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A retired minister, David Zandstra, who was arrested in Georgia earlier this week, charged with murder in the slaying of an eight-year-old girl whose remains were found in Pennsylvania almost a half-century ago, is now being investigated over the disappearance of a four-year-old girl from California. Fairfield Police Department are reexamining a 1991 California cold case which saw the disappearance of Amanda 'Nikki' Campbell in the Bay Area. Campbell's case is extremely similar to that of Gretchen Harrington, who vanished while heading to Bible school in Pennsylvania in 1975. Zandstra, 83, was arrested for her kidnapping and killing on Monday,...

A retired minister in Georgia has been charged with murder in the slaying of an eight-year-old girl - who vanished while heading to Bible school in Pennsylvania nearly a half-century ago. David Zandstra, 83, of the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, was charged Monday with criminal homicide, first, second- and third-degree murder, kidnapping of a minor and a related count in the 1975 death of Gretchen Harrington in Delaware County. Harrington, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister and his wife, disappeared in mid-August 1975 while walking from her Marple Township home to Bible school at Trinity Church Chapel, where Zandstra was...

(RNS) — Whitworth University, a Christian school affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has revised its policies to allow for the hiring of faculty who identify as LGBTQ and to add sexual orientation to its non-discrimination statement. In so doing, it joins a sliver of Christian colleges and universities that are hiring faculty in same-sex marriages. Last year, Eastern University, a Christian school affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA, made a similar change to its hiring policy. Whitworth, which is located in Spokane, Washington, and last academic year had an enrollment of 2,500 students, announced the change on Thursday...

Three suspects have been charged with vandalism of multiple houses of worship in southeast Maryland, including one historic Black church that suffered approximately $100,000 in damages. On Wednesday, Anne Arundel County Police Department officers arrested Jarren Alexander, 22, on charges of vandalism against two area churches. His alleged crimes included extensive damage to Fowler United Methodist Church (UMC), a historic Black church in Annapolis, on June 9. Alexander also is being charged in connection with two additional incidents of vandalism at nearby St. Philip’s Episcopal Church on subsequent nights. Fowler UMC Reverend Jerome Jones briefly recounted the vandalism he saw...

<p>The theologically conservative Presbyterian Church in America had its General Assembly last week where they passed Overture 12: Petition Government to End Sex-change Procedures for Minors. The script calls for the denomination to petition the Biden administration to “renounce the sin” of encouraging and entrenching ‘gender-affirming care’ like puberty blockers and surgical intervention in minors.</p>

People came to Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco Sunday for a “Drag Queen Bible Story Hour.” Organizers were hoping to provide a different perspective after some of the push back that has occurred around the country around drag performances. Reverend Victor Floyd said it was a first for the church. “We’re hoping to offer a little balance to all of the hateful rhetoric that is out in the country and especially from churches and politicians, who are using churches and using trans people and drag queens as their props,” he said. Floyd added that not everyone supported the church...

A Chicago church has announced it will be 'fasting from whiteness' for Lent by abstaining from performing any hymns composed or written by Caucasian musicians. The First United Church of Oak Park announced that for 2022 the church would do a mix of 'giving something up' and 'taking something on' for Lent by not using music written or composed by white people but instead focus on music from other cultures.

Two elite private schools have scrapped their co-production of the smash-hit musical Grease after girls raised concerns about the show being sexist and offensive. Presbyterian Ladies’ College students voiced their apprehension about going ahead with the production in a joint statement with Scotch College. SNIP Some parents said not all students were given the opportunity to weigh in on the debate about cancelling the production, referring to a “small minority” of PLC students who found Grease to be “offensive, sexist and anti-feminist”.

Wondering whether there are any members of the Free Presbyterian movement (North America or Ulster), or of the Bible Presbyterian movement who are Freepers. A new pastor, Richard Clark, has been installed at the Salem Presbyterian Church in Salem, Indiana. The following, in his own words, is his vision for the church (as quoted in the Salem Leader-Democrat Newspaper, Thursday, July 8, 2021: "My vision for the Salem Presbyterian is openness, new ideas, social justice, and getting back to the real teachings of Jesus instead of the doctrines about him. To follow Jesus means more than worshipping him; it means...

The Presbyterian Church in America has voted to change a rule in its governing document that would disqualify all gay men from serving in its ministry. The resolution to change the rule, “Overture 23,” was passed 1,400-400 at the denomination’s 48th annual convention in St. Louis, Missouri, last week. “Officers in the Presbyterian Church in America must be above reproach in their walk and Christlike in their character. Those who profess an identity (such as, but not limited to, ‘gay Christian,’ ‘same-sex attracted Christian,’ ‘homosexual Christian,’ or like terms) that undermines or contradicts their identity as new creations in Christ,...

The conservative Presbyterian Church in America voted Thursday to disqualify all gay men from serving in its ministry. The 1,400-400 vote to change its governing document came at the denomination’s 48th General Assembly, held this week in St. Louis. The rule change, known as “Overture 23,” will go to local church bodies known as “presbyteries” for a vote before a second round of convention balloting next year that would place the language in the denomination’s “Book of Church Order,” which governs PCA practice....

A gang of social justice warriors, roaming the streets in search of more monuments to topple, fell upon a group of Presbyterians holding an outdoor church service on Sunday and attacked them. The protestors apparently mistook the worshippers for a group of statues. Members of First Elect Reverent Presbyterian Church were holding an outdoor worship service Sunday morning and were standing in an open courtyard next to the church when the activists approached. Just as the motionless figures completed a 23 minute period of silent confession, parishioner Calvin Archibald opened his eyes and saw dozens of picketers charging toward them....

Following George Floyd's death, the nation may not be ready for reparations on racism issues but the "church can lead the way in biblical restitution," according to the president and CEO of Christianity Today. Timothy Dalrymple said "repentance alone is not enough" for white evangelicals to atone for the nation's "original sin" of racism in an op-ed for the magazine. "The virus of racism infected our church, our Constitution and laws, our attitudes and ideologies. We have never fully defeated it," Dalrymple wrote.

Most leaders in Judaeo-Christian faiths believe scripture teaches that all human lives are valuable and deserving of protection. But there are some who stray from the teaching and promote abortion. A group of New York state clergy members recently advocated for abortion at the state capital, Christian News Network reports. Together, abortion activists who identify as Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopalian, Baptist, Unitarian and Jewish urged New York state lawmakers to support abortion and Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion chain in the United States, according to the report. “As pastors, we believe in New Yorkers’ ability to get the health care...

Standing in the Kentucky Capitol on Thursday, Presbyterian pastor Rev. Wayne A. Gnatuk proudly declared his support for abortion. Gnatuk, a retired minister from the Presbyterian Church USA, joined Planned Parenthood abortion activists for a rally to criticize two pro-life bills that could help protect unborn babies in Kentucky, according to WLKY. “As an ordained minister, I am proudly pro-choice. I am also very proud that my denomination as a whole is pro-choice,” Gnatuk said. Along with his ministry work, he also is the chair of the pro-abortion Kentucky Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. Gnatuk slammed new legislation, state House...

A Presbyterian Church (USA) congregation in New York made news this week after it featured the sculpture of a pagan deity in its chancel. The United Presbyterian Church of Binghamton hosted “the Sviatovid idol” which depicts a ninth-century Slavic deity, as part of a September 6-7 festival of lights. Sviatovid (alternately known as Svetovid, Svantovit, Sventovit, or Svantevit) was a local Slavic god of war, fertility, and abundance in the Baltic region. In the early twentieth century, an idol was discovered near the Zbruch River in Western Ukraine (accessible with free JSTOR account). This idol pictured was originally thought to...

This Saturday marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people in history to walk on the Moon. But it’s also the anniversary of the a lesser known event—the first celebration of the Lord’s Supper on the Moon. Here’s are nine things you should know about the first communion service on the Moon. 1. In 1969, Edwin Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. was an elder at Webster Presbyterian Church, a congregation just outside of Houston, Texas. He told the lead pastor of his church, Dean Woodruff, that he had “been...

If you are reading this July 4, 2015 post as an ordained minister, you can simply turn to Loraine Boettner’s book “The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination,” Chapter 28, Section 7, on page 383 for what I am about to write. Don’t have the book in your pastoral library! Go out and buy the book immediately, and let the following quotations be a incentive to do so. Or if you are reading this national holiday post as a member in a Presbyterian church, borrow the book by Boettner on “The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination” from your pastor, turn to Chapter 28,...

American Presbyterians have seen a series of splits and mergers for the past century that have resulted in a multitude of smaller denominations with different interpretations of the Bible and the Creeds. Issues of gender identity, sexuality, and abortion have contributed to divisions in these denominations. Here is a quick overview of the five largest Presbyterian denominations in the United States and where they stand on key issues of abortion, sexuality, marriage, and the persecuted church. Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) The Evangelical Presbyterian Church split from the United Presbyterian Church (a predecessor to the PCUSA) in 1981. The EPC strongly...

FULL TITLE: Presbyterian minister, 69, 'took advantage of troubled men who came to him for counsel by telling them oral sex was a healing method he used to get rid of evil spirits dwelling in them' A Presbyterian minister has been accused of taking advantage of troubled men who came to him for counsel by telling them that oral sex was a 'healing method' he used to get rid of evil spirits in them. Reverend Dr. William Weaver, 69, removed himself Linden Presbyterian Church in New Jersey in January this year, three days before he was due to face the...