Idaho congregants are grieving the loss of their pastor, who apparently took his own life this week. Gene Jacobs, pastor of Real Life Ministries Silver Valley in Pinehurst, Idaho, went missing early on April 22, and search teams located his body that evening. According to police, the 59-year-old Idaho pastor died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and foul play isn’t suspected.

In a Facebook post, the church acknowledged the “huge loss” without mentioning a cause of death. It pledged to do its best by “ministering to the needs of our congregation and the community.”

Idaho Pastor Didn’t Show Up to a Morning Meeting

According to police, Jacobs didn’t arrive at the church Tuesday for a 6 a.m. meeting, and elders were unable to reach him. Jacobs’ wife said he had left home about 5:30 a.m. on foot, as usual. By 8 a.m., elders had contacted police, who requested assistance from the local sheriff’s department.

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Tracking data from Jacobs’ cell phone was unavailable, indicating he may have shut it off. Police said after they were informed about “potential threats” against the pastor, they briefly investigated “the possibility of an abduction.” But soon they found his water bottle along a trail he often hiked. Search teams included a tracking dog, drones, foot and air patrols, and a helicopter.

Rescuers found Jacobs’ body in a “remote, steep, and wooded location,” police said. “Initial indication is that Pastor Gene Jacobs died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Based on the investigation and evidence so far, there is no reason to suspect foul play, but to ensure a complete investigation, an autopsy is scheduled.”

Church: ‘God Promises To Be Near in Time of Loss’

Jacobs, a graduate of Boise Bible College, was a husband and father of two adult children. His church requested that people show “grace in giving [his family] time and space to heal.”

Darleen Kelley, Jacobs’ mother, posted a note of thanks to the church, law enforcement, and volunteers who helped with the search. “The Sheriff’s Department said that he did commit suicide so we don’t know what demons he had or what was…bothering him. We don’t know what goes on behind closed doors,” she wrote. “But I’m sad to say my son did commit suicide. I’ll miss him he’ll be in my heart forever thank you all for your prayers.”

Jacobs’ church opened its sanctuary Thursday evening for “prayer and support.” On social media, it has been sharing Bible verses and words of comfort.

A church groundskeeper was left beaten and baffled after being robbed in broad daylight outside of Truevine Missionary Baptist Church in Mobile, Alabama, on Thursday afternoon. 

While the identity of the victim has not been publicly disclosed, Pastor Sandy McQueen recounted the ordeal to Fox 10.

“I got a call from maintenance grounds personnel here stating that he had just been robbed and to come and I immediately came this way,” McQueen said. “He was beat up pretty bad. They were punching him like they were punching a punching bag…sad.” 

Truevine Missionary Baptist Church was founded in 1883, and McQueen was recently described by a local networking organization as “a pillar of support for his community.”

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The victim said that two men approached him outside the church at roughly 4 p.m. The victim then said that he was punched in the face and wrestled to the ground.

The assailants took a $100 bill from the victim’s wallet before throwing the wallet back at him and fleeing. 

Although he was bloodied, the victim said that he is alright. 

McQueen said the victim has been working for the church for several months and that nothing like this has ever happened before. He characterized the victim as a man who was just trying to make “an honest day’s living” and indicated that the man is a senior citizen. 

“It just breaks my heart to see our young people who are just out of control,” he said. “Life is important and I would rather see someone else do these yards or have a security person in place.”

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Police do not yet have any suspects in the case, but investigators are reviewing church security footage for leads. McQueen said that in light of the incident, he is considering how to increase the church’s security measures. 

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — Amid a growing push among child welfare organizations to reunite families rather than keep children in institutional homes, Kenyan authorities are set to adopt a new national program that will phase out traditional orphanages over the next decade.

Church leaders in the country, whose denominations run hundreds of orphanages, have expressed support for the plan, saying children’s homes have exposed children to abuse. Other faith leaders back private institutional operators in opposing the change.

Roman Catholic Bishop Willybard Kitogho Lagho of Malindi said the Catholic Church supports the government plan because many of the institutions are no longer safe for children.

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“There have been a lot of abuses in these homes,” said the bishop. “Children have been sexually, physical and emotionally abused. There have also been cases of child trafficking.” Some orphanages, he alleged, were founded by “unscrupulous people who want to gain from donor funding.”

The treatment of orphans in Africa has come under fire in recent years as recent studies have shown that as many as half of children in six low-income countries on the continent have been abused. While some better-funded homes provide education that children could not get in their home villages, many children in residential care show signs of developmental delays and neglect.

Experts also say that donations from developed countries have also skewed the priorities of some children’s welfare agencies. Anglican Bishop Alphonse Baya Mwaro of Mombasa likened some Kenyan children’s homes to businesses. “They do not genuinely support children who are orphaned or who find themselves without family support,” he said.

Faith organizations with long histories in Africa now question whether even the best care is more beneficial than finding relatives who will take in children who have lost parents or have become homeless or destitute. Several have closed their residential homes and instead support family reunification.

(Photo by Seth Doyle/Unsplash/Creative Commons)

In Africa, uncles, aunts and other relatives have traditionally stepped up to care for young family members, said Lagho. “This is the most natural environment for children to grow up,” he said.

The system has in some cases promoted the separation of children. “When you look at the children in the institutions, most of them have families,” said Selastine Nthiani, a manager at the Child Welfare Society of Kenya. They are often sent away from home “for education or because their families are poor. Very few of them are total orphans or children without any parents,” she said.

Nthiani said the government’s changing approach to children’s care was part of an international trend. “The world is moving away from institutional care of children to family- and community-based care,” she said.

Janet Mwema, a senior officer at Kenya’s National Council for Children’s Services, said the government will not shutter institutions, but transition responsibility for destitute children to family and local communities over time.

According to Mwema, some residential homes will continue to operate as educational centers. “A child might be residing in ​a home because of education. We want to strengthen the families and community such that the child can get the education while living with the biological parents or community,” said Mwema.

(RNS) — The top legislative body of the United Methodist Church passed a series of measures Thursday (April 25) to restructure the worldwide denomination to give each region greater equity in tailoring church life to its own customs and traditions.

The primary measure, voted on as the UMC General Conference met at the Charlotte Convention Center in North Carolina, was an amendment to the church’s constitution to divide the denomination into four equal regions — Africa, Europe, the Philippines and the United States.

According to the plan, each region would be able to customize part of the denomination’s rulebook, the Book of Discipline, to fit local needs. While church regions in Africa, the Philippines and Europe have already enjoyed some leeway in customizing church life, the United States has not.

The vote on the constitutional amendment passed 586-164, or by 78%, which means it surpassed the two-thirds majority needed for constitutional amendments. It must now go before each smaller church region, called an annual conference, for ratification by the end of 2025.

If ratified by two-thirds of delegates to the annual conferences, the restructuring would allow the four regions to set their own qualifications for ordaining clergy and lay leaders; publish their own hymnal and rituals, including rites for marriage; and establish its own judicial courts. A new Book of Discipline would have one section that could be revised and tailored for each of the four regional conferences.

The two-week worldwide meeting is the first meeting of the General Conference in five years, due mostly to delays associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. It follows a painful schism that has split some 7,600 U.S.-based churches from the denomination — a loss accounting for 25% of all U.S. congregations.

Regionalization was the first order of business and it came unexpectedly early in the meeting. The General Conference typically does not take up major proposals until its second week.

This is not the first time Methodists have tried to regionalize their operations. The last attempt, in 2008, passed in the General Conference but failed to receive two-thirds ratification among individual conferences around the world.

The Rev. Dee Stickley-Miner, executive director of missional engagement for the General Board of Global Ministries who has worked on the plans alongside non-U.S.-based church leaders, said this time around, the measures are more clearly stated and have been shaped and vetted by Methodists in the various regions.

Regionalization has been framed as an undertaking of decolonization. Born of an 18th-century movement begun in England by John and Charles Wesley, the Methodist movement through its various schisms and realignments has always been centered in the United States. This new regionalization, if it is approved, will decentralize the church.

“I apologize ahead of time for any discomfort you’re gonna experience over the next couple of days,” Dr. Preston Sprinkle said during the opening session of the Exiles in Babylon conference. Jokingly, he added, “Unfortunately, there are no refunds.”

The conference, which is an outgrowth of Sprinkle’s “Theology in the Raw” podcast, “aims to help believers think Christianly about theological and cultural issues by engaging in curious conversations with a diverse range of thoughtful people.”

“Engaging in—so not just passively absorbing,” Sprinkle clarified. “You need to think critically through the things you are going to hear.”

“We need to have curious conversations,” he continued. “We need to be genuinely interested in what somebody else is actually saying before we can even decide whether it’s true or not, because understanding precedes refutation.”

The three-day conference explored a variety of hot button issues, including faith deconstruction; women, power, and abuse; the LGBTQ+ community; and different Christian approaches to politics. 

In a pre-conference symposium, presenters offered varying perspectives on the theology and politics of Israel and Palestine and the unfolding conflict between Israel and Hamas. 

Each session began with worship, which more than once featured songs sung in languages other than English. Speakers were then given 15 minutes to offer presentations before engaging together in lengthy discussions moderated by Sprinkle and guided by questions from attendees. 

While many of the speakers shared common convictions, they also diverged on key points. 

The range of views invited into the conversation created an environment that is unique among Christian conferences—so much so that Sprinkle isn’t quite sure that the term “conference” fully captures what Exiles in Babylon is seeking to do.

This diversity of thought also makes some people nervous.

This is the third year Sprinkle has held Exiles in Babylon in Boise, Idaho. And he told ChurchLeaders that while he has experienced pushback in previous years of the conference, with some speakers even backing out, this year was the first time the conference drew significant criticism from theological conservatives. 

“In the past, I’ve had more—I wouldn’t say progressive—but less conservative speakers drop out, because I was platforming other speakers that they didn’t think I should,” Sprinkle said. 

Sprinkle nevertheless added that most of the pushback this year came not so much from personal interactions with conference invitees but on social media. “If you’re not on Twitter, you typically don’t know about it,” he said.

Before performing at a “family-friendly festival” sponsored by a Christian company in Jamaica, Gospel artist Kirk Franklin said he had “a lot to express.” But his mode of onstage expression led to criticism from attendees—and even a callout from the company’s CEO.

On April 20, Franklin performed at Fun in the Son, an annual Christian concert held at National Stadium in Kingston. In video posted to social media, the 54-year-old gyrates to “Hosanna Forever We Worship You” while wearing a tank top and tight shorts.

Some attendees walked out of Franklin’s performance, which has received unfavorable feedback online this week.

 

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Sponsor of Gospel Festival ‘Expected More’ of Kirk Franklin

Fun in the Son is sponsored by Best Dressed Chicken, a Jamaica Broilers Group (JBG) brand. TobyMac and other Christian artists also performed at this year’s festival, which was billed as a celebration of 65 years of “God’s faithfulness.”

Afterward, JBG president and CEO Christopher Levy said the company “expected more” from Franklin. “When we engage an artist, it is with a degree of trust that the artist will be aware and sensitive to their audience,” said Levy. “We are cognizant that each of us are working through our relationship with the Lord, and we prayerfully support [Franklin’s] growth.”

The day before the festival, Franklin noted it had been 10 years since he last performed at Fun in the Son. At an April 19 press conference, the award-winning choir director said he was “humbled” and “honored” to be invited back and wanted to “show the level of gratitude that I have by how I present…on stage.”

Franklin added that he had “a lot of life experiences and emotion and energy and passion that I’m going to bring to the stage that’s been bottled up for the last decade.”

But the way Franklin released all that passion led to negative reviews. “He was dancing like I was in an Usher, Michael Jackson, and Chris Brown concert,” someone wrote online. Another person commented, “He acting like he at Diddy house,” referring to the ongoing sex-trafficking investigation of musician Sean “Diddy” Combs.

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