The 3 - July 21, 2024

This week's edition of The 3, featuring three stories of relevance to the Christian community, includes information on a major fire at a large Dallas church, which destroyed the church's former main sanctuary. Also, another major manufacturer has decided to back off offensive, progressive policies. Plus, California's governor has signed a bill into law forcing school districts to keep information about students' gender and sexuality secret from parents. 

Historic sanctuary at Dallas church destroyed by fire

The evening rush hour in Dallas this Friday was marred by a massive fire that occurred in the "historic sanctuary" at First Baptist Church of Dallas, which is pastored by Faith Radio programmer Robert Jeffress, heard on Pathway to Victory weekdays at 12:30pm.

An article at The Christian Post website noted:

"We continue to praise God for His hand of protection on our church," First Baptist Dallas stated in a Facebook post Friday night.

"We are grateful that no one was injured today and are thankful for the first responders who helped contain the fire to our Historic Sanctuary. They continue working but the primary fire has been extinguished. One way or another, we intend to meet for church this Sunday."

Pastor Jeffress announced on X that the church would meet on Sunday at the Dallas Convention Center in one service.  Fox 4 television reported that Jeffress announced that the sanctuary would be rebuilt.  The station's website quoted that pastor as saying, "We're going to recreate it as a standing symbol of the truth. The unchangableness, the endurance of the word of God. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever..."

He went on to say, "We can not allow Satan to have the last word...If we allow that thing to remain in ruins, it will look to the whole world like we have been defeated by the evil one, so we are going to rebuild, we're going to recreate."

The Christian Post article stated, "According to Dallas Fire-Rescue, the church's secondary chapel was impacted by the fire and suffered a partial collapse...," adding, "The red brick building, known as the church's old sanctuary, was built in 1890. It was the church's home for a long time before it moved to its new worship center about 12 years ago."

The article also said:

In an interview with Fox 4, Jeffress said that the sanctuary was the site of many personal events, including his baptism when he was 6 and ordination for the ministry at 21. The church had just concluded vacation Bible school with over 2,000 kids at the sanctuary.

"It holds a lot of memories," Jeffress said. "We thank God nobody was hurt. … I'm grateful that the church is not brick and mortar, its [sic] people. The people of God will endure. First Baptist Dallas will endure. We thank so many of our friends around the country who are praying for us right now."

Oh, Deere!  Lawn manufacturing company backs off on "woke" support

Another major manufacturing company has announced its intent to reverse policies that are associated with identity politics and favoritism.  WORLD Magazine reports that:

John Deere will no longer support parades or other events focused on what it characterized as social or cultural awareness, a likely reference to gay pride parades. Instead, business resources will be focused exclusively on professional development, recruitment, and retention, the company said. Company training materials will also be audited to ensure they include no social messaging, the statement added. John Deere’s announcement came weeks after farming competitor Tractor Supply made a similar announcement.

The company had announced its commitment to DEI: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, in a report in 2022, according to the article.

As The Tennessee Star reported two weeks ago:

Robby Starbuck shared an update into his work exposing John Deere, the American manufacturing company of agricultural machinery and other heavy equipment, for its woke policies, saying how “hundreds” of upset employees have come forward about the drastic changes under the company’s new leadership.

In a radio interview with Michael Patrick Leahy cited in the article, Starbuck, a Christian commentator and filmmaker, said the company had become a "trojan horse for leftism." 

The article also notes, "Starbuck, who recently exposed Tractor Supply Company for its woke policies that forced that company to reverse course amid backlash from consumers, said he’s had corporate sources at John Deere tell him that the company allows transgender individuals to use opposite sex bathrooms."

New California law mandates that schools keep sexual information about students secret from parents

School district after school district in California had passed policies that would force school administrators and teachers to inform parents about information relative to matters of so-called "gender identity" that they had received about students.  Now, a new statewide law will void those local policies.

It's called AB1955, and according to the California Policy Center...

... AB 1955 was pushed through the legislature as a “gut and amend” bill — outside of the normal legislative calendar — to invalidate the popular parental notification policies enacted by local school boards across the state. The policies require school administrators to inform parents if their child changes their name or gender on official school records.

The Center's website goes on to say that the bill, recently signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, "...instructs school officials to lie to parents if their child changes their gender, name or pronouns at school. The governor’s action is a betrayal of the thousands of California parents and parent advocates who have spoken out against AB 1955 during the rushed committee hearings over the last several weeks." The article quotes from Vice President of Education Policy and Government Affairs at California Policy Center, Lance Christensen, who said “Public schools are meant to support – not subvert – parents in their efforts to educate their children.”  The Center's site also says:

Christensen warned that Newsom’s new “lie to parents” law violates federal law that guarantees parents’ right to access their children’s school records. He also advised districts against creating two sets of files for a student to keep parents in the dark.