Why Christians should never resort to political violence
By / Sep 26

I have been involved for several years now with an organization that seeks to reduce the political polarization that seems to be growing in our society. The group is called Braver Angels. It specializes in hosting conversations between people on opposite sides of the political spectrum. One of the notable things I’ve observed is that prior to these conversations, the participants tend to have an extremely low opinion of the people with whom they disagree. They assume they are probably bad people. They can’t imagine they would ever be friends with them. After they spend several hours together with a moderator who works to keep the conversation constructive, things seem to change. They don’t come to a place of agreement. That’s not the goal of Braver Angels. But they do seem to gain a new appreciation for their conversation partners as people. And that is the goal. Genuine conversation, as opposed to the series of battles we constantly stage on television and on social media, helps to rebuild connections.  

Unfortunately, the rest of the world is very different from a Braver Angels workshop. We have a long way to go to cultivate civic virtue in which we view each other as friends and countrymen with political differences instead of as opposing armies occupying the same land. Instead, we have become comfortable dismissing entire groups of people. Worse, rather than merely dismissing them, we are building them up into demonic figures. The truth is that human beings are those made in God’s image who are afflicted with sin, rather than demons. The appropriate spirit to take toward them is one of sympathy and patience rather than war. 

This phenomenon of demonization has unfortunately reached virtually every part of the American political community and into many churches. Whether it is Q-Anon conspiracies, the dismissal of “soy-boys” and “snowflakes,” the blowtorch rhetoric of President Trump, or even something like President Biden’s prime-time jeremiad against “MAGA Republicans,” American political discourse has moved in the direction of villainization as a preferred mode.

Serving the Lord of the Beatitudes

But Christians serve the Lord of the Beatitudes. Within those passages in Matthew 5:2-12, we see the praise of meekness, mercy, and long-suffering in the face of trials. Further in the chapter, Jesus counsels reconciliation, turning the other cheek, and loving enemies. There is a worthwhile and longstanding debate on the degree to which these teachings apply to individuals over against our broader political lives. But it would be strange indeed if we were to believe there is no connection. Let us accept that Martin Luther was correct in seeing those commands directed toward individuals, the kind of person formed by obeying them will not be one who is quick to anger, who lacks empathy, who cultivates strife, and who inflicts damage with no regard for the need to make peace again in its aftermath.

One of the major deliverances of Christian teaching in the Bible has to do with the problem of sin. It is not something that can be conquered habit by habit such as by extinguishing drug use or overeating, though it is highly laudable to do so. The problem of sin is far greater than committing more good acts than bad acts or even eliminating bad acts. Sin is something that is universal in its application to human beings. Every person is afflicted by a sinful will that ultimately, without God’s help, cannot avoid seeking to remove every obstacle to the fulfillment of our desires. If we accept that the situation of the sinful creature is applicable to all of us (which is certainly the teaching of the Bible and the consistent message of the church), then it should be easy for us also to believe that humility is utterly essential. We must always be aware of the innate battle we are all fighting. We must be wary that at the moment when we most greatly revel in our own rectitude, we may be in tremendous danger of surrendering to sin.

When politics fails in its social role, war rears its head. However, we in the United States do not live in a society where politics and civil government no longer function. Our courts still operate. Our legislatures still meet. Governors and other executives carry on their work. There have been some tremendous tests, such as the COVID pandemic, the financial crisis of 2008, and terrorist attacks such as 9/11. It would be a lie to say that our response to any of the crises we have faced has been truly satisfying. Instead, we have seen sinful human beings struggling to manage the public interest, their self-interest, the constant influence of political opportunism, and our general failure to be omniscient even in a world of rapidly expanding information.  

To fail to acknowledge the problems of human sinfulness and limitation will be to amplify our growing sense of unease. What we must all do, from the highest technocrat, to the most powerful policymaker, to the corporate analyst, to the blue collar worker, to the church member, to the father or mother, is to be humble in our recognition of what we can really know and what we can really do. With greater humility will come greater room for love and understanding. The way to keep political violence at bay is to remember who we are and that the only king who will not disappoint (whether a person or a movement) is Jesus Christ, himself.

The tragedy of the Atlanta shootings and the biblical roots of racism at the Tower of Babel
By / Mar 19

With the recent rise of hate crimes targeting Asian-Americans, the terroristic shootings in Atlanta this week touched a tender cord for many in the Asian-American community. Though the alleged shooter, Robert Aaron Long, has taken responsibility for the murders, he has stated that his alleged crimes were not racially motivated.

However, with six of the victims being women of Asian descent, it feels sadly familiar. Last summer’s killings of Ahmad Arbery and George Floyd sprung to mind as more information came out about the Atlanta killing spree. It was difficult not to think of Dylann Roof, who joined an evening Bible Study on June 17, 2015, at the historically Black Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, only to kill nine church members, all of whom were African-American.

Even though Long denies his crimes were racially motivated, the church cannot overlook the facts of this tragedy and the growing hostility toward Asian-Americans in the United States. The New York Times is reporting that there have been almost 3,800 “hate incidents” against Asian-Americans in the last year. The reality is, our brothers and sisters in the Asian-American community are hurting, and have been since at least the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Having endured growing hostility and targeted aggression in the wake of COVID-19, Asian-Americans have been the regular recipients of hateful rhetoric and worse, bringing unimaginable pain and frustration. As hate and hostility seem to be growing nationwide, this community of Americans is suffering acutely.

Racism and the Tower of Babel

In lamenting the events of the last year, I have found myself wondering where all of this originated. We can certainly look at the stark heritage of racism in our nation’s history, what many call America’s “original sin.” And while there is no denying our country’s regrettable complicity, racism pre-dates our founding by thousands of years, all the way back to the Tower of Babel.

At the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11, we see a picture of all of humanity together, united in culture, language, and purpose. Though, as the Bible makes clear, that purpose was to rival God’s reign over the world. God’s image-bearers were meant to rule over the earth as God’s representatives. But in constructing the tower, our forebears were attempting to rule as his replacement, which resulted in their exile, just like their forebears Adam and Eve. He scattered them and confused their language because together their aspirations proved deadly, and he knew things would get worse. It was merciful discipline. But, because sin infects every human heart, the desire to rule over something different from us has never left.

We still do not know if Long was motivated by racism or sex addiction or a combination of these and other sins. But we do know that human beings have brought our Babel-like tendencies with us to our respective cultures, languages, and ethnicities. Since we could not rule like or over God, we’ve now set our sights on one another. In our society, racism and white supremacy seeks to make other image-bearers, those who speak different languages and come from other cultures, subject to another’s rule. And because sin makes us think we can rival God, the sickest among us imagine that we have the right to give and take life, a right that only belongs to him. 

The responsibility of the church today

Those who are in Christ have a responsibility to speak out against racism and white supremacy. Why? Because racism and white supremacy have no place in the kingdom of God and are fundamentally antithetical to the gospel. And as we continue to see, these are problems that continue to plague our country and churches. As those who have been saved by grace through faith, we are called to the good works of protecting the vulnerable, caring for the oppressed, and fighting against evil. We have been saved not just from our sin, but into the work of the Triune God who saved us, to restore all that was lost in the fall. We seek to make straight what is crooked and make whole what has been shattered. Christ did that for us, and we go and do likewise.

Diversity and the destiny of the church

Our destiny as the church is a multiethnic one, a future that has been set from before the foundation of the earth. As Paul argues in Ephesians 2, any dividing walls of hostility between Jew and Gentile have been banished in Christ, resulting in a beautiful, multiethnic temple. The body of Christ, therefore, consists of people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. It was a plan, Paul says, that was set in motion from “before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Eph. 1:4). In other words, for the glory of God and the holiness of his church, homogeneity was never part of the plan.

Because it was always God’s intention to build a multiethnic kingdom, we cannot say we are “seeking first the kingdom of God” (Matt. 6:33) unless we say and show that we care about racism. Hate crimes against the Black community are the most notorious in American history, but a crime against any person because of their race is an affront to God’s genius, design, and image. As the body of Christ and as emissaries of the kingdom of God on Earth, we cannot sit by and watch our Asian-American neighbors, or any others, suffer such injustice.

We may never know the answers to the questions we have after the shooting spree in Atlanta. But there are two things we know to be true: God hates sin and comforts the broken. Right now, the pain present in the Asian-American community is real. Our neighbors are hurting and living in fear. We must join our voices with the chorus of lament and speak up in opposition to such forms of hate. Even more, we must get involved. We are a people called to love our neighbors not just with our prayers and voices, but with our hands and feet. Only then will all that has been shattered in this world begin to be made whole. 

5 Facts about white-nationalist terrorism
By / Aug 9

This past weekend, the first of two mass shootings occurred when a man who feared a “Hispanic invasion of Texas” was replacing white Americans opened fire in a Walmart in El Paso, killing 22 and wounding dozens of others. This incident was the most recent example of the trend of domestic terrorism being carried out by white nationalists.

Here are five facts you should know about this ideologically motivated crime:

1. White-nationalist terrorism is a form of domestic terrorism that is carried out by those who espouse a white nationalist ideology. White nationalism is a political view that merges nationalism (i.e., devotion to the interests or culture of a particular nation-state) with white identity (i.e., the belief that white people have interests in common based on race that must be defended). White nationalists are racial separatists who believe that to preserve the white race, other racial groups must be excluded or marginalized in “white states” (i.e., countries or regions that have historically had majority-white populations). White nationalists are frequently concerned about miscegenation and nonwhite immigration because it contributes to what they consider to be “white genocide” (i.e., the replacement of the “white race” by other racial groups). The terms white nationalist and “alt-right” are frequently used as synonyms—such as in the 2017 SBC resolution “On the Anti-Gospel of Alt-Right White Supremacy”—since they both espouse white identity. (In rebutting these beliefs, Christians must be careful not to reduce them all to mere “white supremacy.” It’s natural to a want to use that term and apply it to the entirety of an evil movement. Because of the long, despicable history of white supremacy in America, that term retains considerable cultural weight. But if we imply that the problem with the movement is only the elements of racial superiority, then those on the alt-right who can effectively avoid that charge will be let off the hook.)

2. Domestic terrorism is defined in federal law as an act that occurs primarily within the jurisdiction of the United States that is dangerous to human life and that is a violation of the criminal laws of a state or the U.S., if the act appears to be intended to: (i) intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping. Despite this definition being included in the U.S. legal code, there is no specific federal law against domestic terrorism. (On Tuesday, the FBI Agents Association, which represents more than 14,000 active and former bureau agents, called on Congress to make domestic terrorism a federal crime.) Acts such as those carried out in El Paso would normally be prosecuted under federal hate crimes and firearms charges. A bill introduced by Congressional Democrats in March, the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2019 would, “authorize dedicated domestic terrorism offices within the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to analyze and monitor domestic terrorist activity and require the Federal Government to take steps to prevent domestic terrorism.”

3. White-nationalist terrorism is a transnational movement that appears to be on the rise in the U.S. Last month FBI Director Christopher Wray said his agency has made about 100 domestic terrorism-related arrests since October 2018, and the majority were connected to white nationalism. Wray’s predecessor, former FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe, told CNN on Monday that there is "a very alarming connection between domestic terrorist attacks here in the United States and domestic terrorist attacks abroad," and that, "It's not uncommon to see attackers referencing [other attackers abroad] in their manifesto." In his four-page online manifesto, the El Paso shooter referenced the terror attack in New Zealand in March by a white nationalist that killed dozens of Muslims.

4. In the past, many acts of white-nationalist terrorism were connected to white supremacists organizations, such as the Ku Klux Klan or neo-Nazis groups. Increasingly, though, the acts are carried out by people who associate online, especially on websites that host user-generated message boards such as 8chan and 4chan. The El Paso shooter, for example, announced his killing spree on 8chan’s /pol board just prior to the attack. He also attached a four-page manifesto to his post, along with a document that included his real name. “The most important takeaways from the El Paso shooting are twofold,” says journalist Robert Evans, “(1) 8chan’s /pol board continues to deliberately radicalize mass shooters. (2) The act of massacring innocents has been gamified.” Studies have shown that sites like 8chan encourage “copycat” terrorism. As the FBI warned on Sunday, “U.S.-based domestic violent extremists could become inspired by these and previous high-profile attacks to engage in similar acts of violence.” A Florida man was arrested that same day after allegedly calling a Walmart near Tampa and telling an employee he was minutes away from the store and planned to shoot it up. The local sheriff said the would-be terrorist  “was intrigued with the shootings over the last couple of days.”

5. In a recent article on “White Nationalist Terrorism and the Gospel,” ERLC President Russell Moore said,

White nationalism is not just another ideology, in a world filled with competing opinions. White nationalism is a manifestation of an ancient evil that we as Christians, of all people, ought to recognize immediately. White nationalism emerges from what the Bible calls “the way of the flesh.” This is a form of idolatry that exalts one’s own creaturely attributes, making a god out of, for instance, one’s ancestral origins or one’s tribal culture.

This is not incidental to the gospel of Jesus Christ, but is precisely what the gospel everywhere in the Bible confronts and condemns.

Blessed are the persecuted
By / Apr 23

Over the Easter weekend in Sri Lanka, more than 280 people were killed and over 500 were injured. Many of those who died or were injured in the coordinated, suicide bombings were Christians who were assembling to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:10). These Christians were indeed persecuted for “righteousness’ sake,” and Jesus calls them “blessed.”

On the most celebrated day of the Christian calendar, anti-Christian terrorist targeted the followers of the resurrected Christ. The scenes, which were graphically captured by several photographers, are devastating to contemplate. As Christian families streamed into buildings and hotels and began to settle in for a time of jubilant celebration of eternal life, violence erupted as a result of the cowardly attacks that terrorists had been planning for weeks. Such devastation and darkness on a day set aside to remember and rejoice in the Light of the World should serve as just one more reminder that “if Christ has not been raised from the dead, then our faith is in vain” (1 Cor. 15:14).

According to various reports, officials in Sri Lanka are investigating a radical Islamic group named “Sri Lanka Thawheed Jamaat (SLTJ),” also known as National Thowheed Jamath. SLTJ is considered a “Wahabi-aligned” Islamic group, which, according to Nabeel Jabbour, is typically considered a more fundamentalist, “back-to-the-roots” form of Islam that “rejects all innovation in Islam after the seventh century.” Even many Sri Lankan Muslims reject and denounce the SLTJ form of Islam.

While the loss of human life is an inestimable tragedy, one of the greatest tragedies in the whole event is the blindness of the attackers. Not only did these suicide bombers take innocent life in the vulnerable Christian setting of corporate worship and fellowship, they believed that they were “doing a holy service for God.” The reason, according to Jesus, that the terrorist in Sri Lanka committed these atrocious acts of violence against Christians is because they do not know the true God: “they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor Me.” In other words, they have a gospel problem.

Jesus, however, prepared and equipped his people to count the cost for following him. He goes on to say, “I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you” (John 16:2-4). So, how could Christians ever persevere and remain faithful in their gospel witness in places where these types of attacks happen? Where could Christians ever find the hope to press on in the “blessed life” of “being persecuted for righteousness’ sake?” How does one continue to gather with God’s people under the threat of death? Jesus gives us the power to persevere through the truth found in the rest of John 16,

I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged . . . Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you . . . Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

May he strengthen the Christians who are hurting in Sri Lanka, and may he hasten the day we see the evils of this world done away with.

Should we pray for the defeat of ISIS, or their conversion?
By / Feb 18

A pastor friend told me last week that he had church members enraged with him when he suggested from the pulpit that we ought to pray for the salvation of Islamic State terrorists. The people in his church told him that he ought to be calling for justice against them, given their brutal murder of Christians, not for mercy.

I thought about my friend a few days ago when these murderous fiends beheaded 21 of our brothers and sisters in Christ because they refused to renounce the name of Jesus. I was not just angry; I was furious. Can such fury co-exist, though, with the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7)? When we pray about such evil, how should we pray?

The complexity of the Christian calling in the world was seen even in social media. One friend of mine posted that the slaughter of Christians overseas calls for the world’s only remaining superpower to take action. Another said, quoting singer Toby Keith, that it was time to “light up their world like the Fourth of July.” To that, I say, “Amen.” Another friend, a former student of mine, posted, “Oh, that there might be an ISIS Saul standing there now, holding the cloaks, whose salvation might turn the Arab world upside down with the gospel!” To that I say “Amen,” too.

These are not contradictory prayers.

Jesus says to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us (Matt. 5:44). The Spirit of Jesus in the prophets and in the apostles also tells us that those who turn a blind eye to the killing of others are wrong. The fact that we feel contradictory praying both for justice against the Islamic State and for salvation for Islamic State terrorists is partly because we fail to distinguish between the mission of the state in the use of the temporal sword against evildoers (Rom. 13:4) and the mission of the church in the use of the sword of the Spirit against sin and death and the devil (Eph. 6). But that’s not, I think, the main problem.

The main problem is that we sometimes forget that we are called to be a people of both justice and justification, and that these two are not contradictory.

It sounds awfully spiritual, at first blush, to say that we should not pray for the defeat of our enemies on the field of battle. But that’s only the case if these enemies are not actually doing anything. This terrorist group is raping, enslaving, beheading, crucifying our brothers and sisters in Christ, as well as other innocent people. To not pray for swift action against them is to not care about what Jesus said we should seek, what we should hunger and thirst for, for justice. A world in which murderous gangs commit genocide without penalty is not a “merciful” world but an unjust horror show.

As Christians, we ought to be, above all people, concerned with such justice. We not only have the common grace standing of caring about stopping murder and injustice, rooted in the image of God and the law written on the heart. We also have the personal implication here. It’s our household being wiped out in the Middle East, the very place where our church started. For us, this isn’t a matter of “they;” it’s a matter of “us.”

At the same time, praying for the salvation of our enemies, even those committing the most horrific of crimes, is not a call to stop praying for justice against them. The cross, after all, is not forgiveness in a contemporary therapeutic sense—in which one is merely absolved of wrongdoing as though it were all a misunderstanding. No, that’s precisely the Apostle Paul’s point in the Book of Romans.

The gospel does not say, “Don’t’ worry about it; it’s okay.” The gospel points us to the cross where sin is absorbed in a substitute. God’s righteous condemnation of sin is there. He does not, and cannot, enable wickedness. And God’s mercy is there in that he is the One who sends his Son as the propitiation for sin. He is both “just and the justifier of the One who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26). The gospel doesn’t leave sin unpunished. Every sin is punished, either a the Place of the Skull, in Christ, or in the judgment of hell, on one’s own.

The thief on the cross—a Middle Eastern terrorist—in his act of faith did not believe that his salvation exempted him from justice. He confessed that his sentence was justice, and that he was receiving “the due reward for our deeds” (Lk. 23:41) even as he cried out to Jesus for merciful entrance into the kingdom of Christ (Lk. 23:42).

We ought, indeed, to pray for the gospel to go forward, and that there might be a new Saul of Tarsus turned away from murdering to gospel witness. At the same time, we ought to pray, with the martyrs in heaven, for justice against those who do such wickedness. Praying for the military defeat of our enemies, and that they might turn to Christ, these are not contradictory prayers because salvation doesn’t mean turning an eye away from justice. We can pray for gospel rootedness in the Middle East, and we can pray to light up their world like the Fourth of July, at the same time.

We are, after all, the people of the cross.

Explainer: 21 Egyptian Christians beheaded in Libya
By / Feb 16

What just happened in Libya?

Islamic State (IS) released a video on Sunday that appeared to show the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya. The footage showing the deaths of the Egyptian martyrs appeared on the Twitter feed of a website that supports IS.

In the video, militants in black marched the captives, dressed in orange overalls, to a beach the group said was near Tripoli, the capital of Libya. The victims—all men—were forced down onto their knees and then beheaded.

A caption on the five-minute video read: “The people of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian church.” Before the killings, one of the militants stood with a knife in his hand and said: “Safety for you crusaders is something you can only wish for. . . The sea you have hidden Sheikh Osama Bin Laden’s body in, we swear to Allah we will mix it with your blood.”

The militant speaker then pointed northward and said, “We will conquer Rome, by Allah’s permission.”

The video is one of the first showing beheadings by IS affiliated group outside their core territory in Syria and Iraq.

Why were the Egyptian Christians in Libya?

According the Jerusalem Post, despite the increasing chaos in Libya, thousands of Egyptians have traveled to the region over the past four years in search of jobs. The 21 Christians were workers kidnapped by IS in December and January from the coastal town of Sirte in eastern Libya, an area now under the control of Islamist groups.

Who is Islamic State?

Islamic State is the name of the group formerly called ISIS (aka ISIL) that currently controls about a third of Syria and Iraq. They are the group that during the Iraq War was often referred to as “Al-Qaeda in Iraq.” Islamic State is an abbreviation of “The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria” (the group is actually called “The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant” but most western media translate “Levant” as “Syria.”). The group claims it is an independent state with claims to Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. It was established in the early years of the Iraq War and pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda in 2004.

IS has been responsible for the persecution of Christians and other minority religious groups in Iraq and Syria. 

Why is Libya lawless?

Libya has been unstable since the overthrow of the country’s military dictator Col. Muammar Gaddafi. After taking power in 1969, Gaddafi ruled the country until he was ousted in October 2011 during the Libyan civil war. In his absence, a number of armed militant groups—up to 1,700—have fought for control of the country’s power and wealth.

Libya has two rival governments: Libya Dawn, which controls much of western part o the country, including Tripoli, and Ansar al-Sharia which controls the city of Benghazi and was behind the 2012 attack that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.

Who are the Coptic Christians?

The word Copt is derived from the Greek word for Egyptian. After the Muslim conquest of Egypt, it became restricted to those Egyptians adhering to Christianity. Approximately 12 percent of the Egyptian population—roughly 12 million people—are Christians. Egypt’s Copts are considered the largest community of Christians in the Middle East.

The majority of Copts belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. About 800,000 are divided between the Coptic Catholic and various Coptic Protestant churches. According to tradition, the Coptic church was established in Alexandria by St. Mark the Evangelist circa AD 49, during the reign of the Roman emperor Claudius.

What has been the reaction of Egypt?

The Egyptian government declared a seven-day mourning period and President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi addressed the nation late Sunday night, pledging resilience in the fight against terrorism.

“These cowardly actions will not undermine our determination,” said el-Sissi. He also said his government reserves the right to seek retaliation. “Egypt and the whole world are in a fierce battle with extremist groups carrying extremist ideology and sharing the same goals.”

In a related statement, the Coptic Church called on its followers to have “confidence that their great nation won’t rest without retribution for the evil criminals.”

On Monday Egypt launched airstrikes against IS weapons caches and training camps in Libya. A spokesman for the Armed Forces General Command said the strikes were “to avenge the bloodshed and to seek retribution from the killers.”

“Let those far and near know that Egyptians have a shield that protects them,” it said.

What has been the reaction from the U.S.?

The White House Statement issued a “Statement by the Press Secretary on the Murder of Egyptian Citizens.” The statement condemns the “despicable and cowardly murder of twenty-one Egyptian citizens in Libya by ISIL-affiliated terrorists.” But while it offers condolences to the families of the victims and support for the Egyptian government, the statement makes no mention of the victims being Christians or that the martyrs were targeted because of their religion.

Olympics: Engage Sochi ready to launch
By / Feb 7

SOCHI, Russia—Will Baptists have a witness at the Winter Olympics in Russia? Will it be safe from terrorists? Will other issues arise?

Marc Ira Hooks, one of IMB’s main strategists for the Sochi Olympics who was involved in outreach at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, spoke to such questions in an interview about this winter’s Feb. 7-23 games. 

Hooks is the creator/co-director of Engage Sochi, IMB’s initiative focusing both on church planting in the Winter Olympics host city and on outreach to Olympic competitors and guests from throughout the world. Earl Gillespie* is the other co-director of the project for the Feb. 7-23 Olympics in addition to serving as the Sochi city strategist.

Where did you get the idea for Engage Sochi?

Hooks: For whatever reason, maybe it was the time difference, it was late at night, we [Marc and his wife, Kellye] were sitting on the bed and I just remember the guy pulling out the envelope and saying, “The next Olympics will be in Sochi, Russia.” I remember looking at Kellye and saying, I don’t know how, why or whatever, but we’re going to be involved in that.”

What did you learn from the Vancouver Olympics that applies to Sochi? 

Hooks: As we came away from Vancouver, we started saying, we as the IMB, our concentration, our focus is on church planting. And while mass seed sowing is good and should be done, there’s more to reaching people with the Gospel than just giving them the Gospel and walking away. So, we wanted to create something that as people came into contact with the Gospel, that they were touched for a long period of time.

What is Engage Sochi?

Hooks: We want something that is a multi-tiered approach and … not just [during] the fortnight of Olympic competition in Sochi. We’re talking about reaching the people of Sochi before, during and after the games.

What are the plans for following up with people who respond to the Gospel?

Hooks: We want everybody that we come in to contact with to have the opportunity to continue the conversations that were started in Sochi. So, regardless of where that person is from, we want to connect them with a believer in their area who can make a relationship with that person and continue to speak with them about issues of faith.

What has gone on in Sochi in preparation for those coming? 

Hooks: For two years, we’ve had people coming and working with our church planters in Sochi, in winter and in summer. In the winter they are doing ministry in the mountains at the ski resorts and that kind of thing, and in the summer they’re doing beach reach ministry and ministry in the city. So as our friends come in these next couple of weeks, it’s just another phase of building Christ’s church in Sochi.

What sort of training has been given to those coming?

Hooks: This is a relational ministry and our folks will be coming and making relationships. Interestingly enough, the majority of our groups that are coming are performing arts kinds of groups. So we have a large men’s choir, we have a bluegrass band and a Dixieland band. We have a drama group coming and a church choir coming, and some people doing clowning. Basically, they’re going to be walking through areas, come together, perform, talk to people and disperse again. So a lot of it will have that flash mob kind of feel. They’re not doing scheduled performances on stages, they’re there to meet people and their performing arts are a way to be able to do that.

Are you frightened of the security issues?

Hooks: I would not use the word frightened, I would say I am concerned. It’s a healthy concern, however, I am confident in the Russian government’s ability to do what they say, and the Russian government has pledged that this will not only be the biggest Olympics in history, which I think it will be, but it’s going to be the safest Olympics in history. And so, while there have been threats made and have been other threats that have been carried out, I really and truly believe that from January through March, Sochi, Russia, is probably going to be one of the safest cities on the planet.

How potentially disruptive will Russia’s position on homosexuality be?

Hooks: There will be people who try to make this an issue, there will be people going to the games for that [reason], but the last reports that we’ve heard, demonstrations will be allowed; demonstrations over different issues, this being one of them, will be allowed in the city, but they will only be allowed in certain designated areas and people who are coming to demonstrate must have permits to do so, and that kind of thing. So, it’s not going to disappear and it’ll be an issue that’s there, and the media will cover it. But will it be a disruptive factor in the city? No, I don’t think so.

What city in the U.S. is Sochi most like?

Hooks: It would have to be some place in California. Sochi’s considered the longest city in Europe. It’s about 90 miles long and it wraps along the coast of the Black Sea. But in places, it’s only a mile wide. And the other thing, you can literally stand on the beach with the Black Sea to your back and see snow-covered mountains right there.

What would you want as your hope-and-pray-for result for Engage Sochi?

Hooks: It would be that multitudes of churches are planted around the globe as a result of this and that the people who come to the Sochi Olympics will be connected with a church planter, regardless of where they’re from. So, that’s the home run for us, that new churches would be planted in Sochi and beyond.

How can we include the Sochi Olympics in our daily prayers?

Hooks: We want to pray for all of our friends who will be in Sochi during the games and we want to pray that they are able to do the things that they are there to do. That they have more than just a pleasurable Olympic experience, that they are able to share the Gospel and to reach people and connect them to a church planting network. That’s number one.

Number two, you can monitor @Engage_Sochi Twitter account, and through this we will be doing updates and news for daily prayer requests.

And pray for our Engage Sochi staff who are responsible for the mechanics of this whole project, making sure people are where they need to be when they need to be there, and are safe in doing so.

And for open hearts and receptivity, that God would draw to us the people that we’re supposed to talk to.

*Name changed.

For more information on Southern Baptists’ efforts concerning the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, visit EurasiaStories. The site will be updated with stories, photos, videos, prayer requests and more during the Feb. 7-23 Games.

This story was originally posted here.