
The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-09/23/2019

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FIRST-PERSON:  I was an atheist & feminist
by Hongyi Yang
Date: September 23, 2019 - Monday

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) -- I grew up in a city in southwest China. Its location in China is like Texas in the United States. I studied in Beijing for six years and earned my bachelor and master's degrees there. 

Before I came to the U.S., I had never seen a copy of the Bible and I only knew one Christian in all my life.

In 2000, I came to this country as an international student. It is in Texas that I met many good Christians and eventually my Savior Jesus Christ.

I was an atheist at that time. I believed that there was no God who could save us and that we must strive for success by our own ability, diligence and luck.

As soon as I arrived in Texas, I found that I was surrounded by Christians and churches. I had an attitude of contempt toward Christianity. Some Christians invited me to go to church. I refused without hesitation. I also mocked Christianity. I thought it is so humiliating to worship a God who was crucified on a cross. This is exactly what 1 Corinthians says, that "a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him" (1 Corinthians 2:14). I was actually the foolish one.

Although I was foolish and defiant, God had mercy on me. The last three days of 2000 changed my life completely.

I attended an evangelistic conference where I mainly heard two speakers talking about God. Through their messages, I became convinced that there is a God and that He is like a Father who waits for us to return to Him. 

On the last day of the conference, I decided to follow Jesus Christ. After I made the decision, amazing things happened.

I felt that my eyes were opened, and it was almost like I could see the world more clearly than before. I experienced a kind of gentle, bright and great love that I had never experienced. I surely know that there is indeed a God and I am experiencing His love. Life is not meaningless anymore because there is this God.

The first step of obedience of the Christian life is baptism. After several months of intensively studying the Bible and asking all kinds of questions, my faith grew and I joyfully signed up to be baptized.

In the baptism class, the pastor communicated the significance of baptism with Romans 6:3-13. Through immersion, which symbolizes burial, we are united with the death of Christ; then we are also united with His resurrection.

On Easter Day of 2001, I was baptized in front of a loving Christian community. I invited three or four of my non-believing friends to attend my baptism. Two of them later became Christians.

After baptism, I continued to experience God's transforming grace in my life. Previously I was not only an atheist but also a feminist. In college I had studied mass media and literature, and feminism was pioneered in these areas. While I was struggling with the decision of whether to follow Christ, I even mentioned to a sister, "If I become a Christian, I cannot study feminism anymore."

That misunderstanding did not stop me from following Christ. After my conversion, however, my question became: With what kind of woman is God pleased? What is God's original design and purpose for man and woman? How does this relate to God Himself?

Throughout my doctoral studies in systematic theology, I explored these questions. The answer to these questions was contained in my dissertation, "A Development Not a Departure: The Lacunae in the Debate of the Doctrine of the Trinity and Gender Roles," (P&R Publishing, 2018).

Reflecting on what God has done in my life in the past 19 years, I can only say that I am a completely new creation, once an atheist and feminist, but now a Christian and complementarian. The Gospel has changed and continues changing my life, my mind and my whole person.

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Disaster relief efforts continue in Bahamas 
by Tobin Perry
Date: September 23, 2019 - Monday

BAHAMAS (BP) -- About three weeks after the Bahamas experienced one of the most devastating hurricanes in its history, a team of Southern Baptist leaders is on the ground in the island nation looking for additional ways Baptists can support relief efforts. 

Representatives from Baptist Global Response (BGR), the International Mission Board (IMB), and Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) will participate in the effort and will finalize partnerships with Baptist churches in the Bahamas for additional support.

BGR is leading the Southern Baptist response to Hurricane Dorian damage in the Bahamas and began responding soon after the storm hit. BGR has partnered with local Baptist churches and the disaster response arm of the Bahamas National Baptist Missionary & Education Convention.    

Since the storm hit in early September, BGR has been working through these national partners to provide food, hygiene items, blankets and tarpaulins for evacuees. They've also supported efforts to train counselors and chaplains in impacted areas.

Jeff Palmer, chief executive officer of BGR, asked Southern Baptists to "pray for the partnerships that are going on because that's the key in figuring out what we can do, what needs to be done and how we can leverage the resources of Southern Baptists to help Bahama Baptists and their communities recover and do it in a way that gives glory to God." 

Southern Baptists will be working alongside the Bahamas Baptist disaster relief teams that BGR has trained and served beside in other disaster situations, Palmer noted.

"We already have those great relationships," he said. "We've already empowered them. This is just helping them. At the end of the day, when all the disaster relief groups from the U.S. go back, the Bahama Baptists are still there. We want God to be the champion in this, and we want our local Baptist partners to be, as well."

As SBDR network leaders arrive in the Bahamas this week, they will look specifically for ways SBDR chaplains can support the Bahamas' Baptists, particularly pastors.  

Sam Porter, executive director of SBDR, noted that with U.S. disasters he has seen 75 to 80 percent of pastors either move on or leave the ministry within two years of disasters. Southern Baptists, he said, have hundreds of trained chaplains with experience helping people through trauma who can be mobilized to help pastors and others.

"We have asked each state director to come up with the very best," Porter said.

"That was what I call the A-team, the starting lineup so to speak of chaplains," he noted. "When we send a team, we need to have a trained chaplain that they would be willing to put in the toughest situation of all. The Bahamas is one of those tough situations. There are several hundred people who they will discover, before this is over, have died or they will never find again."

SBDR leaders will also be looking for ways to help Baptists in the Bahamas rebuild their churches. Porter said he is bringing two contractors from Louisiana Baptist churches to help him assess the rebuilding needs of the local churches they'll encounter.

The SBDR representatives will also look for ways they can help train Baptist mud-out/cleanup teams. 

This week's trip by Southern Baptist leaders is expected to culminate in the adoption of 13 Baptist churches in the Bahamas and their surrounding communities. Eleven state Baptist conventions have already committed to participate in these partnerships.

"When we talk about the Cooperative Program, we often talk about money, but this is the Cooperative Program in action," Palmer said. "You have the SBDR network. You have the Bahama churches and you have us coming together to meet the needs, help them recover and bring about a strong Christian witness among the people of the Bahamas -- and it's working together well."

In a report sent out on Friday (Sept. 20), Palmer said much of the work so far has been in the Grand Bahamas region, which the report says is beginning to return to normal. The report noted significant damage and life disruption in the region despite the return to normalcy.   

Work on the hardest-hit island of Abaco, Palmer said, is still "a long way off." Though this is the site of much of the devastating images Americans have seen regarding Hurricane Dorian, he noted, the extent of the damage, evacuations and the Bahamian government's timing for interventions limits Southern Baptist involvement at this time. 

Palmer asks Southern Baptists to pray:

-- for the wisdom and understanding of BGR leaders as to the best possible time to begin work on the island,

-- and for the SBDR representatives in the Bahamas team. 

"Pray that I will see what's going on as God sees it," Porter said. "Pray that the four of us &#91;with SBDR&#93; will have the wisdom and discernment to come back and guide the states that are going to go over there."

Porter recommends that Southern Baptists who want to help state teams with these partnerships contact their state convention disaster relief teams. For more information, go to gobgr.org.

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Mont. & Alberta partnership eyes 'connecting points'
by Karen L. Willoughby
Date: September 23, 2019 - Monday

 BILLINGS, Mont. (BP) -- A seven-year partnership between Southern Baptist churches in Montana and Canadian Baptist churches in Alberta is on track to begin Jan. 1.

Messengers to the Montana Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting will consider the measure Oct. 3-4 that was unanimously approved during the MTSBC executive board's August meeting.

Gerry Taillon, national ministry leader for the Canadian National Baptist Convention, noted their readiness for the partnership, which had been casually discussed over the years.

"Montana and Alberta share many connecting points in cultural transitions and occupations," Taillon said. "The proximity and similar size organizations will make this partnership naturally reciprocal."

Montana has 130 churches, the largest of which has at least 1,000 in Sunday morning worship, most of which run 50 to 70 and the smallest see fewer than a dozen each week. Alberta has 81 churches, the largest of which has at least 350 in Sunday morning worship, most of which run 50 to 70 and the smallest see fewer than 35 each week.

Barrett Duke, who became MTSBC executive director in 2017, said steps toward the partnership began earlier this year. "It grew out of this burden I had that while many of our churches may be small, they can make a difference. I started looking at Alberta. That would be an easy way for our churches to be involved in what essentially is international missions.

"We're going to be working with our counterpart churches anywhere and everywhere in Alberta that we can," Duke said.

Duke named Lee Merck as coordinator of the partnership. Merck is the church planting pastor of Church of the Rockies in Red Lodge, Mont.

"Lee has a burden for Canada," Duke said. "He's already made several trips there, so I know he really does want to reach people in Canada, and he's doing a great job at the church in Red Lodge. He's got the energy and the aggressive ministry style that will be required to coordinate a statewide effort like this."

Members from Church of the Rockies drove north in August and hosted ribeye steak dinners in Calgary and in Edmonton for Alberta pastors and wives. "He's already on it," said Dwight Huffman, the Canadian convention's regional ministry leader for Alberta, about Merck. "He's getting it done."

While no churches in either Alberta or Montana have an official partnership, "Montana has been coming up and helping in Edmonton and Calgary for a couple years," Huffman said. "This partnership will allow the Montana Southern Baptist Convention &#91;MTSBC&#93; and CNBC &#91;Canadian National Baptist Convention&#93; to advance the Kingdom all across the province."

The majority of communities south of Calgary, Alberta, and north of Great Falls, Mont., are between 500 and 2,500 residents, Huffman said. That's outside of the focus of the Send Cities effort of the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board. Send Cities bring Gospel attention to major metropolitan areas such as Calgary and Edmonton in Alberta, whereas Montana has none. NAMB funds church plants outside the Send Cities through church planting funds it provides to state conventions and the Canadian National Baptist Convention.

The Montana-Alberta partnership, Huffman said, "is going to allow us to give attention to all the towns outside the Send City partnership. One of our first objectives is to link some specific churches in Alberta with some specific churches in Montana."

The Alberta/Montana partnership is one aspect of Go Montana, Duke said of a new emphasis this year for the state's Southern Baptist churches to "look at themselves, what they have, what they can do, and find ways to put their own skills and abilities to use to reach their communities and the world for Christ."

"We've had partnerships but the partnerships have been aimed at us," Merck said about Montana. "The goal is for our churches to be active in Alberta. We want to get our churches involved in going and helping.

"Geographically Alberta and Montana are close," Merck continued. "Travel time and resources to get there and help are minimal, compared to what mission trips can cost. There are many similarities that we think contextually will benefit this partnership."

In Alberta, an email has been sent to all pastors inviting requests for partnership.

In meeting with Alberta and Canadian National Baptist Convention leaders, Duke said, "They were very excited about the opportunity, not just for our folks to come to Alberta but for their folks to come to Montana."

Why a seven-year partnership? "I felt like seven years was long enough for our churches and churches in Alberta to embrace the idea, find a partner and spend a few years working together, and short enough to evaluate if it's working," Duke said. "Seven years hit that sweet spot for me. It's long enough to see real benefit -- both in Montana and in Alberta -- and yet it isn't so long that the energy would dissipate."

Excitement for the partnership is building, Taillon of the CNBC said.

"Both Alberta and Montana have large territories and significant mission fields that bring with them incredible challenges," he said. "These challenges are better faced together. I am convinced we will be able to be a valuable help and encouragement to each other as we follow God and His plan to reach both our areas.

"Partnership is what Southern Baptists are all about," Taillon continued. "We are at our best when we mobilize to give ourselves away for the Kingdom of God."

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 U.S. must confront China morally, ERLC's Moore says
by Tom Strode
Date: September 23, 2019 - Monday

CHINA (BP) -- The United States should challenge China morally, not just economically and militarily, Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore said in a Sept. 22 opinion piece, published by The Wall Street Journal.

The president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission said Americans "cannot ignore the Chinese Communist Party's shredding of human rights and religious freedom" while a debate continues regarding the proper response to the economic and military dangers presented by China.

Unlike China, Moore wrote, the U.S. "was founded on the principle that rights are rooted in nature and nature's God -- not in government fiat. The U.S. should counter China with a resolute commitment to advance not only economic fairness, but also human rights and freedom of conscience."

President Trump has utilized tariffs against China in his administration's trade relationship with the world's most populous country. He announced in August the existing tariffs on about $250 billion in imports from China would increase by five percent to 30 percent Oct. 1, Bloomberg News reported. The president also upped tariffs on an additional $300 billion in Chinese imports from 10 to 15 percent, according to the report.

In calling for the U.S. to confront China morally, Moore pointed to China's current "reign of terror" against such religious minorities as Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims, and Falun Gong.

"The state is using everything from concentration camps to facial-recognition technology to ensure that the only worship and belief allowed is that which submits to Chinese Communist orthodoxy," Moore wrote. "People who resist this mandate are ruthlessly plowed over."

The U.S. State Department has long included China on its list of "countries of particular concern," a category reserved under federal law for governments that have committed or tolerated "systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom."

Moore named the following among immediate steps the U.S. could take to counter China morally as well as economically:

-- Insist Beijing invite Sam Brownback, U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, to visit the Xinjiang province, where Uighur Muslims reside, and the Tibet Autonomous Region, with opportunities for him to have unsupervised meetings with religious leaders and groups.

-- Levy financial penalties allowed by federal law on Chinese government officials responsible for the persecution.

-- Demand freedom for China's prisoners of conscience.

Messengers to this year's annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution condemning China's Communist Party, as well as North Korea's regime, for "extreme religious persecution and flagrant human rights violations." The resolution also urged the United States and the international community to make religious freedom a "top priority."

In the opinion piece, Moore cited the New Testament account of Jesus' response when asked about paying taxes to Rome. Referring to the likeness of Caesar engraved on a coin, Jesus said, "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and unto God that which is God's."

China's persecuted people, Moore wrote, "do not bear the image of the Chinese Communist Party membership card, nor do they bear the image of a bar code for international commerce. They bear the image of a Creator above the reach of any state, no matter that it pretends to be a god.

"Render unto China that which is China's, but its people's souls aren't part of that deal."

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FROM THE SEMINARIES: For the Church workshop at MBTS; Pastor Jack Graham encourages SWBTS family to be filled with the Spirit 
by By BP Staff
Date: September 23, 2019 - Monday

For the Church Workshop at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary focuses on preaching; Prestonwood Baptist Church's pastor Jack Graham encourages chapel attendees at Southwestern Seminary chapel service to be filled with the Spirit.

<b>For the Church workshop, led by Allen, focuses on preaching</b>
By T. Patrick Hudson

KANSAS CITY (BP) -- Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary hosted its third For the Church Workshop on Sept. 18, featuring MBTS President Jason Allen as lecturer and focusing on the topic of preaching. 

The purpose of the three-part discussion, Allen noted, was to maintain the institution's focus on serving local churches and the seminary community by intentionally providing encouraging and applicable sessions covering relevant subjects. The seminary's For The Church National Conference will be held this week Sept. 23-24.

Allen's first workshop session was a chapel sermon entitled, "Four Marks of Faithful Preaching," derived from 2 Timothy 4: 1-5, and a passage which Allen said deeply affected him early in his ministry as he explored the question, "What does it mean to preach?"
 
He noted that the passage, over the ages, has been a charge to most every preacher of the Gospel. 

"We receive it. We identify with it. We find ourselves being simultaneously charged by it and encouraged by it," Allen said. "It's our charge as well to preach the word. It's a reminder that regardless of what is or isn't happening favorably or unfavorably in the culture, regardless of what the church is doing or not doing or what church members are appreciating or not appreciating, this charge stands clear. It stands firm. Preach the Word."

Preaching biblically is the first, indispensable mark of faithful preaching, Allen noted. The pastor is to preach the word of God, to herald, to lift one's voice, to proclaim, to speak boldly, even loudly.

The reason for preaching the word, Allen said is because the Scriptures search us, and the Scriptures search our people, unlike any other message we have to preach. Therefore, we must proclaim them.

The second mark of faithful preaching, Allen said, is to preach authoritatively, which means to be equipped and ready to act. 

"This means whether it's popular or not, whether your hearers want to hear it or not, and frankly, whether you as preacher feel like preaching it or not, be ready in season and out of season to do three things: reprove, rebuke, exhort," Allen said.

The third and fourth marks of faithful preaching, Allen said, include preaching pastorally and preaching persistently.

To the point of pastoral preaching, Allen noted that a pastor should be aware of what's at stake. Congregants depart from doctrine easily, and often the end result is devastation.

"The reality is you have about 40 minutes -- maybe a little less, maybe a little more -- on any given Sunday," Allen said, to present the solution to "a week's worth of nonsense, cultural confusion, bad televangelists, and everything else that has gone in their ears and before their eyes and into their hearts that week out of them.

"It's urgent," Allen said. "These are real people who we know, whom we serve, and so we want to speak with patience and instruction, but we do that out of a heart of protection -- wanting to guard the flock, to guard the sheep."

To view Allen's entire message, visit mbts.edu/2019/09/chapel-with-dr-jason-allen/.

The workshop's second and third sessions were lectures based off of Allen's recently-released book, "Letters to My Students: Volume 1." The 175-page work -- which was inspired by Allen's interest in and interactions with the book "Lectures to My Students" by renowned British pastor C.H. Spurgeon -- is the first of a three-volume series that aims to be a biblical, accessible guide for ministers and ministers-in-training. 

Within the book, Allen explains in three broader categories of how one prepares for the calling to preach, how the preacher then prepares his sermons and, lastly, how the preacher progresses and grows in the art of preaching.

Based on these concepts, Allen focused his afternoon sessions on "five aspects of a theology of preaching" and "five steps of sermon preparation."

In the second session, Allen noted that who preaches, why one preaches, what is preached, and how one preaches the word are predetermined phenomena. As such, it is God who calls the preacher to preach -- not a seminary, agency or denomination. God chose preaching as the method by which His message is expressed, and God predetermined His Word, the text, as what will be preached. 

Allen also explained that he feels expository preaching is the best answer to "how" one rightly preaches the Word.

Quoting Martyn Lloyd-Jones -- who said preaching is the highest, greatest, and most glorious of all callings -- Allen said if we believe that, then it demands that we think very intentionally about who we are as a preacher, about what preaching is, and it necessitates us to think carefully about a theology of preaching.

As such, Allen covered topics including the depravity of man, the power of Scripture, the necessity of the work of the Holy Spirit, the mandate of expository preaching, and the spiritual life of the preacher.

Regarding the last point, Allen said, "I am convinced that the spiritual life of the preacher is germane to the overall success and authority of the sermon. The preacher must cultivate a holy life … God wants His vessel to be clean all the way to the inner most being, all the way to the preacher's heart. A man's personal life and discipline can make or break his preaching ministry."

The workshop's final session explored a more practical side of ministry, as Allen walked the audience through five steps for preparing a sermon. Those steps included familiarization with the text, interpretation of the passage, assimilation into a manuscript, amplifying the message, and the proclamation of the message.

To view the afternoon sessions, visit: mbts.edu/category/ftc-workshop/.

The next FTC Workshop will take place on Oct. 2 and will feature Owen Strachan, associate professor of Christian theology at Midwestern Seminary. He will lecture will be based off his new book, "Reenchanting Humanity: A Theology of Mankind." 


<b>Jack Graham encourages seminary family to be filled with the Spirit</b>

By Alex Sibley

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) -- Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, reminded students and faculty at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary of this foundational truth for ministry during his chapel address, Sept. 19: “‘Not by strength or by might, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord of Armies” (Zechariah 4:6). 

Preaching from Zechariah 4:6-10, in which the Lord encourages Zerubbabel to finish the work of rebuilding the temple, Graham encouraged the seminary family to rely on the Lord for every task, both large and small. 

Graham, a two-time graduate and distinguished alumnus of Southwestern Seminary, as well as a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, was joined in the service in MacGorman Chapel by Prestonwood's worship team, led by Michael Neale. 

Both Graham's sermon and the worship songs emphasized the need to be filled with the Spirit. 

"It's not the might of armies or the power of personality; it is not the ability of man but the power of God that moves among us that changes everything," Graham said. 

Noting that Zerubbabel had worked many years to rebuild the temple but had little to show for it at the time of Zechariah's prophecy, Graham shared the Lord's encouragement to Zerubbabel that He would finish what He started, and He would do so by His own might.
"So often, we work our fingers to the bone," Graham said, "and all we have is a big hole in the ground to show for it, and we wonder, 'Why? Why, God?'
"God wants to fill us with His Spirit and use us for His glory," he said. "And it is in the filling of the Spirit and the fresh fire of the Holy Spirit that we are enabled to do the work that God has called us to do."

Graham related his early experience as pastor of Prestonwood, explaining that, in those days, the congregation was dealing with significant hurt stemming from the departure of their previous pastor. But over time, the church started growing again. 

"I think one of the reasons that God was able to renew and restore Prestonwood in those days is because we were so desperate for God to move," Graham said. "It was out of our brokenness that we discovered the power of God. And we knew that if God did it, it would get done."

Calling attention to verse 10 -- wherein Zerubbabel is encouraged not to despise the "day of small things" when it seems like little work is getting done -- Graham explained that God uses such days to sanctify His servants. 

"In the day of small things, learn everything you can," Graham said. "Take it all in. Experience it. Soak it in. And what God gives you to do, whether it is large or it is small, do it to His glory."

"People ask, 'Did you expect to be a pastor of a church like Prestonwood?'" he said. "Not on your life; not one second." 
"What I did expect to do was to preach Christ to win as many people to Christ as possible personally, and train and develop a church that would be witnessing to the world, to our neighbors, to the nations," he said. "What I did expect was that God's Holy Spirit would use me to whatever extent He desired."

Graham concluded by recalling an experience he had in chapel while a student at Southwestern Seminary. The day's preacher asked the chapel audience, "Are you, right now, filled with the Holy Spirit?" Graham exhorted his listeners to consider the same question.
"God can't use us until we're usable," he said, "and we're usable when we are full of the might and the power and the grace and the glory of God. … The same grace that saves us is the same grace that calls us and keeps us doing what God has called us to do."
--30--

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Trump to form group for workplace religious freedom
by  Diana Chandler
Date: September 23, 2019 - Monday

NEW YORK (BP) -- A new coalition of U.S. businesses to protect religious freedom in the workplace is among U.S. President Donald Trump's latest initiatives, Trump said Monday (Sept. 23) at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

"This initiative will encourage the private sector to protect people of all faiths in the workplace," Trump said in hosting the 11:30 a.m. Global Call to Protect Religious Freedom. "Too often, people in positions of power preach diversity while silencing, shunning or censoring the faithful.

"True tolerance means respecting the right of all people to express their deeply held religious beliefs," Trump said, citing statistics that 83 percent of the world's population lives in countries with religious persecution.

Ronnie Floyd, president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, applauded the event attended by more than 100 governmental leaders and members of persecuted faith communities globally, including Christians, Jewish leaders and Muslims.

"I applaud today's call to broaden international support for the protection of religious freedom," Floyd told Baptist Press. "This is especially important in the wake of increasing persecution of people on the basis of their beliefs, and the growing number of attacks on and destruction of houses of worship.

"It is time to bring an end to religious persecution and do all we can to see crimes cease against people of faith," Floyd said. "I am grateful for President Trump speaking and leading in this global effort."

Floyd described religious freedom as a "first freedom" in America.

"We should work to take the Gospel to the nations to see hearts and minds around the world changed so that all tribes, tongues and nations can freely and safely worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," Floyd told BP.

Trump pledged an additional $25 million in U.S. funding to protect religious sites and relics from criminal attacks.

"These evil attacks are a wound on all humanity. We must all work together to protect communities of every faith," Trump said. "We're also urging every nation to increase the prosecution and punishment of crimes against religious communities. There can be no greater crime than that."

Trump proclaimed religious liberty one of his highest priorities as president.

"Today with one clear voice, the United States of America calls upon the nations of the world to end religious persecution," Trump said. "To stop the crimes against people of faith, release prisoners of conscience, repeal laws restricting freedom of religion and belief, protect the vulnerable, the defenseless, and the oppressed, America stands with believers in every country who ask only for the freedom to live according to the faith that is within their own hearts."

Joining Trump were U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, formerly imprisoned pastor Andrew Brunson, and various administration representatives.

Kelly Craft, newly appointed U.S. ambassador to the U.N., praised Trump's progress.

"His administration has vigorously defended religious freedom and the freedom of conscience in the United States," she said, "and under his guidance the state Department has become a watchful defender of religious liberty, especially through the 2019 Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom, the largest freedom event of its kind in the world."

The new business group for workplace religious freedom would be the first of its kind, Trump said. He didn't name members of the group, but said it would include some of the "most successful men and women on earth" whom he described as "great business leaders, great people of strength."


