After its longtime pastor was arrested last week for allegedly distributing child sex abuse materials, a Texas church immediately removed him from office. Texas Pastor Bruce Hollen, 63, was arrested on May 8 and has been charged with possession with intent to promote child pornography. In court Friday, his bond was set at $30,000. Hollen is currently being held in the Montgomery County Jail.

Editor’s note: This article refers to child sex abuse materials, which some readers might find triggering and/or disturbing.

Hollen’s arrest stemmed from an investigation conducted by a county task force on internet crimes against children. In court documents, authorities said they obtained photographs of girls between the ages of 9 and 12 who were unclothed from the waist down. Some of the photos depicted girls who were participating in sex acts.

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Texas law defines “promotion” of child pornography as knowingly or intentionally possessing material that visually depicts minors—those younger than 18 at the time the images were created—and that depicts the children engaging in sexual conduct.

Church Responds to Allegations Against Pastor

According to Hollen’s personal Facebook page, he has been a pastor at Calvary Chapel of The Woodlands since July 2000. The Woodlands is located about 30 miles north of Houston.

Photos of Hollen and his wife have been removed from the church’s website. Some videos of Hollen conducting worship services have also been deleted.

When a local TV station went to Hollen’s house seeking comment, no one opened the door. Last week, a church representative told ABC13 that leaders were working to keep the church running and “don’t have all of the information.”

The link to Calvary Chapel’s website homepage now goes directly to the following statement:

The board of Calvary Chapel of The Woodlands has discussed the allegations against Pastor Bruce Hollen and has unanimously decided effective immediately that as of 5/8/2024, Bruce Hollen is stripped of his role as lead pastor of Calvary Chapel of The Woodlands. The board hereby has determined that Bruce Hollen no longer has authority, authorization, or permission to conduct any business on behalf of Calvary Chapel of The Woodlands. He may not hold himself out as a leader in any capacity for the church, and he may not speak on behalf of the church in any capacity.

Church Meets at a Local Public School

Calvary Chapel of The Woodlands meets in the auditorium of McCullough Junior High School, a local public school. District officials said because the church services take place on Sundays, none of its students are present in the facility.

The church’s meeting location sparked renewed concerns on social media about the separation of church and state.

A teenage suspect carrying a rifle was apprehended shortly after attempting to enter the backdoor of St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Abbeville, Louisiana, during a First Communion service on Saturday (May 11).

Around 60 children were inside the church waiting to receive their First Communion. The incident was captured on the church’s livestream, a video which has since been taken down from social media. 

Before the video was taken down, it was captured by several local media outlets, including KADN. In it, Fr. Nicholas G. Dupré can be seen leading the Mass before someone approaches him to whisper something in his ear. 

Dupré then asks everyone to be seated, and several individuals can be seen conversing and looking toward the back of the room. A few moments later, Dupré can be seen leading a Hail Mary prayer as police officers enter the room.

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A few moments after that, panic appears to erupt in the crowd. As people begin to evacuate, a voice can be heard assuring them that the teen “is in custody.” 

Abbeville Chief of Police Mike Hardy said in a statement on Facebook that officers arrived at the church around 10:35 a.m. on Saturday after receiving a call about “a suspicious person with a gun.”

“The person was confronted by parishioners and escorted outside. Upon arrival, Officers arrested the suspect and placed him in custody,” Hardy said. “Officers with the Abbeville Police Department and Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office made a sweep through the church to ensure there was no additional threat and confirmed that no one was injured.”

The suspect, who is a 16-year-old white male, was questioned by investigators with a parent present. He was then transported to the Abbeville General Hospital Behavioral Unit to be evaluated. 

Following the incident, Mary Magdalen Catholic Church also released a statement, saying, “This morning, our First Communion ceremony was interrupted when a suspicious person opened the back door.”

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“This understandably caused panic,” the statement went on to say. “While we realize this was a frightening experience for those in attendance, we are incredibly grateful to both parishioners and police officers for acting quickly to ensure the safety of all.”

Matt Chandler, lead pastor at The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas, took time this week to share his views on the “mark of the beast,” which is mentioned in the Bible in Revelation 13. Despite what some believe, Chandler does not believe the mark is some type of advanced technology.

 

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Matt Chandler Explains the Mark of the Beast

Revelation 13 describes a beast coming out of the earth followed by a second beast coming out of the sea. The second beast performs miraculous signs, makes people worship the first beast, and causes those who refuse to worship the first beast to be killed. Verses 16-18 say:

It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.

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Chandler said that if people are close to his age, they’re familiar with the idea that the mark of the beast could be a credit card, a phone, or a chip embedded in people’s hands. However, the pastor said that to think the mark of the beast is one of these types of technology is “to miss the point that’s being made” in Revelation.

“The perfect number is number seven, and so if seven is complete, six is incomplete,” said Chandler. “We also know that the number three means complete. And so 666, the mark of the beast, is really to show that the work of the enemy is completely—three sixes—incomplete. And so this is, really, what the enemy produces: complete incompleteness.”

The mark of the beast “is not Elon Musk putting something in our brains or something like that,” Chandler said. Rather, the number 666 on people’s foreheads symbolizes “ideological belief,” and the number on people’s hands depicts “the practice of that ideological belief.”

Chandler believes the mark of the beast is currently being lived out in our society. “I think the way you’re even seeing this today,” he said, “is there are certain, especially in the business community now, ideological beliefs you must have in order to participate in the economy. And I think we’re going to see this get worse.” 

“That means I believe the mark of the beast is active even now in this moment of history that we’re in,” he concluded.

Two days after the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office released a statement regarding Mica Miller’s death, South Carolina Pastor John-Paul Miller has broken his silence through his attorney, Russell B. Long, and is refuting claims that he “groomed” his wife.

Miller made the shocking announcement that his wife had died by suicide on April 27 at the conclusion of his Solid Rock at Market Common Sunday sermon. Since then, friends and family have been questioning why Mica would have taken her own life and have been disclosing information regarding Miller’s character and the couple’s marriage.

RELATED: SC Pastor Uses Service To Tell Church His Wife Died by Suicide; Family Says She Filed for a No Contact Order and Divorce

Shortly after making the announcement, Miller told The Christian Post that Mica had been diagnosed with “bipolar II, schizophrenic and dependent personality disorder.”

He also said that he and Mica got married in 2017, when Mica was 21, after an adulterous affair with each other. Both she and he were married to other people at the time of their affair, and they both got divorced so they could marry each other.

The couple first met when Mica was a 14-year-old in the church’s youth group; Miller is 14 years older than Mica. Mica’s friends and family said Mica told them she was groomed by Miller when she was young.

After the North Carolina Medical Examiner’s office determined that Mica died by suicide earlier this week (May 6), the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office released a detailed statement also stating that Mica died by suicide.

Miller is now addressing rumors about himself through his lawyer.

“Following the untimely death of Mica Miller, unfounded rumors and false accusations began circulating on social media and in various media outlets, suggesting Pastor Miller’s involvement in her demise,” Miller’s attorney said. “This created a buzz, causing local and national media outlets to be proliferating these falsehoods, on a mammoth proportion. Our client refutes any report that suggests he ever abused his wife.”

RELATED: SC Pastor Says Deceased Wife Had Been Diagnosed ‘Bipolar II, Schizophrenic and Dependent Personality Disorder’

Last Thursday (May 2), Mica’s brother, Nathaniel Francis, and Mica’s sister, Sierra Francis, submitted sworn affidavits to a South Carolina probate court regarding their sister’s estate. In it, Mica’s sister claimed that Mica “expressed abuse and violence against her by her husband.”

Mica’s sister also claimed that Mica was gathering divorce evidence to “support her claims against” her husband’s “abuse, character, his paramours, and associates he paid off or blackmailed.”

The church leader who tackled a gunman attempting to shoot Pennsylvania Pastor Glenn Germany in the middle of Sunday service May 5 said he knew he “had to do something.” Deacon Clarence McCallister was behind the camera, capturing Germany’s sermon on livestream, when 26-year-old Bernard Polite stepped in front of the stage, aiming a gun at the pastor.

“My pastor’s life was in danger. I had to do something,” McCallister told Fox News Digital. The shocking incident took place at Jesus’ Dwelling Place Church in North Braddock.

Those present say that Polite’s gun misfired. When Polite accosted the pastor, Germany flinched and took refuge behind the pulpit while McCallister ran from behind the camera, tackling Polite. With the help of Germany and another congregant, McCallister subdued the gunman and took his firearm. 

RELATED: Pastor Survives Shooting Attempt During Livestreamed Sermon

“I heard it click, and I thought, ‘Oh, my God, thank God that gun jammed,’” McCallister said. “[Germany] ducked down, and the guy’s going after him. That’s when I leaped up out of that chair and went after the guy. I put his arms to his sides so he couldn’t move, turned him around and sat him down.”

Deacon Clarence McCallister Labeled a ‘Hero’

On the afternoon of Sunday, May 5, Pastor Glenn Germany was preaching from 1 Peter 1:3, which says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” 

This passage, said Germany, shows that believers should rejoice and praise God out of gratitude for his “abundant mercy.” As the pastor continued to expound on the text, explaining that Christians are called out of darkness into light, Polite stepped in front of Germany and pointed a gun at him.

Congregants expressed shock as Clarence McCallister and the other two men subdued the gunman. In the footage of the incident, McCallister can be heard asking someone to call the police. 

Afterward, Germany said, “I’m thankful to God that I’m still here because [Polite] definitely pulled the trigger.” The pastor called McCallister a “hero.”

Reports indicate that Polite’s mental health was suffering. “He said that he was possessed by spirits,” said Germany. “He said that it was spirits that was talking to him. It was spirits that told him to come and shoot inside the church.”

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“He was in the church for a while,” said McCallister. “He could have killed anybody, but the voice that he heard told him to kill the pastor.”

Academy Award-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr. has broken his silence about being named as a co-defendant in a lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs.

In February, Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, a former music producer for Combs, filed a lawsuit in which he claimed that Combs sexually assaulted him on numerous occasions, among other serious allegations. That same month, two of Combs’ properties were raided by federal investigators. 

Gooding was added as a co-defendant in the suit in March, with Jones accusing Gooding of sexually assaulting and groping him while onboard Combs’ yacht. 

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Gooding will appear alongside Kevin Sorbo in the faith-based film “Firing Squad,” a movie inspired by the true story of three Christians who faced execution by firing squad in a developing nation. The film is set to be released on Aug. 2. 

“I start off every morning and I go to bed every night with the same prayer,” Gooding told The Christian Post last week. “Thy will be done. God’s will be done in my life.”

“A lot of times I’ve been in situations and scenarios that I know are dark,” he continued. “And I go, ‘I don’t know why I’m here and why I’m doing what I’m doing, but I know it’s God’s will.’”

During an appearance on the “PBD Podcast“ this week, Gooding spoke specifically about being named in the lawsuit against Combs. 

Referencing the FBI raid of Comb’s properties, Gooding told host Patrick Bet-David, “That’s the craziest thing I’d ever [seen].”

“And then, hey, how about me? I wake up in the morning; I turn on the ‘Today Show’ and…‘Cuba Gooding Jr.,’” Gooding continued. “And I was like, ‘Excuse me! Pull me into this?’”

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“I think whatever [Combs] is dealing with, he’s on his journey, man,” Gooding said. “I think God has got him on a path, where I can’t imagine that he’s stupid enough to do whatever he’s doing and keep it on his premises.”

(RNS) — As the security crisis in Haiti continues, the humanitarian aid group Haiti Family Care Network is urging U.S. Christian donors to refrain from worsening the situation by donating to orphanages and to redirect their efforts instead toward initiatives helping parents support their children.

“There are actually better ways to care for the needs of children than building and supporting orphanages,” said Heather Nozea, chair of the network, which is part of Better Care Network, based in Guatemala.

In 2021, five humanitarian organizations created Haiti Family Care Network to change how relief for children works in the impoverished, often chaotically led nation. In 2011, the year after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake killed some 300,000, mostly around the capital, Port-au-Prince, orphanages proliferated from about 300 to 754, despite their failures to provide appropriate care for children.

“Everyone assumed that the best way to respond was by building and supporting new orphanages and it became a solution to problems without actually addressing the real problem,” said Nozea, who has worked in Haiti for eight years for Rapha International, an organization that fights human trafficking.

In many cases, parents placed their children in orphanages to guarantee they would receive consistent meals, health care and education. In some instances, children have been separated from their families simply to fill voids in orphanages, ensuring that the orphanage industry would continue to grow.

“More than 80% of them, they have families they can be connected to, so we prefer to call them residential care centers,” said Frédérique Jean-Baptiste, a child protection program manager for Catholic Relief Services based in Port-au-Prince.

The creation of these privately run agencies was made possible in large part by international donations, mostly from American Christians. According to a Lumos report, Americans donated $1.4 billion in the months after the earthquake, the bulk of it from faith-based groups. American Catholics alone were responsible for some $85 million of the total.

A 2017 report by IBESR, the Haitian adoption authority, revealed that only 30 of the 754 orphanages in Port-au-Prince met minimum standards of care. The report said the vast majority presented a risk for children and recommended their immediate closure.

Jean-Baptiste said cases of physical and verbal abuse are frequent in the orphanages. The Lumos report also draws attention to the suffering endured by children with disabilities.

A childhood in an orphanage has long-lasting effects on young people’s development, said Nozea, noting that, with many rules and daily structure, children are not given a chance to develop independence. Sometimes residents’ cognitive and personal development is slowed. Once they leave the orphanages to pursue life on their own, many of the young adults who grew up in orphanages show a lack of emotional, social and life skills.

Nozea said she has seen young adults unable to look after themselves and manage money. “The biggest populations that I’ve seen struggle in Haiti are young adults coming out of orphanages, who haven’t learned the life skills that a child naturally learns as they grow up in a family,” she said.

Armed gangs now control 80% of the capital through acts of terror, regularly resorting to physical and sexual violence and to kidnappings. Since January, 35,000 people have been displaced due to gang violence, and 1,500 have died.

A person lifts a sheet to look at the identity of a body lying on the ground after an overnight shooting in the Petion Ville neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

This crisis has put additional strain on families’ capacities to provide for their children, and humanitarian workers share renewed fears that the 2010 scenario will repeat itself and more children will end up in orphanages.

NEW YORK (RNS) — Union Theological Seminary’s board of trustees voted Thursday (May 9) to divest from all companies profiting off the war in Gaza.

Union, a private, ecumenical school, shares a graduate studies program with Columbia University but is independent and maintains a separate, $127 million endowment, is the first U.S. institute of higher education known to divest from the war in Gaza.

“We do it with humility and we do it with a sense of moral conviction,” said Union’s president, the Rev. Serene Jones.

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In November, Union’s board of trustees, which includes Jones, hired Cambridge Associates, a private investment management company, to review the seminary’s investment portfolio to identify companies that are financially invested in the war in Gaza.

The board will now transition to selling its shares of the identified companies. “We have a very good investment committee who are completely, at a moral level, committed to seeing this through,” Jones said.

In a statement after the trustees had approved the measure, they said, “With respect to companies that are profiting from the present war in Palestine, we continue to
hold these standards high and have taken steps to identify all investments, both domestic and
global, that support and profit from the present killing of innocent civilians in Palestine.”

Chris Marsicano, an assistant professor of educational studies and public policy at Davidson College, cautioned that divesting could take months, or even years, explaining that a single investment group can be invested in thousands of companies at one time. Additionally, the hedge funds that manage university endowments are constantly buying and selling shares and changing their investment strategy for the financial benefit of the institution, which makes an investigation difficult.

As a seminary, Union already screens its investments based on social and environmental principles. “We don’t invest in any armaments or weapons,” Jones said. “It’s a small thing, but symbolically it’s an important step to take.”

“Although our investments in the war in Palestine are small because our previous, strong anti-armament screens are robust,” the trustees’ statement said, “we hope that our action today will bring needed pressure to bear to stop the killing and find a peaceful future for all.”

At Trinity College in Ireland, the school’s administration recently released a statement promising to “endeavour to divest” from Israeli companies after a five-day encampment led by student protesters caused conflict on campus. Student protesters in Ireland considered it only a partial victory as the university clarifies that divestment “will be considered by a task force as a first step.”

Calls for divestment have been a major demand of students participating in sit-ins and encampments at more than 100 colleges around the U.S. in protest of Israel’s response to Hamas’ terrorist attack and kidnapping on Oct. 7.

Union’s student body actively supported the dissenting Columbia students whose tents filled the university’s main quad in past weeks. Last month, a group of Union students hosted a Communion service in Columbia’s encampment attended by hundreds of people and held a small Passover Seder in Union’s courtyard for Jewish students suspended from Columbia.

“It felt like an ultimate integration of what I have learned at Union,” said Pearl Vercruysse, a third-year Master of Divinity student who participated in the Communion service, “and everything I’ve discerned as what I’m called to do in ministry.”