Free Republic

During his Sunday morning service, Ulf Ekman announced the he and his wife, Birgitta, are converting to Roman Catholicism.Ekman is the founder of Word of Life, a megachurch in Uppsala, Sweden. News reports and blogs coming out of the nation reveal congregation was “partially stunned” after hearing what was packaged as a “special announcement.” The theme was “follow the Lamb wherever He goes."“For Birgitta and me, this has been a slow process were we have gone from discovering new things, to appreciating what we have discovered, to approach and even learn from our fellow Christians,” Ekman says on his ministry...

I am re-running an article I did two years ago, because the following story Evangelical Pastor Turns Pro-GAy illustrates my warning that there are many within evangelicalism who are not prepared to stand and bear witness to the Biblical teaching of marriage, in the face of the coming onslaught of propaganda and emotional bullying on the issue of ‘gay’ marriage. But of course He doesn’t do the decent thing and resign the church to follow his new convictions. Read the article and weep, as the ‘Pastor’ is applauded for seeking to bring the church into His new (Heretical) “compassion”. (It...

Oleksandr Turchynov, a well-known Baptist pastor and top opposition politician in Ukraine, took office on Sunday, Feb. 23, as acting president after the Parliament voted to oust President Yanukovych.... ...... Monday night in Kiev, Turchynov, 49, spoke publicly for the first time since taking office as acting president. According to an unofficial translation, he said, "Unprecedented cruelty and brutality of the dictatorial regime did not stop citizens. They selflessly gave their lives to defend their rights—and won.... "Our first task today is to stop the confrontation, to regain control … to ensure peace and tranquility, to prevent new victims, local...

(RNS) A Southern Bapitst megachurch pastor in North Carolina, already under fire for buying a $1.6 million house, is in the spotlight again for “spontaneous baptisms” that turn out to be not nearly so spontaneous. Steven Furtick, 34, routinely draws about 14,000 worshippers to several campuses of Elevation Church in and around Charlotte. The church, launched in 2006, have been listed by Outreach magazine as one of the top 100 fastest-growing churches in the country. Part of that growth has been attributed to Elevation’s flashy baptism ceremonies, particularly as the Southern Baptist Convention grows increasingly concerned about declining baptism rates...

LAKEWOOD, TX - Joel Osteen Ministries announced this week it has finalized its purchase of the entire Catholic religion which includes all assets, facilities, employees, and intellectual property. The purchase was accomplished using revenues received from corporate sponsors, member donations, and Osteen's book sales. Osteen announced the purchase to his followers at the Lakewood Church during his weekly nationally televised service saying, "Please join me in welcoming our Catholic brothers and sisters with open arms. A purchase of this magnitude takes tremendous resources so I ask you to help us fund this wonderful acquisition by calling the 800 number at...

A former member of the Potter’s House church in Dallas has allegedly been stalking its pastor, Bishop T.D. Jakes, for the last three years. A judge extended a temporary restraining order until next Monday. Jakes sued Karleisha Tarver last month, and a court hearing Monday will determine whether a temporary injunction should be issued, ordering her to stay away from the pastor, reports the Star-Telegram. The restraining order says Tarver cannot come within 500 feet of the pastor, his family and employees. “I would love to comment, but I can’t because this case is pending,” says Jakes’ attorney, Faith Johnson,...

Full Title: Joel Osteen's $10.5 Million Mansion, Cross-Less Church and Other Surprising Facts About the Mega-Pastor Joel Osteen, pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, and the bestselling author of books like Your Best Life Now and I Declare: 31 Promises to Speak Over Your Life, has been dubbed "the smiling preacher" due to his toothy smile and upbeat attitude. Here are a few facts about Pastor Osteen and his ministry you might not know. 1. Joel Osteen Met Victoria Osteen in a Jewelry Store Pastor Osteen and his wife Victoria Osteen met in 1985 when he went to a...

Full Ttitle: Pastor Ron Carpenter's Wife, Hope, Returns to SC Megachurch as He Rebukes Christian Leaders Who Supported His Desire for Divorce _______________________________________________________________ Hope Carpenter, co-founder of Redemption World Outreach Center in Greenville, S.C., was enthusiastically welcomed back by congregants on Sunday months after her marital infidelities were exposed at the pulpit by her husband, Pastor Ron Carpenter. Carpenter, this time around, took other Christian leaders to task for supporting him when he declared he would be seeking a divorce. With his wife and family sitting in the very first row of the sanctuary, Pastor Carpenter manned the pulpit not...

The snake-handling pastor starring on the reality show "Snake Salvation," has died from a snake bite, according to Middlesboro Police. Police believe Jamie Coots died after a rattlesnake bit his right hand during a church service Saturday night. Coots was found dead in his home about 10 p.m. after refusing medical help, according to police. "The snake that bit him, we've been carrying it for four months. It's been carried hundreds of times and handled at all kinds of times," said Cody Coots, Coots' son. "When it's your time to go. It's just your time to go. " Coots was...

Dr. David Jeremiah, senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, California, in his book entitled "I Never Thought I'd See The Day," which is listed as a "# 1 New York Times Bestseller," engages in historical revisionism as he attempts to portray William Tyndale as a "martyr" for the Bible. On page 161 of his book, Dr. Jeremiah asserts that, "..because TYndale believed that every English-speaking person deserved to have access to the Bible in English, he labored to produce the first complete New Testament (and part of the Old Testament) in English translated directly from the...

Ghostly Figure In Photo A Sign From God? Pastor Thinks So February 6, 2014ANAHEIM (CBSLA.com) — A pastor and his wife believe a ghostly figure that appeared in the background of a photograph is a sign from a higher power.CBS2’s Stacey Butler reports that a man named Radu, who didn’t want to appear on-camera, took a photo of a co-worker two weeks ago at an Irvine warehouse.The picture, which Radu said he did not retouch, showed a veiled woman in the corner behind the co-worker.“I can clearly see the face. I can even see long hair. I can see, like...

The already-crowded race to unseat South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is about to get another candidate. Det Bowers, a well-connected Columbia pastor known for his oratory, put weeks of rumors to rest on Monday and said he is joining the five-person Republican Senate primary field. “No question,” Bowers told CNN in a phone interview. “I am definitely running.” Bowers said he filed fundraising paperwork with the Federal Election Commission in recent days and plans to make a formal announcement about his campaign soon. He also commiserated with donors in Washington and Texas last month, people close to him said. “I...

(RNS) Tony Campolo, a progressive evangelical leader who counseled President Bill Clinton through the Monica Lewinsky scandal, announced Tuesday (Jan. 14) that the organization he founded nearly 40 years ago will close on June 30. Campolo, 78, plans to retire with the closure of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education, but he will continue to write and speak, with nearly 200 engagements scheduled for 2014. He said his health is fine and he wants to write one more book on how Christianity fits with the social sciences.

A full-page advertisement published in the Houston Chronicle on Thursday shows a megachurch pastor leaning on sign that reads, "Am I Too White to Be Your Pastor?" Patrick Kelley, senior pastor of River Pointe Church in Richmond, Texas, is the man shown in the ad, that promotes the church's upcoming Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. King famously said, "It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o'clock on Sunday morning" – a statement Kelley agrees with. River Pointe is located in Fort Bend County, which Rice University sociology professor Stephen Klineberg calls the most ethnically...

Prosecutors say a former minister at First Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., charged with his wife’s murder, was trying to leave the country prior to his Jan. 1 arrest to marry his boyfriend. The latest twist in a story that has received worldwide media attention came Jan. 16 in a bond hearing for Richard Shahan, 53, who resigned recently as children and families pastor and facilities director at First Baptist, reportedly to head overseas for three years of mission work in Europe and Central Asia. Prosecutors said information gleaned from more than 3,000 of Shahan’s e-mails indicate he was planning...

Pastor Tim Christensen of Gold Hill Lutheran Church in Montana was put in a difficult situation on Sunday morning. ...49ers fan Pastor Christensen decided to perform a one-minute service then rush out to catch the game on television. "Would you all like to be forgiven for your sins? OK, that's great. You are," before adding "there's some bread and some wine up here on the table. Feel free to help yourself if you'd like to." Opening up his vestment to reveal a 49ers T-shirt, the pastor then shouts, "I'm out of here".

Former Seventh-day Adventist Pastor Ryan Bell made an unusual New Year's resolution: to live for one year without God. He used to lead a congregation in Southern California, but in March, he was asked to step down after voicing some of the doubts that led to this decision to "try on" atheism. Just a few days into the new year, after announcing his resolution, Bell was asked to leave the teaching positions he held at the Christian Azusa Pacific University and Fuller Theological Seminary. Bell spoke with NPR's Arun Rath about his flirtation with atheism and how he arrived at...

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...