After residents of New Orleans watched an ISIS-inspired man barrel a truck into a New Year’s Day crowd, killing 14 and injuring dozens, Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (BG-RRT) chaplains deployed to minister to those grappling with the horror.
Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, who waved an ISIS flag from the truck’s trailer hitch, posted his support for the Islamic State on social media shortly before committing the atrocity. He admitted he wanted news coverage to focus on the “war between the believers and the disbelievers.” The violence reflects the growing threat of terrorist attacks on soft targets and crowded places, as warned in a 2024 Homeland Security report, while mirroring a greater spiritual warfare brewing in people’s hearts.
Within hours of the attack, Strategic Chaplain Coordinator Mike Clark deployed with seven other crisis-trained team members from across the U.S. At least 57 people were injured in Bourbon Street’s historic French Quarter before police shot and killed Jabbar after he shot at police from behind an airbag. Clark, who has a doctorate in crisis counseling, arrived at the scene where families of victims were gathering to mourn.
“It was very solemn,” he said. “Just a lot of tears. A lot of disbelief that something like this could be wrapped up in someone’s mind—‘Today, this is what I’m going to do. I’m going to go kill somebody, or I’m going to go kill a group of people.’ How do you even come to that conclusion?”
Chaplains with the BG-RRT prayed and ministered to police officers who were on the scene during the New Orleans attack, as some witnessed Jabbar shoot two fellow officers while others held lifeless bodies in their arms.
The BG-RRT, which was birthed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and officially established in 2002, ministers to people in the wake of natural and manmade disasters. Clark, having ministered to people in both, recognizes what survivors of terrorism face.
“There is an anger element every time when it’s a manmade disaster that you have to cope with. And you have to give people time to process that.”
Clark said the RRT ministry in New Orleans centered around helping people come to know God’s peace and God’s comfort in their lives. Ministering, he said, doesn’t mean trying to help them understand or forget what happened but showing them how to begin moving forward with God, without bitterness or hatred.
As the chaplains offered hope to law enforcement officers and families of victims, the nation wrestled with the reality of persistent terrorism in the world. The deputy assistant director of the FBI counterterrorism division, Christopher Raia, stated the act “was 100% inspired by ISIS.”
In response to growing terrorism in vulnerable spaces, the U.S. Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center published a research document called “Improving the Security of Soft Targets and Crowded Places” in March 2024. Warning that the U.S. is unprepared to protect citizens from a new age of terrorism, 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 threat of such attacks in the West persisted in 2024. On Dec. 20, a man rammed a vehicle through a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, killing six people, including a 9-year-old boy. Nearly 300 people were injured. In October, an Afghan national working in the name of ISIS was charged with conspiring to attack Oklahoma City on Election Day, showing his intent to “cast terror into the hearts of the unbelievers” as taught in the Quran in Surah 3:151.
The report states that the best attack prevention involves measures that inhibit terrorists from completing their preparation process. However, the report doesn’t address the root issue—the human heart.
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins led a gathering called “Pray for the Nation” in the aftermath of the New Orleans attack.
“I think we begin to realize that our struggle is not merely against terror … but it’s against an ideology that warps the body, mind and soul,” Perkins said. “If America does not have a course correction, as we have pushed God and morality out of our classrooms, entertainment industry, and even within government itself, we should not be surprised when destructive ideologies find fertile ground in these vast areas, void of truth and morality.”
The RRT ministry reminds believers that when we share the Gospel, only through the leading of the Holy Spirit can hearts be changed.
“It’s so important to come in with the right frame of mind—I can’t fix this, but God, only You can,” Clark said. “We have to allow Him to channel His grace and His mercy through us, or it’s not going to work because it is not about us. It’s about Him, and it’s about the people. That’s the frame of mind you have to get into—whether it’s a terrorist attack, a hurricane or a fire. God has to speak through His Spirit. He has to speak through us as a channel of His grace and mercy, or we are like a clanging cymbal without making any accomplishments for Him.” ©2025 BGEA
Photo: Logan Ryan /©2025 BGEA