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Keyword: megachurch

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  • Why I Left My Megachurch

    05/01/2025 7:55:50 AM PDT · by CondoleezzaProtege · 44 replies
    From House to House ^ | John Porter
    Recalling a sober moment he had while at Cornerstone Church, Chan said he baptized a kid from a gang but that kid later left though he was quite involved in the church. "One of my friends asked him, 'Hey, how come you're not at Cornerstone anymore?' He said 'I didn't understand church. When I was baptized, I thought that was going to be being jumped into the gang where it's like 24/7 they're my family, because I didn't know it was just somewhere we attend on Sundays." When Chan heard that, he said it made him sick. "That makes me...
  • Megachurch pastor Rick Warren just posted what might be the dumbest political take in history

    02/13/2025 7:17:42 AM PST · by DFG · 43 replies
    Not the bee ^ | 02/12/2025 | John Knox
    I regret to inform you the megachurch pastors are at it again. Rick Warren, the former pastor of Saddleback Church, just posted this gem on X: Ok, where to start with this one? Ok, so since Jesus was on the middle cross between two thieves, we should be ... politically centrist? That seems like ... a bit of a stretch?
  • Kamala Harris hailed as ‘phenomenal servant of God’ as she speaks from Galatians 6 at NC megachurch

    10/15/2024 7:48:39 AM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 51 replies
    Christian Post ^ | 10/15/2024 | Leonardo Blair
    Vice President Kamala Harris was hailed as a “phenomenal servant of God” Sunday by Bishop Rosie O'Neal, founder and senior pastor of Koinonia Christian Center Church in Greenville, North Carolina, moments before she encouraged congregants at the megachurch to not grow weary in well-doing from Galatians 6.Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee looking to get elected as America’s first female president on Nov. 5, highlighted how challenging having faith can be in times of crisis. She cited, in particular, the devastation suffered in states like North Carolina and Florida due to recent hurricanes.In recent weeks, both Hurricanes Helene and Milton have...
  • Ed Young Jr. Says ‘Anti-Megachurch’ Folk are Hypocrites Because They Attend Mega-Concerts

    09/03/2024 3:49:04 PM PDT · by Morgana · 36 replies
    Protestia ^ | September 2, 2024 | staff
    Pastor Ed Young Jr., the senior pastor of Fellowship Church, a 30,000-member multi-site megachurch spread across Texas and Florida, has released a new video taking a shot at people complaining about the size of megachurches, saying they’re being hypocrites because they don’t say the same thing about attending massive concerts or going to football games. What are his historical acts of theological mischief? Young released a music video featuring him dancing around wearing gold chains, fake tattoos on his arms, neck, knuckles, and under his eye, baggy clothes, and beanie, all the while mimicking pointing to a mouth grill. He...
  • Megachurch Pastor’s Wife Charging $16,999 To Be Part of Her ‘Inner Circle’+ ‘Private Text Access’

    09/03/2024 8:14:00 PM PDT · by Morgana · 53 replies
    Protestia ^ | September 2, 2024 | staff
    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...
  • Megachurch Pastor to Pay Ex-Wife $1.3M, $12,000/month in Alimony

    08/12/2024 11:56:19 AM PDT · by DFG · 20 replies
    Protestia ^ | 08/12/2024 | Staff Writer
    A megachurch pastor in North Carolina has agreed to pay his ex-wife $12k/month in alimony over the next nine years after filing for divorce after 33 years of marriage. The couple have four adult children. Gilbert Andre Thompson, Jr. is the pastor of World Overcomers Christian Church in Durham. According to his bio, “God has used him to both plant and lead the explosive 15,000-member strong World Overcomers Christian Church, which is one of the fastest-growing churches in America…God is also using him to impact over 1 million people each week through his innovative, in-your-face, Faith-Filled television program called “The...
  • Megachurch pastor Robert Morris’s board blasts him over alleged sex abuse of girl, 12, after previously claiming he was ‘reformed’

    06/18/2024 9:29:06 PM PDT · by Morgana · 12 replies
    New York Post ^ | June 18, 2024 | Ronny Reyes
    A Texas megachurch pastor is out of a job, and his own board reversed course on defending him after allegations emerged that he sexually abused a preteen girl for years, beginning when she was 12. Robert Morris, the founder of the Gateway Church in Southlake and a one-time spiritual adviser to former President Donald Trump, resigned and was slammed by the church’s Board of Elders on Tuesday — just days after the group vehemently defended him as a reformed man. The elders claimed the sudden U-turn came after learning the full allegations from accuser Cindy Clemishire. “Regretfully, prior to Friday,...
  • Female shooter at Joel Osteen mega-church ID'd as cops reveal 'Free Palestine' was written on rifle

    02/12/2024 10:52:30 AM PST · by Eleutheria5 · 63 replies
    NY Post ^ | 12/2/24 | Isabel Keane
    The woman who opened fire at Joel Osteen’s Houston-area mega-church on Sunday has been named as Genesse Ivonne Moreno, 36, according to the Houston Chronicle, as authorities revealed she had ‘Free Palestine’ written on her weapon. Moreno entered Osteen’s Lakewood Church just before 2 p.m. with a boy, believed to be about 4 or 5 years old, and opened fire into the church. Two off-duty officers working security at the church — a Houston cop and an agent with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission — returned fire and fatally shot the woman, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said Sunday. The...
  • Texas megachurch is slammed for extravagant Christmas service with 1,000-strong cast, live camels and flying angels

    12/14/2023 9:39:28 AM PST · by DFG · 73 replies
    UK Daily Mail ^ | 12/14/2023 | GERMANIA RODRIGUEZ POLEO
    A Texas megachurch has been slammed for its extravagant Christmas service, which featured nearly 1,000 performers, several camels and flying angels. Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas has gone viral on social media for its yearly The Gift of Christmas show - a Vegas-style spectacle that retells the story of the birth of Jesus. Footage of the event on Sunday shows real sheep walking across the stage before flying angels appear over the crowd, followed by hundreds of performers and three live camels entering the scene. A TikTok video posted by Lawson Martin - titled 'They say everything is bigger in...
  • How the Divorce of Former Hillsong ATL “Pastors” Exposes a Fault Line in Modern Megachurch Culture

    12/11/2023 10:27:34 AM PST · by Morgana · 13 replies
    Disntr ^ | December 8, 2023 | staff
    In the trenches of today’s cultural battlefield, where truth is often held hostage by the whims of the zeitgeist, the Colliers’ conjugal collapse is not merely tabloid fodder—it’s a stark expose of a church culture skewed askew. Here we have Sam Collier, once celebrated as Hillsong Atlanta’s first Black lead pastor, who ascended the ecclesiastical ladder not through the grueling gauntlet of theological rigor, but through the charisma and cunning identity politics that now brand these modern-day temples. Collier’s tenure in the ecclesiastical sphere is marked not just by his time at Hillsong but also by his previous involvement with...
  • Elevation Megachurch Withdraws from the Southern Baptist Convention The multi-campus church led by Steven Furtick did not give a reason for the exit

    07/04/2023 6:54:44 PM PDT · by Morgana · 43 replies
    Ministry Watch ^ | July 3, 2023 | Anne Stych
    North Carolina megachurch Elevation—known for its popular music and charismatic pastor—is withdrawing its affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention effective immediately, according to a letter sent to the SBC’s Executive Committee and the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. “We would like to thank the Southern Baptists for the privilege of partnering with you, especially through the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina for nearly two decades,” says the letter, which was published by the official SBC publication Baptist Press. It goes on to thank the Conference for “the privilege of having been affiliated with the SBC all these years”...
  • Abandoning a Sinking Ship : Alabama megachurch votes to leave UMC over denomination's theological direction

    03/09/2023 6:55:28 AM PST · by SeekAndFind · 11 replies
    Christian Post ^ | 03/08/2023 | Michael Gryboski
    An Alabama megachurch has voted to leave the United Methodist Church due to concerns over the apparent theological directionof the mainline Protestant denomination. Covenant United Methodist Church of Dothan, which has approximately 2,600 members, voted last week to seek disaffiliation from the UMC, with 406 present members voting in favor of leaving, 64 voting against, and four abstaining. Covenant UMC Pastor Kyle Gatlin told The Christian Post that major factors for wanting to leave included “the direction we saw the denomination was headed,” theologically. This included how some bishops were refusing to enforce the UMC Book of Discipline’s rules prohibiting...
  • California megachurch elder, 49, and her father are charged with the murder and torture of her adopted 11-year-old daughter whose dad killed himself in front of cops on the day she died

    11/13/2022 6:26:52 AM PST · by Morgana · 61 replies
    Daily Mail UK ^ | November 13, 2022 | Chris Jewers
    An elder at a California megachurch and her father have been charged with the murder and torture of her adopted 11-year-old daughter, whose adoptive father also killed himself in front of the cops on the day that she died. Leticia McCormack, 49, and her father Stanley Tom pleaded not guilty to the charges Wednesday in Superior Court of California in the San Diego suburb of El Cajon. Stanley's wife Adella Tom - who faces abuse charges - also pleaded not guilty. Brian McCormack, Leticia's husband and a CBP agent, killed himself in front of police before he could be charged....
  • Televangelist Creflo Dollar says his teachings on tithing ‘not correct’ but won’t apologize to followers

    07/06/2022 10:08:07 AM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 42 replies
    Christian Post ^ | 07/06/2022 | Leonardo Blair
    Challenging popular Evangelical belief, controversial televangelist Creflo Dollar, one of America's most flamboyant proponents of the prosperity gospel, has renounced tithing and all his previous teachings on the subject as "not correct." He also urged his followers to "throw away every book, every tape and every video I ever did on the subject of tithing" but says he will not apologize for his error. In a Sunday sermon billed "The Great Misunderstanding," the founder and senior pastor of the nearly 30,000-member World Changers Church International headquartered in College Park, Georgia, said he is aware that his declaration will cause him...
  • Megachurch pastor Joel Osteen is questioned after plumber finds 'bags and bags' of cash and checks stashed in 500 envelopes in bathroom wall - seven years after $600,000 in donations were stolen from the church

    12/03/2021 8:31:52 AM PST · by DFG · 91 replies
    UK Daily Mail ^ | 12/03/2021 | Adriana Diaz
    Megachurch pastor Joel Osteen has been questioned by police after 'bags and bags' of cash and checks were found in about 500 envelopes in a bathroom wall at Lakewood Church in Texas. A plumber who worked at the church and only gave his first name, Justin, called into a Houston radio morning 100.3 The Bull show to tell them about his shocking discovery, which comes seven years after about $600,000 in donations was stolen and hasn't been recovered. Justin was called in to America's largest church, Lakewood Church, on November 10 to fix a broken toilet, he said. 'There was...
  • UMC conference seizes assets of Georgia megachurch trying to leave denomination

    07/15/2021 10:56:48 AM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 35 replies
    Christian Post ^ | 07/15/2021 | Michael Gryboski
    Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church of Marietta, Georgia. In April 2021, the church voted to begin a profess of disaffiliation from the UMC A regional body of the United Methodist Church has seized control of the assets of a Georgia megachurch trying to leave the mainline Protestant denomination. The leadership of the UMC North Georgia Conference unanimously voted to approve the seizure of assets belonging to Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church, a Marietta-based congregation with approximately 10,000 members. In April, Mt. Bethel voted to begin a process of discernment for leaving the UMC due to the conference’s decision to...
  • The paradox of a celebrity pastor: The danger of failing to preach the whole counsel of the Gospel

    06/03/2021 7:32:12 AM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 14 replies
    Christian Post ^ | 06/03/2021 | Hedieh Mirahmadi
    I originally came to Christ in one of the darkest times of my life. I left Islam once I removed my head cover and was told I would spend an eternity in hellfire, hanging from my hair. After more than twenty years, I could no longer worship a God that was that cruel and unpredictable. I resolved to a life without a relationship with God, but it was not long before my personal and professional life was in utter chaos. I turned to prayer for help. I no longer knew or had a personal relationship with the God I was...
  • Former NFL Star Ben Watson Rebukes Raphael Warnock on Claim Abortion Is ‘Justice’

    11/18/2020 5:45:37 PM PST · by conservative98 · 10 replies
    Breitbart ^ | 18 Nov 2020 | DR. SUSAN BERRY
    Former Super Bowl champion Ben Watson rebuked Democrat Senate candidate Raphael Warnock over his support for abortion on demand as essential to achieve “reproductive justice,” i.e. equality for black women. Watson, a pro-life Christian and former NFL tight end who won the Super Bowl with the New England Patriots. addressed Warnock on Twitter: Pastor, equal access to kill a son or daughter is NOT justice. JUSTICE is the equitable distribution of punishment AND protection. JUSTICE is rooted in the dignity of every human endowed by their Creator. One cannot truly fight for JUSTICE while simultaneously denying it. Watson, who has...
  • The Atlantic Claims President Trump Has Joined the Rest of Us in Making Fun of Joel Osteen and Some Mega-Church Pastors

    09/29/2020 8:41:01 PM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 11 replies
    Red State ^ | 09/29/2020 | Streiff
    Back at the first of the month, the media and NeverTrump were all gaga over an article by Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic claiming that a) President Trump had deliberately avoided attending a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I to be held at the US military cemetery at Belleau Wood, France, and b) that President Trump referred to the Americans buried there, mostly Marines of the 4th Marine Brigade of the US Army’s 2d Infantry Division, as “losers” and “suckers.”The problems with the story were manifest. First off, memos had been obtained under...
  • Cincinnati church wipes out $46.5 million in medical debt for 45,000 families

    02/27/2020 7:37:55 AM PST · by knighthawk · 22 replies
    Fox News ^ | February 28 2020 | Caleb Parke
    A megachurch in Cincinnati announced Sunday that it is paying off $46.5 million in medical debt for more than 45,000 families. Crossroads Church partnered with RIP Medical Debt, a medical debt relief nonprofit, to wipe out debts for people in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana. They will receive bright yellow envelopes this week letting them know the good news.