The New Yorker has released a short documentary profiling the removal of Fern Creek Baptist Church from cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The documentary tells the story from the perspective of two pastors: Linda Barnes Popham of Fern Creek in Louisville, Kentucky, and Tom Ascol of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida.

Popham began pastoring Fern Creek more than three decades ago. She became pastor of the church roughly a decade before the SBC updated the Baptist Faith & Message (BFM), the denomination’s unifying statement of belief, to include a prohibition against women serving as pastors. 

Fern Creek continued to operate under a previously adopted draft of the BFM. However, its affiliation with the SBC was called into question amid a wave of concern regarding the issue of women in leadership. In 2023, the church was disfellowshipped, alongside Saddleback Church. 

Among those who have raised alarm bells regarding women serving as pastors has been Ascol, who in addition to being a pastor is an author, internet personality, and president of Founders Ministries

The New Yorker’s documentary features footage of Ascol at his home and his church, showing him singing hymns with his family, greeting parishioners, praying with other church leaders, and shooting a bow and arrow.

“The Bible does not allow women to be pastors of local churches,” Ascol said. Reciting 1 Timothy 2:11-12, Ascol added, “He says, ‘Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. Rather, she is to remain quiet.’”

“We are people who have a book, and that book teaches us what the will of our God is,” said Ascol. “The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in North America. So what happens to the Southern Baptist Convention matters.”

Ascol’s wife, Donna Ascol, said, “We know we’re in a war.”

“We want to love people where they are, but we’re not going to change who we are,” she added. “I will be that girl, still going to church on Sunday, still standing for Christ.”

Ascol said, “There’s no doubt that the Convention is declining. But we need reformation; we need revival. And it needs to start with the household of God.”

RELATED: Founders Ministries Says Josh Buice Targeted Tom Ascol With ‘Sinful, Deceitful, and Slanderous’ Actions

The documentary then cut to footage of Popham standing in her church’s baptismal. She went on two baptize two children.

Ahead of the release of his new book, “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” survivalist Bear Grylls wrote about how his Christian faith strengthens him and helps him live “more adventurously.” In a May 23 column for The Times, the reality TV star urged people to explore spiritual issues and “choose to have a faith,” which “takes courage.”

In his “Credo” column, Grylls recalled coming to faith as a young teenager after realizing “no one ever seemed to walk away unchanged” after encountering Jesus. “I wasn’t exactly hungry for more rules, restrictions, customs, and conventions,” he recalled. “But I did like the sound of the freedom and empowerment that seemed to come from being around this guy. What I didn’t know was how it would truly change me from the inside out.”

RELATED: Bear Grylls: ‘I Think Jesus Would Really Struggle With 99% Of Churches Nowadays’

Grylls, 50, is a former member of the British Special Forces and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. He gained fame through shows such as “Man vs. Wild,” and his books have sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. Last year, Grylls sparked controversy for attending the baptism of controversial comedian Russell Brand.

Bear Grylls: Faith Strengthens Me for Life’s Battles

For Grylls, faith is “difficult to articulate,” he wrote. “It has to be tried to be felt. In a nutshell, my Christian faith has strengthened me in so many battles I’ve faced in life.”

The married father of three admitted he’s tried to ignore his faith and be strong on his own, but he discovered “my heart is restless until I open the door to Christ again.” Grylls said he’s “not too proud to admit that I need my Saviour beside me, within me.” If that makes faith a crutch, he added, that’s okay—because a crutch “helps us stand and walk on in life, even when we have wounds and hurts. I like that.”

To anyone who’s cynical about faith, Grylls explained that exploring, questioning, and doubting are valuable. Choosing faith requires courage and is the “tougher path” to follow. “But life and the wild have taught me that the tougher path often ends up being the most fulfilling one,” he concluded. “So be brave. Bend the knee, close your eyes, and ask for help…we have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”

As Jelly Roll was opening for Post Malone at a concert in Philadelphia Saturday, May 24, a double rainbow materialized in the sky right as Jelly Roll was performing “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” originally by Brandon Lake. Pointing upward, Jelly Roll said, “You can’t tell me God ain’t here.”

“Ya’ll. Jelly Roll just FaceTimed me to tell me that a double rainbow broke out while he was leading ‘Hard Fought Hallelujah,’” said Brandon Lake in a Facebook reel. “Check this out.”

Lake then stitched a clip of Jelly Roll performing and pointing to the rainbow, telling the crowd, “Look at that. You can’t tell me God ain’t here. Look at that rainbow, baby.”

Jelly Roll: ‘God Is Good’ 

Brandon Lake is a worship leader and Christian artist who has won five Grammy Awards and received 12 Grammy nominations, as well as winning multiple Billboard Music Awards and GMA Dove Awards. Known for his hit single, “Gratitude,” Lake released “Hard Fought Hallelujah” in November. The single debuted at No. 51 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart, making it Lake’s first single to make the Hot 100. It was also his sixth single to top the Hot Christian Songs chart.

RELATED: Jelly Roll Brings His ‘Storm-Tossed’ Story and Joins Brandon Lake on ‘Hard Fought Hallelujah’

Billboard recently recognized Lake, along with Christian artist Forrest Frank, as being key to helping Christian music have a surge in popularity. 

Jelly Roll, whose real name is Jason Bradley DeFord, is a four-time Grammy nominee who had been making music for years before rising to prominence over the past few years. In 2023, he won three CMT Music Awards and did the same again in 2024. He is known for singles including “Son of a Sinner” and “Need a Favor.”

Jelly Roll dealt drugs in the past and was incarcerated multiple times but has recently returned to his Christian faith. He and Lake collaborated on a new version of “Hard Fought Halleljuah,” released in February, which they have been performing in multiple arenas, including “American Idol.”

Jelly Roll has said that he is so passionate about “what God’s doing with that song right now” that “I just feel like to not do everything I can to get that song in front of as many people as it can possibly be heard by is the wrong thing to do right now, even if I have to sacrifice my own single.”

A South Carolina couple has been taken into custody after becoming the subject of horrific allegations of abuse. Pastor Myron Chorbajian of 1st Southern Methodist Church in Greenville is accused of physically, sexually, and psychologically abusing several of his adopted children. His wife, Kathleen Chorbajian, is criminally accused of failing to intervene or report the abuse.

Editor’s note: This article refers to disturbing reports of child abuse that some readers might find triggering.

According to FOX Carolina, the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office launched an investigation into the couple in April after a victim reported “extensive abuse” that went as far back as the 1980s.

Authorities allege that all of the male victims were physically abused and that all of the female victims were sexually abused. Myron and Kathleen Chorbajian had seven adopted children and one biological daughter.

RELATED: Former Arkansas Youth Group Leader Pleads No Contest to Sexual Assault of 15-Year-Old, Receives Probation

Myron Chorbajian is accused of sexually assaulting several of the children and forcing one child to “search dumpsters and eat rotten and discarded food.” He is accused of forcing one child to sleep in a trash can for three days. 

Chorbajian is also accused of beating the children. In one instance, he is accused of paddling a naked victim 50 times. In another instance, he is accused of beating a child with a belt until the child lost consciousness. He is alleged to have punched a child in the face.

Chorbajian is accused of killing two of the children’s pets. In one instance, he is accused of running over a child’s kitten before shooting the kitten in the head while the child was present. In another instance, he is accused of shooting a child’s dog in the presence of the child and then forcing the child to bury the dog.

According to WHNS, two of the victims have since died, but the causes of their deaths have not been publicly disclosed. 

RELATED: Man Who Murdered Houston Pastor in Road Rage Incident Sentenced to 23 Years in Prison

Kathleen Chorbajian is alleged to have known about at least some of the instances of sexual abuse and did not report them. She is also accused of failing to intervene when children were beaten or otherwise abused and neglected. 

Amid the turmoil of 2020, psychologists Dr. Judith Hall and Dr. Mark Leary argued that the U.S. was suffering from an “empathy deficit.”

“Out of all the fears, stresses and indignities our citizens are living with, there emerges a kind of primal insecurity that undermines every aspect of life right now,” they wrote. “It’s no wonder that anxiety, depression and other psychological problems are on the rise.”

At the time, the nation was grappling with a global pandemic, economic hardship, social unrest, and what was then the bitterest presidential election cycle in recent memory. Mental health was at an all time low and domestic abuse and deaths of despair surged. 

“On top of that, everyone is confronted with people who seem indifferent,” Hall and Leary wrote.

Empathy, which Merriam-Webster defines as the ability to be “sensitive to and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another,” seemed to be lacking on a societal scale. And to Hall and Leary, this deficit was at the heart of deepening polarization and tribalism.

“You don’t have to be a social psychologist like we are to see that Americans are experiencing an empathy deficit,” they wrote. “People everywhere lack the sense that others care, which makes the medical, economic, political and societal assaults on our fundamental trust in the world even harder to handle.”

In 2025, the nation apparently continues to suffer from a lack of empathy, a deficit exemplified by, among other things, fresh waves of antisemitism and anti-immigrant sentiments. 

But not everyone sees it this way. In fact, a growing movement of evangelicals has a different take. To them, the nation suffers, not from a deficit of empathy, but an excess of it.

Characterizing empathy as toxic or even sinful, some believe that it has fueled excessive migrant crime (the reality of which is not borne out by statistical analysis), LGBTQ+ activism, and socialistic policies that use taxpayer money to commit high crimes like providing free meals to school children.

Much like critical race theory (CRT), diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), social justice, and so-called “wokeness,” the term “empathy” has increasingly become a tribal shibboleth for those who see themselves as moving past the “winsome model” of the late Timothy Keller and other evangelical stalwarts. 

James Wood, associate editor of First Things magazine, has argued that the church is no longer ministering in a world neutral to Christianity but has instead entered a “negative world.” In this landscape, a new approach is needed. Instead of “pietistic” distance from partisanship, the church needs a sharper political edge. 

Some have taken Wood’s argument further, alleging that Christian kindness is being manipulated and Christians are being pressured not just to hold their convictions charitably but to abandon them entirely—usually in favor of positions characterized by the political left. 

To the new religious right, staving off these attacks requires a wartime mentality, as evangelicals vie for political control and cultural relevance. Simply put, empathy is not an effective strategy for winning a culture war. 

To bolster adoption of this strategy for Christian dominance devoid of Christian empathy, several voices have sought to theologically backfill their political aims. In fact, within the past year, empathy has gotten two book-length treatments from prominent evangelicals urging caution against what was once widely considered a virtue. 

Allie Beth Stuckey and ‘Toxic Empathy’

At the height of the #MeToo movement, the concept of “toxic masculinity” emerged as a cultural conversation, with many arguing that the aggression that leads to violence and sexual assault is the result of a disordered understanding of masculinity.

However, in a 2018 video, Christian podcaster and author Allie Beth Stuckey balked at the idea that masculinity could be “toxic.” 

“It’s not masculinity that’s toxic,” Stuckey said. “It’s the lack of it.”

In 2024, Stuckey’s assessment of empathy was not so favorable. In “Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion,” Stuckey argues that Christians are too often the victims of “empathy manipulation.”

“Empathy has been hijacked for the purpose of conforming well-intentioned people to particular political agendas,” writes Stuckey. “Specifically, it’s been co-opted by the progressive wing of American society to convince people that the progressive position is exclusively the one of kindness and morality.”

“I call it toxic empathy,” she adds.

(RNS) — Gareld Duane Rollins, whose lawsuit accusing a legendary Southern Baptist leader of abuse sparked a crisis in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, died Friday (May 23).

“The abuse he suffered by those touting their religion is unimaginable,” said Michael Goldberg, an attorney for law firm Baker Botts, which represented Rollins. “This could not have happened if not for supposed good people keeping quiet. There are no innocent bystanders.”

News of Rollins’ death was first made public by journalist Robert Downen, who had covered Rollins’ lawsuit against Texas judge Paul Pressler, an influential Southern Baptist Convention lay leader, for years.

RELATED: Former SBC Leader and Accused Sexual Abuser, Paul Pressler, Dead at 94

Downen, a senior writer for Texas Monthly, said Rollins, who had long suffered from health issues and was in his late 50s, had been in hospice care the last time the two had talked. Still, his death came as a shock.

“His life was cut short just as he was freeing himself from the thing that had defined him for so long,” Downen said.

The two had met by happenstance. Downen had been working at a courthouse as a reporter for the Houston Chronicle when he came across a notice about a filing in Rollins’ lawsuit against Pressler. It would lead to years of reporting about the case and abuse in the SBC.

Downen said Rollins was a person of deep faith, which sustained his long battle to recover from abuse. His story was also complicated — Rollins had dealt with addiction for years and had served time in prison, and few people believed his story of abuse at the hands of a powerful faith leader.

But he shared his story with Downen, starting in 2019.

“He really trusted me — when there were all the reasons in the world to be totally distrustful,” Downen said.

In 2017, Rollins sued Pressler, who died in 2024, alleging years of sexual abuse by the judge, who had been Rollins’ mentor and Bible study teacher. Rollins also alleged that church leaders knew of the abuse and covered it up to protect Pressler’s reputation. During that lawsuit, Rollins revealed  he’d sued Pressler in 2004, claiming Pressler assaulted him at a hotel room, and that Pressler had agreed to pay $450,000 to settle the suit.

Rollins sued for a second time after Pressler reneged on the settlement, alleging that the judge had begun sexually abusing him as a teenager.

RELATED: Southern Baptists Settle Abuse Lawsuit Against Legendary Conservative Leader Paul Pressler

“According to Rollins’s suit, Pressler began molesting him after they met at a Bible study group led by Pressler,” reads a description of the abuse allegations in a Texas appeals court ruling. “Pressler told Rollins that the sexual abuse was divinely sanctioned but needed to be kept secret because only God would understand it.”

By the time Rollins came forward with abuse allegations, the civil statute of limitations had run out and his lawsuit was dismissed by a lower court. But the Texas Supreme Court overruled in 2022, after Rollins’ lawyers successfully argued that trauma from abuse had suppressed Rollins’ memories for years.

Paul Pressler in a video from 2015. (Video screen grab)

The lawsuit, which was settled in 2023, undermined much of the mythology that had grown around Pressler during the so-called conservative resurgence — a long-running feud in the SBC that pitted conservatives against moderate Southern Baptists and raged for years. Pressler was one of the key architects of the resurgence and was long known as a GOP activist who railed against what he saw as the moral decay of America.