CLC

The end of the legislative session is in sight and while there is still time, the days are getting longer and the chances of getting bills out of committee are getting smaller. This is an update on some of the CLC priority bills, where they are in the process and how you can help get them over the finish line.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE ...

PRO-LIFE LEGISLATION ...

PAYDAY LENDING ...

You can help.

Above all else, please pray for the CLC and our lobby team that we would be wise, gentle, reasonable, and unwavering in our work to pursue the common good while representing a biblical worldview in accordance to James 3:16-17.

By Abby Hopkins

In Slovakia, the Roma are a minority known for living in poverty. Education barriers create challenges for individuals to finish school and break the cycles of poverty.

Roma Health & Hunger, a Texas Baptist Hunger Offering partner, is meeting this need by providing resources within the education system. From mothers to their children, the work of this ministry is helping Roma families succeed and thrive.

Hunger Offering funds are specifically used for higher education scholarship funds as well as for lunches and snacks for a preschool program. This ministry unites the body of Christ to meet the needs of Roma people and display the glory of God.

Friends,

It’s with excitement and sadness that I inform you of some news. After four years of having the true privilege of serving as the hunger and care ministries specialist at the CLC, I will be transitioning to a new position as a crisis counselor in Marble Falls.

Words do not feel adequate for how grateful I am for every person whom I’ve had the honor to know and work alongside in this ministry. Thank you doesn’t seem to suffice.

I will serve as an adult outreach counselor at Highland Lakes Family Crisis Center, close in proximity to our church, First Baptist Church of Marble Falls. I will be working with individuals dealing with trauma while pursuing my credentials as a licensed clinical social worker. I hope to gain a better understanding of trauma-informed care and learn to walk with people on their healing journeys. I covet your prayers in this new chapter of my life.

The change is very bittersweet. These past four years have changed my life. I love and believe in the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering, the CLC, and the Texas Baptist family. I hold dear so many beautiful memories across Texas and around the world. I have learned a great deal from numerous churches and ministries impacting their communities with beauty, justice, and restoration.

I can’t help but think of Paul’s words to the church of Philippi: “I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now” (Philippians 1:3-5, CSB).

Thank you, Dr. Reyes, Dr. Foster, and Dr. Hardage for giving this Tennessean a chance. Shout out to Marilyn, Kathryn, Rebecca, and everyone else who are more than coworkers, they are family.

Thank you, colleagues and friends, for your encouragement to me personally, and more importantly, your desire to pursue the call to justice, mercy, and equality.

Gratefully,

Ali

Washington Post columnist and former George W. Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson delivered the keynote address at the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission’s Advocacy Day March 26 at Woodlawn Baptist Church in Austin.

Donna Burney is not your typical advocate, after serving as an English professor and then with Woman's Missionary Union, she retired. But, a few years ago, Donna became aware of the uncertainty facing women just released from prison.

The Lord gave Donna a heart for these women and a few years ago, she began “Light in the Gap” ministry. Volunteers literally meet women in the gap of time between their old lives as prisoners and their new lives in their communities.

Since its founding only a few years ago, Light in the Gap volunteers have met some 4,000 recently release women at the bus stops in their towns. They bring cookies and bags filled with toiletries and a devotional. During the winter they bring coats. But mostly, they bring Christ’s love and hope to women who feel forgotten and a deep sense of shame about their pasts.

Donna saw through her ministry an injustice, one that the hugs and prayers, while powerful, could not correct.

She reached out to the Christian Life Commission and asked for our help. The women Donna was ministering to needed an advocate to stand in the gap for them. The women needed their elected officials to step in and get the government agency responsible to change its policy. Donna met me in Austin, and we went to meet the men and women with the power to change the policy.

Before our first meeting, we prayed for God, our advocate, to stand in the gap for us, to give our words power and to give us favor with those we were to meet. And He did!

The Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission will host its 2019 Advocacy Day March 26-27 in Austin for ministers, leaders, students and advocates.

Two events on two successive weekends have encouraged me. In mid-January, I witnessed busloads of people streaming into Washington, D.C., for the annual March for Life. One week later, I listened to thousands of people cheer during Austin’s Rally for Life.

Both events attracted large numbers of students and young adults. There’s an enormous concern evidenced by the thousands of students lifting up the importance and value of life.

A message can be gleaned from this -- pro-life supporters are not going away. And more and more pro-lifers understand that it is not just about abortion; we want to promote the value of human life from conception to natural death.

Children before birth are among the most vulnerable among us, but many women who are carrying these children are in vulnerable positions, as well. We need broad cultural understanding, support systems, and legal frameworks within which we promote the health of all children and their mothers.

In speaking at the Austin event, I noted that Texas Baptists believe every person is created in the image of God and, therefore, deserves our respect and honor from conception.

After reading Psalms 139:13-16 in both English and Spanish, I called for all Texans to work together in . . .

The Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission is pleased to announce their public policy priorities for the 86th Texas Legislative Session.

uring his keynote at our 2017 Advocacy Day, Dr. Vincent Bacote, a Christian ethicist and professor at Wheaton College, said, “people’s lives as disciples ought to matter every hour of the week.” Dr. Bacote argued that our Christian discipleship should include every aspect of our lives including our political engagement, but many of us struggle to bring our politics under the full authority of Jesus Christ and Scripture.

We often compartmentalize our lives as Christians. We give the Lord dominion over our lives for two hours on Sunday, but our money, our votes, our families belong to us. Even as we declare Jesus Christ as Lord, we treat Him as if the boundaries of His kingdom extend only as far as we are comfortable. But, citizens do not declare national boundaries, the boundaries of our country are determined by those in elected authority. Christians are citizens of a heavenly kingdom, and if we declare Jesus Christ is Lord, He determines the boundaries (Colossians 1).

Scottish missiologist, Lesslie Newbigin puts its this way, “[t]he confession ‘Jesus is Lord’ implies a commitment to make good that confession in relation to the whole life of the world — its philosophy, its culture, and its politics no less than the personal lives of its people.”

While our citizenship is ultimately in heaven, our heavenly citizenship should inform our earthly one. This is not a plea for theocracy; it is a plea for Christian principles to inform how you think about policy issues and political engagement. America is not a Christian nation, our Founding Fathers intentionally included language in the Constitution prohibiting a religious test for federal elected office.

In one day, Texas Baptists provided 1,900 meals for marginalized students in Peru. And that’s just half of it.

Together, Texas Baptists raised $3,800 -- or 1,900 meals-- for Operación San Andrés this past Giving Tuesday. Even more, an additional $3,270 was raised for the Hunger Offering general fund. That’s a total of $7,070 to feed people in need, to support families breaking the cycle of poverty, and to show people the love of Christ. Amazing!

I cannot fully express my gratitude to everyone who participated. Your gifts impact the world -- one meal at a time.