrecorded years of eating, sleeping and working prior to his public ministry, she said.

“Christ took on our whole humanity—including our ordinariness—and made it beautiful to the Father,” she said. “He healed it.”

No task—no matter how routine or seemingly mundane—can be considered outside the scope of reflecting God’s glory, she observed.

“Because of the incarnation, we believe that God is working—and wonderfully so—in the concrete of our lives,” Warren said. “The small daily acts of prayer and loving our neighbor are the material he can use to create beauty in ways we can scarcely imagine.”

‘Tap into’ deeper tradition

In a question-and-answer time with cultural theologian Jim Denison, Warren discussed why a growing number of people—particularly young people—are “deconstructing or rejecting white American evangelicalism.”

“I think they are doing that for some really valid reasons. But then they think the only option is pure secularism or knee-jerk progressivism. … I actually think what people really need is the great tradition of the faith, which predates white evangelicalism, which predates America and which predates white progressivism,” she said.

Liturgical practices enable Christians to “tap into” something deeper than “the most recent shallow traditions,” Warren said.

Ancient liturgy moves Christians “out of the culture wars and into more deeply human questions that people have wrestled with for thousands of years,” she said.

Warren also discussed her decision to give up her position as a weekly New York Times columnist after two years.

In part, she felt the need to engage more deeply in “local ministry and counter-cultural community” to resist the temptation to engage in “punditry about God.”

“When God becomes an abstraction you bat about and have debates about more than you sit at his feet and are with him or serve actual human beings that are needy, your soul is in danger,” Warren said.