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Texas pastor Bob Roberts Jr. led prayer among interfaith clergy who were there to support the rabbi’s family and local authorities throughout the Colleyville hostage crisis.
Last Saturday, Bob Roberts Jr. had just sat down at a restaurant with his wife when he heard about the hostage standoff at nearby Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and three others were being held at gunpoint.
A local pastor and cofounder of Multi-Faith Neighbors Network, Roberts felt the responsibility to step in and help. He ended up hunkered with fellow clergy and the rabbi’s family at a church near Beth Israel for the duration of the crisis. The standoff extended for 11 hours before all hostages escaped safely; the hostage taker was killed in a SWAT team assault.
Afterward, the group of clergy made for an apt photo op—an evangelical pastor, Catholic priest, Muslim imam, and Jewish rabbi all standing together for the sake of their community. But behind that picture were years of relationship building to create the kind of network that runs to help in times of disaster.
“A lot of times, when these situations come, there’s really nothing anybody can do because they have no relationships. So the only thing you can say is, ‘Well, let’s pray,’ and ‘Isn’t it sad?’” said Roberts, who leads Northwood Church in Keller, Texas. “We have to do better.”
In an interview with CT, Roberts shared his prayers during the crisis, his work that allowed him access, and an encouragement to evangelicals in an increasingly fractured religious landscape.
How did you find out about the hostage situation?
As we were sitting there, my phone began to blow up with texts from people telling me something was going on. Then somebody else sent me some pictures of the situation. ...
from Christianity Today Magazine
Umn ministry
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