When staff members join Christ the King Community Church in Burlington, Wash., one of the largest churches in the United States, they sign onto the employee handbook, which has a tightly defined confidentiality clause. By signing, staffers agree never to discuss information “designated as confidential” such as “sensitive information regarding members” or donation records or discipline issues. The handbook is publicly available.

Nobody’s ever confused me with “Dear Abby.” In the 33 years I’ve edited this column, nobody’s ever written me asking for advice about courtship, marriage issues, or an intrusive mother-in-law.

But it’s a rare week’s mail that doesn’t bring several appeals for advice of a different kind. What do I think about ABC College? Would I recommend DEF University? What about GHI Seminary? Is the JKL Relief Agency careful in its use of funds? Is the MNO Home for Children a reliable orphanage?

Picture yourself as a board member of the National Religious Broadcasters, an association of 1,100 member organizations that attempts to “communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world,” according to its website.

Important work. Potentially life-changing work. With headquarters located blocks from the U.S. Capitol, NRB has marketed itself as being to the First Amendment what the National Rifle Association is to the Second. U.S. presidents have spoken at NRB’s annual convention.

In 1968 CBS, facing political pressure, finally allowed on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour a song, “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy,” that implicitly called President Lyndon B. Johnson a “big fool” for leading America deeper into the Vietnam War. The song has a platoon fording a river that goes from knee deep to neck deep in the Big Muddy—“and the big fool says to push on.”

Heated, politicized language surrounding the border issue reached a boiling point on Aug. 3 when a 21-year-old man opened fire at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killing 22 and wounding at least 24. Police identified the shooter as the author of an anti-immigrant manifesto published on an online forum where other white supremacists have announced their murder plans. There, the shooter defined his attack as “a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas” and said he’s “simply defending my country from cultural and ethnic replacement brought on by an invasion.” 

Early this summer, I joined a group of World Journalism Institute students via Skype to talk about my experiences as a Christian journalist. World Journalism Institute is an intensive course that teaches participants how to do Biblical journalism, and I myself am a WJI alumna. 

This story is part of our 2019 Hope Awards contest. To vote for your favorite regional winner, go to wng.org/compassion.