By Omar C. Garcia | Missions Pastor
Kingsland Baptist Church | Katy, Texas

For the past several years, the people of Kingsland have been actively engaged on the front lines of the fight against human trafficking. We have invested substantial financial resources as well as untold numbers of volunteer hours in a variety of justice partnerships and initiatives. This morning, our justice ministry hosted our Fifth Annual Just Run for a Just Cause — designed to raise awareness about human trafficking and the plight of the oppressed. More than 1000 people from our church and community showed up to participate in our 5k and 10k run and 1 mile family walk.

I was especially glad to see all of the families with children of all ages that participated in this morning’s Just Run. One of my favorite songs is entitled “By Our Love” by singer Christy Nockels. One of the verses of the song says, “Children, you are hope for justice, stand firm in the Truth now, set your hearts above. You will be reaching, long after we’re gone, and they will know you by your love!” If we teach our children about justice today, then it’s possible that they will become champions who will come to the aid of those who will suffer oppression in the next generation. If we fail to teach our children about justice, then future generations will suffer.

As part of our efforts to educate our community about human trafficking, we set up our justice wall —a display that stretched sixty-feet across our parking lot. Each panel in the wall sequentially illustrates the story of how young girls are trafficked and how those who champion justice come to their aid. Over the past months we have loaned our wall to other groups who have used this massive display to educate others about human trafficking. For many today, the story on the wall was their first exposure to the truth about a reality they may never see — the dark world of human trafficking.

I am grateful for Paul Crandall, our Recreation Pastor, and to Kingsland member and race coordinator Rebecca Kratz. They did an amazing job of mobilizing an army of volunteers and coordinating a thousand details to make this year’s race a huge success. I am also grateful to be a part of a church that refuses to be silent about human trafficking, that invests financial and human resources to speak and work on behalf of those who have no voice, and that is determined to stay on the front lines of this battle.

The most convicting thing on our justice wall is a quote by abolitionist William Wilberforce: “You may choose to look the other way but you can never again say that you did not know.” We refuse to look the other way. And we are determined to do all that we can to make a difference. We understand that if we are absent from the front lines of this battle, many will continue to suffer unimaginable horrors. We also understand that we cannot fight this battle alone and are committed to supporting and undergirding the work of our local and international justice partners. Thanks to all who participated and who worked behind scenes to make our Fifth Annual Just Run for a Just Cause a success.

By Omar C. Garcia | Missions Pastor
Kingsland Baptist Church | Katy, Texas

Until recent weeks, not many of us had heard the name Abubakar Shekau — leader of Boko Haram, the terrorist group that has claimed responsibility for the abduction of 284 Nigerian schoolgirls. In a moved that stunned the world on April 14, Shekau and his minions kidnapped 276 girls from a school in Chibok and, shortly thereafter, another 8 girls. This is but one of the latest evils perpetrated against children by this Nigeria-based Islamic terrorist group.

As if fools and idiots were lacking on the world stage, Shekau forced his way onto the pages of the Playbill and assumed his position in front of a global audience. And he could care less about rotten tomatoes. A Boko Haram intermediary said that Shekau “is the craziest of all the commanders. He really believes it is OK to kill anyone who disagrees with him.” For an encore performance, Boko Haram slaughtered more than 300 people in a Nigerian village near the Cameroon border. No wonder the words Boko Haram have become a synonym for fear in Nigeria.

Why school girls? The answer may lie, in part, in the meaning of the words Boko Haram. This Arabic-Hausa compound phrase conveys a range of ideas from “books are forbidden” to “Western education is forbidden” or “is a sin.” A man claiming to be Shekau said in a recently released video that girls should be married by age 12, not go to school. “I abducted your girls,” he boasted. “I will sell them in the market, by Allah. There is a market for selling humans. Allah says I should sell. He commands me to sell. I will sell women. I sell women.”

As if to add insult to injury, the thickset bearded psychopath said, "Why is everybody making noise just because I took some girls who were in western education anyway?” In the mind of Shekau, it’s a sin for Muslim girls to get an education but it’s ok for him to kidnap and sell these young girls into forced marriages or slavery where they will lose their innocence and be repeatedly overpowered and raped. This is the reasoning of a man whose impoverished worldview has no regard for the sanctity of human life.


Acts of violence like those committed by Boko Haram in Nigeria are no longer just some unfortunate regional problem. The kidnapping of the schoolgirls has stirred global outrage. Parents, women, and girls around the planet are standing in solidarity with the kidnapped Nigerian students. Using the hashtag Bring Back Our Girls, people around the globe have let their voices be heard. Among them, Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani girl who was shot at point-blank range by the Taliban and survived.

Let’s pray that Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan indeed has some good luck in finding “our” girls. Perhaps he will finally deal decisively with Shekau and Boko Haram with the assistance of other nations who have offered their expertise and intelligence. No evil that seeks to destroy children, a nation’s most precious resource and hope for the future, should be allowed to commit acts of terror with impunity. #BringBackOurGirls

By Omar C. Garcia | Missions Pastor
Kingsland Baptist Church | Katy, Texas

September is Human Trafficking Awareness month in Houston. Throughout the month, churches and faith-based organizations will host justice-related initiatives throughout the greater Houston area. This morning, Kingsland Baptist Church’s Justice Ministry hosted their Fourth Annual Just Run for a Just Cause — designed to raise awareness about human trafficking and the plight of the oppressed. More than 1000 people from our church and community showed up to participate in our 5k and 10k run and 1 mile family walk.

As part of Kingsland's efforts to educate folks about human trafficking, we set up our justice wall —a display that stretched sixty-feet across our parking lot. Each panel in the wall sequentially illustrates the story of how young girls are trafficked and how those who champion justice come to their aid. In the coming months, our justice wall will be on display at other justice events to help compel people to become champions on behalf of the oppressed. For many today, the story on the wall was their first exposure to the truth about a reality they may never see — the dark world of human trafficking.

We at Kingsland believe that the church must be engaged in the fight against human trafficking. We also understand that this battle will not be won in our generation. We are, however, determined to do all that we can to make a difference. We are also determined to equip and pass the baton along to the next generation, those who will champion the cause and come to the aid of the oppressed long after we are gone. If the church is absent from the front lines of this battle, many will continue to suffer unimaginable horrors. We must be engaged in this fight.

I am grateful for Paul Crandall, our Recreation Pastor, and to Kingsland member and race coordinator Rebecca Kratz. They did an amazing job of mobilizing an army of volunteers and coordinating a thousand details to make this year’s race a huge success. I have to add that Josh Stewart, Ely Butuyan, and Breanna Derbecker sang one of the most beautiful renditions of the Star Spangled Banner that I have ever heard. Amazing!

I am grateful that Kingsland is a church that refuses to be silent about human trafficking, that invests financial and human resources to speak and work on behalf of those who have no voice, and that is determined to stay on the front lines of this battle. The most convicting thing on our justice wall is a quote by abolitionist William Wilberforce: “You may choose to look the other way but you can never again say that you did not know.” We refuse to look the other way.

By Omar C. Garcia | Missions Pastor
Kingsland Baptist Church | Katy, Texas

Malala Yousafzai started her journey toward national prominence in Pakistan when she was asked to write Diary of a Pakistani Schoolgirl — a blog featured on BBC’s Urdu-language website. The eloquent eleven-year-old chronicled the hardships of life under the Taliban in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. When the Taliban took control of the area, one of the first things they did was to close all schools for girls. This action forced Malala and other girls to go underground in their quest for an education, clearly a risky venture. Malala, however, continued to use her voice to highlight Taliban atrocities and to champion education for girls. She gained so much popularity that the Taliban actually feared the growing influence of this young girl who refused to allow fear to silence her voice! So, in typical Taliban fashion, these stupid-in-every-sense-of-the-word-thugs went after this now fourteen-year-old girl on the grounds that she was “promoting secularism” —a crime deserving of death.

Earlier this month, Malala and her friends were on their way home from school in northwestern Swat when a gunman approached their vehicle. Once he had identified Malala, he shot her in the head and injured two of her friends. Fortunately, Malala received timely medical attention in Peshawar where military neurosurgeons removed the bullet from her head. She was later flown to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, a hospital that specializes in this kind of trauma. Latest reports are that Malala will recover from her wounds but will require additional surgeries to replace damaged bones in her head as well as undergo neurological treatment.



In the meantime, this failed attempt to silence Malala has helped others throughout Pakistan and the world to find their own voices. Thousands of outraged Pakistanis have rallied in support of Malala while demanding that those who attempted to kill her be brought to justice. President Zardari said that the attack on Malala “is an attack on all girls in Pakistan, an attack on education, and on all civilized people,” He’s right! Sayeeda Warsi, Britain’s Foreign Office minister for Pakistan, wrote in The Sun newspaper: “The Taliban have failed. Malala’s message of freedom and equality has now gone global. Our duty isn’t just to help this little girl. It is to carry on spreading her message.” I agree! By trying to silence one voice the Taliban unwittingly helped thousands of others to find theirs. May God help young Malala to recover fully, and may He give each of us the courage to add our voice to hers. She is a courageous champion, an inspiration, and a reminder of what one person who refuses to be silenced by fear can do to help make our world a better place.

By Omar C. Garcia | Missions Pastor
Kingsland Baptist Church | Katy, Texas

Poipet, Cambodia

It’s probably safe to say that most of us had similar childhood fears. I remember going through the “being afraid of the dark and there might be monsters under my bed” stages of fear. More than once I turned off the lights in my room and jumped into my bed in a single bound in order to avoid a hairy and clawed monster hand grabbing me by the ankle and dragging me under my bed. Disney’s award-winning animated film Monsters, Inc., one of my favorite movies, explored this particular fear in humorous fashion. I also remember being a little frightened by thunderstorms. However, Julie Andrews was never around to calm me by singing “My Favorite Things” like she did for those well-dressed Von Trapp kids. I had to muddle through on my own. And then there was the fear of ghosts fueled by more than a few stories told around summer campfires. These were and are typical childhood fears that tend to become less and less ominous the older we become.

This morning, we shared a special lesson with the kids at the Imparting Smiles orphanage — a lesson about how to guard against those who traffic in human beings. This is not a lesson we have ever taught at any of our Vacation Bible Schools in America. However, because Poipet is such a high-risk area for kids, Imparting Smiles founder Steve Hyde asked us to teach the kids here about this particular kind of stranger danger. As my friend Janet introduced this lesson, she asked the kids to tell her the kinds of things they feared. The initial responses were typical as kids talked about being afraid of snakes and ghosts and storms and the floods that are so common in this area. But then, kids began to share about another kind of fear — the fear that someone would take them away from their homes and do bad things to them. This particular fear is very real to these kids because they have heard stories of what has happened to other kids who disappeared and never returned home. They know that bad people in this area try to lure kids away from their homes.

The danger to kids in Poipet and the entire Bantey Meanchey border province is real. The government has placed several billboards throughout the town of Poipet and the province advertising a hotline number to call if child sexual abuse is suspected. There are also signs from the older “Please Protect Our National Treasures” campaign encouraging people to turn in suspected child sex tourists. I have also seen the same information in hotel rooms in other parts of Cambodia. These are indications that the problem of trafficking and abusing children is real. The kids in Poipet certainly know that the danger is real. Kids in every small group that we taught today shared the same fear of being kidnapped and taken far from home by bad people. It should be enough that kids here have to wrestle with the common and usual childhood fears of monsters under the bed and thunderstorms. It’s a shame that they have to fear unscrupulous individuals who traffic in humans.

Cambodia is a source, transit, and destination country for modern-day slaves — men, women and children sold into the sex trade. Some non-government organizations estimate that as many as 50,000 to 100,000 women and children are at risk in Cambodia, a popular destination for those seeking sex with children. Cambodia has a long way to go in the fight against human trafficking. I am thankful that the government is taking some responsible measures to protect children. I don’t underestimate the good that may result from someone seeing one of the billboards and reporting suspicious activity. When it comes to the fight against human trafficking, every small step in the right direction can lead to more victories for the cause of justice. I pray and long for the day when God will “do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more” (Ps. 10:18) and children who live in dangerous places like Poipet can sleep in peace with one less fear to worry about.

by Omar C. Garcia | Missions Pastor
Kingsland Baptist Church | Katy, Texas

Just before boarding my flight from Kolkata to Dubai last Thursday, I picked up a copy of the July 12 issue of The Gulf Times and read a disturbing story entitled: Women Protest Over Afghan Execution. The story reported the public execution of a 22 year-old woman for alleged adultery. This latest episode of violence against women in Afghanistan took place in a village about 100-kilometers outside of Kabul, the capital of this Islamic nation. The execution of this woman named Najiba was captured on video. The disturbing video shows the young woman seated on the ground while a group of Taliban militants prayed before pronouncing her sentence and shooting her in the back several times at close range — all this as dozens of men cheered from the adjacent hillside. Najiba’s execution sparked both local and international outrage, calling for Karzai’s government to bring the culprits to justice.

Afghanistan is a very dangerous place for women. According to the country’s Independent Human Rights Commission, there has been a sharp increase of violence against women in the past year. Earlier this month a woman and two of her children were beheaded in eastern Afghanistan by her own husband. This was just one more in a series of so-called honor killings. And, what makes Najiba’s execution even more abominable is the revelation by Basir Salangi, the governor of Parwan Province. According to Salangi, two Taliban commanders were sexually involved with Najiba, either through rape or romantically. These two men decided to settle their dispute by torturing and killing the young woman. The double-standard is evident. The honor is not. Is it any wonder why Afghanistan is a dangerous place for women? The hypocritical and self-righteous Taliban have once again demonstrated what the world would look like with the absence of grace. When power is not tempered by grace, things can get ugly in a hurry.

The Bible speaks of an occasion when some religious leaders brought a woman to Jesus — a woman caught in the very act of adultery (John 8:1-12). The man, of course, was nowhere to be found. The religious leaders reminded Jesus that the law allowed for the stoning of such a woman. Jesus invited any among the woman’s accusers who was himself without sin to cast the first stone. That’s all it took to remind these hyper-pious men that their lives were as covered by the filth of sin as that of the woman they had publicly humiliated. And then, after the woman’s accusers had all left, Jesus forgave the woman and told her to change her ways. This simple act of grace gave this woman an opportunity to make a new start. And who among us has not longed for a new start?

The answer to making Afghanistan a safer place for woman and children goes much deeper than anything that Karzai’s government can do. What is broken or missing is a fundamental respect for the sanctity of human life and the capacity to exercise mercy and grace — all of which are not a part of the Taliban worldview. Without the presence of grace and love to temper power, we can expect to read more stories about woman and children who are the victims of hypocritical and brutal men who have no regard for the value of life and who are unwilling to come to terms with their own sinfulness. The Taliban and others like them have turned Afghanistan into an ugly and unsafe place. And there is certainly no honor in that. May Najiba's executioners be brought to justice.

by Omar C. Garcia | Missions Pastor
Kingsland Baptist Church | Katy, Texas

The death of Fakhra Younus last month reignited international outcry concerning the plight of Pakistani women who are the victims of an unbelievably brutal practice — acid attacks on women. Younus, a once beautiful woman, was allegedly attacked by her then-husband Bilal Khar, in May 2000. The attack left Younus horribly disfigured. Her caretaker reported that she often feared that Younus would die in the night because she could not breathe. “We used to put a straw in the little bit of her mouth that was left,” she said, “because the rest was all melted together.” After the attack, the Italian government offered Younus asylum, paid for her treatment, and provided money for her to live. Younus endured more than three dozen surgeries and hoped to one day return to Pakistan to reopen her case and fight for justice. However, on March 17, the horribly disfigured Younus decided life was no longer worth living and jumped to her death from her sixth-story apartment. She was laid to rest in Karachi, Pakistan on March 25.

The story of Fakhra Younus is only one among the thousands of similar stories that emerge from Pakistan annually. According to The Aurat Foundation, a women’s rights organization, more than 8,500 acid attacks and other forms of violence against women were reported n Pakistan in 2011. This foundation also reported an increase of 37.5 percent in the number of acid throwing incidents in the country. Acid is a weapon of choice for revenge against women by their husbands, by suitors whose marriage proposals or sexual advances are rejected, or in cases of unmet demands for dowry. In many cases, the attackers often appear to operate with impunity and are not brought to justice. In the case of Bilal Khar, Younus’ ex-husband, many believe the he used his powerful political connections to escape accountability.

Time will tell what impact the outcry over Younus’ death will have on the Pakistani government to do more to prevent acid attacks and other forms of inhumane acts of violence and brutality against women. The Pakistani government should be embarrassed that Younus was embraced by and found help in the arms of the Italians rather than in their own arms. The Aurat Foundation reported that Younus believed that “the system in Pakistan was never going to provide her with relief or remedy” and that she “was totally disappointed that there was no justice available to her.” These beliefs became the breeding ground for the despair that eventually led Younus to take her own life. However, just because Younus did not see justice in her lifetime does not mean that justice will not be served. As Martin Luther King, Jr. once stated, “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” Impunity is a temporary condition.

On a deeper level, the kind of violent attacks that women in Pakistan, and in other places around the world, suffer are the result of an impoverished or nonexistent understanding of the sanctity of human life. It is unquestionably dangerous to be a woman in certain geographical contexts. A 2011 poll conducted by TrustLaw, a Thomas Reuters Foundation Service, identified Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, India, and Somalia as the most dangerous places for women. Shame on these countries! Fakhra Younus did not deserve to have acid poured on her face and she did not deserve to die. Tehmina Durrani, the woman who cared for Younus following the attack, said of Younus, “Her life was a parched stretch of hard rock on which nothing bloomed.” My prayer is that something good will bloom and that her death will not be in vain. Perhaps Younus’ blood mingled with the blood of other victims will become the seed of justice that will blossom in places where the powerful treat the weak with indignity. Time will tell.