NASHVILLE (BP)—A rewritten business and financial plan to be presented at the June Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting is designed to strengthen transparency and oversight for trustees who are approved to those positions by messengers, SBC Executive Committee President Jeff Iorg said.

“One of our trustees said a strength of the new document is how remarkably consistent it is with upholding trustee governance of the entities,” Iorg said on Feb. 20.

“One of the goals was to clarify that the business and financial plan must reflect the constitution and bylaw standards and that the boards are ultimately accountable for the entities. I agree that this is a strength of the document as well.”

Iorg gave five convictions that guided the creation of the document in his address to Executive Committee members on Feb. 17. The first is that Southern Baptists govern entities by electing trustees, who are expected to fulfill the business and financial plan.

The other guiding convictions are:

• The plan must emerge from the SBC constitution and bylaws.
• The plan must focus on general principles rather than specific methodologies.
• It must call for transparency by entities in business and financial decisions.
• It must use plain language, with technical or legal jargon appearing only where necessary for clarity.

At 1,956 words, the proposed business and financial plan is substantially shorter than the current version that weighs in at over 3,300 words. That wasn’t necessarily the focus, but a byproduct of a desire to simplify the plan and use more basic language, Iorg noted.

“The goal was to write a document that eliminated duplications and removed archaic issues, and when it turned out to be shorter, that was a benefit,” he said.

A section about new enterprises that included hospital propositions was removed, for instance, as was another about publications. Almost all publications are hosted on websites now, Iorg explained.

“Those kinds of things were removed because they aren’t applicable anymore to the way we do business,” he said.

Accountability strengthened

Iorg cited to Executive Committee members various areas of the plan where trustee accountability was strengthened and reiterated those in a phone call with Baptist Press.

Those steps expand trustee accountability and oversight in areas such as audit practices, use of restricted funds, compensation and executive expenses, fundraising practices and internal controls.

The proposed plan states that any member in good standing at a Southern Baptist church in friendly cooperation with the SBC can receive descriptions of compensation processes, personnel practices and salary structures from entities upon written request to the respective entity’s chief financial officer.

Currently, the business and financial plan states church members may have access to such information, but no clear path is given for obtaining it.

The revised plan came about largely due to referrals of motions adopted by messengers at SBC annual meetings in recent years that related to business and financial components of the SBC and its entities. An overall response to those concerns through a new business and financial plan was the best course, Iorg told trustees Feb. 17.

Recommending the new plan doesn’t set anything in stone, he said.

“If we discover deficiencies, the Business and Financial Plan can be amended until we feel it is adequate for its purpose,” Iorg said.

“My hope is we will adopt the revised plan, live with it for the next two years, and then adjust any deficiencies or shortcomings as we find them.”

Levi Weldon Price Jr., Baptist missionary, pastor and seminary professor, died Feb. 19. He was 83. He was born on Christmas Day 1941 in Gorman and grew up in a pastor’s home, moving to several places throughout his childhood. He graduated from high school in Monahans in 1960 and married the love of his life, Luethyl Dawkins, on May 28, 1962. He earned his undergraduate degree from Baylor University in 1964 before serving in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1964 to 1968. As a combat engineer in Vietnam, he achieved the rank of captain and received a battlefield commendation for his service. In 1976, he earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from Golden Gate Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, Calif. He was pastor of churches in Richmond, Fresno and Milpitas, Calif., before serving as a missionary in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico, through the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. His ministry then led him to El Paso, where he was pastor of First Baptist Church for 17 years. During his time there, he launched outreach initiatives to serve the community. He founded a businessmen’s lunch for men who worked downtown, creating a space for fellowship and spiritual growth. Later, he became a professor of Christian ministry at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary, a role he cherished as he mentored future leaders in the church. In retirement, he served as an interim pastor for churches in Lorena, Gatesville, Clifton, Crawford and Waco and in Las Cruses, N.M. One of his greatest joys was Paisano Baptist Encampment near Alpine. His connection to the camp spanned nearly his entire life—first attending as a boy, then working in the cook shed as a teenager, and later preaching there while in college. He returned as a guest preacher before serving as its president 20 years. He is survived by his wife of 62 years Luethyl; son Timothy Levi; daughter Sara Gloria Welshimer and husband Mark; and seven grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts can be made to Paisano Baptist Encampment, P.O. Box 973, Alpine, TX 79831, or Methodist Children’s Home, 1111 Herring Ave., Waco, TX 76708. Private family graveside services with Marine Corps honors will be at Hemmeline Cemetery near Gatesville. Memorial services are scheduled at 1 p.m. Feb. 28 at First Baptist Church in Waco.

DALLAS—When viewed through eyes of faith, artistic beauty can awaken a hunger for a glory beyond anything we have known in this world, author Russ Ramsey told a crowd at Dallas Baptist University.

People travel halfway around the world to see great works of art because of “an appetite to be in the presence of something greater than ourselves that is—dare I say it—perfect,” said Ramsey, a Presbyterian minister and author of Rembrandt is in the Wind and Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart.

Ramsey spoke Feb. 20 on “Pursuing Perfection: Michelangelo’s David and Our Hunger for Glory” as part of the Veritas Lecture Series sponsored by the Institute for Global Engagement at DBU.

“I believe that Michelangelo’s David is the single greatest artistic achievement by an individual in history,” Ramsey said.

‘Perfect statue of a perfect hero’

Unlike the two-dimensional paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, David is three-dimensional, he noted. Bronze, wood and clay sculptures are media that allow an artist to add to the creation, whereas David was carved from a single “unforgiving” block of marble, he observed.

Furthermore, some other sculptures allow an artist to hide his lack of understanding about humanity beneath a drape or robe, but David does not.

“Michelangelo’s David is a nude human form carved from a single block of stone, and it is perfect,” Ramsey asserted.

At age 26, Michelangelo carved David from a massive Carrara marble block. The giant stone from the Frantiscritti Quarry had been secured decades earlier and transported on a two-year journey to the Florence Cathedral. Two previous artists had chipped away at it but abandoned their efforts.

Michelangelo chose to depict David as a youth, facing the Philistine giant Goliath armed only with a sling to cast a stone. In contrast to the armor-clad giant, Michelangelo portrayed David unclothed, representing his vulnerability and total dependence on God, Ramsey explained.

“The story is perfect. It’s a perfect enemy. It’s a perfect youth. It’s the perfect cast of a lethal stone,” Ramsey said. “Michelangelo fits it all into this perfect statue of a perfect hero.”

Working with inherent limitations

However, what some see as artistic perfection also teaches lessons about human limitations, he added.

“We work with what we’re given, and nobody is perfect in this life—no, not one,” Ramsey said. “We live in a world of limits, and we run against them all the time.”

Michelangelo had to work within the limits of a marble slab that already had gashes taken out of it by two earlier artists.

The giant marble block also had a hole drilled in the bottom of it and a chain run through the hole to help men transport it from a quarry in the mountains to Florence.

“That hole would determine, at least to a degree, how David would have to stand, because that hole would be the space between his legs,” Ramsey explained.

“And the stance would affect everything about the end result—not only the composition of the piece, which is shaped by that hole in the marble, but also by the structural integrity of the piece, with thousands of pounds of stone pushing on those legs.”

Michelangelo’s masterpiece was shaped, in large part, by the limits inherent in that single, marred, marble block, he said.

Shaped by the touch of others

“Michelangelo was given a block of marble that others had a hand in shaping. Is this not a metaphor for life and for ministry?” Ramsey asked.

“We work with what we’re given and live in a world of limits. And we work with things—in ourselves included—that others have already had a hand in shaping. … I can’t think of a single thing in my life that does not bear the touch of others—and you can’t either.”

The touch of others may leave unwanted scars or they may beautifully bring out something special within us, but every life is shaped by others, he said.

“For the Christian, accepting our limits is one of the ways we are shaped to fit together as living stones into the Body of Christ,” Ramsey said.

“As much as our strengths may be a gift to the church, make no mistake that our limitations also are a gift to the church. Your need for the care of others is a gift to the church.”

Living in a world that is wasting away

Ramsey noted there are tiny cracks in David’s ankles, the result of 2,000 lbs. of marble pushing down for 500 years, as well as having suffered attacks by vandals and the effects of tremors.

“In almost immeasurable ways, those fractures are growing, and they are working their way up his legs,” he explained.

“This deterioration of that stone is a process that cannot be reversed. … One day, David will fall. … He will collapse under his own weight because of his own imperfections.”

Knowing that a perfect artistic achievement will be brought down by inherent imperfections should remind Christians “this world we are living in is wasting away,” Ramsey said.

And yet, visitors—whose footsteps cause minuscule vibrations that contribute to David’s ultimate downfall—flock to see the statue. They are driven by the inherent human hunger for a beauty beyond this present world, Ramsey observed.

“There is something in us where we are compelled to join the perishing to the eternal,” he said. “There is something in us that longs to draw near to glory.”

A mob attacked about 50 Christian worshippers gathered for a Sunday church service Feb. 16 in India’s Rajasthan State, an international religious freedom watchdog organization reported.

About 200 people entered the church building in Bikaner toward the end of the worship service. They began to vandalize the property and beat Christians with iron rods, leaving three worshippers severely injured and most of the others with bruises all over their bodies, Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported on Feb. 20.

The pastor—whose name was withheld due to security concerns—told CSW a new member who attended the worship service was seen sending messages minutes before the attack, and he ran out of the building when the crowd entered.

Accused of ‘forced conversions’

Members of the mob—who dispersed quickly when police arrived at the scene—told officials forced conversions were occurring at the church. When police questioned victims of the beating, they were accused of forced conversions, and the pastor’s children were warned not to turn out like their father, CSW reported.

The pastor, his wife and several other Christians were taken to the Mukta Prasad police station, but they were not charged with forced conversion. Members of the church did not file a complaint out of fear of reprisal, and the police took no action against those who perpetrated the attack.

The state’s legislative assembly tabled the Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill 2025 on Feb. 4. The bill would require individuals who voluntarily want to convert to apply to a district magistrate 60 days in advance. It would make forced conversion a nonbailable offense that would carry a hefty fine and a 10-year jail sentence.

If the bill becomes law, the burden of proof will shift, and those who are accused of forceful conversion will be required to prove their innocence.

Twelve of India’s 28 states have anti-conversion laws in place, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reported.

Increased violence against religious minorities

Last December, more than 400 individual Christians and 30 church groups—including several Baptist conventions, councils and associations—sent a letter to Indian President Draupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop violent mobs who have targeted Christians and other religious minorities.

In January, a report from United Christian Forum—a New Delhi-based monitoring group that operates a helpline—said incidents of anti-Christian violence rose from 127 in 2014 to 834 in 2024.

Mervyn Thomas, founding president of CSW, expressed concern about the rising numbers of reported attacks on Christians and other religious minorities in India.

“In recent years, Christians have been increasingly subjected to assaults, humiliation and the loss of their livelihoods and belongings by far-right religious nationalists who make clearly baseless accusations of forceful conversion. Meanwhile, those who carry out these attacks enjoy complete impunity,” Thomas said.

“We urge the local authorities to be proactive and take firm and swift action against the perpetrators of such crimes.”

NEW YORK (BP)—A document submitted by the attorney of Matt Queen contains excerpts from 59 letters of support for the former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary professor alongside pleas for leniency from Queen himself as his sentencing date approaches for lying to federal investigators.

Queen, 50, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Southern New York on Oct. 16 to making a false statement related to a Department of Justice investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention and some of its entities. He resigned his pastorate at Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C., three weeks later.

Sentencing for Queen is set for March 5.

His attorney, Sam Schmidt, wrote in a Presentence Report that his client does not deny he falsified the date on notes provided to federal investigators, though the contents were accurate.

“Dr. Queen acknowledged [it] … shortly after he lied about it,” Schmidt wrote. “He admitted it to counsel. He admitted it in his motion to dismiss. He admitted it when he pled guilty.”

“Severe consequences” and financial loss for his actions have already been felt, including losing his pastorate as well as speaking engagements and publication opportunities. Queen has been “repeatedly denigrated in the secular and Christian press,” Schmidt added, and “a number of ‘friends’ have distanced themselves from him.”

‘Downward spiral in his mental health’

Those are in addition to the emotional and psychological punishment.

Queen explained through his attorney how a “tumultuous five-year period (2018-2023)” that ended with his time as interim provost and vice president for academic administration at Southwestern led to being “anxious and overwhelmed” as the DOJ investigation unfolded.

Isolation exacerbated the “self-doubt, fear, confusion and uncertainty … within me, and I felt lost. I lost about forty pounds and was eating and sleeping very little,” he said.

A letter from Queen’s wife, Hope, told of the “downward spiral in his mental health which was fueled by the dysfunctional atmosphere at the seminary.”

Fears of dismissal and orders to not speak to anyone also prompted her husband not to seek help from a counselor or attorney.

“Matt’s anxiety grew. On a regular basis, I walked into our bedroom and found him on our bed with his chest heaving and limbs shaking. I watched with concern but felt trapped without a way for him to get help due to the instruction not to tell anyone about the investigation,” she said.

The stress led Queen to contemplate suicide, according to his wife, who persuaded him to seek help at a hospital.

“The government was also concerned about Dr. Queen’s mental health as a result of its indictment,” Schmidt said. “It insisted that one of the conditions of his release on bail was for him to obtain the services of a therapist. He did and continues to see his therapist.”

Schmidt posited, “There is no identifiable purpose for imposing a period of incarceration” on Queen, urging Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to accept a United States Department of Probation recommendation that Queen be sentenced to one year of probation and a $2,000 fine.

‘I have learned from my mistake’

Statements from Queen accompany the document.

“While I have repented of my sin before God, made it right with the government by correcting my false statement to them, and have pled guilty before this Court, I will forever live with the knowledge that I lied, an action contrary to my faith, my character and my morals,” he said.

“I am daily reminded that my lie has disappointed my God, my wife, my daughters, my parents, my brothers, my church, my friends, and my students.

“… I commit to you, your Honor, to apply the lessons I have learned from my mistake for the remainder of my life and ministry. I sincerely request your mercy, your Honor, as you decide my sentence.”

The letters of support testify to Queen’s character, Schmidt said, and “recognize that this man is not characterized solely by his error.”

Nickie Buckner, a friend of Queen’s since the sixth grade who considered himself a nonbeliever, recognized Queen’s “unshakeable belief in God” and said, “[Queen] genuinely wants to help people regardless of who they are or what they believe.”

Former Southwestern professor John Massey explained Queen gave not only his time, but also his money to students in need and “has been among the most popular professors in denominational life because of his love for students and accessibility to them at any time.”

Former student and friend Matt Henslee said he leaned on Queen during his own tough emotional and psychological times.

“Dr. Queen was a phone call away to pray for me, encourage me and offer me wisdom or practical steps to deal with what was going on,” he said.

Ryan Stokes, a former SWBTS professor, said Queen “holds himself to the highest conceivable moral standards, has an unusually sensitive conscience and exhibits an overriding concern that he deal with others fairly, compassionately and honestly. … If it is possible to be pathologically good, that is what Matt is.”

Ukrainian Christians’ prayers for “a just and lasting peace” seem a distant hope, but God remains in control, said Pastor Igor Bandura, vice president of the All-Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Christian-Baptists.

“It’s a faith journey from the reality of where we are to the ideal of God’s kingdom of justice and righteousness,” he said.

Bandura was in the United States to attend Ukrainian Week events in Washington, D.C., including the National Prayer Breakfast and the International Religious Freedom Summit, and to advocate for his homeland.

His visit to the United States began prior to the third anniversary of Russia’s escalated invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, and the 11th anniversary of Russia’s occupation and annexation of Crimea.

It also coincided with President Donald Trump’s call for Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept a quick end to the war with Russia and with high-level negotiations in Saudi Arabia involving U.S. and Russian diplomats—but not representatives from Ukraine.

‘Not happy’ but ‘patiently waiting’

Ukrainian Christians are “not happy” but are “patiently waiting” to see how negotiations develop once Ukraine is included at the table, Bandura said.

“This is just the beginning of negotiations. We continue to pray for President Trump, just as we pray for President Zelensky,” Bandura said.

“We pray for a value-based approach to negotiations, not just a business approach. … As Christians, we pray for God’s will to be done, and we pray for moral leadership.”

Bandura said he understands the desire to see the war between Ukraine and Russia end soon.

“Everybody is tired. The people of Ukraine would like to see an end to the war like no one else on the planet,” he said.

However, based on past experience, Ukrainians are doubtful Russia will honor negotiated territorial boundaries, even if some Russian-occupied areas are conceded to them, he noted.

“We would like to see moral courage on the part of western leaders,” he said.

No religious freedom in occupied territory

Christians in Ukraine particularly recognize the dire consequences of giving up occupied territory to Russia, he added.

“There is no religious freedom at all in the occupied areas,” Bandura said.

In the early days after the February 2022 assault by Russia, Baptist churches in Ukraine mobilized to offer “centers of hope” for internally displaced people.

Churches continue to provide humanitarian aid on a smaller scale to people who flee imminent danger, Bandura said.

At the same time, he added, churches have increased ministry to women who have been widowed and children who have been orphaned by the war, as well as injured and traumatized veterans who have returned home.

In addition to Baptists who serve in the Ukraine military as chaplains, about 400 volunteer chaplains have served on or near the front lines, Bandura added. They offer comfort and spiritual counsel, deliver humanitarian aid and help transport wounded soldiers to safety.

Ministers and their families have endured tremendous stress the past three years. To support them, the Baptist Union has offered regional retreats.

“We can’t conduct big pastors’ conferences because of the risk of a missile attack, but we’ve offered a lot of local meetings and retreats,” Bandura said.

Over the past three years, churches in the Baptist Union have ordained 600 new ministers and deacons—a sign of spiritual health, he noted.

Bandura acknowledged it is easy for Ukrainians to become disheartened when some western officials fail to honor promises and one-time allies threaten to withdraw support. Still, he prays for God to change the hearts of elected officials

“You cannot always rely on friends, but we have learned to rely on God,” he said.

“God’s grace is sufficient.”

POTOMAC, Md. (RNS)—Less than a week after joining a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s reversal of a policy limiting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at houses of worship, leaders of the Latino Christian National Network gathered to plan their next steps.

“We are running a tremendous risk, but we are doing it on principle,” Carlos Malavé, the network’s president, said in Spanish to the annual gathering of about 50 network leaders regarding the lawsuit.

The southern Virginia pastor said he had heard from other groups who were unwilling to join the lawsuit out of fear the Trump administration would weaponize the IRS against them in retaliation. However, he celebrated that his own board’s decision on the matter was unanimous.

The Latino Christian National Network formed as an independent organization in 2021, drawing from a previous Latino subgroup within Christian Churches Together in the USA.

Malavé had been Christian Churches Together in the USA’s executive director. The national network includes Latino leadership within major mainline Protestant denominations and some evangelical and Pentecostal Latino leaders. The board also includes a Catholic advocate.

Involved in sensitive locations lawsuit

While the small network already has several major Latino leaders participating, its national profile is growing from its involvement in the sensitive locations lawsuit. A recent $1.5 million grant from Lilly Endowment will also allow the organization to grow its capacity.

In Latino communities, immigration fears are a major pastoral concern. FWD.us, an immigration and criminal justice reform advocacy organization, projected that nearly 1 in 3 Latino U.S. residents could be at risk of family separation or impacted by mass deportations either because of their legal status or that of someone in the household.

Those at risk include immigrants who had previously had temporary permission to be in the United States, whose protections President Donald Trump has revoked.

Alexia Salvatierra, academic dean of the Centro Latino at Fuller Theological Seminary, encouraged the group to take inspiration from the 2006 announcement by Cardinal Roger Mahony, who formerly led the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Mahony said the church in Los Angeles would disobey a potential law criminalizing aiding immigrants without legal status, which he believed would criminalize distributing Communion to those immigrants. The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives but never passed the Senate.

Salvatierra credited Mahoney with turning the tide on the prevailing anti-migrant national narrative. She urged attendees to search for their opening to do the same, especially as they prepared to speak to congressional representatives on Feb. 18.

In those visits, the group urged lawmakers to create a pathway to citizenship for immigrants without legal status, prioritize family reunification within immigration policy, protect refugees and asylum-seekers, ensure due process protections in immigration enforcement, continue to provide foreign aid and preserve significant limits on ICE enforcement in places of worship as a religious liberty measure.

Baptist attorney asserts church property is private

In a presentation about the current immigration policy landscape, Elket Rodríguez, an attorney who leads the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s migration advocacy, pushed back against prevailing legal advice that church worship spaces during services are considered public, meaning ICE would not need a warrant to enter.

Indicating an openness to test the question legally, Rodríguez cited the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and several other laws to support his argument that churches are private.

“If the state itself is limiting its authority from the Constitution on down and the Congress has seen the church as a private space when it legislates,” Rodríguez said in Spanish, “I can make an easy argument in a court that the church and the state have always had … a separation.”

It remains unclear whether that legal argument will gain momentum, even among network members, as an Episcopal priest in attendance expressed concern the advice differed from what his congregation had heard from its lawyer.

“Our people are overwhelmed,” said retired United Methodist Church Bishop Minerva Garza Carcaño, noting that that may be a strategic goal of the Trump administration.

“We’re living in an era of the new legitimization of racism,” she said, as she expressed concerns about internalized racism as well.

Carcaño spoke on a panel about the state of the Latino church today. Several leaders raised concerns about young people’s mental health, related to immigration fears and more broadly.

Anthony Guillén, who leads Latino/Hispanic ministries for the Episcopal Church, highlighted, as a sign of the Holy Spirit’s work, the dedication of a Maryland priest, Vidal Rivas at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, who committed to be the standby guardian for at least 14 children in the event that their parents are deported.

Offering counsel to fearful students

Another panelist, James Medina, national director of Destino, a Latino college student ministry, spoke in his personal capacity about his role shepherding and advocating for students in the midst of the new policy landscape.

“When ICE is on campus and students are scared and fearful, that is my place,” he said.

Medina discussed the general difficulty students face from growing up with tension between their Latino heritage and the U.S. context. He said a major challenge involves helping them heal from generational trauma or pain.

Mental health has become a rising concern across the Latino church. Last October, the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference—an evangelical group that, unlike LCNN, has been a strong backer of Trump—launched a mental health initiative at its national gathering.

Daniel Vélez Rivera, an Episcopal priest in Virginia, spoke during feedback to the network panel about identifying mental health services for his community in an area where fewer than 1 percent of mental health providers speak Spanish. In response, Guillén noted the need to “raise up” Latino or bilingual therapists.

“Some of the trauma that our young people are experiencing is because we’ve caused it, and we have not had the cultural humility to say, ‘We got it wrong,’” Lydia Muñoz, who leads the United Methodist Church’s Latino ministry, said in public response to the panel. “We need to have a come-to-Jesus moment about that.”

Mental health concerns noted

Another area of concern around mental health for network participants was the safety of LGBTQ+ youth, especially related to Trump’s policies. Guillén said his wife, who works at a community college, sees many Latino LGBTQ+ youth living in their cars because their parents have thrown them out.

The discussion of LGBTQ+ issues, however, exposes potential tensions within the network, as some participants come from nonaffirming traditions, such as the International Pentecostal Holiness Church.

Despite theological differences, the leaders said they sensed the Holy Spirit at work in the unity they found in immigration advocacy. Carcaño, the United Methodist Church bishop, said her denomination rarely moves beyond dialogue and prayer about unity with the Catholic Church,  but they have recently acted together on immigration.

She said she’d never received a call from a Catholic bishop until last December, when Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, who leads the U.S. bishops’ work on immigration, reached out asking United Methodists to join Catholic bishops in writing letters in support of migrants.

“That was a breakthrough for us,” she said.

Illinois Democratic Rep. Delia Ramirez, a member of Humboldt Park United Methodist Church in Chicago, spoke to the group in a recorded video, calling on them to focus on both immediately protecting their communities and “fighting for progress.”

“I’m encouraged that we can be light in dark places,” she said. “And more than ever, it is people of faith that must step in to demonstrate hope, to demonstrate faith, to love our neighbors, to welcome the strangers and to care for the vulnerable communities.”

BUNAMBUTYE CAMP, Uganda—Susan Nagudi, a 32-year-old mother of three, lives in a camp of Ugandans dislocated by a deadly November mudslide, and she’s now thanking God for Texans and Ugandans on Mission.

“Before Texans and Ugandans intervened, we were eating posho and unfried beans,” Nagudi said. But “God sent Texans and Ugandans.”

They “came to our rescue with aromatic rice that excited our taste buds,” she said.

The Uganda organization is Texans on Mission’s ministry in the African nation. The mudslide happened about six hours driving time from the region where Texans on Mission has been drilling wells and building community infrastructure and Bible studies, said Mitch Chapman, director of Water Impact for Texans on Mission.

In January, the Uganda government asked the Texans and Ugandans on Mission to be part of the response, and the feeding effort is expected to last no more than four months, Chapman said.

Reuters reported the mudslide death toll at 28 in December and said more than 100 people were feared missing. The mudslide occurred “on the slopes of Mount Elgon, an extinct volcano on the border with Kenya, about 300 km (190 miles) east of the capital, Kampala,” the Reuters article stated.

The Texans on Mission ministry moved water drilling equipment to where the 300 displaced families have been relocated and arranged for huge shipments of food needed to feed them.

John Hall, chief mission officer with Texans on Mission, said, “Our organization in Uganda is spearheading this effort, and people who have received access to clean water in Northern Uganda, thanks to Texans and Ugandans on Mission are volunteering to help their neighbors in need by distributing the food.”

It takes two tons of food each week to sustain the affected families, Chapman said.

“It took us a few weeks to secure the food, but we have persevered and are now providing the food. The water well is coming soon,” Chapman said.

Making an impact

The food had an immediate impact, Nagudi said. “We have seen the rig in the camp drilling water, and two tanks have been fixed near our tents. We thank God for the gift of Texans and Ugandans on Mission for coming to our rescue.”

Nandudu Aisha and her children also have been displaced. She is a 25-year-old mother of four. Her husband and oldest child died when the mudslide crushed their home, while she and the other children were away.

“Since our resettlement here, … we have faced numerous challenges,” Aisha said. “Access to clean water has been scarce, and our diet has largely consisted of posho and beans.

“However, yesterday marked a significant change in our meals,” she said. “We enjoyed delicious rice, and it brought smiles to my children’s faces—something we haven’t experienced in a long time.”

For the evacuees, Texans and Ugandans on Mission’s efforts will help them establish new homes in a permanent, safe location that includes clean drinking water. The government also is setting aside three acres where a church can be started.

Texans and Ugandans on Mission is now beginning a Bible study to plant the seeds for the new church.

“Responding to this great need will not be easy, and it will be costly,” Hall said. “But God is opening a door for us to serve these hurting people in the name of Christ. And we step through such doors when we can.”

BROWNWOOD—Blaine Onick came to Howard Payne University to play golf, but what he found was much greater than any sport could give him: Jesus.

Onick is a junior from Midland majoring in accounting with a minor in Bible. He first visited the HPU campus in August 2021, and visited a second time in March 2022, when he was surprised to find out someone remembered him.

“When I came for a tour, I met Zac Sterling, who was the resident director of Thomas Taylor Hall (one of two men’s dorms) at the time,” Onick said.

“We met for like 10 seconds, and then I left. Then, I came back for another tour, and this is not my name at all, but he said, ‘Hey, Blaze.’ The fact that he was remotely close to my name was super cool. So, I loved the family aspect of HPU, the community.”

Onick’s introduction to golf began when he was working at a golf course during his senior year of high school. He joined the golf team at HPU in the fall of 2022.

“I was OK but not very good,” he said. “I begged Coach Drummond to let me come here, and he said yes.”

Now, Onick has had two great seasons, and was named one of the 2025 American Southwest Conference Players to Watch.

Onick was not a Christian before he went to college. He had always believed in God, and he had told himself when he turned 18, he would get his life together. So, when he came to a Christian college, he decided he would commit to that plan.

The Spirit intervenes

“One time in chapel, they were playing ‘Goodness of God,’ and when it says: ‘Your goodness is running after me,’ it was resonating with me,” Onick said.

“The Holy Spirit was pulling on my heart, and I was like, ‘OK, I hear you, Lord.’”

After Onick’s experience in chapel, he went to Fambrough’s, a student hangout and cafe on campus. He opened his Bible to a random page and decided he was going to start reading it.

He also prayed he would find a church to start attending. Five minutes later, Caleb Callaway, resident director of the other men’s dorm, Jennings Hall, came up to him and invited him to come to church with him at Heartland Church.

“So, I started off at Heartland. Then, in December, I decided I needed more Christian community,” Onick said. “So, I applied to be a resident assistant for Jennings Hall, and I got the job.”

Around the time he got the resident assistant job, the pastor at Heartland Church encouraged anyone who never had given their lives to Christ to do so in the privacy of an intimate moment with God, and that is what Onick decided to do.

“On Dec. 2, 2022, on the third floor of Jennings Hall, I said, ‘Lord, I’m ready to give my life to you,’” he said.

Onick added that the biggest change in his life, after turning to Christ, was his outlook.

“When I came to HPU, I was identified by golf,” said Onick. “I thought golf was who I was. I was identified by a golf score.

“Then when I came to faith, I realized there was so much more to life than golf. I wanted everyone to know Jesus. So, I started meeting more people, and I wanted to build relationships to share the gospel with everybody.”

As well as being on the men’s golf team, Onick is a member of Delta Epsilon Omega and the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. He works for the admissions office, serves on the college ministry team at Coggin Avenue Baptist Church and works for See Thru Window Cleaning.

Onick’s favorite Bible verse is Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

That verse reminds him no matter what happens with his golf score or anything else, God has a good plan for him.

NASHVILLE (RNS)—A proposed online database that would list the names of abusive Southern Baptist pastors is now on hold, with no names likely to be added to the website by the denomination’s annual meeting this summer.

Instead, Southern Baptist leaders working to address abuse in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination say they will focus on helping churches access other databases of abusers and training churches to do better background checks.

However, the so-called Ministry Check database, which was a centerpiece of reforms approved by Southern Baptist messengers is now on the back burner.

“At this point, it’s not a focus for us,” Jeff Iorg, head of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, told reporters at a Feb. 18 news conference during the committee’s meeting in Nashville.

The proposed database has been derailed by denominational apathy, legal worries and a desire to protect donations to the Southern Baptist Convention’s mission programs, RNS previously reported.

Sexual abuse survivors have been advocating for a database of abusers since at least 2007, when ABC News’ “20/20” published a report on abuse among Southern Baptist pastors.

The Executive Committee rejected the idea in 2008, but it resurfaced in 2021 after a Guidepost Solutions investigation found Southern Baptists long had downplayed the issue of abuse in the denomination and mistreated abuse survivors who tried to raise the alarm about the issue.

That led to initiating reforms, which were to include building education for churches and creating the Ministry Check database. For years, an SBC task force charged with implementing reforms said the database would soon go live, once concerns about finances and legal issues were overcome.

A website for SBC abuse reform, which SBC leaders called “historic” when it was launched in 2023, included a link to the Ministry Check website. However, no names appear on that site.

“Coming soon, Ministry Check will provide leaders with the ability to search for information about individuals who have been convicted, found liable or confessed to abuse,” the website reads.

Advocates decry failure to develop database

The delay in adding names to the database, among other delays, led some advocates to wash their hands of the SBC’s abuse reform efforts.

“Accountability is illusion and institutional reform is a hall of mirrors,” wrote Christa Brown, a longtime advocate of SBC reforms, and other abuse survivors in a recent editorial.

Iorg did not rule out future work on the database but said it would not happen soon. Jeff Dalrymple, who was recently named to head up the SBC’s response to sexual abuse, also said he would not rule out future work on a database.

A now-disbanded task force charged with implementing the SBC reforms, including the database, started a nonprofit last year called the Abuse Reform Commission. However, its proposal for funding was rejected by the heads of the mission boards.

Earlier in the meeting, Iorg outlined a set of priorities for responding to and preventing abuse, including providing more training for churches and working more closely with the denomination’s state conventions of churches. He also gave thanks for Dalrymple’s new role, which he said would help move the reforms and response to abuse forward.

Taking steps to prevent abuse

Iorg said more data was needed about the scope of abuse in the denomination and steps churches are taking to prevent it and respond when it happens.

A 2024 report from Lifeway Research, which is owned by the SBC’s publishing house, found only 58 percent of churches did background checks on those who work with children. Those checks are considered one of the essential steps in abuse prevention.

Dalrymple, who previously was executive director of the Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention, a nonprofit that addresses abuse, said helping churches deal with abuse was part of his calling in life.

The news the database has stalled was both disappointing and expected for abuse survivors Jules Woodson and Tiffany Thigpen, who have long advocated for reforms. Both said because the SBC does not oversee its pastors and because abusers only make it onto criminal databases after convicted, a list of abusive pastors is necessary.

After years of delay, Thigpen said at least survivors have an answer about the future of the database.

“I’m just glad it was said out loud,” she said. “So now we are off the hook for hope.”

Thigpen said the Feb. 18 meeting felt like the end of an era for survivors who have pushed for reform and that SBC leaders have moved on. But she said even though the database seemed doomed, Southern Baptists no longer can say abuse is not a problem.

Woodson said the move away from a database showed the will of church messengers doesn’t matter in the end. Southern Baptist leaders, she said, will do what they think is best, no matter what anyone else says.

She compared the SBC abuse issues to a house on fire—and instead of calling the fire department, Southern Baptists asked a board of directors to put the fire out. That left them standing around with buckets while things burn.

“They should have called the fire department,” she said.

Abuse crisis sparks financial difficulty

The cost of dealing with abuse was also on the minds of Iorg and other Baptist leaders meeting in Nashville. Legal costs from the Guidepost investigation and the abuse crisis generally have totaled $13 million and drained the Executive Committee’s reserves.

Executive Committee members recommended a 2025 budget for the denomination’s Cooperative Program that includes a $3 million “priority allocation” for legal costs.

That allocation will have to be approved by SBC messengers this summer at the denomination’s meetings in Dallas and likely will be controversial. Cooperative Program funds from churches are used to pay for missionaries, seminary education, church planting and other national ministries—and previous attempts to tap SBC’s Cooperative Program funds to address the issue of abuse stalled.

So far, SBC abuse reforms have been funded by an initial $4 million from Send Relief, a joint venture of the SBC’s International Mission Board and North American Mission Board. No permanent funding plan is in place.

Iorg said the “priority allocation” has been the subject of vigorous debate and called it “the most palatable of a lot of bad options.”

He also said the messengers to past SBC meetings authorized the investigation into abuse, and the legal cost is part of the consequences of that decision. He noted the Executive Committee is trying to sell its building, which could help with legal costs.

When asked if he regretted past decisions that led to the costs, Iorg said addressing abuse was the right thing to do, though he wished Southern Baptists had found a way to do it that was not as costly or disruptive.

During the meeting, Southern Baptist leaders also removed two churches from the denomination—one in California over the issue of abuse, and a second in Alaska due to having “egalitarian” views about the roles of men and women in leadership.

The SBC’s statement of faith has restricted the role of pastor to men, and in recent years, the denomination has become more aggressive in removing churches with women pastors.

Convención Bautista Hispana de Texas—in collaboration with the National Hispanic Baptist Network—received a $1.5 million Lilly Endowment grant.

The grant will support “Adelante: Developing Capacity in Service of Hispanic Congregations and Leaders,” a project being developed in collaboration with the National Hispanic Baptist Network.

Convención received the grant through the Lilly Endowment’s National Initiative to Strengthen Hispanic Pastoral Leaders and Congregations. Its aim is to support and strengthen Hispanic pastoral leaders and congregations and build and expand the capacities of organizations and networks that support their ministries.

The grant will fund key leadership positions in both organizations, including a full-time executive director and a communications/development director for the national network.  Convención will hire a director of development to focus on fundraising and relationship-building.

Convención will launch its Young Latino Leaders Development Initiative—designed to provide an opportunity for young Latino Baptist leaders to experience a year-long cohort experience focused on personal development and a ministry project in their community.

Participants will be trained and certified by the Hispanic Leadership Academy in collaboration with the Center for Hispanic Leadership.

The Young Latino Leaders experience culminates with a retreat in Washington, D.C., exposing the young leaders to various organizations and leaders working to address issues impacting their Hispanic communities.

“This investment by Lilly Endowment will significantly increase Convención’s capacity in the areas of leadership, finance and administration,” said Jesse Rincones, executive director of Convención. “We’re especially excited about being able to invest in the next generation of leaders.”

Partnership Development funds will allow the national network to partner with state and regional leaders to leverage training opportunities, pastoral health, church revitalization and other efforts. The National Hispanic Baptist Network plans to engage the services of Generis Solutions. Generis will provide a development assessment of strengths, gaps, opportunities and recommended steps for long-term growth and sustainable development performance.

“The National Hispanic Baptist Network is very grateful to the Lilly Endowment for this grant through Convención Bautista Hispana of Texas,” said Bruno Molina, executive director of the National Hispanic Baptist Network.

“This grant will help us to work with Convención Bautista Hispana of Texas to develop our capacity for long-term sustainability as we connect on mission, contribute resources, and celebrate what God is doing among us. In particular, we look forward to strengthening our pastors and their families through the establishment of a pastoral support initiative and the development of our emerging leaders. To God be the glory!”

Convención Bautista Hispana de Texas is one of 23 organizations from across the United States receiving grants through the Lilly Endowment’s initiative, including congregations, denominational agencies, church networks, theological schools, colleges and universities, and parachurch organizations, among others.

Convención Bautista Hispana de Texas ha recibido una subvención de $1,500,000 de Lilly Endowment para apoyar “Adelante: Developing Capacity in Service of Hispanic Congregations” and Leaders, ” que es un proyecto que se desarrolla en colaboración con la Red Nacional Bautista Hispana.

Convención recibió la subvención a través de de Lilly Endowmentla Iniciativa Nacional para el Fortalecimiento de Líderes Pastorales y Congregaciones Hispanasinitiative .

Su objetivo es apoyar y fortalecer a los líderes pastorales y congregaciones hispanas y edificar y ampliar las capacidades de las organizaciones y redes que apoyan sus ministerios.

La subvención financiará puestos de liderazgo clave en ambas organizaciones, incluido un Director Ejecutivo a tiempo completo y un Director de Comunicaciones/Desarrollo para la NHBN.  Convención contratará a un Director de Desarrollo que se centrará en la recaudación de fondos y el establecimiento de relaciones.

Convención lanzará su Iniciativa de Desarrollo de Jóvenes Líderes Latinos (YLL). YLL proporcionará una oportunidad para que los jóvenes líderes bautistas latinos experimenten una experiencia de cohorte de un año centrada en el desarrollo personal y un proyecto de ministerio en su comunidad.

Los participantes serán entrenados y certificados por la Academia de Liderazgo Hispano en colaboración con el Centro de Liderazgo Hispano. La experiencia de YLL culmina con un retiro en Washington, DC que expone a los jóvenes líderes a diversas organizaciones/líderes que trabajan para abordar los problemas que afectan a sus comunidades hispanas.

Jesse Rincones, Director Ejecutivo de Convención, afirma: “Esta inversión de Lilly Endowment aumentará significativamente la capacidad de Convención en las áreas de liderazgo, finanzas y administración. Estamos especialmente entusiasmados por poder invertir en la próxima generación de líderes.”

Los fondos para el Desarrollo de Asociaciones permitirán a la NHBN asociarse con líderes estatales y regionales para impulsar oportunidades de formación, salud pastoral, revitalización de iglesias y otros esfuerzos. NHBN planea contratar los servicios de Generis Solutions, LLC. Generis proporcionará una evaluación del desarrollo de los puntos fuertes, las lagunas, las oportunidades y los pasos recomendados para el crecimiento a largo plazo y el rendimiento del desarrollo sostenible.

“La Red Nacional Bautista Hispana está muy agradecida a the Lilly Endowment, ” afirma Bruno Molina, Director Ejecutivo de la Red Nacional Bautista Hispana.

“Esta subvenciónallow nos ayudará a trabajar con la Convención Bautista Hispana de Texas para desarrollar nuestra capacidad de sostenibilidad a largo plazo mientras nos conectamos en misión, contribuimos recursos y celebramos lo que Dios está haciendo entre nosotros.

“En particular, esperamos fortalecer a nuestros pastores y sus familias a través del establecimiento de una iniciativa de apoyo pastoral y el desarrollo de nuestros líderes emergentes. A Dios sea la gloria”.