If you thought the Matt Chandler situation couldn’t get more peculiar, guess again. Chandler’s Aug. 28 announcement that he would take an indefinite leave of absence from preaching and teaching at The Village Church north of Dallas has generated endless…
What’s wrong with the ‘you’re being divisive’ argument
Pastors, of all people, should recognize this deflection for what it is. It’s a dirty trick they suffer from all the time. The pastor gets up the courage to speak actual truth about some situation — most likely a sermon…
Kansas school district gives $95,000 to teacher who violated its own policies on student names and gender
A Kansas middle school teacher who refused to call transgender or nonbinary students by their preferred names and pronouns has been financially rewarded for her defiance of school district policy — by the school district. Teacher Pamela Ricard will get…
Faison nominated to lead Virginia convention
For the first time in its 200-year history, the Baptist General Association of Virginia could be led by someone other than a white male. The BGAV Executive Board Aug. 30 nominated Wayne D. Faison for election as the state Baptist…
Just what we needed: Another pompous declaration from the conservative Calvinist evangelicals
The Christians who keep abusing their privilege to demand everyone else conform to their narrow views of culture and politics have released a new “declaration” against the abuse of power. As if the world needed one more declaration from the…
At nearly 90, Charles Stanley makes half a million a year and his ministry is awash in cash
Editor’s update: Charles Stanley died April 18 at age 90. Read his obituary here. If you’re worried about Charles Stanley being destitute in his old age, worry no more. He’ll turn 90 years of age on Sept. 25 and…
‘Listen before you preach,’ Godsey says at McAfee Founders Day
The power of preaching lies not in how well one speaks but in how well one listens, Kirby Godsey told students, faculty and staff at Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology Aug. 23. Godsey, former Mercer president, delivered the annual…
Former Bellevue youth pastor ‘credibly accused of abusing adolescents’ at Baptist church in Arkansas
A former youth pastor at one of the Southern Baptist Convention’s flagship churches was arrested last week on one charge of sexual indecency with a child, according to a report in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal. Keenan Hord, 32, worked at a…
Matt Chandler takes indefinite leave of absence after exchanging ‘unwise’ online messages with a woman
One of the most prominent voices for Reformed theology and church planting among Southern Baptists announced Aug. 28 he is taking an indefinite leave of absence from preaching and teaching due to what he called inappropriate online chats with a…
On social media, the Bible verses are flying in a debate over student loan forgiveness
Within hours of its announcement, the new White House plan to forgive $10,000 to $20,000 per person in student loan debt became a theological dividing line as much as a political one. Critics of the debt forgiveness initiative turned to…
Readers bristle at Desiring God column on beards as signs of God’s intent to separate men from women
It turns out there’s more than a hairs-width of difference between the theology of the TheoBros and most everyone else. The Christian Twitterverse has been aflame the past few days about an article published on the website of the conservative…
LGBTQ resource center will benefit from anti-gay church’s penalties for illegal performances of Hamilton
Have you heard the one about the church that ripped off the most successful Broadway musical of the moment, rewrote parts of the script and turned it into an altar-call evangelistic event? Turns out that anti-gay church in McAllen, Texas,…