Message from Bob

Thank you for partnering with us to advance religious freedom. Your support as a Wilberforce Ambassador is helping influence powerful change in the lives of the persecuted around the world. I hope you will find these monthly newsletters - of which this is the first - to be helpful as you learn more about the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative and the work God is doing.
 
Our main fall event will be the DALLAS 2016 Summit on International Religious Freedom, Nov. 4-6.  The weekend will be filled with incredible messages of hope from acclaimed global speakers, fantastic live music, and most importantly, practical information about how you can make a difference. You won’t want to miss it, and I hope you can bring a group. Below is information about our international lineup of guest speakers:
 
Os Guinness is an author and social critic. Great-great-great grandson of Arthur Guinness, the Dublin brewer, he was born in China where his parents were medical missionaries during World War II. He was educated in England and has written or edited more than thirty books, including The Global Public Square, and his latest book, Impossible People: Christian Courage and the Struggle for the Soul of Civilization. He has spoken around the world about religious freedom.
 
Archbishop Benjamin Kwashi is the bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Jos and archbishop of the Ecclesiastical province of Jos in the Church of Nigeria. In 1987, his church and vicarage were entirely burned down by rioting Muslim radicals. Archbishop Kwashi and his family have been personally targeted in such attacks, one of which left his wife Gloria blind until a surgery was able to restore her sight. They have six biological children, as well as 54 orphans living with them. 
 
Nick Pitts serves as Director of Cultural Engagement at the Denison Forum on Truth and Culture. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate and adjunct professor at Dallas Baptist University. Nick contributes to the Forum in the areas of geopolitics and popular culture, as well as serves as the editor of the Daily Briefing.  He writes on cultural issues from a thoughtful, evangelical perspective. Not limited to the Forum, Nick is also an editor-at-large for The Liberty Project, an online magazine.
 
Thank you once again for being a Wilberforce Ambassador. We are excited to see how God moves as you continue to serve Him!!!
 
JOY!
Bob Billups,
Director of Wilberforce Alliance
Psalm 84:11

Meet Our Staff
Dr. Randel Everett is President and Founder of the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative which
was formed in 2014 as he stepped down as pastor of a large Texas congregation.  He chartered the new organization to awaken the church in America to the cries of 5.5 billion of the world’s population that are suffering under religious persecution and oppression.  Having been a pastor of 40 years and a former executive director of a denominational network comprised of over 5600 churches, Dr. Everett has championed the cause of religious freedom for many years.  During his travels around the world, he witnessed firsthand those who had been severely persecuted for their faith.  Seeing the increasing rise of persecution, Dr. Everett determined that now more than ever, a greater initiative was needed which would serve as a catalyst for the advancement of religious freedom and basic human rights both here in the USA and internationally. 
 
Randel is married to Sheila King Everett who is also the Director of Prayer and Spiritual Engagement for 21CWI. 
 

If you look up the Church Without Walls in Houston, Texas, you will find that global outreach is one of its main goals.  The predominantly African American church, which includes some immigrants from Nigeria, has been praying for the kidnapped Chibok school girls since the news broke internationally more than two years ago.

“It’s evil in the highest order,” said Pastor Ralph West.  “It became one of those heartbreaking stories that reaches down to the core of one’s being and needs to be addressed.”

When Pastor West heard from 21CWI President Randel Everett about the organization’s trip to Nigeria and how both a Chibok mother, Mary*, and Rebecca Gadzama from Education Must Continue would visit in the U.S. To share their stories, he said he knew he needed to do something.

The church agreed to have the women come speak at its services while they were in Houston in June.  Then, the 20,000-member church collected a special offering for the 21CWI Nigeria: Persecution Awareness campaign.

Pastor West said when we are able to hear the stories first-hand of the persecuted, and put faces to these tragic stories, the church responds in a big way.

“We live in a culture where we think you need mass protests to make a difference, when in essence, you can make a difference beginning in small places,” he said.  “The gospel is not something you just verbalize; it embraces people, it accepts people, it loves people.

“We can do a lot if we feed the hungry, stand with the poor, liberate those who are in prison, and stand with the persecuted.”
 

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