Free Republic

A Drag Queen Story Hour event that was scheduled for later this month at a church in Mountville has been canceled. Christopher Paolini, who performs as Miss Amie Vanité, said that the decision was made to cancel the event after a news article by another media outlet was posted Saturday incorrectly saying the event was a reschedule of the canceled March Drag Queen Story Hour at the Lancaster Public Library. “Hate started piling in with comments and shares on social media,” Paolini said. The church hosting the event, the Vision of Hope Metropolitan Community Church, had posted Saturday on its...

You may also be familiar with Mike Cosper as the voice behind the popular podcast series, The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, which was published in Russell Moore’s Christianity Today. But Cosper’s damage to the Evangelical Church is much deeper, and much older, than his podcast lambasting Mark Driscoll. Cosper, a former “music pastor” at a Louisville, KY church who is now the “director of podcasting” a Christianity Today is a functional Democrat (I don’t know what he’s registered as) and has been an avid promoter of leftist causes. You may also be familiar with Cosper as the man...

Preston Sprinkle, one of the original advisory board members of Revoice, the “gay Christian” movement within Evangelical churches, has been instrumental in shifting the church’s doctrinal stance on homosexuality and other aberrant sexualities. It is through Sprinkle’s extensive relationships with mainstream Evangelical leaders James Merritt, Matt Chandler, and even names like Beth Moore, that he has been able to popularize what was once denounced as forbidden fruit by Evangelicals. Sprinkle’s ministry promotes a number of false teachings on sexuality. For example, his ministry promotes the notion that homosexuals can fulfill their homosexual desires in nonsexual ways by entering into same-sex...

In a decision that undoubtedly exposes the theological and moral lapses within certain corners of modern evangelicalism, JD Greear, the highly influential pastor of Summit Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, recently hosted Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry for what was termed a “family discussion” on racial issues and faith. Let’s be clear: Greear’s decision to give a platform to Deberry, an openly lesbian and pro-abortion activist, is nothing short of a blasphemous betrayal of biblical Christianity and dereliction of his pastoral duties. Greear, with a past tenure as the President of the Southern Baptist Convention, wields considerable influence not...

Prominent speaker and theologian Rosaria Butterfield went on a polemical rampage against Andy Stanley’s infamously gay-affirming ‘Unconditional Conference’, joining Josh Daws on the The Great Awokening podcast to make her distaste known. Rosaria Butterfield is the author of The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert and The Gospel Comes With a House Key. She’s one of the main go-to people for Christian leaders to point to as an example of the power of the gospel on account of being a lesbian Women’s Studies professor who was saved and having her sexuality redeemed. She ultimately married a man, had a family...

In 2014, I attended Matthew Vines’s conference on the Bible and homosexuality. His stated goal was to “promote inclusion of LGBTQ people by reforming church teaching.” The organization he started, The Reformation Project, teaches that homosexual sex and same-sex marriage are biblically permissible, and its goal to mainstream this theology into the church is overt and clear.Fast-forward to last month, when I attended the Unconditional Conference put on by Embracing the Journey (ETJ). Hosted by nationally known pastor Andy Stanley and held at his church, which boasts a weekly attendance of nearly 40,000 people, the event sought to create a...

I do my best to be sensitive in the language I use, not wanting to drive people away from a life-giving message because of controversial terminology. Yet there are times when being blunt is essential, and now is one of those times. That is why Pastor Andy Stanley must be called out publicly for inviting practicing homosexuals to speak at his Unconditional Conference. The fact that these men claim to be committed Christians makes the sin all the more grievous. I’m speaking specifically of Justin Lee and Brian Nietzel, both of whom are not only openly “gay Christians” but are...

For part 1 of our exposé, dealing with our general sense of the conference click here. For part 2, where we review a session by panelists with trans children who argue for gender affirming care, click here. For part 3, where a speaker repeatedly teaches that we must be gay affirming, click here. For part 4, where Stanley tells the audience that he refuses to call homosexuality a sin, click here. (ON LINK) Andy Stanley joined Debbie Causey for the second main session of the Unconditional conference. Causey is a pastor and the long-time Care Director at North Point Community...

For part 1 of our exposé, dealing with our general sense of the conference click here. For part 2, where we review a session by panelists with trans children who argue for gender affirming care, click here. For part 3, where a speaker repeatedly teaches that we must be gay affirming, click here. (on link) Andy Stanley joined Debbie Causey for the second main session of the Unconditional conference. Causey is a pastor and the long-time Care Director at North Point Community Church. She is a board member of Renovus, an LGBTQ activist group led by her and other gay-affirming...

Andy Stanley is finally sharing his thoughts about criticism over his involvement in a recent conference for Christian parents of what the megachurch pastor repeatedly referred to as “gay kids.” Stanley, whose North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, hosted the Unconditional Conference last week, spoke candidly to his congregation in a message Sunday that, unlike the rest of the church’s sermons, was not live-streamed on North Point’s digital platforms. In an audio recording of the sermon leaked to social media, Stanley addressed a number of topics, including the controversy surrounding the Unconditional Conference and the church’s theological stance on...

Is there a “quieter middle space” when it comes to gender, sexuality, and marriage? Well, the individuals behind the Unconditional Conference taking place this week at Pastor Andy Stanley’s North Point Community Church seem to think so. But as Christians, we should always be comparing what anyone says—including a popular, influential pastor such as Andy Stanley (who is presenting at the conference)—against the authority of God’s Word. So when we start with God’s Word, is there a “quieter middle space”? According to the event website, the Unconditional Conference is designed for: Parents of LGBTQ+ children and for ministry leaders looking...