No hay manera de que los soldados romanos que pusieron la corona de espinas sobre Jesús reclamaran que no sabían que estaba mal y era insultante. Tampoco, podían alegar que no sabían que Jesús estaba siendo crucificado por agenciarse facultades exclusivas al Mesías, poniendo de relieve que hoy ni el César ni Herodes eran el Hijo de Dios.

The Roman soldiers who put the crown of thorns on Jesus knew that it was wrong and insulting. They also knew that Jesus was being crucified for claiming to be the Messiah, highlighting that neither Caesar nor Herod were the sons of God. And yet, at the end of the day, there was no way to prevent the Kingdom of heaven from being at hand.

This past May, we issued an urgent call for volunteers to come to Brownsville, Texas, across the border from Matamoros, Mexico, where numbers of migrants were spiking. Our ministry partner in Brownsville, Iglesia Bautista West Brownsville and their pastor, Carlos Navarro, needed help serving the migrants coming through the bus station near them. Many Fellowship Southwest friends made quick plans and answered the call. Though the immigration numbers have stabilized, help is always needed, and this past weekend, three churches from around Texas convened in Brownsville.

Today is “Meet the Teachers” at my daughter’s school, so let’s go ahead and “Meet the Preachers” for our upcoming conference today too!

Both days of the Friday-Saturday conference, Sept. 8-9, will conclude with a brief worship session. The preacher for Friday’s worship is Zach W. Lambert, and the preacher for Saturday’s worship is Rev. Victoria Robb Powers.

Stephen Reeves offered this pastoral prayer at First Baptist Austin on Sunday for migrants, for law enforcement, for our politicians, and for all of us. For the video of the prayer, click here. It begins at 38:55.

Imagine que tratar de cruzar hileras de alambre de púas fuera más seguro que quedarse en casa.
Imagine que el sumergirse en un río embravecido con su bebé les ofreciera una mejor oportunidad de sobrevivir que el regresar a su país.

Ahora imagine que aquellos que toman tales decisiones fueran blancos y hablaran inglés. ¿Podría usted imaginar que se pusieran en efecto las actuales políticas y tácticas del Gobernador Abbott que resultan en más muertes innecesarias?

Last week Fellowship Southwest brought these four pastors pictured above to Puerta Vallarta for a few days. Left to right, they are Juvenal Gonzalez from San Diego/Tijuana, Israel Rodriguez from Piedras Negras, Carlos Navarro from Brownsville, TX, and Rosalio Sosa from El Paso.

Imagine that trying to cross rows of razor wire was safer than staying at home. 

Imagine that plunging into a raging river with your toddler offered them better odds of survival than going back to your country. 

Now imagine if those making such choices were white and spoke English. Could you imagine Governor Abbott continuing policies and tactics that result in more unnecessary deaths?

At the annual luncheon for the Baptist Joint Committee, a group of six women in BJC leadership were asked this question: How do you want to expand our understanding of religious freedom with a broader justice lens?

In early May, we issued an urgent call for volunteers to come to Brownsville, Texas, and serve migrants at the border. If you recall, Title 42 was due to lift May 11, and tensions at the border were swelling. Our primary partner in Brownsville, Pastor Carlos Navarro, was preparing for an enormous increase in the numbers of migrants he would be serving at the Welcome Center adjacent to the bus station and at his church's immigrant respite center.

On Wednesday FSW staff members Anyra Cano and Stephen Reeves traveled to the small village of La Modelo to celebrate the opening of a new building. The structure will soon be a shelter for migrants who hope to apply for asylum in the US and others who are seasonal workers in the nearby fields. It will be part of the Red de Albergues de Migrantes, Tierra de Oro which is led by longtime FSW partner Pastor Rosalío Sosa.

With less than two weeks left in the 88th Texas Legislative session, much remains up in the air. The recent passing of critical deadlines means several bills of concern are officially dead. Unfortunately, some good proposals died as well. In other cases bad bills have been resurrected as amendments to legislation not killed by calendar deadlines. 

Fellowship Southwest is privileged to support interns at Center for Church and Community Impact (C3I) at Baylor’s Diana Garland School of Social Work. These graduate students, some of who are dual-degree students getting their M.S.W. and their M.Div at Truett Seminary, have been serving at C3I this year for their internship. They each chose a project related to their focus of work and developed an asset map. Two staff members from Fellowship Southwest, Cameron Vickrey and Anyra Cano, attended their presentations in person in Waco to learn from them and see the impact of their work.

Today, May 11, 2023, is the long-awaited day when Title 42 finally lifts. But instead of rejoicing, we are bracing for what comes in its aftermath: the Biden Asylum Ban.

The Fellowship Southwest Board of Directors held their semi-annual meeting May 4-5 in Dallas. We began our time together at the Dallas National Prayer Luncheon organized by Thanks-Giving Foundation. Andy Stoker, one of our board members, is the chief engagement officer at the Thanks-Giving Foundation, and he invited us to attend. Following the luncheon, we visited with Rev. Danielle Ayers at Friendship-West Baptist Church. She gave the board a tour of their amazing facilities, and then we had time to talk with her about her work as the minister of justice and how we can partner together.

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is already celebrating the gains for what he calls religious freedom in the state's 88th Legislature. The Texas Tribune quoted him as saying, “I believe that you cannot change the culture of the country until you change the culture of mankind. Bringing the Ten Commandments and prayer back to our public schools will enable our students to become better Texans.” 

The Biden administration has begun preparing to end Title 42 –the COVID-19 order that authorizes the rapid expulsion of migrants, primarily to Mexico– on May 11. The administration will impose penalties for those who enter the U.S. without inspection, while at the same time opening new programs for migrants to come to the U.S. Unfortunately, the efforts the administration is taking largely exports our immigration dilemma to other countries, militarizes our border, and fails to fulfill our legal obligation to allow people to seek asylum in the United States.

Last week Fellowship Southwest, CBF West, CBF Texas and CBF Oklahoma hosted our annual post-Easter retreat. A group of pastors and lay leaders from across the region met in South Lake Tahoe at the beautiful Zephyr Point Presbyterian Conference Center. We were led by Melinda and Robert Creech of Floresville, Texas.

Fellowship Southwest is active at the Capitol in Austin during this legislative session. This week we have registered support or opposition to bills related to public education, immigration, and predatory lending. We most often do our work in coalition with others. For a list of coalitions and organizations we pay attention to, see last week’s newsletter.

Our wonderful partner in Tijuana, Pastor Juvenal Gonzalez and his wife Maria are hosting a group of young Russian Christians in their home, while they work through their immigration process.