The Folkerths and Haitians of Central Ohio

September 23, 2024.Reading time 19 minutes.

I have been watching with some interest, the story of Haitian immigrants, in the little town of Springfield, OH.

Springfield is about as far Northeast of Dayton as Greenville (where the Folkerths are from) is Northwest.

So I have thoughts…

Ten Years After A Failure To Move

August 3, 2024.Reading time 5 minutes.

Ten years ago this week, I was blessed to participate in the most powerful non-violent witness of my life, when I was arrested outside the White House, standing up for our young immigrant “Dreamers” and their families.
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Dear Donald Trump

March 17, 2024.Reading time 3 minutes.

Dear Donald Trump: Migrants are not animals.Migrants are not subhuman. Using such language about them is a dangerous and fascist tactic, designed to dehumanize and create “The Other.” Real leaders don’t light these kinds of matches and stoke these kinds of hates.But I guess you know that. Real Christians understand the Hebrew scripture injunction that […]

Open Letter to Gov. Abbott (re: Cleveland shootings)

May 2, 2023.Reading time 3 minutes.

Dear Gov Abbott, I am writing you as a Christian pastor, and calling out your inclusion of the phrase “illegal immigrant” in your tweet regarding the senseless murders of five innocent people in Cleveland, Texas. I would remind you how our common faith in Jesus Christ insists that “In Christ there is no Jew or […]

Christmas, Star Wars, and Greg Abbott

December 26, 2022.Reading time 12 minutes.

This week, as I reread the first verses of Luke’s Christmas story, I thought about Rey (from Star Wars), and about my own governor, Greg Abbott. Director JJ Abrams masterfully introduces the character of Rey to us in “The Force Awakens” in a sequence that is worthy of a careful look. As John Williams’ brilliant […]

The New AGSV Bible Translation

October 30, 2019.Reading time 11 minutes.

Exciting news, friends! I’ve been given an advance copy of a new Bible translation, hitting the market soon. The translation is called the “American Government Standard Version.” (AGSV for short…) The AGSV is a new and carefully sourced translation from the original Hebrew and Greek texts, with one incredibly helpful addition. The texts are also […]

What Will YOU do?

August 31, 2019.Reading time 5 minutes.

As we crossed back to the US yesterday, I snapped this first pic of a sign placed by Border Patrol: “CPB Welcomes Your Comments.” We had just spent time listening to the stories of migrants camped out on the Mexican side. Cubans. Hondurans. Salvadorans and Guatemalans. All of them have been pushed back across our […]

The Crisis We Are Creating

August 30, 2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

As we cross the border today, I’m struck by the predominance of FEAR. Fear of “The Other” is fundamentally what drives the kind of policies we see now. We must understand the real dynamic of the past two years: 1. While our immigration laws have needed reform for decades, there was never any “invasion.” 2. […]

Today on the Border

August 30, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

Today, we cross the border to see the violence/damage that the “metering” policy has wrought. God calls us to love the neighbor as we love ourselves. To have one law for the migrant and the citizen. Instead, we created a new “metering” that is subjecting migrants, Mexicans, AND US CITIZENS to new and dangerous crime […]

What Do We Do With the Case of Francisco?

July 24, 2019.Reading time 11 minutes.

Dear White Friends, Can we talk again?I can’t shake the story of Francisco Erwin Galicia. He’s the 18-year-old American citizen that was detained for almost a month by Border Patrol and ICE. I can’t shake the story, because it play directly into a narrative that I have been preaching about for perhaps a decade now…that […]