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Megachurch founder Bishop T.D. Jakes announced on Sunday that he will step down as pastor of his 30,000-member Dallas-based church, The Potter’s House, and his daughter and son-in-law will assume the helm. For almost 50 years, Jakes, who will turn 68 in June, has served the local and global community as a pastor, global faith leader, and author. According to a statement on the church’s website, senior pastoral duties for pastors Touré Roberts, 51, and Sarah Jakes Roberts, 36, . Jakes’ announcement and presentation of couple to the congregation met with applause and a long, standing ovation. While choking back...

A pastor who pled guilty to 11 counts of possessing child pornography had the book thrown at him, receiving 10 years in prison for each offense, resulting in a 110-year sentence. Last year, James Vincent Henry, the 43-year-old pastor of Crossroads Assembly of God church in Delight, Arkansas, was arrested and charged with 100 counts of possession, viewing, and distribution of child pornography. According to a statement by Arkansas State Police, they received a cyber tip from the Center for Missing & Exploited Children that the offending media was being distributed made through the online messaging apps Snapchat and Kik....

Gospel singer and preacher Marvin Sapp is facing severe criticism online after a video of him seemingly pressuring his congregation into donating $40,000 went viral. In the video, Marvin Sapp, known for his popular singles "Never Would Have Made It" and "The Best In Me," instructs ushers to "close the doors" until he sees all 1,000 churchgoers drop a "seed" of $20. He's also under fire for demanding that online visitors prove they donated virtually. Marvin Sapp Tells Church Workers To 'Close The Doors' On 1,000 Members Marvin Sapp is clearly HUSTLING his congregation for 40k— and using God’s name...

A federal appeals court has issued a shocking opinion forcing a church in Washington state to fund abortions. A Seattle-area church has sued to stop a Washington state law that forces churches to fund abortions in their health care plans. Cedar Park Assembly of God challenged the Washington state law that requires nearly all health plans to cover abortion. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys fought in court for the church after a lower court ruled that the church must violate its constitutionally protected, pro-life religious beliefs and abide by the state’s mandate that most Washington employers provide abortion coverage for employees....

Now that the busyness of the holiday movie season is passed, I want to get back into writing more about faith on Sundays. I've always like this post, which I wrote a few years back for Patheos. Seemed like a good one to share again. Like most people who grew up evangelical, I went through a Rapture obsession.I remember when it started. I was 15 and my parents took me to a dc Talk concert. During the show, the trio played a cover of Larry Norman's "I Wish We'd All Been Ready." When the group got to the last verse,...

OU ARE MY SIGNET RING " OF MY HAND " PRESSED INTO MY WILL ALONE ! My orchestration is complete in you in that in fact you have been crushed and fractured as a diamond brushed and honed , thoroughly ground into My existence and pleasure and I wear you as My Signet ring of power and authority in My Name . Therefore only and all you do is by my hand and in My Name ( JESUS ) of the strictest obedience wrapped in the gold and silver of My glory tested in the fire ( COALS) of My...

A new survey reveals that most white Christians and Hispanic Protestants supported President-elect Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election as discussions continue about the influence of voters’ religious beliefs on their political affiliation. The Public Religion Research Institute released a report examining the results of the 2024 presidential election broken down by religious affiliation. The report is based on responses collected from 5,772 adults and a subsample of 4,757 adults who voted in the 2024 presidential election between Nov. 8 and Dec. 2. The respective samples have margins of error of +/-1.7 percentage points and +/-1.9 percentage points. Trump,...

Three days after the feast of the Nativity of Jesus, the Catholic Church traditionally commemorates the massacre of the Holy Innocents – the children of Bethlehem slain by King Herod following the birth of Christ. This event is recorded in the Gospel of Saint Matthew in connection with the arrival of the Magi – the Wise Men from the East – who had followed a star to Jerusalem, and had sought out the newborn king of the Jews. According to Matthew’s account, King Herod requested that the Magi return to him after finding the child, ostensibly so that Herod could...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rqUM83DphpQ

It's been a while since I have posted an "Old Sergeant" story for my FR friends. I hope you enjoy this one and I pray it gives food for thought.

Zachary Joseph Radcliff (29) has been charged with nearly a dozen counts of criminal sexual misconduct. He served as the worship director and interim youth pastor at Oakwood Church in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and has since been fired from the church. “This information has ripped our hearts apart,” a statement from the church said. Editor’s note: This article refers to reports of child sex abuse that some readers might find triggering and/or disturbing. Former Youth Pastor Zachary Joseph Radcliff Faces Up to Life in Prison for Multiple Counts of Criminal Sexual Misconduct With Minors Earlier this month, leadership at Oakwood Church...

DELIGHT, Ark. — An Arkansas State Police (ASP) Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigation led to the arrest of a Delight pastor for 100 counts of crimes related to the possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). On Wednesday, September 25, 2024, Special Agents with the ASP ICAC Task Force executed a search warrant in Delight in reference to two cyber tips from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children made through the online messaging applications Snapchat and Kik. During the investigation, agents reviewed digital evidence collected from the search warrant and information drawn from...

Description: While most Pentecostals are orthodox, there is a segment within this movement of “Oneness” or “Jesus-Only” Pentecostals who are not. This movement denies the Trinity, arguing instead that Jesus is himself the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Many also hold that a person’s sins are not forgiven unless they’re baptized “in Jesus’ name” (not “in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit”). Many also believe that a person cannot be saved unless they “speak in tongues” and that a person must abide by certain strict holiness “standards” to be saved. In Oneness Pentecostals and the Trinity, Dr....

SOUTHLAKE — New developments have emerged in the class-action lawsuit filed against Southlake-based Gateway Church last week. The lawsuit filed Friday demands Gateway refund donations, known as tithes, made by church members. Lawyers in the class-action suit report significantly more Gateway members are now seeking refunds of their tithes. "This case is about two things. It's about fraud and breach of contract," said Micha Dortch, lead legal counsel for the class-action suit. "To not let us see the books and to bring this new defense of 'it's not legal to return the money,' it's just absurd." The lawsuit is the...

Megachurch Pastor Keion Henderson of The Lighthouse Church is under fire after being seen in a newly resurfaced clip warning congregants that if they give to the poor they won’t be blessed by God. Instead, he insists that if his listeners want to supernaturally multiply their wealth, they need to be tithing to his ministry. We would expect nothing less from Henderson, who spends half his sermons preaching the prosperity gospel and the other half parading around his luxury clothing and accessories from the stage. As All Things Theology has pointed out, Keion is a huckster and terrible bible preacher...

Kat Kerr, the self-proclaimed pink-haired prophetess, has made a career out of spouting outlandish claims that defy both logic and Scripture. Known for her wild tales, she insists that God commanded her to dye her hair pink to “stand out among the prophets.” Kerr also claims to have visited Heaven thousands of times, where she’s seen things like Elvis Presley playing music for Jesus and Mickey Mouse running around the pearly gates. She’s declared that Walt Disney made it to Heaven because of his “family entertainment” contributions and has even gone as far as to say that Santa Claus lives...

In a recent interview with Mondo Gonzales on Prophecy Watchers, Pastor Billy Crone offered a sobering analysis of how UFO phenomena could be used to explain away the Rapture when it happens. Crone laid out several key points that illustrate how the secular world may seek to rationalize the Rapture by attributing it to alien abductions. Crone is not alone in this theory, as other voices such as Bishop Alan DiDio and Nephilim expert L.A. Marzulli warn about a coming “Great Deception” based on biblical prophecy. “One of the most cunning deceptions Satan could use to explain away the Rapture...

A Fort Worth pastor who was fired from his church after being accused of watching pornographic content at work is claiming he was wrongfully terminated and is seeking to get his job back. In 2016, Scott Crenshaw was fired from his job as senior pastor at New River Fellowship Church after it was discovered he’d been using the church’s computer to access “inappropriate images.” The story went viral and Crenshaw sought counseling at Pure Desire, which deals in recovery from sex addiction. He had a quick stint at Tabernacle of Praise before becoming the senior pastor of Lake Country church...

Faith Church is a non-denominational ‘word of faith’ church in St. Louis, MO. Led by pastor and pastrix duo David and Nicole Crank, they claim “18,000 members across eight campuses in Missouri, Illinois, and Florida” and have the ethos of your typical “You’re-David-and-here-are seven-life-tips-to-help-you-kill-your-Goliath-of-debt” kind of church. David Crank has a long and sordid history of being unable to preach himself out of a paper bag if his life depended on it, with a lobotomized monkey with a pen taped to its hand frequently giving him a run for his money over who can write a more coherent sermon with...

MorningStar Ministries leader Chris Reed resigned from all his leadership roles with the organization effective Monday, including his job as senior pastor of MorningStar Fellowship Church in Fort Mill, South Carolina, citing, among other things, the sexual abuse of minors by a former volunteer and police officer. In a letter to MorningStar staff shared on X, Reed explained he was returning leadership of the ministry to founder Rick Joyner to focus more on what God called him to do, which is to “to prophesy, pastor, teach, preach, and write.” He also pointed to the 2023 arrest of former church volunteer...