Fulani Kill 18 Christians, Wound Pastor in Plateau State, Nigeria

May 1, 2023

Villagers-at-site-where-six-Christians-were-killed-on-Tuesday-April-25-in-Farin-Lamba-Plateau-state-Nigeria.-Ron-Thomas-for-Morning-Star-News.-300x244 — Villagers at site where six Christians were killed on Tuesday (April 25) in Farin Lamba, Plateau state, Nigeria. (Ron Thomas for Morning Star News)

ABUJA, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – In 11 days of attacks through Wednesday (April 26), Fulani herdsmen killed 18 people and wounded others in predominantly Christian villages of Plateau state, Nigeria, sources said.

The herdsmen attacked 11 communities in Jos South, Riyom, Barkin-Ladi, Mangu and Bokkos counties.

Three Christians in Darwat village were wounded in attacks as they worked on their farms on Wednesday (April 26), Dalyop Solomon Mwamtiri, an attorney with the Emancipation Centre for Crisis Victims in Nigeria (ECCVN), said in a press statement.

“The attackers were identified by Christian victims as Fulani terrorists,” said Mwamtiri, adding that “Gyang Danbwrang, Joshua Gyang and Mark Gyang were shot and injured by the terrorists.”

The Rev. Gwong Dachollom of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) in Darwat was ambushed, shot and cut with a machete along the Darwat-Wereng Camp route at about 3 p.m. on Monday (April 24), area resident Rwang Tengwong said.

“The pastor was hacked and his motorcycle carted away by his attackers,” Tengwong said in a message to Morning Star News, adding that his injuries are life-threatening. “He’s presently receiving medical attention at Vom Christian Hospital of the COCIN.”

In Farin Lamba village of Jos South Local Government Area, Fulani terrorists killed six Christians on Tuesday (April 25), said area resident Ron Thomas Gyang in a message to Morning Star News.

Mwamtiri said in his statement that while the “burial of the six Christians killed [April 25] at Farin Lamba of Turu in Vwang was ongoing, another tragic incident of armed attack was carried out against Christians in Gako community in Riyom LGA, where a Polytechnic graduate, Mr. Philip Bitrus, was shot dead by Fulani militias.”

Tengwong said that on Sunday night (April 23), “Fulani militias” killed six Christians and wounded two others “during coordinated attacks on residents of Wereng community and Bachi District of Riyom LGA as well as Tapo village of Heipang District in Barkin Ladi LGA.”

“Two Christians were killed in Wereng village of Riyom Local Government Area, while the other four persons were killed in Tapo village of Heipang in Barkin Ladi LGA,” Tengwong said.

The attacks were simultaneously coordinated between the hours of 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., he said.

“In Wereng, a household was attacked, leaving one family member dead, and a second family member was ambushed while he was on his way to Kwi community. In Tapo, nine Christians were ambushed by the terrorists while they were on their way from another village. Four of them were killed, while five of them escaped with injuries.”

Survivors said the assailants spoke Fulfulde, he said.

“They laid an ambush at Tapo forest and sporadically opened gunfire at them,” Tengwong said. “These Christians were returning home from Heipang, the District headquarters in the Barkin Ladi Local Government Area.”

He gave the name of one of the Christians killed as Tapshak Guwus, 24, a student at the Plateau State Polytechnic, Barkin Ladi.

Area community leader Shwamut Ishaku Elisha said in a message to Morning Star News that five Christians were killed and dozens of houses burned down in Murish, Dungmunan and Manja villages of Mangu County in attacks at about midnight on April 16.

Mwamtiri of the ECCVN confirmed killings of Christians this month in the Murish community of Mangu LGA, Marish and Maitunbi villages of Bokkos LGA, Kuru Station in Wereng and Kwi of Riyom LGA, Rawuru of Fan and Tapo of Heipang in Barkin Ladi LGA, and Farin Lamba of Turu-Vwang of Jos South LGA.

How Integrating VoIP & ChMS Solves Problems (We Don’t Not Know About or Try to Ignore)

Kevin Kresge

May 1, 2023

intulse-voip — Photo courtesy of Intulse

As a pastor, I know I am in good company. Pastors give it all for our church communities. Sayings like “there’s no such thing as part time ministry” are common, as are familial problems that can stem from pastors who do not prioritize well.

Basically, there is a lot of risk in ministry. We see it all too often in the news: abuse, adultery, loneliness, and people leaving the church. Our own families can take a hit from broken marriages, lack of communication, even just missing out on family events because “something came up at church.” Probably not what you anticipated in an article that is pointed towards technology in the church, but if you’re a fellow pastor, you know that we’re great at ignoring the uncomfortable.

Pastors and churches must deal with these challenges often brought on by common problems: poor communication, bad habits, and opportunities to fall into temptation.

Luddite or tech-wizard, churches, and pastors—and their faith communities—can benefit from combining modern technologies to help prevent these problems.

The Good Lord knows I dislike giving my cell phone number to anyone except staff members or church leadership. Direct communication through personal devices is problematic. It’s risky, especially in a day when text, voice, and video messages can be faked seemingly with great ease, especially with the advent of AI systems that are capable of creating believable fakes.

Poor communication can be just as compromising as inappropriate physical situations. So how can we protect ourselves, our churches, and those we serve? By adopting technology that helps us.

What Can VoIP & ChMS Technology Do to Help?

Who among us spends every moment at the church? Or, how often have we been told by friends, spouses, or children that we do not spend enough time on ourselves or our families?

My most recent church appointment is small, so I’m rarely at my church. This also affords me more time with my family, which I appreciate. However, this introduces several points of risk. Because of our limited resources as a church, we do not have a lot of technology. Honestly, we do not even have internet in the building; I bring in a wi-fi hotspot each week. Our “ChMS”, or church management software, consists of a simple spreadsheet with a few worksheets in it to track birthdays and anniversaries, as well as administrative roles. This often means my communication is done with my personal device, which can introduce risk.

When I was appointed at a larger church of over 1,000 members and around 800 in weekly attendance, I found that our ChMS software made it easy to find email addresses, phone numbers, and even home addresses. But if the software is only used to store membership information, is it being used to its full potential? We definitely were not using it that way. I rarely saw any kind of record that indicated if anyone had communicated with an attendee or member, let alone what that communication had been. Though we had paper files, I finally instituted the use of the ChMS to track background checks and clearance information of staff and volunteers with automated reminders for renewals.

The problem? A ChMS is only as good or as versatile as the people using it.

Which Nutty Christians to Unfriend on Facebook

Brian Jones

May 1, 2023

thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

If you’re sick of nutty Christians arguing on Facebook, I have GREAT news for you. There’s this thing on Facebook called an unfriend button, and it works!

A while back, I said “that’s it” and began to unfriend crazy Christians “friends” like I was on crack. Since I thought that you, my dear friends, might want to do the same, I took notes.

Here are some of the ways you can know which Christians you should (and should not) delete on Facebook BASED ON ACTUAL PEOPLE I JUST DELETED:

Which Nutty Christians to Unfriend on Facebook

Anyone who describes themselves as a “Prophetic Evangelistic” who “studied at the school of the Holy Spirit” is a safe DELETE.
Nine times out of 10, the title “Apologist” is “code” for “I live in my parents’ basement and can’t get a real job because I like belligerently arguing with everyone.” DELETE.
Backstreet Boys pic for Facebook image? This is a tricky one. How old are they? Any Christian in their 30s who regularly posts about the Backstreet Boys is not someone you want to tick off. KEEP.
Anyone who is the pastor of “The Fire Baptized Holiness Church of God of the Americas” you must keep. BEST CHURCH. NAME. EVER.
Someone with a guitar in their hand? Could be a worship pastor, could be an Elvis impersonator. Tread lightly on the unfriend button. We can all agree that we need fewer worship pastors and MORE Elvis impersonators as Facebook friends! KEEP.
Facebook profile photo of a super ripped Christian trucker in his 50s wearing a sleeveless flannel shirt holding TWO AR-15 rifles? Again, that’s tricky, but my guess is you WANT that Christian guy standing up for you if you’re being bullied online. KEEP.

Welcome to the End of Entertainment Worship

Lenny Smith

May 1, 2023

Why do we worship? Is it entertainment worship for God or something quite different?

All the many ways we can get to know God are by way of analogy and metaphor and simile. His Being and activities are reflected to us through nature, in the same way the moon reflects the light of the sun. The moon has no light of its own, even though we say things like “moon light” and “moon-lighting.” God is our fortress, our rock, our fountain of living water. All these are analogies that reflect truth.

One analogy that we have is of God sitting on a throne, ruling and reigning over the universe, sending angels to do His will. This is certainly a biblical analogy that is quite revealing. However, since all analogies limp, let’s look at this one and see how it can, at times, not be helpful. God, of course, has no body, so He cannot be literally sitting on a throne. There is also the fact that He is everywhere in the universe and not confined to one location, even heaven.

The End of Entertainment Worship

During worship, if we think of God as being on a throne, watching us sing and praise and even dance and raise our hands to Him, that puts Him in the passive position of the audience, as in entertainment worship, and we would be in the active position of the performers or worshipers. However, I believe honest worship is not an activity, but a response.

14 Things NOT to Say to Your Pastor

Thom Rainer

May 1, 2023

There are simply some things not to say to your pastor. The list is meant to be both humorous (and serious). And I bet almost every pastor has heard all of these in the course of a ministry.

Enjoy the list. Try to imagine these things spoken in real life, and you’ll understand why they are things not to say to your pastor.

1. I wish I had a job like yours, where I would work only one day a week.

2. What do you do with all the free time you have?

3. Can I have a couple of minutes before you preach?

4. I love you pastor, but _______________________________ (fill in the blank).

5. I like your preaching, pastor, but I really like ____________________________ (fill in the blank with television or podcast preacher).

6. Can your wife play piano?

7. Your kids shouldn’t behave that way. After all, they are pastor’s kids.

The Unimaginable Suffering of Jesus

Greg Stier

April 30, 2023

For many, the story of Jesus’s crucifixion has become so familiar that it’s easy to brush over what He actually endured on the cross when He died in our place for our sins. We tend to underestimate what He went through in the hours leading up to being crucified and during the six hours He hung on a cross in our stead.

My prayer for this article is that it will give you a taste of what it meant for Jesus to “taste death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9).

Suffering in Prayer

We’ll start in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before His crucifixion. Underneath a black sky, Jesus prepared for His worst nightmare—feeling the wrath of God for the first time in all eternity. Again and again, He begged God for another way. In a sense, He was asking the Father to find a clause in the atonement contract.

Hebrews 5:7 gives us a sense of the intensity of His prayers:

He offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue Him from death.

In the garden, He wasn’t just praying—He was crying. He wasn’t just crying—He was weeping. He wasn’t just weeping—He was sweating. He wasn’t just sweating sweat—He was sweating blood.

The meticulously organized and detail-obsessed Dr. Luke described it this way:

And being in anguish, He prayed more fervently, and His sweat was like drops of blood, falling to the ground. (Luke 22:44)

How is this even possible? How can a human sweat blood?

Before we dive into this, it’s helpful to remember that Jesus was 100% human and 100% God. As a human, He slept when He got tired, He drank when He got thirsty, He ate when He got hungry, and He bled when He got cut.

And in this passage, He bled, most likely because of a rare physiological phenomenon that can happen when someone is in so much stress and anguish their capillaries burst and they literally sweat blood. It’s called hematidrosis.

It’s also interesting that all of this took place in the Garden of Gethsemane, where an ancient grove of olive trees thrives. The word Gethsemane comes from the two Hebrew words that together mean oil press. The oil was produced when olives were crushed by a stone roller. From the crushing, came the life-giving oil of the olive.

In the same way, Jesus was about to be crushed on the cross, where the life-giving blood of the Lamb of God would flow from His hands, feet, and side. We see a foreshadowing of this in the blood He sweated out from His pores in the Garden of Gethsemane.

After three hours of sweating blood in prayer—as He repeatedly asked God to remove the cup of unfathomable suffering He was about to drink—He also repeatedly declared to the Father:

Yet not my will, but yours be done. (Luke 22:42)

Suffering in Trials

When Jesus heard the approaching soldiers—led by His frenemy Judas—He stood up, fully submitted to the Father’s will. According to author Philip Yancey, this submission made Him the calmest person in every scene that was to come.

The ONE Thing That Could Change Everything

Gavin Adams

April 29, 2023

What is the ONE thing that could change everything? This question is very much appropriate for any of us, no matter what, where, or how you lead.

But I want to pose this question primarily to anyone in ministry leadership.

If you’re a pastor, executive pastor, student or children ministry director, groups pastor, elder, or anywhere in between, take a second and answer this question:

What is ONE thing that, if you could figure out, implement, or fund, would positively change everything about your church?

Do you have something in mind? If not, give this question a moment before moving on.

An Attitude of Platitudes

I’ve spent roughly 22 years in ministry leadership. First, as a lead volunteer and deacon/elder before transitioning out of the marketplace into church staff leadership. My last 13 years were spent as a lead pastor.

As a pastor, I perpetually worked to make our church better. I believed (and still do!) the church’s mission is the world’s most important mission in the world. If there was anything we could do to make our church better, reach more people, and grow more disciples, I would do it. We’d often joke that we’d do anything short of sin to lead more people to Jesus.

I’d often ask our staff and key volunteers the question I asked you above: What is ONE thing that, if you could figure out, implement, or fund, would positively change everything about your church?

I was frequently taken aback by their answers. They meant well. And they wanted to be helpful. They wanted their church to be better. They wanted to reach more people and grow more disciples. But church people tend to suggest platitudes, not plans. Things like:

If we just had more Jesus.
I wish our church had a heart for worship.
We need to be more in the Word.
We need “deeper” teaching (I heard this a LOT! And I eventually learned how to answer without sarcasm).

You’ve heard all of this before, too. You may have suggested it all the same.

I once interviewed to become the senior pastor for a large, multisite church in leadership disarray. During a site visit with the Elders, I asked our question: What is ONE thing that, if you could figure out, implement, or fund, would positively change everything about your church?

An elder quickly said, “We need to become a house of prayer.”

What? What does that even mean?

I actually asked him that question. “What does that mean?” He platitude’ed his way around his answer like most church people do.

I get it.

No church goes wrong by elevating more of Jesus. Prayer helps. A heart of worship through time, talent, and resources, not just music, can change a community through the church.

Platitudes don’t happen by accident. Platitudes are destinations, not directions.

You Can Be a Church Member and Go to Hell Anyway

Robert Williams

April 29, 2023

If you don’t think you can be a church member and go to hell anyway, please read on. In 2002, I began ministry in a new church. I promised God that I would follow the biblical dictates to structure and build this body of people into a New Testament church. My exact words that day in my study were, “Lord, if I must go, allow this work to be an experiment in the lab of the world for building and maintaining a New Testament church.”

The church today, as was the church of Laodicea, is neither cold nor hot. It is not icy-cold, as is the world who has never heard the gospel. Nor is it fire-hot like a church that knows and accepts its rightful purpose in bringing Christ to the world. Rather, it is lukewarm. Having been forged by the grace of the gospel, we have now cooled down and become tepid, mainly due to our perceived self-sufficiency.

The crowds that show up at our churches are, for the most part, spectators and miracle-seekers. They are not looking for the spiritual growth that comes from the Word of God and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

We send checks to corporate offices and send missionaries to foreign lands, but the majority of American church members have outsourced the Great Commission to a select few, and we have totally absolved ourselves of any personal responsibility to make disciples as we go through this life.

Jesus says that a successful church is one that produces spiritual results in the lives of people. If the church is not producing spiritual results, it is not fulfilling the mission of the New Testament church. Jesus wanted to see if His teachings and examples were taking hold in the minds and hearts of His disciples. There is a reason why He spent three years with 12 men as He set up the New Testament church. The reason is relational discipleship, which cannot be accomplished in large groups as effectively as in smaller ones.

How to Be a Church Member and Go to Hell Anyway

“How to Be a Church Member and Go to Hell Anyway” was the title of a series I preached in my first pastorate. The point of this series was to focus on the things that church members consider sacred and accept as spiritual truth. Mainly, it demonstrated the fact that being religious and being rightly related to Christ are two very different things with very different destinies.

During the invitation, a 67-year-old grandmother came forward to accept Jesus as her Savior. Her statement to me was, “Pastor, when I was 12 years old, my mother made me sit on that bench right there until I joined the church. I have realized that, back then, I got religion, but today, I want to get Jesus.”

While this salvation delighted heaven and her pastor, it did not delight the members of the church. They attacked the woman as only church folk can do, verbally and by disassociating with her within their cliques. Nothing in my estimation was more evil than this: to see and hear how church folk treated this woman because she came to Christ. She left our church.

One of the deacons approached me in the midst of the series and questioned my premise. He told me the title of the series suggested there are lost people in the church, and I should preach more comforting messages. When I confirmed that there were lost people in the church, and that he was exactly right concerning my premise, he went on to say, “That’s not true. We have been a church for 190 years, and we have come this far by faith.”

When human history, human heart and human head govern one’s relationship—or lack thereof—with Christ, there is zero acknowledgment of the Word of God. Without such acknowledgement, it is impossible to know the will of God or to perform the work of God. The question the deacon asked me in order to argue his point was, “Reverend, how do you explain all these years of existence and these buildings and people who have faithfully lasted almost 200 years?” My reply was a story I heard from a professor years earlier. There was a delegation of Chinese Christians who were brought to the United States to observe the success and largess of a certain denomination. Upon the completion of the trip, the church leader asked the Chinese visitors what their observations had taught them. They replied, “We have learned and are amazed by the fact that the American church can accomplish so much without God.”

Why must we fight for the relevance of the New Testament church? Because the church is not complete, and Satan is not yet confined. Moreover, because the believer must not be led to believe that a seat in the sanctuary takes the place of the hands, feet, heart, eyes, and voice of Jesus Christ in the streets.

“You Can Be a Church Member and Go to Hell Anyway” excer[ted from Not on My Watch: Practical Principles for Planting, Pastoring and Preaching the Word of God by Robert L. Williams

Public Evangelism in an Age of Relativism

Josh Moody

April 28, 2023

evangelism and tolerance — Adobestock #366734843

I think it was D.A. Carson who coined the phrase “the intolerance of tolerance.” It is certainly apropos. One of the great ironies of our so-called tolerant age is just how intolerant it can be. Whereas the great legacy of classic toleration was the mantra, “I may disagree with you, but I’ll die for your right to say what you believe,” political correctness has generated a culture of suspicion and fear.

Some of this is understandable: when online forums can spew out and radicalize Islamic terrorism, it is conceivable that certain forms of manipulation need to be monitored. But that is quite different from a nanny state interfering with every whim and whisper of our conscience.

It is good news then that Chicago has decided that is allowable to evangelize in public in Millennium Park. What is astonishing is that was ever up for grabs at all!

What is a Christian view of public free speech in secular societies? I’ve always liked the phrase a “free market of ideas.” When we were evangelizing at Yale University, we advocated for our right to tell college students the gospel, and also that other philosophies and religions should be able to have their say too.

That doesn’t mean that we earnestly campaign for the validity of other faith positions; far from it. We advocate for their illogical inconsistency, falsehood, and devilish failure, if truth be told. We love sinners but do not agree with sin, whether in our own lives or in the lives of others. We must contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Our prayer is that, as the apostle instructed Timothy, we might live quiet lives and that the gospel might flourish.

There is no such thing as a neutral ideological vacuum. We must stand for something. And what the new kind of relativistic tolerance is showing is that it is not really tolerant at all.

The alternative is a society that is built upon the best of Christian values: to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s, to love our neighbor enough to confront him or her with the truth of the gospel, as well as to do their grocery shopping and mow their lawn.

I’ve recently been reading again in Tertullian, the great father of the Latin church. While his later works have often fallen under suspicion because of his flirtation with Montanism, his earlier apology in particular is well worth reading—along with the general greatness of his genius—because of the fresh need for us to advocate for the overall good of Christianity for society.

Non-Christian, if you are reading this, you want there to be more Christians in your society. We will take care of the poor. We will visit the sick. We will send relief to the next flood or hurricane disaster. You might not like our music (or you may, who knows), and you may not like our taste in movies (or maybe you do)—but what we are, we Christians, is salt and light in the world. We tend to make our communities places of peace and thriving. We seek the good of the city, and your good too. What you don’t want, non-Christian, is to get rid of us, hate us, spurn us, stop us from evangelizing.

The whole thing is extraordinary. I live in the Chicago area. Once, when a family member came to visit me, he was mildly astonished at the brazen advertising on the highways for strip clubs while he drove in from the airport. And, really, Chicago had to debate whether it was okay to evangelize in public about Jesus when you can proselytize about so-called “gentlemen’s clubs”?

To be clear, I am glad that Chicago has made the right decision. But let it be noted that it had to be fought for. Well done to those Wheaton College students for sharing the faith. And the more Christians there are—yes, evangelizing in public—the better it will be for Chicago, and everywhere else too for that matter.

Church Planting in the Anglican Tradition– 20 Truths From ‘Word and Sacrament’

Ed Stetzer

April 28, 2023

Years ago, I challenged my friend, now Canon Dan Alger, to write a book about church planting from an Anglican perspective. Church planting was increasingly important for the Anglican Church in North America, yet most resources (including my own books) are broadly evangelical.

So I was happy to write the foreword for Dan’s new book, “Word and Sacrament: Ancient Traditions for Modern Church Planting,” and I’m glad to be able to share 20 quotes from the book in my 20 Truths series!

Here are 20 insights from “Word and Sacrament” to give you a feel for the book.

20 Truths from ‘Word and Sacrament: Ancient Traditions for Modern Church Planting’

“I feel as though I am introducing you to two of my dearest friends. On one hand, we have the beautiful and rich Anglican heritage that has been my home since infancy. On the other, we have the complicated world of church planting in which I have served for more than half my life.” (1)

“Planting in Word and sacrament means that we find our calling and our guide for church planting in the truth of God as revealed in his Word written and echoed in his sacraments, the Word visible.” (2)

“Although firmly grounded in the ancient undivided church, the Anglican tradition has been profoundly shaped by people and events as diverse as the monastic and Celtic traditions, the Synod of Whitby, the Protestant Reformation (although our experience of the Reformation was a bit different from that of continental Europe), Puritanism, evangelicalism, the Oxford Movement, and revivalism.” (11)

“Anglicanism’s lens is now much bigger than the British Isles, as it is the third largest communion in the world with more than eighty-five million adherents. Scholarship, thought, and practice is being defined by a global family of Anglicans in Africa, Asia, and the Global South along with revivals of faithful Anglicanism in the West.” (13)

“We are faithful to the Christian faith, the Great Tradition, and our Anglican heritage, but that faithfulness is not unnecessarily restraining. Rather, it provides the framework for modern mission. It carries on the essentials, the ethos, and the institutional memory of the church while also speaking winsomely to the current culture.” (13)

“Church planting is a complex and risky endeavor. Church planting not only forces us to ask philosophical questions of the church’s identity and purpose, but also to find practical solutions to how we start new churches in our own local areas.” (16)

“The coming together of the historical juggernaut that is Anglicanism with the creative and passionate work of modern church planting is a beautiful convergence. Each benefits the other. We cannot be faithful Christians and not be on mission, for our work of mission is a part of the gospel.” (19)

“If we are to believe in the fullness of the gospel, we must simultaneously be beneficiaries of the gospel and witnesses of the gospel.” (21)

“The church is the saved people of God locally gathered for worship and formation, a people sent to love and serve, and a people who will one day assemble around the throne of Christ together in the new heavens and the new earth. When we are planting churches, we are planting local embodied expressions of this greater gathering.” (24)

Another Pastor Charged With ‘Mass Killing’ of Followers in Kenya

Stephanie Martin

April 28, 2023

The African nation of Kenya, which is about 85% Christian, is reeling from the arrest of a second pastor who allegedly killed his church members. Authorities announced this week that they shut down New Life Prayer Centre and Church after arresting its leader, Ezekiel Ombok Odero. According to an official, the televangelist was arrested for “allegations of deaths that have been occurring at his premises and reported in various morgues or institutions.”

Although authorities haven’t yet made the connection, reporters are speculating that Odero’s case is tied to that of Paul Makenzie Nthenge, who was arrested earlier this month. Police say Nthenge allegedly encouraged followers to starve themselves to death so they could “meet Jesus.” So far, authorities have found 90 bodies on the property of Nthenge, leader of Good News International Church.

Kenyan Pastor Sold ‘Holy’ Cloth and Water

Odero draws large crowds at rallies, where he sells fabric scraps and water that he claims are holy and heal all diseases, including HIV. For them to work, people need “strong faith,” said the pastor, who wears all white, drives a Lexus, and always carries a Bible. Odero, who didn’t attend seminary, said he was “trained on the job” while working for a televangelist in Mombasa.

On his YouTube channel, which has more than 400,000 subscribers, Odero shares claims of healing. “People crowd my church because I am the chosen one,” he told a reporter last year.

Police said more than 100 people on the premises of Odero’s church were “evacuated and will be required to record statements.” Investigators indicated that the pastor, along with Nthenge, indoctrinated people. They are looking into reports that Odero “is alleged to have ferried bodies of those who died inside his church” to Nthenge’s property for burial.

Local mortuaries apparently raised concerns about the handling of human remains. Odero “would indoctrinate his followers, with sick relatives, to bring them to the church for him to perform miracles,” a police report stated. “Many of the patients who were terminally ill would have been reported to have died awaiting prayers at the church; these deaths were never reported to police.”

Odero has denied the allegations. His attorney called the case “a fishing expedition” and said authorities are “tainting my client’s name.”

Kenyan Leaders Promise To Crack Down on Religious ‘Terrorism’

Heretical Christian theology and “rogue preachers” have emerged throughout Africa, according to local pastors. The Rev. Gibson Ezekiel Lesmore called the teachings “misleading” as well as “demonic.” Others have labeled Nthenge’s ministry a cult.

Many prominent Kenyan politicians—including Pastor Dorcas Rigathi, the deputy president’s wife—have attended Odero’s rallies. “You cannot condemn all Christians because of one criminal,” she said. “A criminal is a criminal, alone, a terrorist is a terrorist, alone, and a murderer is a murderer. There is nothing like collective justice. We must not keep quiet as the blanket condemnation of Christians and the labeling of Christians as criminals goes on.”

‘You Do Not Want To Be in This Chair’—New Docuseries To Feature First Carl Lentz Interview Since Scandal

Dale Chamberlain

April 28, 2023

Carl Lentz Secrets of Hillsong — Screengrab via YouTube @FX Networks

Nearly three years after being fired as pastor of Hillsong East Coast, Carl Lentz will offer his first public interview since his fall from grace in FX’s new four-part documentary series, titled “Secrets of Hillsong,” which is set to release on May 19.

In a newly released trailer, viewers are given a brief preview of what Lentz’s interview will contain.

“You do not want to be in this chair,” Lentz says in the trailer. “I cannot stress it enough.”

Lentz’s physical appearance in the series is dramatically different from the last time Hillsong Church members saw him on a stage. Sporting shoulder-length hair and a plain t-shirt, Lentz admits, “I had some major lies.” Lentz’s wife, Laura, recounts her husband telling her, “I have been unfaithful.”

When Lentz was dismissed from Hillsong for “leadership issues and breaches of trust, plus a recent revelation of moral failures” in November 2020, he admitted to having an extramarital affair.

New York fashion designer Ranin Karim soon garnered national attention for exposing the secret relationship between Lentz and herself, claiming that at the beginning of their affair, she had no idea Lentz was a pastor.

Roughly six months after Lentz’s firing in May 2021, Leona Kimes, a former Hillsong staff member who had worked as a nanny for the Lentz family, claimed Lentz abused her sexually on multiple occasions.

Lentz “vehemently” denied those accusations through a legal representative.

In the years since Lentz publicly admitted his extramarital affair via an Instagram post, he has kept a low profile, only posting to social media once since then and making very few public appearances.

However, that recently changed when it was announced in March that he would be joining the staff of Transformation Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to help the church “with strategy as we continue to move forward in our vast vision.”

Pastored by Mike Todd, Transformation Church is no stranger to controversy itself. Todd’s sermon illustrations, which have included bringing his brother onstage to wipe spit on his face and cuddling a mannequin while preaching about sex, have often been called into question.

Some critics even went as far as to characterize the church’s recent Easter play as “blasphemous.”

After Transformation Church came under fire for hiring Lentz despite his admitted moral failures and the allegations of abuse against him, Tim Ross, who serves as the church’s oversight pastor, downplayed the controversy.

“It made national news last week that somebody got a job,” Ross said during a Sunday service. “And I’m happy when anybody gets a job. I want people employed.”

In Hungary Trip, Pope Francis To Confront Refugee Crisis, Ukraine War

Junno Arocho Esteves

April 28, 2023

Pope Francis Hungary — Tourists walk in front of St. Stephen’s Basilica in Budapest on April 27, 2023, where Pope Francis will meet with bishops, priests and pastoral workers during his visit to Hungary. The spiritual priorities of Pope Francis will be on display during a trip this week to Hungary, where the populist government will seek to downplay its diverging views on matters such as immigration and minority rights while focusing instead on points where it aligns with the pontiff. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

ROME (RNS) — Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to Hungary will attempt to focus on common goals of the pope and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — and their different approaches — regarding the challenges facing the world, especially the war in Ukraine.

Speaking to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday (April 23), Francis previewed his trip this weekend as “an opportunity to embrace once again a church and a people so dear to me.”

“It will also be a journey to the center of Europe, over which the icy winds of war continue to blow, while the displacement of so many people puts urgent humanitarian questions on the agenda,” he said.

According to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 2.5 million Ukrainian refugees have crossed the border into Hungary since the beginning of Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

Although widely known and criticized for its staunch anti-immigration policies, Orbán’s government has pledged to aid Ukrainian refugees in the country. The Catholic Church in Hungary has also provided support, mobilizing aid efforts for displaced men, women and children.

In an interview with Vatican News published Wednesday, American Archbishop Michael Wallace Banach, the papal nuncio to Hungary, said the “speed and generosity” of Hungary’s Catholics toward Ukrainian refugees is “an incredible demonstration of the vitality” of the church that Francis will greatly appreciate during his visit.

While in Budapest, the pope will visit the Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, where he is expected to meet with refugees as well as members of Caritas Hungary.

“Catholicism is vibrant here. It is a Catholicism that is strongly liturgically based, but also a Catholicism that has a great social outreach,” Banach told Vatican News. “I think Pope Francis will recognize that on his visit to the Church of Saint Elizabeth, where he’ll be meeting with poor people and with refugees. Not only will it be a moment of support for them, but a moment of recognition for what the Catholic Church has done in their favor.”

While Orbán has gone to great lengths to welcome Ukrainian refugees, he has also drawn criticism for a perceived double standard as non-European migrants continue to be denied entry to Hungary.

Even as Orbán seeks to portray himself as the standard-bearer for European Christianity, statements by the prime minister and the pope, particularly on immigration, are widely divergent.

In past speeches, Orbán referred to migration as a “Trojan horse of terrorism” that threatens Europe’s Christian identity, while Francis has often denounced increasing anti-migrant sentiments in Europe.

How King Charles’ Coronation Will Be Unlike Any Seen in England

Catherine Pepinster

April 28, 2023

Union flags hang over Oxford Street in London, April 27, 2023, ahead of the coronation of Britain’s King Charles III. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

LONDON (RNS) — On May 6, King Charles III will be crowned in Westminster Abbey in an ancient ceremony echoing biblical ideas of kingship and containing rituals that have been used since the first English king more than 1,000 years ago. But Charles will undergo the ceremony in an England unlike any other — different even from that of his mother, 70 years ago.

When Elizabeth II was crowned, Britain was still emerging from the hardships of World War II. Rationing of foodstuff and fuel was continuing. Cities were still ravaged by damage from German bombs, leaving housing in short supply. The nation was in need of cheering up.

The coronation of a young queen fit the bill. Elizabeth was just 27 on her Coronation Day, June 2, 1953. Besides the fresh start of a new monarch, the occasion offered the fizz of new technology: It was the first to be broadcast to a vast TV audience at home, in addition to the huge crowds on the streets.

Britain in 1953, though already changing, was still much more homogeneous, with far stronger links to Christianity and in particular the established Church of England. It is all so very different now, in the 21^st century.

On March 21, 2021, the day of Britain’s decennial census, 1 in 6 residents, about 10 million people, reported they had been born outside the United Kingdom, up from 7.5 million in 2011. India is the most common country of birth of migrants, but significant numbers list Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Jamaica and other former colonies, as well as former European Union partners such as Romania and Poland.

The ethnic diversity is matched by changes in the country’s religious makeup. Just 46% said they were Christian on census day — a drop of 11 percentage points in 10 years. Meanwhile, other faiths, including Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Sikhism, grew by 100,000 adherents in a decade.

But the most significant difference is the growth of those who said they have no religion — an increase of 8.5 million, bringing those with no faith to 22 million, or a third of the population.

Yet the coronation remains fundamentally a Church of England rite. The monarch, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, is crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, that same church’s leading primate. This mutual endorsement has prevailed since 1534, when Henry VIII broke England away from the Roman Catholic Church and set up his own church. A few years earlier, the pope had settled on Henry the title of Defender of the Faith for his loyalty to Rome. Despite the split, all British monarchs, including Charles, have used it since.

The irony is that 500 years later, about twice as many Roman Catholics attend Mass, about a million, as Anglicans do Sunday services. Even if they balk as the king swears his oath to maintain the Protestant Reformed Religion, Catholics will have some familiarity with anointing with oils; the Anglican Holy Communion service, which is similar to the Catholic one; and the moments when God is asked to sustain the king in his duties, which is comparable to a priestly ordination.

For that sizable third of the population who have no religion, however, the coronation may be mystifying. Demystifying it will be the job of the media. British television companies and other broadcasters, magazines and newspapers are all priming themselves to explain it to an audience that does not have the religious literacy it once did.

Painters repaint the lamp posts outside Westminster Abbey as preparations continue for the Coronation of King Charles III in London, Britain, Thursday, April 27, 2023. The Coronation of King Charles III will take place in Westminster Abbey, followed by a balcony appearance in Buckingham Palace on May 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Workers repaint the lampposts April 27, 2023, outside Westminster Abbey in London as preparations continue for the coronation of King Charles III. The ceremony will take place in Westminster Abbey, followed by a balcony appearance at Buckingham Palace, on May 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

But there is another, no less remarkable change in the religious orientation of the man being crowned. While confirming his own faith since his accession last September, King Charles has also made an effort to embrace Britons of other faiths and even none.

During his televised address to the nation the night after his mother’s death, he talked about his particular responsibility to the Church of England and described it as “the church in which my own faith is deeply rooted.” A week later, at a reception at Buckingham Palace for leaders of several faiths, he said, “I am a committed Anglican Christian and at my Coronation take an oath relating to the Settlement of the Church of England,” but he added that he had a duty as sovereign “to protect the diversity of our country, including by protecting the space for faith itself.”

60 Years on, King’s ‘Letter From Birmingham Jail’ Relevant as Ever, Say Faith Leaders

Adelle M Banks

April 28, 2023

(RNS) — It’s been more than half a century since the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” on scraps of paper, but faith leaders say his response to white clergy critics endures as a “road map” for those working on justice and equal rights.

Recent events and exhibitions tied to its anniversary have revealed the ongoing interest in and relevance of King’s letter, in which the civil rights leader proclaimed: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

Georgetown University’s Center on Faith and Justice held a virtual event on Wednesday (April 26) to mark 60 years since King penned the letter on April 16, 1963, after being jailed for his organization of a nonviolent demonstration on Good Friday that year in the Alabama city. The letter was released publicly the next month and was included in his 1964 book “Why We Can’t Wait.”

The Rev. Jim Wallis, the center’s director, noted how King wrote that the greatest “stumbling block” for freedom-seeking Black Americans was — rather than a Ku Klux Klan member — the “white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.”

Wallis pointed to the current debate in some school districts over what books children can and can’t read as an example of why the letter continues to be relevant.

The Rev. Jim Wallis speaks during a virtual event on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, to mark 60 years since Martin Luther King Jr. penned the “Letter from Birmingham Jail." Video screen grab

The Rev. Jim Wallis speaks during a virtual event on April 26, 2023, to mark 60 years since the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. penned the “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Video screen grab

“We know that it is impossible to build a truly multiracial democracy if we do not wrestle honestly and directly with its legacy and current manifestations of white supremacy,’’ he said. “At the moment when some are trying to erase our history, especially our racial history, remembering and learning from the past is now more important than ever.”

King’s letter was addressed to eight clergymen, whom he called “my Christian and Jewish brothers,” after they questioned the need for and the urgency of the Birmingham campaign he had led as the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Bishop Vashti McKenzie, the interim president of the National Council of Churches, shared at the event how King’s letter guided her family’s prayers for her older brother’s safety as he traveled that year by bus to the South to aid the movement.

“It was a fearful time, a fearful time when something had to be done,” she said. “The African diaspora is calling you to do it. And King gives us a road map on how to begin that process of change.”

The Rev. Otis Moss III participates in a virtual event on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, to mark 60 years since Martin Luther King Jr. penned the “Letter from Birmingham Jail." Video screen grab

The Rev. Otis Moss III participates in a virtual event on April 26, 2023, to mark 60 years since the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. penned the “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Video screen grab

The Rev. Otis Moss III, pastor of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ, called the letter part of the “extracanonical material” his family thought necessary to read beyond the Bible.

“What’s so important about it today is you still have people who have ecclesiastical positions but have no moral authority and who are trying to claim moral authority,” said Moss, who, like McKenzie, was required to read the letter at the historically Black college he attended. “He was talking to the Christian nationalists of his day and setting them straight and saying, ‘You have no moral authority.’”

The 60th anniversary of the letter has been marked with talks at churches, a parade in Oklahoma City and exhibits of related artwork at the New Jersey State Museum, as well as the display of an early draft at the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair.

4 Important Questions That Can Lead to Strategic Change

Dan Reiland

April 28, 2023

Easter reminds us of new life, and with Spring we not only see budding trees and blooming flowers, but also sense a busyness in the air and a tremendous amount of energy is expended from leadership teams.

We’re grateful for those who will say yes to Jesus, but there is often a decline that quickly follows.

In fact, there’s an old school saying that goes: “Spring bump to Summer Slump.”

But does it have to be that way?

Attendance (& engagement) usually surges in the Spring, then quickly returns to where it was and trends gently downward to Summer. Is that just the way it is, or do we unknowingly lead it that way because that’s how “it’s always been?”

What if we worked on a Spring strategy could lead to Summer strength? And prayerfully lead to something longer term that generates movement toward momentum.

This is a time for change, like none the church has seen for a few years. Could this Spring be an opportunity to realize ministry from now through the Summer in a more fruitful way? Could that lead to long term breakthroughs?

Care to think and imagine with me?

Consider these new (soon becoming not so new) realities:

Attendance patterns are different now
Culturally, there is increased interest in spirituality, yet less confidence in the church
Habits have changed, and for many, church is now an option.

How should we respond to these realities?

How might we need to lead differently?

Do we passively accept the new reality? That doesn’t seem to make sense.
Do we resist the change? That’s like trying to stop time.
Or is this a time for change-oriented conversations that lead to greater Kingdom momentum?

It’s dangerous when patterns of church leadership don’t change. Like being so busy now that we don’t have time to think about change, and by the end of Spring most churches are about the same as before Easter. Is there a better way?

Let me offer a set of four very practical questions that you and your leadership team can process toward a preferable long-term future.

4 Practical Questions:

There are really only three questions, but Easter is a great current example to engage the process, so I’ll make that question #1.

1. What Is More Important for Easter, Your Programming of the Service or Follow up of New Guests and Converts?

Most church leaders would say their strategic answer is follow up of guests and converts is more important than the actual Easter service. However, most of the effort and energy nearly always goes to the services.

Is this a case of passion overriding strategy?

Katy Perry and Why You Need to Give Your Preacher’s Kid Choices

Megan Briggs

April 28, 2023

Unfortunately, if you’ve spent any time in the church, you’ve witnessed a preacher’s kid totally abandon his or her faith not only in the church, but sometimes even in God. Katy Perry is one such preacher’s kid, and she has no qualms about telling people why she’s left the faith.

The daughter of evangelical pastors Keith and Mary Hudson, Perry grew up attending church, being involved in the youth group, and singing on Sunday mornings. She is quick to attribute her time singing in church as a launching point for her career, but just as quick to point out the problems with the way she was brought up.

In an interview with Vogue several years ago, Perry shed some more light on her religious upbringing. In Perry’s house, church attendance was essentially required Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday evening. The family steered clear of cultural traditions like Santa Claus bringing presents at Christmas and anything having to do with Halloween. In addition, there appears to have been a political line of thinking she was expected to adhere to, which Perry communicates by saying “we watch[ed] Bill O’Reilly on TV.”

Perry even stood outside of a Marilyn Manson concert with her youth group to hand out pamphlets on how to find God. After going inside and listening to the music, though, Perry said she understood the artistic expression that was happening.

After growing up in this sheltered environment, Perry made an incredibly dramatic transition to eventually becoming a prolific creator of mainstream culture—the very culture her parents raised her to avoid. Perry says shaking the mindset of her youth is a process she’s still going through: “I still have conditioned layers dropping off of me by the day,” she tells Vogue.

In an interview with Marie Claire in 2013, Perry said, “I don’t believe in a Heaven or a Hell, or an old man sitting on a throne.” She does, however, “believe in a higher power bigger than me because that keeps me accountable.” Curiously, she even believes in the need to be accountable to someone or something. Perhaps even to a degree some church-going Christians do not subscribe. Again speaking to Marie Claire, she says “Accountability is rare to find, especially with people like myself, because nobody wants to tell you something you don’t want to hear.” By “people like myself”, Perry is referring to famous people who are used to others worshipping the ground they walk on.

Can a Christian Marry a Non-Christian?

Mike Gilbart-Smith

April 28, 2023

“It feels so right, so right. How can it be wrong?” This is what Christians say when they want to marry a non-Christian.

These words were written by Ben Weisman to be sung by Elvis Presley, but I’ve often heard a variation of them by unmarried Christians beginning to get romantically involved with a non-Christian.

This is then often backed up by a flurry of other comments:

I used to think the Bible said that I shouldn’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers, but I went and looked at 2 Corinthians 6 in context and it doesn’t seem to be talking about marriage at all, but rather about how Christians are to be separate from non-Christians within the church. I then tried to find one verse that says that a Christian shouldn’t marry a non-Christian and I couldn’t find one. I spoke to Christians I trust and they couldn’t find one either—not one verse! So, I guess I was wrong, and I’m free to pursue this relationship.

Anyway, he/she is really interested in the gospel and told me that my faith is something he/she finds really attractive and wouldn’t want to change at all. In fact, I think he/she will be more encouraging of my faith than lots of Christians would be.

What Is the Real Problem for a Christian to Marry a Non-Christian?

Some temptations common to many singles—like struggling with porn—are shaped in such a way that the Christian knows they’re wrong, and so the problem will often be that, in their guilt, they’ll stay hidden. Once confessed, the problem isn’t recognition that they’ve sinned; the problem is the slow, painful process of repentance.

But the temptation to get romantically involved with a non-Christian tends to be framed differently. People tend not to hide it, but instead attempt to justify it—first to themselves and then to other Christians who are trying to warn them of the path they’re taking. If it feels right, then they go back to look at the Bible to try to prove that it’s right.

In this article, I shall not be trying to give a method for counseling people who are facing the temptation to marry a non-Christian. Such an article would include a clearer picture of what marriage looks like: making decisions about career, where to live, how to spend money, how to raise children, etc. All of this is compounded when you and your spouse are living for different things. To explore some of those things better, consider this article. Above all, such counsel will involve a careful examination of motivation and a re-examination of the trustworthiness and goodness of God who doesn’t call us to compromise in our devotion to him, but to trust him.

Rather, I shall offer a brief biblical theology of dating unbelievers. I want to make the point that it is a matter of obedience to God not to pursue a relationship with a nonbeliever. I’m going to try and make it as clear as I can that however it feels, those feelings are temptations to call right that which God calls wrong; those feelings are not accompanied by any affirmation from God.

If someone’s rationale for not getting romantically involved with a nonbeliever hangs on a couple of proof-texts taken out of context, then I’m pretty sure it can be removed by a couple of moments staring into a pair of eyes, some attention and the excitement of a potentially fulfilling lifelong relationship.

It’s also my painful experience that when the weak foundation of such a conviction is removed at the beginning of a potential relationship, it will not be a time when someone is in a good position to examine more carefully the Bible’s teaching and build a stronger biblical foundation.

A BRIEF BIBLICAL THEOLOGY

My hope is that this article will be of some use to people in such a situation, but of more use to the Christian who, long before the temptation arises, needs to make a stronger resolve not to get romantically involved with a non-Christian.

And just to be clear: Getting romantically involved is likely to happen if you spend a great deal of time with someone of the opposite sex one-on-one. I recently had a painful conversation with a dear friend who said he’d never planned to get romantically involved with someone. But he’d spent hours and hours with her one-on-one after midnight over several weeks.

If you don’t want to get romantically involved with someone, don’t spend hours one-on-one. If you’re having good gospel opportunities with someone of the opposite sex, introduce them to some godly Christians of their sex. If they’re really interested in the gospel, they’ll be just as delighted to hear about it from them as from you. If the Lord wants you to be married, he’ll make it clear that it would be possible for you to pursue such a relationship by them coming to faith!

Furthermore, a proof-text for not dating a non-Christian is a strange thing to expect for a few reasons.

First, dating as we understand it didn’t really happen in biblical times. Secondly, “whom should I marry?” is something that would flow out of a whole biblical theology of what marriage is, rather than merely a verse or two of rules.

Popularity: How to Help Preteens Redefine the Standards

ChildrensMinistry.com

April 27, 2023

Popularity is a … popular topic among preteens. But it’s time to redefine preteen popularity rules. Read on to learn how.

At a family gathering, Bev glanced out the window to watch the children playing. What she saw shocked her. An 11-year-old boy ran up to an 11-year-old developing girl, grabbed her crotch, and ran away. Bev was even more horrified when she realized the incident didn’t faze the girl.

Times have changed. Long ago, boyish pranks consisted of dunking a girl’s pigtails in the inkwell. Even in my day, the most daring thing a boy might do was pop a girl’s training-bra strap.

What’s wrong with today’s boys compared to boys of yesteryear? According to sociology professor Patricia Adler, nothing. That is, although the boy’s act was unacceptable, it’s exactly what any popularity-seeking boy would do. They push the edge of macho-maleness.

Boys will be boys. And just as true, girls will be girls. The commonality between preteen kids in every generation? They’ll do almost anything to be popular. Adler — along with her sociologist husband Peter — spent five years studying what makes fifth- and sixth-graders popular. They found the criteria differ for boys and girls.

Boys and Popularity

Speaking to Summit Magazine, Adler says, “For boys, athletic prowess—the ability to play sports—is the number one factor. Then comes a sort of macho-maleness-being tough, defying authority, a little mouthing off.”

Today’s social mores have redefined what’s macho for young boys. As sexual images in the media bombard boys, macho-maleness has become much more sexual. Thus the incident Bev viewed.

Popular boys are required to be tough. “Girls’ roles have changed more than boys’,” says Adler. “They have androgenized themselves more than boys. They can call boys on the telephone and play sports. But boys can’t do anything slightly feminine, or they are severely stigmatized.”

To be popular, it also helps if a boy has “cool” things. (Think the latest shoes and haircut.) Getting good grades, rather than boosting a boy’s popularity, may have a negative effect.

Girls and Popularity

“For girls, appearance is number one,” says Adler. If a girl is pretty by society’s standards and gets attention from boys, she has a better chance of being popular. The second most important popularity factor for girls’ is socioeconomic status.

Charlie Kirk on Tucker Carlson, Abortion, and Why Biden ‘Will Be Tough To Beat in 2024’

Jesse T. Jackson

April 27, 2023

ChurchLeaders held a wide-ranging conversation with Turning Point USA’s (TPUSA) co-founder Charlie Kirk on Wednesday (April 26) following his viral tweet predicting President Joe Biden may easily win the 2024 election.

According to its website, TPUSA is a nonprofit organization whose “mission is to educate students about the importance of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government. TPUSA activists are the community organizers of the right.”

The organization hosts an annual Pastors Summit with the goal of gathering church leaders and pastors from across the nation where they are “encouraged, inspired, and equipped to take a bold stand for biblical truth and God’s Kingdom.”

Charlie Kirk Predicts a Biden 2024 Win

On Tuesday (April 25), President Biden officially announced his re-election campaign. In response, Kirk tweeted: “Biden will be tough to beat in 2024. He is the favorite. It’s not about him, they have built a multi-billion dollar machine. Our side has not. Democrats heavily favored for 2024.”

Kirk, an under-30, conservative evangelical Christian, received over 1.3 million views and over 4,100 comments on his statement. Kirk has 2.1 million followers on Twitter.

ChurchLeaders interviewed Kirk about that tweet, and he prefaced all his answers by saying he was responding as an individual and not in any capacity affiliated with his organizations.

“I call it the Fetterman Principle,” Kirk said. “The Democrat machine is well funded through billions of dollars of dark money, and they have proven they can elect any candidate so long as they have a ‘D’ next to their name, regardless of the quality of that candidate. They have a ballot-chasing machine that is robust and well-funded.”

“Conservatives are behind in this new game,” Kirk said, adding that “it’s no longer about convincing people of your platform. That was the old model. Now that we have voting month, we have to adapt and bank as many early votes as possible and not rely on day-of turnout. Until we can build a GOTV machine like the other side has, Joe Biden is the odds-on favorite.” The GOTV is, according to its website, “the largest Democratic campaign training organization in the nation. [We] have trained more Democrats on how to win elections and build long-term power in their communities than any other organization. We provide Democratic candidates, campaign staffers, and local leaders the tools, expert training, and resources needed to win.”

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