While many of Donald Trump’s former evangelical pastor supporters have distanced themselves from his run for the presidency in 2024, one failed candidate for the U.S. Senate from Oklahoma has launched a new Trump fan club. Jackson Lahmeyer, pastor of…
An important conversation about ordaining and unordaining
Our motto here at BNG is to inspire you, dear readers, with change-making conversations. We’ve hit a nerve with one of those conversations this week, which tells me it is extremely important that we talk about this. The “this” is…
How Santa figures into the not-so-merry Supreme Court case about LGBTQ discrimination
One of the key sticking points in the hotly contested debate over LGBTQ discrimination is whether that issue is in any way equivalent to racial discrimination. Now, Santa has gotten involved. White Santa, that is. During oral arguments before the…
Supreme Court hears case of wedding website designer who won’t serve same-sex couples
While the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court appears ready-made to support a Colorado wedding website designer who doesn’t want to serve same-sex couples, other justices grilled her attorney hard about why she should be allowed to discriminate on…
The present crisis for church staff
Churches in America have been living amid rapid change for several decades now, accelerated like a dive on a roller coaster by COVID. Previously, much of our attention has focused on institutional change and challenges, the big picture of congregations…
What happens when one church controls a majority of the City Council?
In Redding, Calif., members of a single evangelical megachurch now control a majority of seats on the City Council. While this is a highly unusual situation for a city of nearly 100,000 people, Bethel Church is a highly unusual congregation…
Georgia Baptist Mission Board to vacate property and move into a local church
One of the largest state conventions affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention has reduced its staff to such a level that it’s moving to office space in a local church. Thomas Hammond, executive director of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board,…
SBC president blasts idea of Johnny Hunt’s ‘restoration’ to ministry
In a highly unusual move, the current president of the Southern Baptist Convention has denounced the “restoration” of a former SBC president to ministry six months after public allegations of sexual abuse. “The idea that a council of pastors, assembled…
70% of conservatives still want immigration reforms this year, but it’s not likely to happen
With just days left in the current session of Congress, new national polling shows 73% of Americans — including 70% of self-identified conservatives — want Congress to act this year to pass immigration reform. “Time is tight, but Americans are…