Free Republic

A pastor from Odisha’s Dhenkanal was hit, forced to eat cow dung, and made to chant Jai Shri Ram by members of the Bajrang Dal. The incident, reported by Maktoob Media, took place on January 4 when the pastor, along with his family and a few others, was attending a prayer meeting at a house in Parjang village. A mob of around 40 people gathered outside and forcibly entered the house of Pastor Bipin Bihari Naik. “They started beating everyone inside the house. Besides us, there were seven families who were praying with us. My children and I managed to...

Hyun-bo Son, a Korean pastor known for his outspoken stance on biblical teachings, remains jailed on election law charges. His case gained fresh international attention recently after his son, Chance Son, spoke in Arizona at Turning Point USA's AMFEST, sharing his father's story with thousands of attendees… Support from Americans is also growing. That includes the late Charlie Kirk, who met Pastor Son in Seoul at a conference during Kirk's final international appearance. Son said, "My father was able to share what's happening in Korea, especially to the Christian leaders, including himself. And also the possibility that my father could...

Joe Campbell, a Pentecostal preacher who for half a century ministered to thousands of children across four states, has been arrested on child sex abuse charges, the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office said Wednesday. Campbell was charged with one count of first-degree rape and one count of lewd or indecent acts to a child under 16, according to the charging document. U.S. marshals arrested him Wednesday morning at Camp Bell, his children's camp in Elkland, Missouri, and took him to the Greene County jail in Springfield, where he was awaiting transfer to Oklahoma. If convicted, he faces up to life in...

A majority of pastors are now using artificial intelligence to prepare their sermons, with ChatGPT and Grammarly reported as the top two AI tools, new survey data shows. "ChatGPT is the most visible generative AI tool that can engage in human-like conversations and assist with a wide range of tasks, from answering questions to generating content," researchers wrote in "The 2025 State of AI in the Church Survey Report" prepared by AiForChurchLeaders.com and Exponential AI NEXT. "As the most popular AI tool among church leaders (26%), ChatGPT is being used for applications such as sermon preparation, research, and crafting church...

A pastor’s salary is determined by several factors, including church size and budget, geographic location, cost of living, education, experience, and responsibilities. While there is no universal answer, Josh and Sam discuss general guidelines and what pastors should expect from their churches. - Remember, everything is negotiable on the front end. Don’t go to a church and negotiate after you accept the position. - Some denominations are known to pay better than others. - Most pastors are underpaid, but few get paid far too much. - The median household income of a community is typically not where pastors should be...

A recently ordained Baptist minister at a Wisconsin church has sparked outrage among pro-life advocates by declaring that unborn babies should be killed through abortion to spare them from a world that supposedly “dislikes them because they simply exist.” Kurt Kaufman, who leads the Federated Church of Green Lake, made the remarks in an interview that surfaced on social media this week, arguing that abortion not only safeguards the mother’s life but also shields children from the trauma of being “forced to be born” into unsupportive homes – even though that’s a false notion. “Being in favor of reproductive rights,...

Former D.C. Congressman Walter Fauntroy, 83, is back in the U.S. after several years absence and, according to his attorney, he is in jail in Loudoun County, Va. Attorney Johnny Barnes said Fauntroy was arrested at Dulles Airport in Loudoun County Monday morning on his return from Dubai on an "unexpected" warrant from Prince George's County, Md. It involved Fauntroy's failure to appear in a court case in 2011 on allegations of fraud involving a 2009 Obama inauguration party that never took place.

LifeSiteNews) — A pro-abortion pastor and elected Democrat has called the fight to protect abortion the “sacred choice of every soul,” as part of a new Planned Parenthood initiative. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia (PPAV) has enlisted five Democrats in the Virginia legislature for its “Bros for Repro” campaign to “amplify the voices of men who champion [so-called] reproductive rights and bodily autonomy” through grassroots lobbying and public speaking. The campaign is meant to help elect more Democrats to advance a proposed amendment to the Virginia Constitution establishing a state-level “right” to abortion. Among the participants is state Del. Joshua...

Just down the road from my house, a pastor was crucified in his bed — crown of thorns and all. That’s not the start of a horror movie. It’s the real story of Pastor William Schonemann of New River Bible Chapel in Arizona. His murder in May received almost no media coverage until last week, when the suspect not only confessed to the killing but admitted he had plans to assassinate four more pastors in Arizona — and others across the country. As a pastor who lives not far from where this happened, I couldn’t help but wonder: Was I...

PHOENIX – The man accused of killing an Arizona pastor in April reportedly admitted he’d been plotting a series of religiously motivated murders. During a recent interview through a jail-issued electronic device with ABC15, Adam Sheafe confessed to crucifying 76-year-old New River Pastor William Schonemann and discussed his motivation. “I just drove there like two in the morning, maybe, and parked,” Sheafe, 51, said during a segment aired by the Phoenix TV station last week. “And then I just went in there and did it.” Adam Sheafe explains motive in death of New River pastor Sheafe said he believed Christianity...

A Kenyan pastor was attacked and killed by outraged villagers after being accused of molesting a young boy. Simon Ndegwa of True Disciple Ministry Church in Majengo, Kenya, was fatally burned by an angry mob for allegedly sexually assaulting a nine-year-old child. Police say that the boy was on an errand to a local shop when he met Ndegwa. The pastor is said to have convinced the child to follow him to his home, where the assault took place, after which the boy was allowed to leave. Upon returning home, the boy disclosed the ordeal to his parents, who informed...

Residents of a small town in Arizona are reeling after a pastor was found murdered April 28 in his home. William Schonemann, 76, was pastor of New River Bible Chapel in New River, Ariz., where he was known as “Pastor Bill,” according to the Arizona Republic. Investigators with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office have not released much information on the case beyond confirming they discovered Schonemann’s body the evening of April 28 after responding to a report of a deceased elderly male. They have not announced any suspects, arrests or motives for the crime. The Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office...

An American pastor living in South Africa was reportedly kidnapped from his church mid-sermon by a group of masked gunmen who stole from congregants and whisked the cleric away in his own truck. Josh Sullivan, a 45-year-old Tennessee native, was taken away at gunpoint Thursday night when four men broke into the Fellowship Baptist Church in Motherwell while the pastor was preaching to a congregation of roughly 30 people, which included his wife and six children, multiple outlets reported. The alleged kidnappers, who also stole two cell phones from churchgoers, then sped off with the clergyman in his silver Toyota...

A megachurch pastor faces jail for stalking a female congregation member after being caught twice breaking into her home on CCTV. Marie Columna, 43, said she’s “still afraid” of Sergio Guardia, 49, a minister at the renowned Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. Guardia was convicted by a jury last week on two counts of burglary and one count of stalking, according to Lynchburg Circuit Court and faces up to ten years in jail. The megachurch in Lynchburg — founded by Jerry Falwell Sr. and affiliated with Liberty University — is one of the most celebrated Baptist churches in...

A religious row has erupted among conservative Christians over President Donald Trump’s decision to re-appoint Paula White-Cain to run the White House Faith Office, with theological fissures erupting within Trump’s Christian coalition as leaders stake out different positions on the Florida pastor. The debate escalated on Tuesday (Feb. 19), when Doug Wilson, an influential Reformed pastor who has emerged as an oft-cited religious thinker in conservative circles, derided White-Cain, a Pentecostal pastor, on his podcast. While responding to others on his show who were critiquing White-Cain, the Idaho pastor referred to her appointment as “a bad pick for all kinds...

The pastor cousin of accused Long Island serial killer Rex Heuermann was himself accused of sexually abusing a young girl for seven years. The Rev. Kenneth Heuermann, a pastor at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in upstate Camillus, drugged and sexually abused the girl starting from when she was 8, allegedly using clerical stoles to bind her, the victim claims in a 2019 lawsuit.

Dr. Steve Caudle delivers sermon at Greater Second Missionary Baptist Church (GSMBC) in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on Feb. 9, 2025. A Baptist church in Tennessee has taken down its website amid calls for its pastor to step down after a video clip surfaced in which he stated that "sometimes violence is necessary" when speaking about the Trump administration's efforts toward fiscal transparency. Dr. Steve Caudle, senior reverend at Greater Second Missionary Baptist Church (GSMBC) in Chattanooga, delivered a sermon on Sunday in which he appeared to threaten the "possibility of violence" over the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and...

Pastor Andrew Brunson kissed the American flag when it was presented to him in Germany. I understand his emotions very well. In 1976, I went to Teheran, Iran to teach history in private school while the Shah Reza Pahlavi was still in power. It was a police state then even though it is a worse police state now. After I arrived, my passport was confiscated. In addition, there was runaway inflation and I had to begin borrowing thousands of dollars from the school in order to meet my basic expenses. My salary was $850 a month, and my rent was...

Trump met Erdogan at a Nato meeting early in June. Their discussions were very friendly, and after they ended, Trump thought they had made a deal: Trump would ask Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to release a Turkish citizen, Ebru Ozkan, arrested because of alleged terrorist links to Hamas, and then Turkey would release pastor Andrew Brunson, who was arrested in Turkey on October 2016 on charges of espionage, which the US considers are bogus charges. So on July 14, Trump called Netanyahu and requested that Ozkan be released, and she was released the next day. But Brunson was not...

The reverend at the National Cathedral prayer service for the inauguration called on President Trump to have mercy on transgender children and immigrant families in her sermon on Tuesday. Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde said to Trump, who was sitting in the first pew, that millions of Americans have “put their trust in you” before making her plea to the president. “I ask you, to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared. There are gay, lesbian, transgender children, Democratic, Republican, independent families — some who fear for their lives,” she said. She added, “The people who pick...