I am one of the clergy members who has been holding vigil outside the Dallas ICE field office since May. After a gunman opened fire at the back of the facility in September, our weekly prayer vigil transformed into a…
In Dallas, more questions than answers after ICE facility shooting
I have some unanswered questions about the Dallas ICE facility shooting. In addition to writing for Baptist News Global, I also serve as justice and advocacy minister at Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas. In that role, I joined a…
Yes, violence is not the answer
Three days ago, as I arrived at the Nashville airport, I watched ICE agents detain a well-dressed Hispanic young man and disappear him through a side door as masses of travelers streamed by, no one stopping to notice what was…
Opus Dei Catholic who led Dallas ICE lawyers now defends immigrants
When Paul Hunker approached Dallas Bishop Edward Burns to introduce himself at the bishop’s 2017 installation Mass, he did so almost “sheepishly.” Hunker, then the lead counsel for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Dallas, worried Burns might give him…
Here’s what didn’t happen at this year’s SBC meeting
The most notable thing about this year’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting is what didn’t happen. The convention did not advance a third try at the so-called Law Amendment that would enshrine a Constitutional ban on females in any role…
SBC annual meeting may be deja vu all over again
Note: For more discussion on the upcoming SBC annual meeting, check out the latest episode of BNG’s podcast “Stuck in the Middle with You.” In less than three weeks, messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting will descend…
Lawsuit between SMU and UMC is headed to court again
Southern Methodist University in Dallas is headed back to court seeking to free itself from the authority of The United Methodist Church. Most sources trace this conflict back to actions taken by the UMC in 2019, but a tug-of-war between…
Steve Lawson preached fire and brimstone except for himself
“Megachurch pastors in Dallas are starting to drop like flies,” I wrote back on June 25 after Tony Evans and Robert Morris stepped away from ministry at prominent megachurches. Apparently “starting” was the keyword because over the next three months, the number…
CitySquare: An emerging case study in how to wind down a nonprofit and keep its work alive
It’s not every day a successful, well-known and respected nonprofit saves itself by winding down operations, but that is exactly what CitySquare is doing in Dallas. Faced with lagging donations and substantial debt, the nonprofit that serves the city’s homeless…
Ken Paxton and the NRA bullies are at it again
Last time I wrote about the NRA and Dallas, it was to lament the city’s tourism office getting in bed with the gun-rights-at-all-costs advocacy group. That’s a story that still needs to spread more. Now, however, the city has done…
What’s happening to megachurch pastors in Dallas?
Megachurch pastors in Dallas are starting to drop like flies. On June 9, Tony Evans stepped away for an unspecified period of time from the 10,000-member Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, a church he started in his living room and led for…
What do George Floyd and Kyle Rittenhouse have to do with armed civilian combat? Evidently, quite a lot
After two days at the 2024 National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Dallas this weekend, I was ready to call the gun advocacy organization a changed institution. At first, the imagery, rhetoric and workshop topics seemed less misogynistic than those…