Walking Through Samaria

Meet Matthew Soerens, the U.S. director of Church Mobilization for World Relief, where he helps evangelical churches to understand the realities of refugees and immigration and to respond in ways guided by biblical values. 

He acknowledges that immigration is “a touchy topic that plenty of people would like to avoid altogether, but we’re convinced that if we’re going to obey the command that says to love your neighbor, we’ve got to figure out ways to engage this conversation.” He deals with that conversation in Costa Rica, where Nicaraguan immigrants flee, in Turkey, where Syrians look for refuge, and in Colombia, where Venezuelans seek cover.  

In today’s episode, Soerens talks about the global extent of the problem, which affects 26 million people who leave their countries, and another 40 million who aren’t officially considered refugees because they haven’t crossed the national borders, but are nonetheless internally displaced. “The Bible has some pretty specific things to say about how God’s people are to treat those who are foreigners in the land,” Soerens said, adding that immigrants who often are accused of “stealing jobs” often produce more than they consume. 

Meet Chris Palusky, the president and CEO of Bethany Christian Services since January 2018. From his days with World Vision until now, he has been answering God’s call to be “in the middle of the mess” for 21 years. When there’s a crisis somewhere in this broken world, chances are you’ll find Palusky running toward it rather than fleeing from it. It has been “an amazing journey” that has taken him and his family to humanitarian hotspots all over the globe — from Albania to Afghanistan, from Malawi to Myanmar and from Kosovo to Colombia. 

In today’s episode, Palusky talks about the rewards of being “the hands and feet of Christ,” about the need for foster care and about the underlying factors that create refugees, who are often the most vulnerable among the population — women, children and the elderly. “Don’t be fearful,” he says. “This is a time when God is calling us to act.” 

Meet Shane Windmeyer, a best-selling author, LGBTQ campus pioneer and civil rights champion. He is the founder and executive director of Campus Pride, the leading national LGBTQ organization for student leaders and campus organizations working to build future leaders and create safer campus communities. 

He was one of the leaders of a national boycott against Chick-fil-A in 2012 because the restaurant had donated millions of dollars to what he perceived to be anti-LGBT organizations. Imagine his surprise when he received a phone call from the restaurant’s president and chief operating officer, Dan Cathy. “The only way to create peace is through conversation,” Windmeyer says. He and Cathy weathered a few tense and bumpy chats, but because neither would give up on dialogue with the other, they became the unlikeliest of friends. Cathy even invited him to be his guest at the 2013 Chick-fil-A Bowl game. 

In today’s episode, Windmeyer discusses the importance of holding every human fully worthy of dignity, even when you disagree about things held dear, and of finding common ground with those with whom you might be tempted to dismiss and despise. 

Meet Doreen Diaz, the daughter of a mother and father who were saved from drug addiction to become pastors on the front lines of ministry to those in the inner-city streets of New York and southern California. A lifetime of ministry to those afflicted by AIDS, drug addiction, homelessness or street gang warfare is all she has known. “Me and my brothers grew up seeing all of this,” she said. “To us, it was normal. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh my God, what are we doing?’”  

Her battle for souls on the streets has not been a war free of casualty for her personally. On Nov. 11, 2013, as she was in Las Vegas preparing to celebrate her anniversary, she learned that her brother Daniel, a youth pastor with a passion to help gang members, had been fatally shot back home in Pomona, Calif. In the midst of the pain that she said “paralyzed” her family, they were able to extend forgiveness to the man convicted of Daniel’s murder two years later.  

In today’s episode, Diaz talks about how her family’s response to that tragedy led to a drastic reduction in gang-related homicides in the very place she lost her brother, and how to maintain an uncomplicated Christianity. “The only way you can turn something like that around is not by hurting back, but it’s to love through it,” she says. 

Meet the Rev. Gabriel Salguero, the founder of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, which offers an important leadership voice for the nearly 8 million Latino evangelicals in the country. He’s also pastor of Orlando’s multicultural Calvario City Church. 

He was one of the healing forces in the wake of the June 12, 2016, massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, when 49 people were killed and 50 more wounded in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. It was terrorism on a scale larger than any since 9/11 and 90 percent of the dead were members of the Latino and LGBTQ communities. When Equality Florida, which advocates for the civil rights of the LGBTQ community, went looking for a spiritual leader to pray at the memorial service, Salguero answered the call — a decision that shocked, but also ministered to many. “This is where Jesus would be,” he told one surprised to see him there. “We’re going to love you through this.”  

In today’s episode, Salguero talks about Jesus’ command to love our neighbor in spite of our differences. “That means your Jewish neighbor, your Muslim neighbor, your LGBTQ neighbor, your rich neighbor, your poor neighbor, your Republican neighbor, your Democrat neighbor,” he says. He talks about how we can do that without labeling those who believe differently and while refusing to compromise our “courageous convictions.” 

Meet Lee Jenkins, the founder and senior pastor of Eagle’s Nest Church in Roswell, GA, and a lightning rod for racial reconciliation.  

He learned the sting of racism at an early age, in a place that’s supposed to be fun and from a person who’s supposed to be trustworthy. “Policemen were like Superman or Batman and Robin,” he said. “Can you imagine Batman coming up to you, and you’re 5 years old … and he slaps you and calls you a name?” The lesson stayed with him as he matured into a star defensive back at the University of Tennessee, for the NFL’s New York Giants and even when he got death threats while running for the mayor’s office in Roswell. 

 In today’s episode, Jenkins talks about why instead of allowing his experiences to make him bitter, he used them as a platform to allow Christ to stand tall in his life in the face of unrest. When police shootings of unarmed black men in Baton Rouge, LA, and suburban Minneapolis helped create an atmosphere of national tension in 2016, Jenkins invited a white police chief to the next Sunday morning service to interact with his predominantly African-American congregation. It started a dialogue that continues to this day. “Reconciliation,” Jenkins says, “is the heart of Jesus.”