With the filmed police shootings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge (LA) and Philando Castile in St. Paul (MN), along with the attack on police officers in Dallas, this has been a long, grief-filled, and troubling week.

Issues of race, law, guns, class, and politics have dominated the discussions of these matters. However, the solutions to the problems we face in America are only found in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a time for the church to stand up and stand together. We must pray, trust, witness, love, work, and forgive, and sacrifice to faithful ambassadors of Christ in these critical times.

There is much to say. And there is much to do. For now, I hope you will be marked present for corporate worship this Sunday – wherever you live and serve – call on the name of the Lord for the church, your city, and our nation.

This week’s Saturday Shout-Outs links feature articles to help you think and pray through the important matters of race, respect and reconciliation that we have been confronted with again this week.

Brian Davis: The Recent Shootings and What to Say This Sunday

Russell Moore: How Pastors Can Address the Shootings This Sunday

Matthew Hall: Breaking the Silence

Brian Key: Will You Weep With Me? 

D.A. Horton: Now What?

Tony Carter: What’s Going On? 

Joshua Straub: 3 Ways to Help Our Kids Process Racial Injustice

Joe Carter: How to Pray in Our Time of National Crisis

David Murray: Weep, Love, and Pray: A Christian Response to Dallas, Castile, and Sterling