By Michael Greer The wise leaders of ancient Israel were keenly aware that the failure to publically atone for the corporate sins of the nation would result in a national catastrophe. The current obsession with fixing blame for the refugee…
Repenting of Christianity
Chinua Achebe’s classic novel Things Fall Apart centers around the life on Okonkwo, the powerful leader of his clan and their village, one of nine villages in the Umuofia region of Nigeria. Okonkwo is a fearsome warrior, well-respected among his…
“They are children”: Preachers and politicians part ways at the border
While politicians apportion blame for the thousands of unaccompanied Central American children arriving at our border, the faith community looks for ways to help. I over-simplify, of course. We confront a complex tangle of rhetoric and response, and there are…
A Gospel story, a preacher and two governors
By Chuck Queen In the story of the feeding of the 5,000 in Matthew 14:13-21, the writer basically follows Mark’s account, though Matthew omits Mark’s description of the crowd as sheep without a shepherd. I suspect he does so because…
Shoes offer respite for weary immigrant children
By Russ Dilday By the time the young mother and her two daughters arrived in McAllen, Texas, they were bone-tired. After a harrowing month on the road from their home in El Salvador, they crossed the Rio Grande River. Then…
SBC leader says border crisis ‘moral disgrace’
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist Convention official just back from a tour of two Texas facilities for migrant children said July 23 the young people he met there were no different from the kind of kids one might meet…
CBF appeals for funds as it responds to immigrants crossing U.S. border
By Robert Dilday The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has created a fund called “CBF CARES (Children and Refugee Emergency Support)” to assist the surge in Central American immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, many of whom are now detained in federal facilities….
Baptist finds ‘heart’s desire’ in preaching gospel to detained immigrant children
By Ken Camp Since Palm Sunday, Dan Trevino has preached to more than 10,000 immigrant young people from Central America, delivering a message of hope in Christ. Trevino, associate pastor of Baptist Temple in San Antonio, Texas, leads multiple worship services…
How you can help: Baptists in Texas seek funds, volunteers to aid immigrants
By Ken Camp Texas Baptists are collecting funds for Spanish-language Bibles, Buckner International is seeking children’s shoes, and Baptists in South Texas are gathering emergency items and soliciting volunteer nurses to help minister to unaccompanied minors and mothers with young…
Missing the point over the border crisis
By Mike Greer On its web site The Minutemen Project says it is once again recruiting volunteers to guard the U.S.-Mexico border from “illegal immigration,” claiming the government has failed to do its job. Jim Gilchrist (strangely, his name means…
Dallas preacher says Jesus would seal the border
The Rev. Robert Jeffress thinks Jesus would build a fence at the U.S. border so desperate children from violence-ridden countries would be discouraged from heading north. “Yes, Jesus loved children,” Jeffress admits, “but he also respected law. He said, render unto Caesar the…
Disaster relief groups challenged by border crisis
By Jeff Brumley Baptist disaster relief agencies are pressing hard to determine what, if anything, they can to do aid the immigrant children flooding into the nation along the southern border by the tens of thousands. While some help has…