A discussion with Hannah Daniel about the fall session of Congress
By / Aug 26

In this episode, Lindsay talks with Hannah Daniel, ERLC Policy Manager, about the ERLC Washington, D.C., office, Congress reconvening soon, and our priorities for the fall. They also discuss the SBC’s Global Hunger Sunday held on Aug. 28. 

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Why we can’t look away from global hunger
By / Aug 25

In 1993, a photojournalist took a photo that has become iconic and controversial. Titled “The vulture and the little girl,” it shows a young, starving, small girl being stalked by a vulture preparing for her to die. In the context of the 1993 Sudanese famine, the image was instantly iconic, with The New York Times running the image on their coverage. However, it became controversial because of the public’s question: “Did she survive? Did you help her get to the food station?” The photographer did not (journalists were encouraged not to interact with their subjects at the time to avoid spreading disease), and instead was careful to not scare the bird away before he got his shot. He did scare the bird away after the picture, but still left the weak girl on the ground instead of taking her to the food station where her parents were attempting to get food. 

“Did you help her?”

The image is a stark reminder of the incredibly tragic results of famine and hunger. However, it is also a reminder of the ability of humans to turn our eyes away from the tragic, or place a filter between ourselves and the world around us. At its most basic level, the public’s question is the same one that we all should be asking: “Did you help her?” In an age where we are surrounded by so much tragedy and news of devastations across the world, there is an understandable need to prioritize what we can do. However, when faced with such a clear instance of need and scarcity, the response should be to help. The photographer should have helped her. Yet, it was easier to turn away once his job—chronicling the devastation rather than responding to it—was complete. 

The tendency to turn away is one that we all know well. It’s avoiding the eyes of the homeless individual panhandling on the corner at the stop sign. It’s quickly scrolling past the Facebook post detailing hardship. It’s the discomfort that comes from hearing a child tell about their family’s home life, and learning how they have struggled since the economic downturn. 

We don’t like that discomfort. It makes us feel like we are guilty for what we do have. So we turn our eyes away and choose to ignore it. That’s someone else’s problem. Not ours. We don’t have time to stop and help. So we push down the discomfort and tell ourselves that we are doing our job, and it’s someone else’s responsibility, just like the photographer who walked away as soon as he had taken a picture that would win him a Pulitzer.

More tragic than ignoring the problem is the way that we tend to relegate it to something happening somewhere else. To read accounts of the image, the journalist saw everything through the lens of his camera. It was a mediated world that he inhabited. On one level, this is expected for a journalist who covers some of the worst situations around the globe (he had spent years covering violence and civil war in Africa). A level of distance is to be expected.

Yet, the distance required to leave a starving girl on the ground after a vulture was just stalking her requires turning off a piece of our humanity. It’s the piece that causes people to run into flames to save a child they don’t know. Or the way that strangers will rally around a struggling family to provide for them. We recognize that this person holds inestimable worth and dignity, and we should treat them accordingly.  We don’t leave them in the dirt. 

But when life is mediated through a camera lens (or for most of us a smartphone), it is easy to see not people but images. We don’t mean to dehumanize others. But when you experience people through a filter, then it becomes easier to also push every other emotion or desire through the same filter. We start to think that reports of tragedies are just numbers and normal realities, rather than evils we must resist with every fiber of our being, the lingering effects of a broken world crying out for redemption. When we assume that mindset, then it becomes easier to turn that blind eye. One death may be a tragedy, and a million a statistic (as is often cynically claimed), but when news of that death comes to us in the same way that we watch mindless cat videos, then it is just one more piece of information for us to consume for a moment and then discard for the next factoid to cross our timeline. 

Hunger and poverty are areas that are especially difficult for Americans to truly understand, and thus make us even more likely to turn away. I may not like what‘s in my fridge, but there is always something there. We may see poverty around us, but often it is confined to a place, not widespread. And so we turn away because we don’t want to reckon with the discomfort that we feel. However, for Christians this is not an option. Like the Samaritan who cared for the dying man on the road, and Jesus’ reminder that when we served the least of these we served him, we do not have the option to turn our eyes away from the tragedy around us. 

Practically, this means that we must be looking for those opportunities around us to serve the world. Unless you are a tech billionaire or an expert in public policy, then it is unlikely you will be able to solve hunger and poverty. However, you can search for ways to serve the individuals around you. This might mean volunteering at homeless shelters and providing donations. But ideally it goes beyond simple incidental moments and instead is a life characterized by attention to the problem. We should not confine our love of neighbor to the holidays or special emphasis days, but rather see the need around us every moment. Yes, we can try to solve the immediate problem, but we must also look at how we might develop a long-term relationship that has the potential to help an individual with their ongoing hunger or economic situation. 

In a social media age, we need to guard against issues like hunger becoming just a fact that we know because of our screens and constant stream of information. The statistics and data we hear in reports are snapshots of the real-life experience of those suffering. We can’t let our heart be turned off so that we don’t have to be incovenienced. Those suffering don’t have that luxury, and we shouldn’t either. Instead of turning our eyes away in the face of tragedy, let us be the people who work tirelessly to see that suffering eradicated in Jesus’ name. 

How Southern Baptists are meeting increased world hunger needs
By / Aug 24

The last few years have witnessed world-changing events that have disrupted supply chains and limited access to food for many people. Southern Baptists will, on Aug. 28, recognize Global Hunger Sunday to raise support for those in need.

A 2021 report released by agencies associated with the United Nations stated that 2.3 billion people faced moderate to severe challenges to obtaining enough food to eat, with the total population facing severe insecurity climbing to an estimated 924 million.

“Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen world events impact food supplies. First, it was the COVID pandemic, then the war in Ukraine hindered access to their wheat harvest,” said Bryant Wright, president of Send Relief, the compassion ministry arm of Southern Baptists.

According to a report from NPR, Ukraine and Russia, together, account for a third of the world’s wheat and barley exports while Russia and Belarus are numbers two and three on the world’s list of producers of a key ingredient for fertilizer.

“A drought in the midwestern United States harmed the wheat harvest here. We expect the need to be so great that many will face starvation, especially in impoverished areas,” said Wright. “Let’s show the love of Jesus by meeting needs physically and spiritually with the Gospel.”

As of July 2022, an estimated 345 million people are near the point of starvation, a 25% increase from the beginning of the year before Russia invaded Ukraine. Conflict, displacement, and global destabilization have led the malnourished population to grow for the sixth consecutive year.

What is Global Hunger Relief? 

For 44 years, Southern Baptists have been raising funds to combat hunger around the globe. Originally started in 1978 as the World Hunger Fund, Global Hunger Relief is dedicated to the fight to minimize world hunger and to sharing the gospel of Christ.

Global Hunger Sunday is a great opportunity for churches to promote an offering to support Global Hunger Relief. Send Relief helps to promote and distribute the offering each year.

“Southern Baptist Christians have been concerned about global hunger needs for several decades now,” said Wright. “That concern has driven them to start soup kitchens and food pantries in their local communities. It has also driven them to give to funds like Global Hunger Relief, which Send Relief helps to administer to meet hunger needs around the world.”

Send Relief focuses on five key areas: strengthen communities, care for refugees, protect children and families, fight human trafficking, and respond to crisis. The ministry sets up specific funds for these focus areas, creates funds for specific projects, and receives general donations to support compassion ministry efforts around the world.

Generosity toward Global Hunger Relief helps respond to crisis by meeting hunger-related needs in various ways. When famine or natural disaster strikes, gifts to Global Hunger Relief provide resources for missionaries and other ministry partners to give food during those times of crisis.

Efforts also include projects that have a longer-term focus that offer sustainable solutions designed to strengthen communities by easing chronic hunger. Missionaries and ministry partners will provide job skills training, livestock and seed distribution, clean water, home reconstruction, as well as medical care.

In 2021, Southern Baptists gave $3.5 million through Global Hunger Relief, and 100% of those gifts go toward meeting hunger needs with 20% going to needs in North America and 80 going toward international hunger needs.

While Southern Baptists will officially recognize Global Hunger Sunday this coming weekend, Southern Baptist ministry partners are welcome to collect and submit the offering throughout the year.

To learn more about Global Hunger Relief, visit globalhungerrelief.org, and for resources designed to help churches recognize Global Hunger Sunday, visit here.

How you can help Southern Baptists bring the love of Jesus to hurting communities
By / Oct 6

When the COVID-19 pandemic brought Brazil’s economy to a screeching halt, the already impoverished communities were the ones most affected by the sudden loss of income.

Unable to beg at stoplights, get government subsidized assistance or even sell wares at outdoor markets like they have been accustomed to, these individuals were left with no means of providing for their families.

One region, known for being a vast and crowded slum, with over 200,000 occupants, was particularly devastated by the financial crisis. In this area, coronavirus-related deaths were recorded at a minimum of seven deaths a day—nearly six times the rate of China’s fatalities during this same period.

Send Relief heard about this community living hand-to-mouth and sprung into action.

Equipped with hundreds of food baskets and Bibles, teams were mobilized to help these families experience healing physically and spiritually—but God multiplied these efforts. Initially, this slum was the only neighborhood our teams were deployed to, but because of an increase in volunteer participation and many requests from other communities, we were able to reach five different neighborhoods in the poorest region of Brazil.

One volunteer, Maya*, told Send Relief teams, “The work of distributing the food baskets has been the fundamental help in these communities. Through the distribution, I’ve always seen gratitude in these people. Many of them don’t know how to express gratitude, but just looking in their faces [as they] demonstrate a happiness and hope that there is going to be food in their house, [I know they are]. And through the distribution of Bibles, God has also supplied the most important thing [for] their spiritual needs, and we will continue praying for these people to see that God is the Bread of Life.”

Eventually, this project became so successful that it spawned the creation of four identical efforts throughout São Paulo’s shantytowns and expanded to include mental health counseling. Thousands of people in need were assisted because of your generosity!

Since the beginning of these efforts, a prominent national Christian motorcycle club, Ministério Motociclistico Abençoados, has been an integral part of delivering baskets to families unable to travel to distribution sites. The club president commented on his experience volunteering, saying, “People came up to us and asked for Bibles while we were making deliveries, so we gave them out and prayed with them. In another place, a young pregnant couple came up and asked for a Bible and prayer because they wanted their baby to serve God. In both cases, we made sure that they were introduced to a local pastor and church so they can grow in their knowledge of the gospel.”

Our teams requested the involvement of five local churches to begin building relationships with faith communities, and, through their participation, hundreds of gospel presentations were conducted during the food and Bible distributions.

One church leader, Santiago*, shared, “[At] the distribution of the food, it was very gratifying to see these people so satisfied to receive these baskets. For me, it was an honor to know that we are working for Jesus. I want to thank the people who were involved in [healing] our community—thank you very much!”

This project was made possible by the generosity of Southern Baptists through Global Hunger Relief. On October 11, Global Hunger Sunday, you and your church can help more communities like this experience the tangible love of God.

*Names have been changed for security.

Global Hunger Sunday bulletin
By / Sep 30

Free, downloadable bulletin insert for use by your church on Global Hunger Sunday.

To see additional SBC event dates, visit sbc.net/calendar.

Additional resources can be found at globalhungerrelief.org.

5 facts about global hunger in a time of pandemic
By / Oct 2

In a little over a week, many churches will observe Global Hunger Sunday (Oct. 11) and join with others across the globe to recognize World Food Day (Oct. 16), a worldwide event designed to increase awareness, understanding, and informed, year‐around action to alleviate hunger.

Here are 5 things you should know about global hunger and how to respond:

1. Global hunger refers to the want or scarcity of food in a country, aggregated to the world level. The related technical terms (e.g., those used in medicine) are malnutrition or undernutrition, both of which indicate a lack of some or all nutritional elements necessary for human health. Malnutrition affects nearly every country, and only two countries have levels of under-five stunting, anemia in women of reproductive age, and adult overweight all below public health thresholds. Children who are poorly nourished suffer up to 160 days of illness each year. Poor nutrition plays a role in at least half of the 10.9 million child deaths each year.

2. The COVID-19 pandemic could almost double the number of people suffering acute hunger, says the United Nations World Food Programme. The WFP notes that the economic effect of the pandemic could lead to more than a quarter of a billion people living in acute hunger by the end of 2020. “COVID-19 is potentially catastrophic for millions who are already hanging by a thread,” says Arif Husain, the chief economist for the WFP. “It is a hammer blow for millions more who can only eat if they earn a wage. Lockdowns and global economic recession have already decimated their nest eggs. It only takes one more shock – like COVID-19 – to push them over the edge. We must collectively act now to mitigate the impact of this global catastrophe.” By April, a total of 81% of the global workforce of 3.3 billion people had their workplace fully or partly closed. Around the world, an estimated equivalent of 195 million full-time workers lost their jobs. 

3. Prior to the pandemic, the majority of people suffering acute food insecurity were in countries affected by conflict (77 million), climate change (34 million), and economic crises (24 million people). In 2019, 10 countries constituted the worst food crises:  Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Ethiopia, South Sudan, Syria, the Sudan, Nigeria, and Haiti. These 10 countries accounted for 66% of the total population—about 88 million—suffering from the hunger crisis.

4. The pandemic has also caused an increase in the United States. From 2019 to August 2020, the number of U.S. households that sometimes or often had “not enough to eat” almost tripled, according to an analysis of data from the Census Bureau and the Department of Agriculture. According to the Agriculture Department, the proportion of children in the U.S. who sometimes do not have enough to eat is now as much as 14 times higher than it was last year. Levels of food insecurity in Black and Latino households are significantly higher, at 19% and 17%, respectively, compared to 7% in white households.

5. Churches across the country will designate Oct. 11, 2020, as Global Hunger Sunday to bring attention to the global hunger crisis. SBC churches can help by supporting Global Hunger Relief (GHR), a cooperative initiative supported by ERLC and six other SBC partners. Donations to GHR go 100% toward meeting hunger needs in North America and around the world. One-fifth (20%) of giving to GHR is allotted to North

American hunger relief, with the remaining 80% is spent internationally. In North America, over 14 million meals were provided, while internationally, over 600,000 people were helped by projects supported through Global Hunger Relief in 2017. Additionally, 

Missions-focused GHR projects are integrated into the strategies prioritized by the North American Mission Board and International Mission Board. All GHR projects have an intentional spiritual strategy, work with Southern Baptist personnel, solicit local input and expertise, and have accountability measures built in.

A gift of $25 can provide up to 100 meals to feed the hungry. You can make a donation and access resources for your church at globalhungerrelief.com.

Why you should participate in Global Hunger Sunday
By / Sep 29

Almost half a billion people could be facing severe poverty due to the economic fallout of COVID-19.1All three intro stats taken from https://www.usglc.org/coronavirus/global-hunger/

Poverty is the leading cause of undernutrition, which is responsible for almost half of child deaths worldwide, and families around the world are now facing the harsh realities of chronic hunger—some for the very first time. One hundred-thirty million people are being pushed to the brink of starvation, with over three dozen countries predicted to experience devastating famines in the coming months.

Persistent hunger can drive people to desperation—especially mothers who are trying to care for and feed their children. Often, as a result of food shortages, vulnerable women are coerced into trafficking rings with the promise of consistent work. Once absorbed into this lifestyle, it is extremely difficult for them to find a safe way out.

Additionally, when an entire family’s funds are rerouted to focus on finding food for the day, other basic human necessities aren’t able to be prioritized. Families focused on survival rarely are able to pay for medical care for a chronic illness or sudden accident, often leaving the main breadwinner incapacitated and sinking the family further into poverty.

If the primary provider is unable to make money, the children are frequently then looked to for assistance if they are able-bodied. Sadly, many children in this situation are then exploited either for labor or pressured into child trafficking—sometimes without the parents’ knowledge and sometimes, as a final act of hopelessness, with their consent.

Obviously, the effects of chronic hunger are not isolated to empty bellies. Its impact is far-reaching and can be the first domino in a chain of devastation.

What are we doing about it?

Global Hunger Relief (GHR) is a reliable, sustainable initiative that Southern Baptists can use to make long-lasting differences in the lives of families at risk of starvation all over the world. With no administrative or overhead fees, Global Hunger Relief offers the unique guarantee that 100% of your gifts go directly to meeting hunger needs in North America and abroad.

Though some funding is used for immediate needs such as supplying food during a famine or natural disaster, most of the GHR projects are intentionally focused on establishing durable solutions to end global hunger one community at a time. These efforts include job skills training, clean water development, medical care, and human trafficking aftercare for survivors.

Vocational training classes help ensure that families don’t relapse into the cycle of generational poverty by equipping them with practical skills such as tailoring, soap-making, and livestock husbandry to help them either start businesses or enter the workforce.

Many diseases in agricultural or low-income regions are water-borne and can infect entire communities, so clean water projects are essential—if a family finally has access to nutritious meals but cooks their food with contaminated water, the food distribution becomes pointless.

As previously mentioned, medical care is often unattainable for families struggling with basic food provision, but in order to avoid child exploitation and other desperate “solutions,” medical care is essential to keeping parents healthy and able to work.

Finally, providing aftercare for human trafficking survivors helps ensure that those who have been subjected to trauma in order to support their families have the support necessary to recover and find other means of becoming self-sufficient.

As world food prices continue to rise due to the pandemic, you have the opportunity to help families struggling to keep food on the table discover new hope. On Sunday, Oct. 11—Global Hunger Sunday—your church, small group and family can change lives with your gifts. Download free posters, bulletin inserts, digital slides, devotionals, and more here, and commit to making a difference this October.

Global Hunger Sunday
By / May 15

Free, downloadable bulletin inserts, poster and postcard with content from Global Hunger Relief, a Southern Baptist Initiative. Learn more about GHR at globalhungerrelief.com.

5 small ways to fight global hunger
By / Oct 7

This Sunday, churches across the nation will talk about the global hunger crisis, and many will respond by taking offerings for Global Hunger Relief or other food ministries in their local communities. Yet, the needs for the 800 million in the world can’t be solved in one day each year. Church leaders must work to better understand this great need comprehensively. In order to combat this global hunger crisis, pastors and ministry leaders must start small.  Here are a few ways you can do just that:

  1. Know your church family. You may not be called to feed the street children of Kenya. Yet, without a doubt, you are called to serve your church community. Thirteen percent of households in the United States—15.8 million households—are food insecure according to one of the largest scale hunger studies. It’s very likely that individuals and families within your church body have to make weekly decisions about their abilities to purchase food or pay bills.
  2. Know the communities most at risk. Senior adults, rural, African-American and Latino communities are at greater risk of food insecurity. If these segments of the population aren’t represented in your church, then they will be in your neighborhood, city or state. Use this map from Feeding America to look at statistics specific to your county or congressional district.  
  3. Talk with your small group. Global Hunger Relief provides this free small group discussion guide that walks through some of the scriptures that focus on serving those in need. Talking about the needs of the poor can garner a variety of responses and emotions based on an individual’s experience. Be open about those responses, and work through them with your brothers and sisters, using Scripture as your guide.
  4. Talk with your children and your family. Begin talking about poverty, hunger and other aspects of suffering when your children are young. These conversations will naturally lead to conversation about proper responses for your family. Here’s a helpful guide for having those conversations with younger children.
  5. Give something. Decide to give a small amount, either one time or on a regular basis, to those who don’t have enough to eat. As the months ahead provide opportunity for so many to gather around tables with plenty, let’s remember those who are without and give.

The issue of hunger is often hidden inside homes, with those affected feeling a sense of shame. As a church or small group leader, it is part of our responsibility to seek to identify those needs around us and serve those most at risk. I urge you to start these important conversations this weekend with Global Hunger Sunday and continue to implement its message and work in small ways in the year ahead.

5 Facts about global hunger
By / Sep 29

Next month many churches will observe Global Hunger Sunday (October 9) and join with others across the globe to recognize World Food Day (October 16), a worldwide event designed to increase awareness, understanding and informed, year‐around action to alleviate hunger.

Here are five facts you should know about one of the world’s most persistent, but solvable, global problems.

1. Around the world, 842 million people do not have enough of the food they need to live an active, healthy life. 98 percent of the world’s hungry live in developing countries. The highest number of malnourished people, 553 million, live in Asia and the Pacific. The second highest number, 227 million, live in sub-Saharan Africa. Another 47 million live in Latin America and the Caribbean.

2. Malnutrition affects nearly every country. Only two countries have levels of under-five stunting, anemia in women of reproductive age, and adult overweight all below public health thresholds

3. 45 percent of deaths for children under the age of five are attributable to undernutrition. “Nutritional deficiencies” are responsible for over 50 percent of years lived with disability in children age four and under. Underweight is the number-one contributor to the burden of disease in Africa south of the Sahara and number four in South Asia

4. Since 1990-92, 63 countries have reached the United Nations’ hunger target goal of halving the proportion of undernourished people, and 25 countries have achieved the goal of halving the number of undernourished people. Of the 63 developing countries, 11 already had undernourishment levels below 5 percent. 

5. Since the early 1990s, the prevalence of undernourishment has fallen from 18.7 to 11.3 percent globally and from 23.4 to 13.5 percent for developing countries. There has likely never been a time in modern human history when such a large percentage of the population has been freed from chronic hunger.

Click here to access free downloadable bulletin inserts for Global Hunger Sunday with content from Global Hunger Relief (GHR), a Southern Baptist Initiative. Learn more about GHR at globalhungerrelief.com.