Faith Facts

• The Republican nominee for Wisconsin governor publicly credited God with protecting him and others during the Saturday night plane crash.
• Supporters and his Democratic opponent have offered prayers and well-wishes following the incident.
• The candidate emphasized gratitude and faith as central to his response to the near-tragedy.

The Republican nominee for Wisconsin governor is giving thanks to God after surviving a plane crash Saturday night. The candidate says divine protection preserved his life and the lives of those traveling with him.

He expressed appreciation for the outpouring of prayers and messages from supporters across the state. The nominee also acknowledged the kind words extended by his opponent in the closely watched gubernatorial race.

“God was looking after us,”

The candidate’s public statement frames the event as a reminder of faith amid political competition. He continues to campaign with renewed focus on the values of family, freedom, and service to the people of Wisconsin.

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Faith Facts

• Churches of Christ membership is declining across the United States.
• Christian universities tied to the fellowship continue to see rising enrollment in professional programs such as nursing, pharmacy, law, and engineering.
• Most of these institutions maintain policies requiring faculty and board members to share a commitment to the Church of Christ faith tradition.

Declining membership in Churches of Christ is creating new hiring challenges for universities affiliated with the fellowship. As demand for professional programs continues to grow, administrators are finding it harder to recruit faculty who are members of the Churches of Christ.

Presidents from eleven institutions spoke with The Christian Chronicle about their hiring policies. Nine of the schools require all board members to belong to the fellowship, while Lipscomb University requires seventy-five percent and Pepperdine University requires a majority.

Faculty requirements vary by campus. Freed-Hardeman University continues its longstanding policy that board members, administrators, faculty, and staff must be members of the Churches of Christ, with only hourly hospitality and housekeeping workers exempted.

“We have loosened strings on faculty,” Oklahoma Christian President Ken Jones said. “They have to be willing to agree to our covenants — who we are as a university — and deeply Jesus-centered in their faith and committed to a local congregation.

“We can’t fill our faculty ranks otherwise,” Jones added. “You don’t have to believe exactly what the Church of Christ believes, but you have to agree to live in this environment with us.”

Smaller institutions face similar realities. Crowley’s Ridge College President Richard Johnson reported that more than ninety percent of employees are members of Churches of Christ, though the school sometimes must look beyond the fellowship.

“We try to hire all employees within Churches of Christ when we can,” Johnson said, “but that doesn’t mean we’re always successful.”

At Florida College, President John Weaver explained that employment depends on spiritual and religious principles rather than denominational membership alone. York University maintains a policy for a majority of faculty to be members of the Church of Christ while remaining open to aligned candidates from other backgrounds.

Lubbock Christian University President Scott McDowell emphasized the desire for faculty who are Jesus followers passionate about faith. Members of the College of Biblical Studies must belong to Churches of Christ.

Faulkner University requires faculty in traditional programs to be members of a Church of Christ for tenure, but this rule does not apply to its law school or College of Health Sciences. Abilene Christian University seeks full-time faculty and senior administrators who belong to a local Church of Christ congregation, though the board may grant exceptions when candidates demonstrate spiritual fit.

Pepperdine University President Jim Gash said the school aims for a critical mass of faculty from Churches of Christ to preserve institutional heritage and direction.

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Faith Facts

• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the city of Denton for allowing gender-neutral changing rooms at a publicly owned swimming pool.
• The rooms were planned for an all-ages LGBT pride event, putting children in the same locker space as adults.
• Public officials have a duty to protect family privacy, biological sex, and the innocence of the young in taxpayer-funded facilities.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton took a stand for families on Monday. He filed a lawsuit against the city of Denton and its officials, accusing them of allowing gender-neutral changing rooms at a publicly owned swimming pool.

Those rooms were planned for an upcoming all-ages LGBT pride event. That means children could be undressing in the same taxpayer-funded locker space as adults of the opposite sex.

God created mankind male and female, and no city program can rewrite that truth. When local leaders erase the distinction between men and women in a changing room, they put kids at risk and trample the privacy of ordinary families.

A public pool belongs to the people of Denton, not to activists pushing a radical gender agenda. Parents have every right to expect that sons and daughters will not be forced into mixed-sex locker rooms under the banner of pride.

Attorney General Paxton is doing the job Texas voters sent him to do. He is holding city officials accountable when they place politics ahead of children, parents, and basic decency.

This fight is about more than one swim event in North Texas. It is about whether America will still honor biological reality, parental authority, and the safety of the most vulnerable in spaces built for families.

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