A Time of Testing at the Church
When the coronavirus hit Alabama, there was one thing Pastor Chris Hodges’s church had that a lot of doctors’ offices didn’t: a big parking lot. For the last few days, that asphalt has been a saving grace to the people of Birmingham. By the thousands, they’ve come to Church of the Highlands — which has just transformed into one of the largest testing sites in the city. And Church of the Highlands couldn’t be happier.
“It was something else,” Associate Pastor Dino Rizzo told me, shaking his head. “You remember some of the lines we experienced during Katrina,” he asked? I do, vividly. When Pastor Rizzo was based in Baton Rouge, we were part of a massive relief effort that passed out food, gas, and ice. This week, he said on “Washington Watch,” was just like that. Only instead of handing out supplies, they were handling tests. All because their church was willing to share its space and wi-fi.
The city’s health officials were able to test 400 people on Tuesday alone. But the benefit of this happening at his church, Dino told me, is that people are getting a whole lot more than their physical needs met. “One of the cool things we did [was] we were able to put up a radio signal that people could tune in while they’re sitting in line… [T]hey could tune [in] and listen to the instructions for what the testing was going to be like. And then also instructions about things that we’re offering at the church for their family and then to pray with them.” The church set up a number that people could text if they needed prayer. “I want to say of the 400… we had 325 text for prayer. People are hungry. People are open. People are ready to get prayed for. They need the gospel.”
It’s time, Dino urged, “for the church to be the church. I think the combination of meeting the need [and] helping people with their fear. The partnership with the medical community and being the church — like you said, our core mission — giving people Jesus. And there are a lot of ways churches are doing it. So I’m proud of the body of Christ. You and I saw it at Katrina. We saw some of the best of the church. And I think we’re going to see it again.”
Of course, it all starts with looking outward instead of inward. When these disasters happen, there’s a tendency to hunker down and compare what we have or don’t have, as opposed and what we can give and what we can do for others. Dino says he’s been in conversations with a lot of local pastors, urging them to think creatively. Sure, there are the traditional things that come with being in the pulpit — sermons and Sunday services. But, he argues, “Most of us didn’t get in ministry just for that — or didn’t come to Christ just for that. It’s in how we care for people. It’s in how we pray. It’s how we check on people. It’s how we notice the needs of others. You know, it’s not in the big things. It’s in the small things. And I think just starting with what you have. Just start somewhere.”
We’re not talking about major undertakings here. As Dino said, just check on your neighbor or call an elderly person on the phone. “Partner with the school. Connect with someone who’s vulnerable. Look for the small and simple ways to be the hands and feet of Jesus.” There are plenty.
Originally published here.
The Italians’ Job: To Stop the Spread
Proactive verse reactive. Hong Kong, which shares a border with China, took quick action when the world had barely heard of the coronavirus. The result? They flattened the curve to prevent an unmanageable outbreak. Italy, on the other hand, reacted slowly, and the consequences have been disastrous.
“None of us have ever experienced a tragedy like it.” Marco Pavesi has been a doctor in Italy for years. He’s seen his share of horrors. “We know how to respond to road accidents, train derailments, even earthquakes. But a virus that has killed so many, which gets worse with each passing day and for which a cure — or even containment — seems distant? No.” We always think disasters like this will happen to someone else, he admits, in another part of the world. “But not this time. This time, it happened here, to us.”
With the death and infection rates climbing, Rev. Franklin Graham made the decision: it was time for Samaritan’s Purse to go in. “We reached out to them,” he told me on “Washington Watch” Wednesday. “And I just offered, ‘Do you want any help?’” The officials, he says, “were just shocked.” To this point, no one had offered. “They just jumped at it,” Franklin explained. From there, things happened quickly. The red tape was cut “within minutes.” In fact, he said, the government is so desperate that the Italian military is rushing the supplies to the hospital for them.
“We landed at a military base — [and] that is extremely unusual to take out your plane into a military base.” By today, Franklin said, the 68-bed field hospital that they airlifted to Milan should be on the ground helping people — along with more than 30 medical specialists they sent. That means medical equipment and respiratory units can finally start treating the tens of thousands of infected patients. “The Italians are just overwhelmed… And they didn’t know what to do… So we are there,” Franklin wanted people to know, “respond[ing] in Jesus’s name.”
But it’s not just their physical condition he’s concerned about — it’s their spiritual condition too. “We’re going to Italy to help the people that are suffering, the people that are dying to care for them, to love them. But more importantly, we’re there to tell them about God’s son, Jesus Christ.” So pray, Franklin urged. “We don’t need to be afraid, but we do need to pray.”
Like a lot of people, Franklin wondered if the whole crisis had been blown out of proportion. But all of that changed when the virus hit close to home. “I thought maybe a lot of this was overhyped until one of my staff came down with it…” he admitted. “He was coming back from a country that didn’t even have the virus, but he must have picked it up on the airplane or coming through Europe at the airport or something. But it just shows you how fast it can come. And we just we need to be ready for it. But more importantly, we need to encourage people [that] our hope is not in this world. Our hope is in Christ.”
One day, Franklin acknowledged, “my life is going to come to an end — whether it’s a virus, whether it’s a car accident or a flu, cancer, whatever. But I know when that day comes… I’m going to be in the presence of God — not because I’m a good guy, not because I’m an American or my father was a famous evangelist. It’s gonna be because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross. And He shed his blood for me.”
For information on how you can help Samaritan’s Purse minister to the people of Italy and others around the world, visit the website.
Originally published here.
Idaho Pushes Girls’ Sports Bill over the Finish Line
No one is playing sports right now — but when they do, Idaho is making sure the competitions are fair. Turns out, even the full weight of Nike (the athletic shoe company that benefits from the forced labor in China) couldn’t convince the state legislature to turn the entire state of athletics on its head to please a handful of transgender activists. If the fringe wants to destroy women’s sports, the message from Idaho is clear: try somewhere else.
Not even the coronavirus could stop the business in Boise. Republican leaders had been fighting to save girls’ teams for weeks, and they weren’t about to quit. That determination paid off Monday night, when the state senate finally put the bill over the finish line. By a 24-11 vote, Idaho became the first state in America to send a Fairness in Women’s Sports Act through the whole legislature.
State Rep. Barbara Ehardt (R), the lead sponsor, fired back at critics like the ACLU who insisted the measure was “mean-spirited.” This bill, she argued, doesn’t “exclude anyone. It’s to make sure there’s a place for everyone.” In an op-ed for the local paper, she reminds the far-Left that her act “doesn’t keep anyone from being who they want to be… A boy may believe [he’s] a girl, and [he] can identify as such, but that belief doesn’t cancel out all of [his] physical advantages.” She, like a lot of Gem State leaders, just wants to make sure there’s a level playing field like they had growing up.
“Pretending that girls and boys are physically identical is naïve, and an influx of hormones doesn’t change the facts. I want to make sure the girls in this state don’t lose their roster spot to a young man who already has a spot on the boys’ team.” In the end, most legislators agreed — sending HB 500 to the desk of Governor Brad Little (R), where he can make history signing it into law.
The votes had to come as a massive blow to Nike, who’s been crisscrossing the country to kill women’s sports. In Idaho, the company even sent one of its transgender-identifying athletes to testify against the bill. Ultimately, her objections — that this legislation is a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist — fell on deaf ears. Too many parents have watched the fallout from states like Connecticut, where girls have missed out on scholarships and other opportunities because the government let biological boys steal their trophies.
Hopefully, Governor Little will side with the overwhelming number of Americans who think women’s sports shouldn’t be the next casualty of a culture catering to the .6 percent. If you live in Idaho, call his office (208-334-2100) and urge him to give girls the equality they spent the last 50 years fighting for.
For the latest on this issue, visit SaveWomensSports.com and see what legislation may be moving in your state.
Originally published here.
This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.
