Texas Pastor Ed Young took aim at critics of megachurches in a recent social media post, characterizing criticism of the church model as “hypocritical.”

Young is pastor of Fellowship Church, a multisite megachurch in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He is also the son of Pastor Homer Edwin Young (but who also goes by Ed Young). The elder Young is pastor of Second Baptist Houston, another megachurch. The younger Young served on staff at Second Baptist before planting Fellowship Church. 

In the social media video, which the Fellowship Church pastor filmed selfie-style, Young brought up a common criticism of megachurches. 

“‘Your church is just too big.’ I’ve heard people tell me that a lot. ‘It’s too big. It’s a megachurch,’” Young said. “Well, that’s gotta be one of the most hypocritical statements someone can make.” 

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“Because the person making the statement goes to massive concerts. They would go to a game—a football game. They would go to a massive mall,” Young continued. “And they never really say that about those entities, but they always say, ‘The church is too big.’”

“Hey, if you think the church is too big, then you’re not going to like heaven, because heaven is going to be a big place,” he said. 

Young then concluded, “If a church is around a lot of people, it should be big in the context of being big.”

While several of the Young’s social media followers responded with supportive comments, others raised concerns they have with megachurches, including celebrity culture and lack of pastoral care. 

“If your pastor holds themselves more as a celebrity, doesn’t interact with the congregation other than going on stage and exiting the back, then, you lose value,” one person wrote. “The best church I ever went to was back in Michigan and all of the pastors had humility.”

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Another person said, “You’re not expecting your team’s coach, your favorite band or your favorite store manager to have a personal relationship with you like your pastor.”

After being named Billboard’s Top Christian Music Artist of the Year in 2023, Lauren Daigle jumped into this year with continued success. She recently joined Loren Allred to perform on “America’s Got Talent.”

“You’re my safe place, my hideaway; you’re my anchor, my saving grace,” sang Daigle.

Lauren Daigle and Loren Allred Share the Stage on ‘America’s Got Talent’

Lauren Daigle and Loren Allred share some remarkable similarities. Both are successful artists. The two hold fast to a relationship with Jesus. And both were contestants on talent shows early in their careers.

Daigle auditioned for “American Idol” back in 2010 and 2012. Her newest album, “Sessions,” provides powerful melodies alongside raw lyrics. Allred, who competed in 2012 on “The Voice” with Adam Levine as her coach, just released “Come Alive” with Scott Hoying.

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Daigle and Allred recently shared a stage on “America’s Got Talent” (AGT). The show described the duo as an “epic duet that we will never forget!”

Fans may remember CeCe Winans singing “Goodness of God” on “American Idol.” This time, 10 million loyal viewers watched a Christ-centered performance on AGT. Accompanied by a single piano and some melodic strings, Daigle began by singing a portion of “Thank God I Do.” She sang,

I don’t know who I’d be if I didn’t know You
I’d probably fall off the edge
I don’t know where I’d go if You ever let go
So keep me held in Your hands

Daigle was then welcomed Allred to the stage for a duet. The two sang a snippet of Daigle’s hit, “You Say,” singing,

You say I am loved when I can’t feel a thing
You say I am strong when I think I am weak
And you say I am held when I am falling short
And when I don’t belong, oh You say I am Yours
And I believe (I)
Oh, I believe (I)
What You say of me (I)
I believe

AGT host Terry Crews addressed Daigle directly, saying, “Lauren Daigle, you’re at the top of your game! For our contestants, what does it take to get there?”

“It takes persistence,” Daigle replied. “It takes dedication, takes working on your craft and knowing how to serve it well. And the most important thing is every person, every contestant, was made for a unique purpose.”

While doing publicity for his new movie and album, Tyrese Gibson talked about dealing with grief and said Jesus is “the only name that matters.” The actor and singer, known for his role in the “Fast and Furious” films, recently appeared on the radio show, “The Breakfast Club.” During an expletive-filled interview, he promoted the Aug. 30 release of “1992,” a film about the violent aftermath of the Rodney King verdict, and “Beautiful Pain,” his seventh studio album.

Gibson, who’s been divorced twice, often talks and writes emotionally about the pain of broken relationships. He’s also spoken about his struggles with anxiety and grief, especially following the 2022 death of his mother from COVID-related complications. Gibson credits his mother with bringing him to faith in Jesus.

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Tyrese Gibson: Men Struggle With Grief Too

On the Aug. 20 episode of “The Breakfast Club” [Editor’s note: This video contains language some might find offensive], Tyrese Gibson said he’s “doing the best I can” despite all that life has thrown at him lately. “Black men cry,” he said, defending his tears. The actor said no jewelry, cars, or co-star “could ever replace my mama…or fill the void of what it’s like to…get married and want to be in something for the rest of your life and it goes away.”

Gibson encouraged people to check on men, not just women, when divorce, miscarriage, and economic struggles occur. “Women aren’t the only ones that are devastated” in those circumstances, he said.

Gibson was glad his face was covered during a 2021 appearance on “The Masked Singer,” he said, because of how much he was struggling at that time. Because he has “lost so much,” Gibson said, he’s not trying to win popularity contests or amass wealth. None of that is real, he said. “It’s all fake. It’s all superficial.”

In the past few days, Gibson has gone on social-media rants about past breakups and how he’s been treated for expressing his emotions. “REAL MEN these days are constantly being emasculated,” he wrote on Instagram Sept. 2. In that same post, he said he’s “officially retired from social media”—though he posted again the next day.

Tyrese Gibson on ‘The Power and the Presence’ of Jesus

Gibson closed out the show by praising Jesus, “the one and only name that matters.” He told listeners, “If you don’t know Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior…I would not be here if it wasn’t for the power and the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has been by my side when I thought it was a wrap, when I thought it was over.”

When Pete Scazzero, the cofounder of Emotionally Healthy Discipleship, was starting out in ministry, he was “sloppy” in how he led church staff meetings. He described his approach as “unhealthy” and “immature,” as well as characterized by “bad stewardship.” Part of the problem was that Scazzero had a “sacred-secular divide” in how he saw aspects of his job as a pastor.

“In my early days, I really had a very compartmentalized spirituality. Preaching and teaching, that was holy and on God’s heart,” Scazzero said, “but leading a staff meeting—all that kind of thinking that needed to go into an agenda and all the stuff around it—to me it was secondary. It wasn’t quite as holy.”

Pete Scazzero: ‘We’re Modeling Community Life’

Pete Scazzero and his wife, Geri, are the founding pastors of New Life Fellowship church in Queens, New York City, and the cofounders of Emotionally Healthy Discipleship, a ministry that helps people to learn that spiritual maturity cannot exist without emotional health. Scazzero is also a bestselling author whose books include “The Emotionally Healthy Leader,” “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality,” and “Emotionally Healthy Discipleship.”

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In the most recent episode of his “Emotionally Healthy Leader Podcast,” titled “5 Distinctives of an Emotionally Healthy Staff Meeting,” Scazzero said that while he used to see church staff meetings as less important Sunday sermons, he has since come to see these meetings as just as “important as a sermon or a teaching of Scripture or as a prayer meeting.” 

“Why?” Scazzero asked. “Because we’re creating a culture where we’re modeling community life. We’re living out certain values that are going to be transmitted throughout the whole ministry. We’re stewarding resources, spiritual formation with the people in the room.” 

Moreover, he said, “We’re learning as we’re leading the meeting. We’re listening for God, where we’re discerning together. We’re modeling how we treat people.” 

While various churches will structure their staff meetings differently, Scazzero said that most congregations have staff meetings that take place weekly and last for an hour to an hour-and-a-half. These meetings are comprised of “the paid and unpaid core people of either a pastoral team or leadership team.” 

The first characteristic of an emotionally healthy church staff meeting is that the leader takes time to “prayerfully prepare.” Scazzero said that most church staff meetings begin and end with prayer, but the prayer is rushed. The preparation he is referring to involves intentional work that leaders do prior to the meeting.

“This is holy work,” he said. “It needs thought, it needs time, it needs spaciousness” because the inner state in which leaders enter a meeting will impact the entire meeting.

“We don’t take for granted that we are ourselves in a relaxed state of loving union with Jesus,” said Scazzero. “Whereas if I come into a meeting—and I have—with anxiety, with fears, with my own inner life in turmoil—well, no matter what I say, that’s what I’m transmitting in the room because our being is what we transmit in the room.”

Members of a South Carolina church are hailing an off-duty firefighter as a hero after he performed CPR on their pastor. On Sunday (Sept. 1), Socastee Family Worship Center in Myrtle Beach honored Chad Hughes for his part in saving the life of Pastor Chuck McElroy.

The incident took place on June 15. Hughes and his family were beginning their vacation from North Carolina and were at the same Walmart in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, where McElroy was shopping. Suddenly, McElroy collapsed as the result of a severe heart attack.

“It was not an ordinary visit to Walmart,” Hughes told WMBF. “I was on vacation. But, boy, it was an interesting start to a vacation.” 

Hughes was alerted to the medical emergency when he heard screams. After rushing over to find McElroy’s lifeless body on the floor, McElroy immediately began performing CPR. 

“God used him to revive me,” McElroy told WMBF.

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Of the incident, Hughes said, “This is the first time I’ve ever gotten to do this and see the result of what God did. And I really thank him for it.”

McElroy said that he was told by doctors that he was a part of “the 2% club,” as a vast majority of patients who experience the type of heart attack McElroy endured do not survive. McElroy added that even of those who survive, most suffer brain damage, but he did not. 

“I’m here today as a living, walking, talking miracle,” McElroy said. 

On Sunday, Socastee Family Worship Center honored Hughes and his family, presenting Hughes with a “certificate of heroism.”

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“Well, praise the Lord,” McElroy said as he appeared onstage during the service. “God is so good.” McElroy went on to express gratitude for the love and support the congregation has shown him and his family in the wake of his heart attack.