Free Republic

A California youth pastor has been charged with murder after a fight with a Las Vegas man last year ultimately led to his death. Robert Cox of Manteca, California was just passing through Sin City last June when he stopped for a late dinner with his church group en route to Texas. There he encountered 55-year-old Link Ellingson. A scuffle broke out in which Cox pushed Ellingson over, causing him to hit his head. After a six-month coma, Ellingson died from brain hemorrhaging. Now, police are holding the beloved pastor responsible for his death even as members of his family...

During a conversation with Joel Osteen and his wife Victoria Osteen, HuffPost Live’s Marc Lamont Hill asked whether gay marriage is against the fundamental “rules” of Christianity. Osteen responds by talking about how he doesn’t like to focus on that.

Texas pastor Joel Osteen is getting his own channel on SiriusXM satellite radio, which will air his sermon at Yankee Stadium this Saturday live nationally.

A Baptist church in California has voted to welcome the gay community despite going against the Southern Baptist Convention's views on homosexuality. The New Heart Community Church in La Mirada, CA faced a difficult decision in early 2014 when lead pastor Danny Cortez told the congregation that his son, Drew, had come out -- and that he himself no longer agreed with the church's teachings on homosexuality.

As a pastor who regularly performs weddings, I can tell that some couples are more likely to divorce than others. It’s not most evident in pre-marital counseling or private comments made before the service. I can’t see it as the vows are said or rings exchanged. It’s not even in the kiss. As a pastor, I can predict the likelihood of divorce based on how the wedding cake is exchanged. I’ve been performing wedding ceremonies since I was 18. One of the first ceremonies I performed was pretty routine. Everything went without a hitch until it came time for the...

I have a new poll question up: How often does your pastor preach against abortion annually? Most pro-lifers I know complain their pastor doesn’t talk about the abortion issue enough. So how often is that? Vote on the lower right side of the home page. (Is your pastor resistant? Have him/her read what Franklin Graham thinks.) In the last poll, 90% thought Emily Letts’ “abortion video” damaged the pro-abortion brand… Emily Letts poll - abortion video hurt pro-choice movement As always, make comments to either the previous or current poll here, not on the poll site.

The Rev. Mark Crow, founder of the multisite Victory Church in Oklahoma, resigned Tuesday “after confessing to marital unfaithfulness,” said Executive Pastor Dale Swanson in a statement. “The Victory Church family and staff are praying for Mark, that the same grace we all experience and draw comfort from in our own spiritual journey, will be ever present in Mark’s transition to healing and wholeness,” Swanson continued. Crow, a televangelist who is well-known because of his connection to Oral Roberts University, founded Victory Church with his wife, Jennifer, in 1994. “Mark will be focusing his full attention on his personal relationship...

Alex Jones, a successful Evangelical-Pentecostal Pastor in Detroit, struggled for years to understand Catholicism. Then he led over 50 members of his former Church into Roman Catholicism.

Bible prophecy related to the end times mentions many nations, including Libya, Iran, Iraq Ethiopia, and possibly even China and Russia, but not the United States of America. In an article on his blog, Pastor Greg Laurie gives three plausible reasons for the nation's exclusion. "Where is the United States? Why are we not in the last-days scenario?" asks Laurie, pastor of Harvest Church in Riverside, Calif. One reason why the United States is not mentioned in Scripture is perhaps because the nation "might be devastated by a nuclear war," the pastor writes. "It is a horrible scenario and one...

Fred Phelps Sr., the former head of the Westboro Baptist Church, died late Wednesday night, according to a family member. Phelps' son, Timothy told 13 News that his father died just before midnight. Timothy Pheps works at the Shawnee Co. Jail. Ironically, another son who is a member of the church, attorney Jonathan Phelps told us Thursday morning, "Pastor Phelps is doing just fine." That, of course, could have been a spiritual reference. Over the weekend, we learned that Phelps was reportedly "on the edge of death." In a statement on his Facebook page, Nathan Phelps, who has been estranged...

-snip- After telling the congregation at the Miracle Faith World Outreach Church that he had been unfaithful to his wife, Bishop Bobby Davis died. "After the service on Sunday the bishop's family asked us to remain in the church and the bishop confessed to us something that happened long ago," church elder Judy Stovall told the Connecticut Post. "He wanted to come clean with all of us. He wanted to ask our forgiveness." Before he died, church members were screaming at Davis to show him their support. "We were shouting, 'We forgive you, we love you,' but the stress of...

You know Fred Phelps. You loathe Fred Phelps. You despise everything he stands for, like his family members’ infamous protests at soldiers’ funerals with their awful “God Hates Fags” signs. They’ve been a symbol for many years of the religion-based animosity against the LGBT community — to the point that they’ve been labeled a “hate group” and even the most fundamentalist Christian groups denounce his church’s activities.... /snip/... Tonight, on Facebook, Nate (one of Fred's sons, excommunicated from the church) posted this: I’ve learned that my father, Fred Phelps, Sr., pastor of the “God Hates Fags” Westboro Baptist Church, was...

The estranged son of the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church said his father is "on the edge of death." Fred Phelps Sr. became famous for organizing picket lines of brightly-colored signs carrying hateful messages against tolerance during the funerals of military personnel and famous figures. His actions led to at least two federal and several state laws restricting protests during military funerals. In a statement on his Facebook page, Nathan Phelps, who has been estranged from his father for 30 years, said the senior Phelps was dying in hospice care in Topeka, Kan., and that he had been ex-communicated...

Frozen, the Oscar-winning Disney cartoon adapted from Hans Christian Andersen, is a vehicle for pro-gay propaganda as well a promoting bestiality, according to a Christian radio show in Colorado. Pastor Kevin Swanson of the Reformation Church, who hosts Generations Radio, denounced the film as "very evil", and that Disney was "one of the most pro-homosexual organisations in the country". Swanson said: "You wonder sometimes if maybe there's something very evil happening here ... I wonder if people are thinking: 'You know I think this cute little movie is going to indoctrinate my 5-year-old to be a lesbian or treat homosexuality...

In the past decade, many Evangelical churches across the country have increasingly had to wrestle with how to engage members of their congregation who identify as LGBT. But this dilemma has not remained only at the lay level. In 2012, the leadership staff at the southern California megachurch, Calvary Community Church (CCC), had to grapple with their church's convictions on homosexuality, when Kevin McCloskey, one of the members of the executive team revealed that he was gay and that he would be also be divorcing his wife of 17 years. Executive Pastor Curtis Johnson declined to speak specifically with The...

In the past decade, many Evangelical churches across the country have increasingly had to wrestle with how to engage members of their congregation who identify as LGBT. But this dilemma has not remained only at the lay level. In 2012, the leadership staff at the southern California megachurch, Calvary Community Church (CCC), had to grapple with their church's convictions on homosexuality, when Kevin McCloskey, one of the members of the executive team revealed that he was gay and that he would be also be divorcing his wife of 17 years. Executive Pastor Curtis Johnson declined to speak specifically with The...

Critical self-introspection is necessary in order to be an effective leader, Bishop T.D. Jakes said during the 2014 International Pastors and Leadership Conference in Orlando, Fla.. The megachurch pastor added that an individual's effectiveness can only be measured by how much they multiply their gifts and talents. "If God gave you two or five talents and He comes back and you still have what he gave you, you didn't lead…if you're not making any change, you're taking up space," said Jakes during the conference Friday. Aimed at helping leaders strengthen their church infrastructure, Jakes' message focused on reevaluating the qualities...

Ulf Ekman The pastor of Sweden’s largest non-denominational megachurch shocked Christians in his own community and around the world this weekend, by announcing that he is entering the Roman Catholic Church.* * * * *Several times in the last month, I wrote about bold initiatives in ecumenism, most notably the exchange of greetings and blessings between Pope Francis and evangelical pastor Kenneth Copeland, brokered by Anglican Bishop Tony Palmer. Perhaps I spoke too soon, though—for this latest surprise is just as remarkable in the Christian world, once again pointing toward a quest for unity which would have seemed impossible just...

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...