Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s Rapid Response Team (BG-RRT) deployed chaplains to New Orleans Thursday after an ISIS-influenced man drove through a crowd on New Year’s Day, killing at least 14.
The BG-RRT responded to local authorities’ invitation to pray and minister to those affected by the destruction caused by Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar. The 42-year-old Army veteran, driving a pickup truck with an ISIS flag on the trailer hitch, steered the vehicle into a crowd on Bourbon Street in the historic French Quarter.
The attack occurred as crowds were celebrating New Year’s Eve. In addition to those killed, at least 30 people were injured. Jabbar, from the Houston area, was shot by police after he exited the vehicle and fired at authorities. Shortly before the rampage, Jabbar posted videos on social media declaring his support for ISIS.
Josh Holland, international director of BG-RRT, recognizes the difficulty of grappling with Jabbar’s horrific decision.
“This level of violence and hate is unfathomable and heartbreaking,” Holland said. “We weep for the many whose lives were forever changed through this senseless and brutal terror attack.”
Responding to such horror is not unfamiliar for BG-RRT, as the ministry emerged in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Three days after 9/11, Franklin Graham visited Ground Zero and realized there weren’t enough chaplains to minister to the hurting. A Billy Graham Prayer Center was erected for the public, and BG-RRT was officially created in 2002 and has responded to moments of crisis since then.
Jack Munday, former international director of the Rapid Response Team, described the Scriptural foundation for the chaplaincy ministry in a 2021 interview.
“The vision [of BG-RRT] … really centers around the Scripture of Matthew 9, verses 35–38 … which says when Jesus saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion because they were weary and scattered like sheep without a shepherd,” Munday said. “That was what Franklin saw at 9/11 was thousands of people, the multitudes.”
More than 23 years later, BG-RRT fulfills that mission for desperate, scattered people.
“This is a clear indication of the evil in the human heart, and the evil that is around us in this world,” Franklin Graham stated on social media following the New Orleans attack. “We pray for those who lost loved ones and the many injured.”
Only a few hours after the attack, Army veteran Matthew Livelsberger, 37, exploded a rented Tesla Cybertruck next to Trump Tower in Las Vegas. Livelsberger shot himself in the vehicle before the explosion, authorities said. Seven bystanders sustained minor injuries. The veteran, whose motive remains unclear, served the Army for nearly 20 years and had been deployed to Afghanistan three times.
While the FBI reports no definite connection between the two events, both men had served in Afghanistan, spent time at an Army base now known as Fort Liberty, and rented vehicles from the same car rental company, Turo.
In March 2024, the U.S. Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center published a research report called “Improving the Security of Soft Targets and Crowded Places,” reacting to growing terrorism in vulnerable spaces.
The report states that “Attacks on soft targets (STs) and crowded places (CPs) (ST-CPs) represent a significant challenge in the 2023 security environment.” The report warns that the U.S. is unprepared to protect citizens from a new age of terrorism.
In the wake of the report’s warning, Franklin wrote that spiritual vigilance is vital for believers and that unbelievers should consider their eternal destiny.
“This tragic incident is a reminder of how important it is for each of us to be ready to stand before God,” Franklin wrote of the New Orleans attack. “None of us know when we might be caught in a vortex of violence and evil, and our lives on this earth will come to an end. The only hope for all of us is if we repent of our sin and put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.”
Photo: Alamy