Faith leaders in Memphis support Afghan refugees, and each other

Summary

Podcast Summary: Consider This from NPR

Episode Title: Faith leaders in Memphis support Afghan refugees, and each other
Air Date: February 1, 2026
Host: Sarah McCammon

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Overview

This episode delves into how two Memphis faith leaders—Pastor Stephen Cook of Second Baptist Church and Pastor Lateef Saller of Christ Community Afghan Church—are joining forces to support Afghan refugees in their city. In the context of tightened U.S. immigration policy following a tragic National Guard shooting, and a presidential halt on asylum for Afghans, these pastors model interfaith solidarity and advocate for their vulnerable congregants. The episode touches on the emotional and practical challenges facing local Afghan Christians and highlights the power of community, compassion, and cross-cultural fellowship.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Plight of Afghan Refugees in Memphis

• Recent Detentions: A number of Afghan Christian refugees in Memphis, including family members of Pastor Saller, have been detained by federal immigration agents after the new ban on Afghan asylum seekers.
  • “They came and took my brother in law with all his family and two kids, 9 years and 5 years old. … If they go back, the penalty is dead.” —Lateef Saller [03:43]
• Persecution if Deported: Deportation would put these individuals at extreme risk due to their Christian faith, both from authorities and potentially their own families.
  • “If the deportation happen, they will die. … They will be in danger from their own family.” —Lateef Saller [06:23]

Congregational Fears and Trauma

• Community Anxiety: Afghan children and adults live in fear—traumatized by detentions, fearing both for themselves and their loved ones.
  • “My kids like, see that their cousins are took by ICE and they heard that. Now they are scared and I have my neighbor, my neighbor are scared.” —Lateef Saller [03:43]
• Psychological Toll:
  • “They feel depression, get trauma and they scare. They worry about their future.” —Lateef Saller [04:23]

Faith-Based Response & Inter-Church Support

• Advocacy & Action:
  • Pastor Cook’s church has been proactive, contacting officials at every level and publicizing family separations and injustices.
    • “We have reached out to elected officials at every level of government, … tried to tell the story. … This has not been a matter of political party alignment so much as it has been a matter of conscience and a sense of calling.” —Stephen Cook [04:53]
• Day-to-Day Help:
  • Second Baptist and others provide practical aid, like rides and financial help, especially as many refugees cannot work.
    • “Few of the Afghan family, they still need help to drive them to the grocery and also they need help to support them financially because some of them, they cannot work here and that's why they depend on the other believers.” —Lateef Saller [07:04]
• Regular Collaboration:
  • “I stay in regular contact with Pastor Saller and from other organizations in our community who are trying to coalesce around ways that we can speak up and raise awareness of what is happening.” —Stephen Cook [07:21]

Building Fellowship and Bridging Cultures

• Community Meals & Learning:
  • Joint gatherings feature shared meals and cultural exchange, helping Afghans adapt to American life while deepening inter-church bonds.
    • “It is a beautiful sight to have our Afghan friends join us at Second Baptist and to share meals together where they will bring food that is not common to most of our American households and where we can help share food with them.” —Stephen Cook [07:46]
    • “Afghan learn a lot about American culture … because we want to adjust to this country.” —Lateef Saller [08:41]
  • Spiritual solidarity is modeled in “sitting down” and “standing up for” one another, inspired by Jesus’ example.

Responses to Wider National Events

• Reaction to Violence in Minneapolis:
  • The pastors lament recent violence against demonstrators and call it a moral failing.
    • “This is a moment where as a nation, we have to be attentive to the fact that we cannot go without naming this is a grave moral failure on our part, that this is where we have come to be collectively.” —Stephen Cook [09:31]
• Local Youth Engagement:
  • Second Baptist’s youth dedicated fundraiser proceeds to refugees’ legal costs, a practical example of solidarity and care.
    • “They took a portion of the proceeds from that in order to pay for the legal expenses for one of the detained Afghans. … very encouraging.” —Stephen Cook [10:02]

Hopes, Gratitude, and Respect

• Gratitude for America & Hope for Its Future:
  • Saller expresses deep appreciation for America’s freedoms and prays for the nation’s continued role as a refuge.
    • “Many American people do not see that because we came from … persecution life that we arrived here praying for this country … that people can see the hands of God here.” —Lateef Saller [11:07]
• Affirmations of Each Other’s Leadership:
  • Saller on Cook:
    • “He have like a fatherly heart and we can see Jesus live in him … how much he have love for the lost.” —Lateef Saller [11:49]
  • Cook on Saller:
    • “He is a man who loves God and he loves his people. … when I see the way that he so humbly and faithfully tends to and cares for and protects the people … I see the kind of pastor that I would love to be when I grow up.” —Stephen Cook [12:11]

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Notable Quotes

• “It is wrong, it is cruel for a family where a father is taking his sons to school on a December morning for him to be surrounded by and apprehended by ICE agents, for his children to be taken into custody and then for him to be told that if his wife would come … that she could take the children home with her, only for her not to be given the children, but instead for her to be taken into custody.” —Stephen Cook [04:53]
• “If the deportation happen, they will die. … They will be in danger from their own family.” —Lateef Saller [06:23]
• “This has not been a matter of political party alignment so much as it has been a matter of conscience and a sense of calling and conviction that these are vulnerable neighbors.” —Stephen Cook [04:53]
• “Afghan learn a lot about American culture … because we want to adjust to this country.” —Lateef Saller [08:41]
• “We can see Jesus live in him and the way he smile and the way he act. … Every Afghan knows how much he have love for the lost.” —Lateef Saller [11:49]
• “When I see the way that he so humbly and faithfully tends to and cares for and protects the people who are in his congregation, I see the kind of pastor that I would love to be when I grow up.” —Stephen Cook [12:11]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Episode Context and Introduction: [00:05–01:49]
• Personal Stories & Recent Events: [03:04–04:23]
• Practical Impacts on Families: [04:53–07:21]
• Joint Community Fellowship: [07:39–08:41]
• Broader National Violence & Local Responses: [09:18–10:49]
• Reflections, Hopes, and Affirmations: [11:00–12:54]

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Tone and Language

Warm, compassionate, deeply personal, and imbued with faith and moral conviction. The conversation is honest, often somber, but also hopeful—centering on empathy, resilience, and the shared calling to serve the vulnerable.

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Summary for New Listeners

If you haven’t listened, this episode is a moving portrait of two faith leaders who refuse to let fear or division define their community. In the face of harsh policy and real danger, Pastors Cook and Saller hold fast to the conviction of loving—and acting for—their neighbors. Their story is both unique to Memphis and reflective of challenges felt nationwide, offering a model of solidarity, advocacy, and hope.

Transcript

[Sarah McCammon]

One Sunday in December, two congregations in Memphis with very different stories came together under one roof. Several Afghan refugees in their community had recently been detained by federal immigration agents. The president had just halted asylum processing for all immigrants from Afghanistan after two National Guard members were shot of them fatally by a man from Afghanistan. And faith leaders in Memphis had this message for their speak up and help your neighbors.

[Stephen Cook]

There are sisters and brothers in the body of Christ who are legally here who have done everything that they are supposed to do, and they face the prospect that they may die because of their faith in Jesus if they are sent back to the place of from which they have fled.

[Sarah McCammon]

That's Stephen Cook, the senior pastor of Second Baptist Church. He stood with his fellow Memphis pastor, Lateef Saller of Christ Community Afghan Church that day. The two have known each other since 2022, when Saller's growing congregation came looking for a meeting space after the US Withdrawal from Afghanistan. The year before, Saller himself came to the US About a decade ago, he says he was escaping persecution for studying the Bible.

[Lateef Saller]

They tried to kill me. They start beating me and I became unconscious.

[Sarah McCammon]

Zoller eventually settled in Memphis and established the church that's now facing this moment, but not alone. Consider this two local faith leaders build a relationship, navigating a calling and a moment in America. From NPR.

[Lateef Saller]

Sarah.

[Sarah McCammon]

I'm Sarah McCammon.

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It's Consider this from npr. The Trump administration's deportation surge has affected communities across the country in different ways. Two pastors Stephen Cook and Lateef Saller are responding to this moment by teaming up to support the Afghan community in Memphis. We, we called them to understand more about how their friendship and their collaboration has helped their congregations and each other. I began by asking Saller what happened after the National Guard members were shot in Washington, D.C. it wasn't long, he says, before immigration agents began coming to his door and approaching others in his community.

[Lateef Saller]

They came and took my brother in law with all his family and two kids, 9 years and 5 years old. All the world is know that the Christian people cannot live, especially in this time in Afghanistan. If they go back, the penalty is dead. We disappointed when we see what happening here. My kids like, see that their cousins are took by ICE and they heard that. Now they are scared and I have my neighbor, my neighbor are scared.

[Sarah McCammon (Interviewer)]

How are you and the rest of the congregation dealing with the uncertainty you're facing right now given everything that's going on?

[Lateef Saller]

They feel depression, get trauma and they scare. They worry about their future. At the same time, I'm so, so happy for the churches, especially Second Baptist Church. They step in and they rise their voice and they speak out about the problem they have. And I'm really thankful for the church here in Memphis.

[Sarah McCammon (Interviewer)]

Pastor Cook, how has your congregation been responding?

[Sarah McCammon]

What can you do?

[Stephen Cook]

We have reached out to elected officials at every level of government, locally, statewide, nationally, and we've really tried to tell the story. It is wrong, it is cruel for a family where a father is taking his sons to school on a December morning for him to be surrounded by and apprehended by ICE agents, for his children to be taken into custody and then for him to be told that if his wife would come and arrive at the detention facility here in Memphis, that she could take the children home with her, only for her not to be given the children, but instead for her to be taken into custody. This has not been a matter of political party alignment so much as it has been a matter of conscience and a sense of calling and conviction that these are vulnerable neighbors. The Bible is very, very clear about the fact that we are to love God and to love our neighbors. And there's this consistent thread that's woven into the fabric of Hebrew and Christian scriptures that that calls us to be especially mindful of the immigrants who are in our midst.

[Sarah McCammon (Interviewer)]

Pastor Saller, you touched on this earlier, but what would deportation to Afghanistan mean.

[Sarah McCammon]

For members of your church?

[Lateef Saller]

Yeah, it's so clear. If the deportation happen, they will die. They are in great danger because most of them, when they came to usa, they share their faith openly. They share what they believe. Most of them, they share back to their own family about their faith. And even if there is, not from the government or from the Taliban, but they will be in danger from their own family.

[Sarah McCammon (Interviewer)]

Are people in your church, are they.

[Sarah McCammon]

Afraid to go out right now?

[Sarah McCammon (Interviewer)]

Has there been any need for help from Pastor Cook's church? Just getting by day to day a.

[Lateef Saller]

Few of the Afghan family, they still need help to drive them to the grocery and also they need help to support them financially because some of them, they cannot work here and that's why they depend on the other believers on.

[Stephen Cook]

The day to day basis. I stay in regular contact with Pastor Salar and from other organizations in our community who are trying to coalesce around ways that we can speak up and raise awareness of what is happening.

[Sarah McCammon (Interviewer)]

When you do get together your two churches, what's it like? How do you come together?

[Stephen Cook]

I think one of the beautiful things that we have been able to share together on numerous occasions have been times where we're around the tables with one another and sharing in food and fellowship. It is a beautiful sight to have our Afghan friends join us at Second Baptist and to share meals together where they will bring food that is not common to most of our American households and where we can help share food with them. We take our cue from the Jesus that we meet in the Gospels, who was oftentimes sitting down with the people that he was also standing up for. And this is one of the ways that we love being able to share our lives together when we get together.

[Lateef Saller]

What Pastor Cook said, you know, food and fellowship, especially Afghan learn a lot about American culture and how they reaching to people, how they talk to people, and the culture is very important. Afghan learn many of this from the church, especially from Second Baptist Church and American culture, because we want to adjust to this country. We want to know about America, we want to know about this culture, about this country's culture.

[Sarah McCammon]

I'm sure you're both well aware of.

[Sarah McCammon (Interviewer)]

The situation in Minneapolis where immigration agents.

[Sarah McCammon]

Have shot and killed two protesters in recent weeks.

[Sarah McCammon (Interviewer)]

What's on your minds as you watch that situation play out?

[Stephen Cook]

This is deeply, deeply disturbing. And this is a moment where as a nation, we have to be attentive to the fact that we cannot go without naming this is a grave moral failure on our part, that this is where we have come to be collectively. And my heart breaks for the realities that we're seeing played out. And this is part of what we are trying to do. In our own community is to walk alongside in as many tangible and practical ways as we can. I was tremendously proud of the youth from our congregation at Second Baptist who upon learning of the needs that exist in the Afghan church. There is an annual fundraiser in community ministry that our youth sponsor and they took a portion of the proceeds from that in order to pay for the legal expenses for one of the detained Afghans. And the response in those kinds of practical ways has been something that is very encouraging.

[Sarah McCammon (Interviewer)]

How do you imagine life in America looking? What do you hope and what do you envision?

[Lateef Saller]

Something I see in America that this is God's blessing over America. And many American people do not see that because we came from the different country we came from, from the persecution life that we arrived here praying for this country, that God saved this country, that people disapproved from this country to all over the world, that people can see the hands of God here. This is what I pray for America.

[Sarah McCammon (Interviewer)]

What should I know about Pastor Cook and the way that he leads his congregation?

[Lateef Saller]

He have like a fatherly heart and we can see Jesus live in him and the way he smile and the way he act. And every Afghan knows that how much he have love for the lost Pastor Cook?

[Sarah McCammon (Interviewer)]

I'll put the same question to you. What should I know about Pastor Seller?

[Stephen Cook]

This is a man who loves God and he loves his people. And he has endured circumstances and has come through suffering and persecution that is utterly unimaginable to the vast majority of Americans. And when I see the way that he so humbly and faithfully tends to and cares for and protects the people who are in his congregation, I see the kind of pastor that I would love to be when I grow up.

[Sarah McCammon (Interviewer)]

Thank you, Pastor Saller. Pastor Cook, thanks so much for your time.

[Stephen Cook]

Thank you. Very grateful for your willingness to hear our story.

[Lateef Saller]

Thank you.

[Sarah McCammon]

This episode was produced by Katherine Fink. It was edited by Sarah Robbins. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun. It's consider this from NPR. I'm Sarah McCammon.

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