Penna Dexter

Often, our most satisfying friendships are with like-minded people alongside whom we work for causes we care about. When the cause is love of and concern for our nation and when the laborers are Christ-followers, certain people rise up as treasured friends. They encourage you, lead you, teach you, and make you better and more effective. At the same time, they love you. And you love them.

Debbie Terry was such a friend for me. She passed from this earth last month.

As secular humanist philosophy began to replace the Christian influence — yes — even here in Texas, Debbie developed a fierce concern for the culture our children were going to grow up in: one that was hostile to the faith and principles we were teaching them. She plotted with other young moms who wondered: How do we make a difference?

What do you do in a free country where you want to change laws that are ushering in immorality and squeezing out freedom? How do you act to reign in the drift from Founding principles? You pray. Then you find candidates you hope will get it done and elect them. Debbie learned that the most effective and enduring way to organize those of a mind to join this effort was to establish a Republican women’s club. Under her leadership, and because of the burgeoning threats to the culture that were becoming apparent back in the ‘90s, Golden Corridor Republican Women quickly became the fastest-growing such group in Texas. I joined a year in.

Through this club and projects that followed, Debbie empowered and helped to elevate countless godly leaders and activists.

Here’s what she modeled: To accomplish things in politics and the culture wars, you pray, plot, and work hard. Clearly persuade. Boldly confront. But first, you love people, like-minded co-laborers as well as opponents. Get to know their hearts. Help them make beneficial connections.

They say Debbie was a fighter. I’d agree: a grace-filled warrior.