By Jeff Brumley
By his own admission, San Antonio youth minister Gavin Rogers has a knack for making his parents worry.
In 2012, as minister to youth and families at Trinity Baptist Church, he observed Lent by living as a homeless person, dodging cops, sleeping under bridges and wrestling with hunger.
Rogers, 31, has pushed the envelope of parental stress again, this time by making a five-day visit to Egypt just a few weeks after violent, deadly riots swept over the nation.
“When I told my parents about the homeless journey, my mom was really worried,” Rogers said. “With this one, my dad wasn’t too happy.”
Rogers, now the missions, young adults and youth minister at a San Antonio Episcopal parish, took the Sept. 15-20 trip as a way to express solidarity with Egyptian Christians who were persecuted during the upheaval. The unrest followed the military’s ouster of an Islamist president.
For Rogers the trip was a pilgrimage, too, as he and a traveling companion made their way through military checkpoints and suspicious stares to visit the Nile – which conjured countless biblical stories and personalities associated with the river.
Rogers, who leaves today for another visit to Egypt, spoke with ABPnews about his journey and the spiritual lessons he learned during his journey.
On behalf of all mothers everywhere: are you crazy?
That’s what they keep asking me. I might be a little crazy, but I was in Egypt in 2006 … and I knew there were things happening (recently) that were not in the media and our goal was to be in solidarity with the people, the Copts especially, but all the people…. I said we can go there and tell what’s happening. The real thing is to be in solidarity with the people who are going through this.
Who was with you on this trip?
I went with a Methodist pastor named Lorenza Andrade Smith. Three years ago she had a church in San Antonio, and she asked the bishop to put her on the streets…. For three years she has lived outside under stars. She travels all over the nation speaking about homelessness. Even when speaking at conferences she stays outside.
What kind of stories aren’t being told from Egypt?
There are stories of hope and love that aren’t being told. Surprising stories. One story: our Muslim driver sharing tea with a Coptic monk who invited him into the monastery we were visiting. That was a Muslim and Christian sharing tea at a time when it was really stressful.
What was the biggest surprise during this trip?
It’s a crazy thing to fly into Egypt and there’s tanks surrounding your hotel. But it’s a place dying to get back to normal. Ninety-nine percent of the people are just sick of the violence. They don’t agree with the intimidation of Christians. It is amazing to me to see how many are against it.
You were eager to get to Minya. Why?
We were told they took the lion’s share of church burnings. Thirty of 80 church burnings were in Minya, though that may be off a bit. There were two Coptic churches in downtown Minya … and we wanted to see the monastery in Minya that was burned.
How did it feel to see those burned out churches?
The first thing I thought is it looks like it just had a fire. These churches weren’t burned to the ground. They are made of stone and were just gutted. The pews are gone and anything the fire didn’t get, the looters got…. But you’re thinking, what convinces people to do that? Wow, this is extreme hatred toward Christianity.
Did you witness a lot of anti-Christian sentiment?
Not really. No one was really surprised by the Christian attacks. They thought it was really terrible but most Muslims don’t care. Our taxi drivers didn’t know where the churches were. They didn’t see that (church burnings) as news because Christians have always been a minority. They have to pay a tax that Muslims don’t pay. If you convert someone, it’s against the law.
Were the two of you ever in danger, or did you ever feel threatened?
Only a couple times. When we were driving to Minya, we got to this big army checkpoint and the soldiers were holding their guns…. And in Minya, we were taking pictures of the second (Coptic) church and a couple of guys were staring us. They didn’t seem too thrilled about what we were doing and our driver told us to get in the car, ‘our time is done here.’
Did you see any other tourists?
We saw a few…. It was extremely safe. The people in the hotel were very hospitable and there were safeguards everywhere. And everyone we met all seemed to love the army. Even the Christian pacifists were pro-army.
What spiritual lessons did you come home with?
Two things. One, it taught me that I try to control so much of my life and that stops God from possibly teaching me something. I learned to see everything, including the delays we had getting into Minya … as an opportunity. It taught me to understand that God is much bigger than my plans. Second, I was impressed by the Copts and especially the Coptic monks. Their life is bare, they don’t travel. That’s such a radical way of living it really challenges me. How does that spread the gospel?… By quietly serving they probably speak louder than all our loud efforts.