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George Weigel recently published an article in First Things that offers a good critique of a common practice in most U.S. Dioceses, that of moving pastors every six to ten years. While some priests are lucky enough to stay longer, most find themselves moving every six or more years. Frankly, both priests and parishes usually suffer as a result.There are, of course times when it is a good idea for a pastor to move on. Sometimes he is a poor match for the parish in question, sometimes there has been a change in the parish for which he is ill-equipped...

Ryan Bell, a former pastor who lost all his jobs after announcing he will experiment with atheism for a year, is currently getting overwhelming financial support from atheists and others after revealing in the fourth day of his controversial experiment that he was running out of money. "So I find myself, on Day 4, without any employment. My savings will run out in about two weeks and I'm scrambling to find immediate work doing, well…anything—manual labor, waiting tables, other teaching and consulting, or whatever I can find," wrote Bell, a Seventh Day Adventist, on his blog 'Year Without God'. Atheist...

A former North Carolina minister who pleaded guilty in 2013 to sexually molesting underage Haitian girls received a 25-year sentence from a federal judge on Friday. Larry Michael Bollinger, 68, pleaded with a federal court judge for over an hour to prevent him receiving a maximum 120-year sentence, and admitted that he was a sex addict who for years had been obsessed with pornography, and had solicited sex from prostitutes, as well as frequented adult bookstores. Once he was in Haiti and the opportunity presented itself to sexually abuse the girls, Bollinger "crossed boundaries I never imagined I would have...

MEMPHIS, TN - (WMC-TV) - A Memphis COGIC pastor will plead guilty to a sexual battery charge and his church will shut down, according to his attorney. Michael Bryant, pastor at Hour of Restoration COGIC in Memphis, was in general sessions court Thursday for what was supposed to be a bond reduction hearing. Instead, defense attorney Art Horne says he and the prosecution worked out a plea agreement in a "criminal information" that will be brought before a judge in criminal court. "The case is settled," said Bryant's defense attorney, Art Horne. "He's pleading guilty to sexual battery by an...

Pastor Ken Hutcherson of Antioch Bible Church in Kirkland, Wash., died Wednesday after battling cancer for more than a decade. The faith leader and star of TheBlaze TV’s “Hutch” was 61.

Harold Camping, the California preacher who used his evangelical radio ministry and thousands of billboards to broadcast the end of the world and then gave up public prophecy when his date-specific doomsdays did not come to pass, has died at age 92. Family Radio Network marketing manager Nina Romero said Harold Camping, a retired civil engineer who built a worldwide following for the nonprofit, Oakland-based ministry he founded in 1958, died at his home on Sunday. She said he had been hospitalized after falling. Camping's most widely spread prediction was that the Rapture would happen on May 21, 2011. His...

OAKLAND, Calif. - The radio preacher who predicted "Judgment Day" would come in May 2011 has died in northern California. A statement released late Monday by his Family Radio network says Harold Camping "passed on to glory" at 5:30 p.m. PT Sunday. He was 92. The statement revealed Camping had a fall at his home November 30, but he was in weak health due to a stroke since 2011. Camping gained a national following through the Family Radio network of stations he helped found in 1959. He conducted daily on-air Bible studies and hosted a nightly "Open Forum" call-in show...

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Florida Megachurch Pastor Commits Suicide By Heather Sells CBN News Reporter Wednesday, December 11, 2013 News reports indicate that Florida megachurch founder Isaac Hunter has taken his life. Altamonte Springs police discovered Hunter's body Tuesday morning in his home, The Orlando Sentinel reported. Hunter, 36, founded Orlando's Summit Church. The non-denominational church eventually grew to five locations. He resigned from his role as lead pastor last year, after admitting to an affair. Hunter is the son of Joel Hunter, another megachurch pastor in Florida and spiritual advisor to the president. His death marks the second time this year that a...

 Jim Hinch argues in The American Scholar that evangelicalism is on decline in America. This thesis is not new. He’s accessing trends in polling data that evangelicals have been aware of for years. The article focuses on the demise of Robert Schuller and his Crystal Cathedral as a parable of what’s happening in evangelicalism writ large. Hinch then argues that Rob Bell’s flight from the pastorate and from his own megachurch is a leading indicator of where younger evangelicals are trending. In short, they’re leaving the movement. And in Bell’s case in particular, they’re leaving the church altogether. Hinch writes:Yet, like so many...

A Centerville pastor accused of child molestation was released on $25,000 bond Friday. The Houston County jail web site said that Wiley Leverett was released around 8 a.m. His attorney,William Noland, said Leverett will not make any public statements, but will return to work at Solid Rock Community Church and his auto dealership. "He'll be working and taking care of his family and his church," said Noland. "He denies all of the allegations against him, and he denies doing anything inappropriate with anyone. He's going to fight these charges in court." Leverett pleaded not guilty Thursday during a hearing before...

The unbelieving world will always do “cool” better than the Church. When the Church adopts coolness and relevance as its corporate values, it slavishly agrees to follow, lagging always one step behind the world. (This is why Christian music always ends up ripping off the sounds and styles of their secular counterparts, while Christian film always has a cheesy “cringe factor”).

<p>A United Methodist pastor was convicted Monday of breaking church law by officiating his son's same-sex wedding and could be defrocked after a high-profile trial that has rekindled debate over the denomination's policy on gay marriage.</p> <p>The Methodist church put the Rev. Frank Schaefer on trial in southeastern Pennsylvania, accusing him of breaking his pastoral vows by presiding over the 2007 ceremony in Massachusetts.</p>

A Pennsylvania pastor charged under United Methodist law with officiating his son's same-sex marriage is scheduled to go on trial. The Rev. Frank Schaefer, 51, could be defrocked.... "Public opinion has changed very rapidly," said the pastor's son.... ...Schaefer could have avoided a trial if he had agreed never again to perform a same-gender wedding, but he declined because three of his four children are gay.

'I'm not here to be preaching hate, pushing people down' God “absolutely” approves of everyone — including homosexuals — declared one of America’s most well-known evangelical pastors The Houston megapastor and best-selling author Joel Osteen, whose followers include the likes of Cher and Oprah Winfrey, is hitting the talk-show circuit to promote his new book, “Break Out! Osteen, the very visible face of Lakewood Church in Houston since 1999,  talked to the Huffington Post about his thoughts on prayer, the pope and the homosexual lifestyle. HuffPo Live host Josh Zepps quoted from Osteen’s new book: “It doesn’t matter who...

The pastor of a North Carolina megachurch has built a $1.7-million-dollar mansion for himself and his family which he told his congregation at Sunday's sermon is a 'gift from God.' Elevation Church Pastor Steven Furtick, 33, is unapologetic about his ostentatious new seven-and-a-half bathroom, 16,000-square-foot home built on 19 acres in Weddington. He spent the first part of his sermon talking about the controversy surrounding its construction and apologizing to his parishioners for any 'uncomfortable conversations,' they may have been forced to have about it.

Minor explained how he won a major grant – some $317,742 -- from the federal government, despite the fact that his church is small. “I applied for it.” His church has approximately 100 members. The church kitchen carries a sign reading, “No Fry Zone.” Minor said, “It’s a symbol, especially with people of color. You’ve got to rally around symbols.” Minor says he has built a network of 75 to 100 navigators and counselors to work the Obamacare system. “We feel like once you get people in churches and families, they will become de facto navigators,” Minor explained.

“He was telling me to get on the ground, but that's when I pulled my weapon and said, 'no, you get on the ground….I told him don’t move, put your face down on the ground, don’t even look at me right now. And I just told him ‘this is out of love,’” Sanders stated.

NORTH HAMPTON, Ohio — A self-described militant atheist with a criminal past faces multiple charges after an attack on a pastor who, after his sermon, had asked the man's girlfriend if she felt safe. James Maxie, 28, of Springfield, Ohio, is charged with second-degree felonious assault and misdemeanor resisting arrest after an incident Sunday at The Bridge Community Church in North Hampton. Police Chief Jarrod Campbell said in his 11 years with the department, he's rarely dealt with "an incident this brutal." The Rev. Norman Hayes, 57, said he feared for his life and begged for the attack to stop....

UPDATED AT 6:40 P.M. CLEVELAND,Ohio -- The Rev. James McGonegal,pastor of a West Side Cleveland Catholic church,was charged today with soliciting sex while being HIV-positive. He had been arrested Friday in Edgewater Park. In the incident report released today,an off-duty Cleveland Metroparks ranger said McGonegal offered the ranger $50 to help him “get off,” then exposed himself and masturbated,all while sitting inside his late-model Jeep SUV. The report said McGonegal had three sex devices in his Jeep when he was arrested around 12:45 p.m. The priest,68,was released on personal bond from Cleveland City Jail this morning other media reports said....