‘A Matter of Principle’—Pastor Accused of Solicitation of Minor Is at Center of Feud Between Prosecutor and Police

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January 13, 2023

In Oct. 2021, Virginia pastor John Blanchard was one of 17 men arrested in connection with a prostitution sting, and he was subsequently charged with solicitation of prostitution from a minor. While his charges were tentatively dropped a year later in Oct. 2022, prosecutors and police have apparently been at odds over whether Blanchard should be brought to trial.

While prosecutors have the right to refile charges against Blanchard if they feel they have enough evidence to convict, it does not appear at this juncture that they intend to do so.

Blanchard was previously accused of sexually assaulting a former assistant who had worked for him at Rock Church International in Virginia Beach, where he has been lead pastor since 2013. He was acquitted of those charges in 2019.

With regard to the case of Blanchard’s 2021 arrest and the prosecutor’s dropping of his charges, Virginia State Delegate Tim Anderson, who represents Virginia Beach and is also a lawyer, has been sharply critical.

“In my legal opinion, from what I have seen, there’s no excuse not to prosecute this case,” Anderson said in Nov. 2022. “If [Blanchard is] found not guilty or if he’s acquitted, that’s one thing. But to use prosecutorial discretion and say nothing happened here, that’s, in my opinion, an abuse of discretion.”

At that time, local police chief Col. Jeffrey Katz refrained from criticizing prosecutors, saying, “The decision to prosecute—or not prosecute—a case rests with the County’s elected Commonwealth Attorney. The only person who can bring clarity to this decision is the person who made it. It would be irresponsible for anyone to speculate on such an important decision.”

Nevertheless, Katz has been less supportive of prosecutors with regard to how Blanchard’s request to have his criminal record expunged has been handled.

In December 2022, during his first appearance on the stage of Rock Church since his 2021 arrest, Blanchard not only defended his innocence to the congregation but pledged to “recover” the “good name” of Rock Church in the community by “moving forward with legal action.”

Soon after these remarks, Blanchard filed his expungement petition. While the court has not ruled on the petition, Chesterfield County Commonwealth Attorney Stacey Davenport has “no objection” to it.

In light of the possibility of Blanchard’s request being approved, Katz weighed in with criticism for how Blanchard’s case has played out.

“AS A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE,” Katz said in a statement published to Facebook, “I have found it necessary to make a few public statements regarding the arrest of Pastor John Blanchard. These statements have consistently reinforced my fervent support for the quality of the case and the investigative efforts of my staff. That has not changed.”

Katz continued, “Pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request filed in November 2022, I exercised my discretion under the law to publicly release the details of this investigation because I believe there is a compelling public interest in maintaining as much transparency as possible with this case.”

Diane Langberg on Church Leaders and Abuse: ‘We Have Utterly Failed God’

By

Bob Smietana

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January 13, 2023

(RNS) — Not long after Diane Langberg began working as a clinical psychologist in the 1970s, a client told her that she had been a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of her father. Not sure of what to do, Langberg went to talk to her supervisor.

The supervisor, Langberg recalled, dismissed the allegations.

“He told me that women make these things up,” Langberg said. “My job was to not be taken in by them.”

The supervisor’s response left Langberg in a dilemma. Did she believe her client? Or did she trust her supervisor’s advice?

“The choice I made is pretty obvious at this point,” the 74-year old Langberg said in a recent interview.

For the last five decades, Langberg has been a leading expert in caring for survivors of abuse and trauma. When she began, few believed sexual abuse existed, let alone in the church. Churches were seen as a refuge for the weary and some of the safest places in the world.

Today, she said, there’s much more awareness of the reality of sexual abuse and of other kinds of misconduct, especially the abuse of spiritual power. Still, many congregations and church leaders have yet to reckon with the damage that has been done to abuse survivors where churches turned a blind eye to the suffering in their midst.

“We have utterly failed God,” she said. “We protected our own institutions and status more than his name or his people. What we have taught people is that the institution is what God loves, not the sheep.”

The daughter of an Air Force colonel, who grew up attending services in a variety of denominations, Langberg still has faith in God. And she remains a churchgoer, despite the failings of Christian leaders and institutions. Still, she said, those churches and institutions have a great deal to repent of and make amends for.

Langberg, author of “Redeeming Power: Understanding Authority and Abuse in the Church,” spoke with Religion News Service about the sex abuse crisis in the Southern Baptist Convention, what lessons she’s learned over the past five decades and why she keeps the faith despite the church’s flaws.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

When it comes to sexual abuse, there are a growing number of church leaders who say, ‘We get this now and we can fix it.’ But are they aware of the long-term consequences that come with mishandling abuse allegations over a long period of time?

Perhaps it would be helpful to first think about not the church but marriage. If somebody has an affair, they cry and say they are sorry. Then a year later, they have an affair with somebody else. How many affairs are going to be OK before you leave?

Study: US Clergy Favor Medical Treatment for Depression

By

Yonat Shimron

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January 13, 2023

medical treatment for depression — Image by Mohamed Hassan/Pixabay/Creative Commons

(RNS) — About 21 million adults in the U.S. have had at least one major depressive episode, the National Institute of Mental Health reports.

A new study now finds that those who have gone to a priest or pastor for advice will most likely have been encouraged to seek out mental health professionals and take medicine to treat it.

That’s the conclusion of a nationally representative survey of clergy serving U.S. congregations from across the religious spectrum. The National Survey of Religious Leaders asked 890 people whose primary job is as a clergy leader about causes of depression and appropriate treatments for it.

Published this week in JAMA Psychiatry, the study reports that 90% of clergy respondents said they would encourage someone with depressive symptoms to see a mental health professional and 87% would encourage people to take prescribed medications for it.

Mark Chaves. Photo © Duke University

“There are some clergy out there that discourage medical care,” said Mark Chaves, a sociologist at Duke University and principal investigator of the study “But it turns out, it’s a small minority, even among conservative religious groups.”

The study, funded by the Templeton Foundation and fielded from February 2019 to June 2020, is thought to be the first nationally representative survey of clergy beliefs on depression, Chaves said. The larger study included 1,600 congregational leaders from which 890 primary clergy were polled for the depression study.

While many clergy also encouraged religious treatment for depression, such as prayer or Scripture study, those religious remedies were supplementary. They did not replace medical treatment.

The study also asked clergy what they thought were the reasons people experienced depression. The vast majority attributed it to “stressful circumstances,” “traumatic experiences,” “chemical imbalance,” “lack of social support” or a “genetic problem.”

Only 29% of clergy said depression was caused by “lack of faith,” and 16% said “demon possession.”

Black Protestants and white evangelical Protestants were more likely than Catholic priests or white mainline Protestant ministers to encourage religious treatment of depression, without a medical component. Even among those groups, though, only a small minority — about 15% — endorsed substituting religious for medical responses.

Non-Christian clergy comprised 8.5% of those surveyed and included Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist leaders. They scored similarly to mainline Protestants and Catholics, Chaves said, with very “pro-medical” views on treating depression.

Conference on Religious Trauma Aims To Equip Survivors for Recovery

By

Kathryn Post

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January 13, 2023

Conference-on-Religious-Trauma — Beyond the Wound logo. Courtesy image

(RNS) — Raised by evangelical Christian missionaries, Kara Erickson struggled for years with anxiety, depression and eating disorders that two decades ago landed her in inpatient treatment. It wasn’t until three years ago, however, that she stumbled onto the term “religious trauma” in Jamie Lee Finch’s 2019 book “You Are Your Own: A Reckoning With the Religious Trauma of Evangelical Christianity.”

That’s when she connected the dots between her religious upbringing and her physical symptoms.

“I had been approaching my depression and eating disorder from this place of ‘You are broken and need to be fixed.’ Trauma helped me understand that I am wounded and need to be healed,” Erickson told Religion News Service.

Shortly before her revelation, Erickson, who worked as a juvenile prison counselor before moving to Canada in 2009, met Lydia Bakkar in an online workshop in Vancouver for moms looking to “find their spark.” At age 16, Bakkar had left what she now calls a fundamentalist Christian cult where her father was a leader. The two women bonded over their desire to help people who had been harmed by the church.

Combining Erickson’s vision and Bakkar’s business experience — she owns a knitting and crochet business in the Seattle area — the two have launched a new online conference on religious trauma that begins Sunday (Jan. 15).

Beyond the Wound, which will extend over three weeks, will feature a mix of livestreamed sessions and prerecorded interviews with therapists, scholars and other professionals examining religious trauma from a neurological perspective. More than 260 attendees from across the globe have registered.

“It’s giving people permission to feel, to accept themselves, to trust themselves, and, adding on these skills and tools, to be able to move on and find what’s going to be good for you,” Bakkar said.

Erickson added, “We wanted to create the resource we wish we would have had.”

Clinicians have begun to examine religious trauma more seriously in the past decade, aided by increased academic research into what has become a widespread movement, especially among people raised in evangelical Christianity. Several organizations focused on religious trauma, including Recovering From Religion, the Reclamation Collective and the Religious Trauma Institute, have popped up since 2010.

“Religious trauma has been a thing since religion has been a thing,” said Laura Anderson, a Nashville, Tennessee, psychotherapist, co-founder of the Religious Trauma Institute and founder of the Center for Trauma Resolution and Recovery, who is presenting at the conference, The term itself, however, is a recent coinage as psychologists have identified trauma more broadly and developed new strategies for treating it.

“When 2016 hits, we started to see this exodus of people coming out of churches just being very confused about the result of the election of Donald Trump. That’s where I think publicly it started to become OK to talk about and name,” said Anderson, adding that the #MeToo and subsequent #ChurchToo movements also raised awareness of spiritual abuse and religious trauma.

Tragedy 31 Years Ago Formed Foundation of New Chaplain’s Ministry

By

Diana Chandler

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January 13, 2023

Tragedy-31-Years-Ago-Formed — The staff of First Baptist Church of Portland, TN, surprised Tim Colovos and his wife Ginger, front center, with a fellowship Dec. 30, two weeks after he retired from seven years of pastoring the congregation. Courtesy of Baptist Press.

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (BP) – When a paranoid schizophrenic randomly shot into a group of patrons at Stel’s Diner in Warren County, Ky., in 1992, killing William Ratliff, it fell to Tim Colovos to tell two young teenagers their father was dead.

Then and there, as a college student serving as youth pastor of Oakland Baptist Church in Oakland, Ky., Colovos realized an aspect of his spiritual gifting. He describes it as “an urgency to be with people when very difficult times arise.”

“From that moment on, I just knew that this was something that perhaps the Lord could use for me for many years. And fortunately I think that He has,” he said. “It’s hard enough to go through life, but when you have a traumatic event, to be able to go through life without people by your side and without hopefully godly wisdom and godly counsel by your side, it’s almost unbearable.”

Three decades later, with a heart still pulsing for the hurting, Colovos heard God calling him from the full-time pastorate to full-time chaplaincy. He transitioned in December from the senior pastorate of First Baptist Church of Portland, Tenn., with a worship attendance of about 300, to full-time chaplaincy at Hospice of Southern Kentucky.

“I love being with grieving people, as strange as that sounds. I’ve just really found that the Lord seems to use me in those situations over the years,” Colovos told Baptist Press. “And so it’s just kind of always been maybe a soft place in my heart where I can try to be my best when somebody else is at their worst. It’s kind of an unfortunate circumstance that happens.”

Colovos describes the move as “a leap of faith.” He sensed God calling him away from First Portland in mid-2022, but said he had no idea of his next assignment.

“I simply communicated to the deacons at First Baptist that I felt the Lord was calling me away, and I don’t have anything lined up. But I just wanted to be transparent and share my heart with them, to let them know,” Colovos said. “In July or August, I had no inkling that God would call me to Hospice of Southern Kentucky. God is just a great orchestrator of our steps. One thing led to another and I’m four weeks in on the job right now.”

Colovos will supplement his chaplaincy work beginning Jan. 29 as bivocational pastor of White Stone Quarry Baptist Church, a Bowling Green congregation of about 50 worshipers.

“I’ve never been a bivocational preacher, but I’m going to do my best to be a pastor to those folks, the best I can,” he said. “Just doing chaplaincy work and hospice, I believe that’s ministry. I know it’s ministry.

“But I love the church. I love the Bride of Christ. And I want to remain in the pulpit. And I want to remain not just a preacher, but a pastor.”

Colovos answered the call to the pastorate in 1987, and sees his current positioning as the continued fulfillment of that calling.

“It is a true statement that we live in a lost and dying world. Typically a chaplain will visit a family and be with a family in moments of grief. And in moments of grief, more times than not, people are what we would call a captive audience,” Colovos said. “So if they are ever going to have a listening ear, it’s going to be during the time that they are meeting with a chaplain.”

Signs Your Leadership Is ‘Future Blind’

By

Phil Cooke

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January 13, 2023

I’m not a psychologist, but I’m declaring a new malady that I’m calling “Future Blind.” The symptoms could apply to a great number of people, and for many it can be deadly in a variety of ways.

I’m describing the problem as, “The inability to see anything beyond the present. To be blind to what’s coming. A failure to anticipate the future.”

An example would be someone who waits until the very last minute before making a decision, or someone who refuses to plan or consider future options or possibilities.

I have a friend that does this while driving. He never gets in a turn lane until it’s almost too late to make the actual turn. He doesn’t brake until the last minute, which causes his passengers to experience something close to a heart attack. He speeds up and slows down in jolts, because he’s not paying attention to what traffic is doing ahead.

A client I worked with refuses to think about anything beyond today. He won’t plan because he knows that sometimes things change, so why bother? But that leaves his team in total chaos, unable to work toward any common goals.

The worst problem with being Future Blind is that it leaves no margin. In other words, with my driving friend, he’s far more likely to have an accident because he leaves no space to maneuver in case someone else slams on brakes, or crosses over into his lane.

The client’s team can’t compensate for outside changes, because the leader had no plan to begin with.

If you suffer (even in the slightest) from being Future Blind, I recommend you start looking beyond the moment. Stop scrolling on social media, stop focusing just on what you’re doing right now, raise your eyes, and look ahead.

What’s tomorrow look like? What happens if things go wrong? What about a Plan B?

It’s a good argument for scheduling a personal planning session at least once a week. Take a few minutes to reflect on the upcoming week, meetings you have scheduled, and the tasks you have to accomplish. Then, fill out your calendar or schedule with that in mind.

Focusing on the present is important when we’re doing deep work, but every once in awhile, it’s a good idea to come up for air and look around.

If nothing else, it makes it far more difficult to be caught off-guard.

This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.

The Secret Ministry of Pastors’ Wives

By

Jeremy Roberts

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January 13, 2023

Within a local church, the lead pastor’s ministry is the most visible to the public. Antithetically, pastors’ wives ministries are the least seen. She may be visible, but her ministry often is not.

Growing up as the son of a minister of music, who then became an executive pastor, and now serving as a pastor, I have a unique perspective of the ministry of pastors’ wives.

The purpose of this post is not to gripe about any personal issues, but more so to express in generalities what I’ve noticed with the plethora of pastors’ wives I’ve known over the years.

5 Secrets of Pastors’ Wives Ministry:

1. Pastors’ wives have stressful Sunday mornings.

On Sunday mornings, pastors’ wives essentially live like single moms. I know that for my wife, she awakens the kids, and takes them through their morning routine, etc. I’d love to help, but I’m working starting early on Sunday mornings. This is the case for a large majority of pastors’ wives.

This is a ministry to the church. She’s taking the weight of familial responsibility off her husband’s shoulders every Sunday morning for the sake of the overall church having a pastor who is prepared and focused to preach.

2. Pastors’ wives minister to women with more confidential matters.

My wife is not a trained counselor, and didn’t have the luxury I experienced of going to seminary and taking counseling courses. I noticed that with my mom (executive pastor’s wife), my wife (pastor’s wife), and mother-in-law (pastor’s wife), that all of them experience times of ministering to other women who are pouring out their hearts.

This is a ministry to the church. Often, women want to talk to another woman instead of to their male pastor. So, the only person they see whom they feel they can trust is the pastor’s wife.

10 Guidelines for Praise and Worship Leadership

By

Mark Cole

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January 13, 2023

Here are my Top 10 guidelines for praise and worship leadership. I have been leading worship teams for 30 years, but I still go back to this list to see what I need to work on!

Drum roll please… Let’s start with #10

Praise and Worship Leadership

10. Never stop growing

Are you practicing your singing and playing on a daily basis?
Are you taking lessons and improving your craft and leadership?
Are you changing and growing with the new trends, styles and songs?

9. Develop your organizational and admin skills

Are you writing (or buying) great charts for your band?
Are you running organized and productive rehearsals?
Are you creating timely schedules for your musicians and planning ahead on the church calendar?

8. Keep working on a good relationship with your pastor

Do you have a weekly meeting with your pastor?
Are you supporting your pastor in private and public?
Have you ever had your pastor and his wife over for dinner?

7. Mentoring is one your most important jobs

Are you looking for and developing the potential leaders on your team?
Are you giving room for new leaders to lead a song or worship time?
Jesus spent over three years developing His team; are you following His example?

Thom Rainer: 7 Reasons Why Church Outreach Programs Fail

By

Thom Rainer

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January 13, 2023

thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

One of my passions in life is to help churches move from becoming inwardly focused to outwardly focused. When I wrote I Am a Church Member, my key motivation was to demonstrate that biblical church members are always looking outwardly. When I wrote Autopsy of a Deceased Church, my desire was to demonstrate the terrible consequences and deaths of local congregations when the members are inwardly focused. It’s why church outreach programs fail.

So why don’t you deliver us a “plug and play” program?

Some of the readers asked for me to deliver the latest outreach program to their churches. Hear me well: There is nothing wrong with outreach programs per se. They can be very helpful if put in the proper context.

The problem is that most highly prescriptive programs do not do so. As a result, they do not deliver their intended results. In fact, they can, in some cases, do more harm than good if they are not framed well.

7 reasons why most church outreach programs fail.

1. They are seen as an end instead of a means.

As a consequence, some will be a part of an outreach ministry as a sense of legalistic obligation.

Most church members, especially Millennials, refuse to participate in something unless they know the “why” behind it.

2. Most church outreach programs fail because they are not addressed in front-end membership classes.

The best time to help shape expectations and responsibilities of members is when they first become a part of the church.

Rarely is the issue of becoming outwardly focused addressed.

3. Many church outreach programs fail because they do not feel natural.

Though it is cliché, the best way to share the love of Christ is in the natural overflow of our love for Him.

The best outreach ministries should teach us how to channel that overflow.

Sarah Bessey: I Loved God. I Struggled with Loving His Church

By

Sarah Bessey

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January 13, 2023

A few years ago I came home from our Easter service; I was a wreck. A sobbing, crying, hands-lifted-high, had-to-take-my-contacts-out wreck. I was feeling the need to write it out a bit, to figure out what I was feeling by putting fingers to keyboard, to begin to untangle all of the emotions swirling in my heart, to shake them out for a good look, a look at loving his church. I feel like God has made something beautiful out of my mess and my dust.

Years ago, my husband Brian left full-time vocational ministry, and, you who have walked this road with us, you know, it’s been a journey. We were so burnt out, so exhausted, so broken hearted, and part of me, a big part of me, never wanted to darken the door of a church again.

Brian embarked on seminary, he was being drawn more and more to denominational infrastructures as a way to guard against some of the abuses that are sadly common to our faith background. And me? I just stopped caring, stopped going; I decided to forget about church and just follow Jesus. I stopped calling myself a Christian because I couldn’t identify myself with so much of what the church was doing or selling or preaching. We were worlds apart, but we clung together to one truth: God is love. Love was all that held me, all that held us both, as we struggled to find out how we could navigate our exhaustion, our questions, our doubts, our frustrations, our histories, with the Bride of Christ.

We went to church now and then, but it was a chore, we never felt at home, I couldn’t seem to shut off the running monologue in my head, critical, wounded, bitter. Finally, I gave up and just settled that God would work something out, that somehow he would show me what church is and what it should be and how I could be part of it somehow in a way that felt intellectually, spiritually and emotionally honest. In the meantime, I turned to Jesus, I flung myself at his feet, and I found grace there, I found healing, rest, Love, peace.

I loved God. I struggled with loving His church.

I still have a lot of those questions. I still get the hives when I see big churches with big splashy programs, any mention of a building project. Any talk of business plans and marketing money, gimmicks and light shows, make my eyes cross. Sometimes I still go to church and feel like running, pell-mell, tumble-bumble, into the fresh air.

But a year ago, we went to a local church here. And it was close to Easter and my heart, somehow, my heart just exhaled. I didn’t know what it meant. I hardly know now. All I knew was that I felt like I was home, like maybe God had something for me here.

How My Work as a Pastor Nearly Killed Me!

By

Adam Russell

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January 13, 2023

Hebrews 12:3 is a verse I can’t seem to get out of my head these days. It’s just sort of there, buzzing in the background like the hum of a refrigerator. I can almost ignore it, and then, suddenly, I can’t: Consider Jesus, who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. —Hebrews 12:3

Weariness is a part of life. I know that there are seasons when it seems as though I’m running through thick mud. But here, the writer of Hebrews is pointing out that there is an exercise we can do that will relieve us from weariness.

Now the weariness that is being referred to here isn’t so much a physical weariness; rather, it’s an emotional weariness, a weary spirit. Anyone who’s doing anything knows that there are times when it seems like no matter what you do, there just isn’t enough juice in the tank to meet the challenges ahead. People are difficult, work can be challenging, and at times the pace at which life is happening, both good and bad, just saps us of our ability to manage well.

How My Work as a Pastor Nearly Killed Me!

A couple of years ago, I had a six-month stretch where it felt like I was drowning. My staff thought I was going to either quit or drop dead. The ironic part is that things were going good! Looking back, I was running at a pace that no human can sustain. I was sprinting a marathon. It nearly killed me.

But other times, things are not going so good. Every one of us goes through fire. Every one of us gets pinched in the hinges of relationships and work. What then?

Decision for Christ: When Kids Profess Their Faith Early On

By

Jenny Funderburke Smith

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January 12, 2023

Making a decision for Christ or profession of faith is a special occasion. But what happens when we tell children about Jesus and then kids question their beliefs years later?

My two older daughters both were baptized in kindergarten. Yes, they were very young. With both, I intended to encourage them to wait until they were older. However, each of them made a decision for Christ that I felt were genuine, both could explain the gospel in age-appropriate language, and both really were excited to go public with their faith.

Making an Early Decision for Christ

Brenna is now 10. A few months ago she told me she wasn’t entirely sure she understood salvation when she was baptized. Yikes. Isn’t this the moment we all fear when our own children or children within our church make early decisions for Christ?

We all know (and remember and maybe were part of) the multiple baptisms that happened in our youth groups because kids had second thoughts about their first decisions. How do we handle conversations like the one with Brenna?

1. Don’t freak out and don’t dismiss kids’ concerns.

Your child probably isn’t going to hell because he asked such a question. You probably didn’t ruin her whole spiritual future. Appreciate that your child felt safe enough with you to ask a really hard question. Don’t blow it off! But don’t blow it out of proportion either.

I think I said something like “What’s made you think about that?” or “Tell me more about that.” I tried to listen first. Then I told her that ultimately only she and God knew about her salvation. But I asked if I could share my thoughts with her. I then shared most of what is written below.

2. Understand that most of the time this is a developmental issue, not a false salvation issue.

As kids get older and as they learn more in church and at home, they will have a clearer understanding of what sin is, what Jesus did for them, and what it means for Him to be Lord of their lives. I have a better understanding of all of those things now than when I was 20!

Just because your child has a better understanding now doesn’t mean he didn’t understand it when he was younger. Brenna had a five-year-old faith when she was five, and Scripture speaks pretty highly of a child-like faith. It is natural and it is good that her faith and understanding have grown, but that doesn’t negate that she had a saving faith at five.

3. Remind them that salvation is based on God’s grace and our faith in Him.

Some kids don’t like that they can’t remember praying and asking Jesus into their hearts. I take them back to Romans 10:9. “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Transgender Student: Heartfelt Thoughts From a Youth Pastor

By

Michael Guyer

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January 12, 2023

If a transgender student attends your youth group or a nearby school, what will you say? Consider this approach, in one youth minister’s letter to a transgender student.

A Letter to a Transgender Student

Dear friend,

I’m so thankful I know you. It’s an honor that you’d share this struggle with me. I know it wasn’t easy, nor does sharing resolve everything. As you shared, I realized how deeply I desire to be truly known. God designed us for this—to know Him and be known by Him. God not only made us for Himself. He also made us for community—to know others and be known by them.

My heart groans with yours to be truly known as God intended from the beginning. But my heart also groans because I know the church hasn’t always felt like a place you could talk about your struggle with identifying as a transgender teenager.

As a result, you have felt disconnected and not truly known yourself. Along the way, the actions and words of Christians have disappointed, hurt and isolated you. I grieve over the pain and loneliness you have experienced.

Dear Transgender Student: I Love You

First, I want you to know I’m here for you and I love you. I’ll admit I haven’t always been careful in speaking about transgender issues. I have too easily settled for a shallow understanding of the issues. Please forgive me if I’ve ever done this in our conversations. I want you to know that your willingness to share has driven me to learn more and seek God’s wisdom.

I can’t pretend to know all the answers. Nor do I share any of this from a position of moral superiority. As you shared what it’s like to feel transgender, I heard you saying things just don’t seem as they should be. That you were born one way but feel the exact opposite. That your gender expression seems disconnected from your physical body.

You might wonder: Did God make a mistake? Why do I feel this way? Does God want me to embrace these feelings? No one should dismiss your questions. They need to be patiently and prayerfully answered. I cannot do that fully in a letter. But I hope we can continue getting together to talk through these things.

Dear Transgender Student: God Holds a Better Promise

In the meantime, I want to share a few things with you. Our world promotes a story of expressive individualism. Self-expression and self-identification are its supreme virtues. But God tells a different story. He tells a better story and holds out a better promise.

Tim Tebow Shares His Greatest Passion in Life Has Been Sports, Not Jesus

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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January 12, 2023

Popular ESPN college football analyst Tim Tebow was surprised during Monday night’s broadcast of the College Football Playoff (CFP) championship game with an announcement that he had been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

“Hard to put into words right now. Just incredibly honored and grateful for the opportunity and all who helped make it possible!! All glory to God 🙌🏼,” Tebow tweeted.

Tebow played his college football career at the University of Florida from 2006 to 2009, leading the team to two BCS National Championship titles (2007, 2009). Tebow was the winner of the Heisman Trophy in 2007 and was a finalist for the most outstanding player award each of his final two years of college play.

The outspoken Christian still holds records at his alma mater. In 2010, he was also the reason the NCAA created what has been referred to as “The Tebow Rule,” which bans players from writing messages on their eye paint. Tebow would frequently write Bible verse references in white lettering on top of his black eye paint.

The ban came after Tebow promoted the Bible verse John 3:16 under his eyes during the 2009 BCS National Championship game, which prompted 94 million Google searches.

Sharing that God led him to write the verse, Tebow said that “leading up to the game I was really agonizing and contemplating what verse, and God kept bringing up to my heart and my head John 3:16, which is the essence of our Christianity. It’s the essence of our hope.”

After his senior season at the University of Florida, Tebow was drafted by the Denver Broncos as the 25th pick in the first round. He spent his career as an NFL quarterback fighting for a starting position and attempting to compete for roster spots on the New York Jets, New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles, and Jacksonville Jaguars.

Following his NFL career in 2016, Tebow signed a minor league contract with the New York Mets and worked toward making it onto a major league roster before retiring in 2021.

Tebow: ‘I’ve Given Up More in My Life To Win a Game Than I Ever Have for Jesus’

On January 5, Tebow stood before thousands of 18-25 year-olds in a crowded State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, for Passion 2023 and challenged them to make the cause of Christ their greatest passion in life.

Tebow, who was born in the Philippines on the mission field, said that a passion for the world causes Christians to not pursue their passion for the cause of Christ.

“I’ll be honest and want to admit that, I think, in my life, my greatest passion so far in my life, hasn’t been for Jesus. I’d say it’s honestly probably been for sports,” he told the crowd.

‘Lord Have Mercy’—210 House Democrats Vote Against Saving a Baby Born After a Failed Abortion

By

Jessica Lea

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January 12, 2023

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 220 to 210 Wednesday to pass the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which states that doctors are required to protect the life of a child who survives an abortion. All of the votes against the bill came from Democrats, leading some church leaders to condemn voting for the Democratic Party.

“It’s way past time for evangelicals who have given their blessing for Christians to vote Democrat to repent and say that voting for these evil people is a sin,” tweeted Tom Buck, pastor of First Baptist Church Lindale in Lindale, Texas.

Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act states that any infant who survives a failed abortion is a person in the eyes of the law and is therefore entitled to all the rights that a person is legally given.

The bill requires health care providers to “exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age.” Healthcare providers must also immediately transport children born under these circumstances to a hospital.

Failure to comply with the law would result in a fine and/or a prison sentence of up to five years. Anyone who kills a child born under these circumstances would be treated as though they had attempted to kill a human being. Notably, the bill states that it may not be used to prosecute mothers of children born after a failed abortion.

Only one Democrat voted in favor of the measure; the other 219 members of the House who did so were Republicans. One member of the House, a Democrat, simply voted “Present.”

“Just let this sink in,” said Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas. “210 Democrats voted to murder a baby who survives an abortion.”

Dr. Derwin Gray, pastor of Transformation Church in Indian Land, South Carolina, reacted to the news about the House Democrats, saying, “Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy.”

Activist and worship leader Sean Feucht tweeted a clip of Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) quoting Jeremiah 1:5 to argue against the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. “Just when you think you’ve seen it all,” said Feucht. “These are bloodthirsty people filled with demonic rage.”

“Pro-choice Christian” Rep (D-MI) @HillaryScholten uses Jeremiah 1:5 to advocate for child sacrifice in Congress.

Just when you think you’ve seen it all… these are bloodthirsty people filled with demonic rage. pic.twitter.com/tlkbvA2X5o

— Sean Feucht (@seanfeucht) January 11, 2023

27-Year-Old Man Found Dead Behind Memphis Church Building, Shot and Reportedly Burned

By

Dale Chamberlain

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January 12, 2023

On Tuesday (Jan. 10), detectives in South Memphis, Tennessee, discovered a body in the parking lot behind a boarded up church. The victim had reportedly suffered a gunshot wound and was pronounced dead on the scene.

According to a local CBS affiliate, a witness, who did not want to be named, reported seeing the body burning in the parking lot as he drove by to visit family in the area. Police, who received a “man down” call just before 7 a.m. Tuesday, have not confirmed whether the body was burned.

Police later identified the victim as being 27-year-old Larry Thorn, a Memphis-Shelby County School District secretary.

Lovanda Henderson, Thorn’s mother, told WMC that Thorn disappeared on Monday night around 11 p.m. and did not report to work Tuesday morning.

“Which is very unlike him not to show up for work, so immediately, when we found out he had been missing, we went ahead and called the police,” Henderson, who is now mourning the loss of her eldest son, explained.

Addressing Thorn’s killer, Henderson said in an interview with FOX13, “I wish that they would just come forward. Because, nobody deserves to bury their child and, you know, if it was a mistake then just come forward and let us know because we’re hurting inside. He had two other brothers and a grandmother who loved him dearly.”

“He was a very friendly, outgoing person that loved kids. He loved music; he loved church. He was just a real outgoing person,” Henderson said of her son. “Whatever he did, or what was going on, I don’t feel like he deserved to have gotten the treatment that he got.”

Thorn’s brother, Kevon, said, “To hear that he’s gone, I still haven’t processed in my head. It seems unreal to me.”

Thorn’s friend, Justin J. Pearson, expressed, “Our entire class of 2013 of Mitchell High School is mourning and grieving alongside his family.”

Dispute Over Abuse Hotline Reveals How Far the SBC Still Has To Go

By

Bob Smietana

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January 12, 2023

(RNS) — For years, Southern Baptist Convention leaders refused to listen to abuse survivors, ignoring their concerns and labeling them as enemies of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

After the release last spring of a major report detailing decades of mistreatment of survivors, Southern Baptist leaders pledged to change.

One of their first steps: setting up a confidential hotline where allegations of abuse could be reported to trauma-informed experts.

The hotline was meant as an interim measure until long-term responses were put in place. But until recently, very little was known about how it operated. That led one survivor and longtime abuse advocate to ask some pointed and uncomfortable questions about the hotline in an online publication.

“I had questions about the process,” Christa Brown told Religion News Service in an interview.

In particular, Brown said she was concerned about the role Rachael Denhollander, another survivor, had with the hotline. A prominent advocate and lawyer, Denhollander has publicly criticized SBC leaders over their treatment of survivors and her activism helped prompt the Guidepost investigation. She has also helped advise abuse survivors and consulted with Christian groups, including the SBC, on how to better care for survivors.

Brown argues that Denhollander’s roles as both a survivor advocate and a consultant for the SBC could lead to a conflict of interest. Brown worried survivors who call the hotline might be referred to Denhollander without knowing that she also works with church leaders.

Brown’s Baptist News column led Guidepost Solutions, which oversees the hotline, and the SBC task force working on abuse reforms to release statements about how it works.

But it also prompted a public conflict among abuse survivors and advocates, which played out on social media. Some backed Brown. Others saw her column as an attack on Denhollander.

The conflict also revealed a deeper challenge for Southern Baptist leaders trying to address abuse in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. Because SBC leaders mistreated survivors for years, no one trusts them. Every attempt they make at reform is viewed with skepticism, most of it justified.

Brown worries readers missed the bigger point of her column.

“My purpose is not in any way to degrade Denhollander, an individual for whom I hold great admiration and gratitude for all she has done in broadly raising awareness about the dynamics of sexual abuse,” she wrote.

Instead, Brown wanted to draw attention to the lack of transparency about the hotline.

According to the response put out by Guidepost, a small number of trauma-informed staffers respond to callers. Any information collected by those staffers is kept confidential. Guidepost does not investigate any allegations. Instead, they are referred to the SBC’s Credentials Committee.

Guidepost said that on two occasions, out of “hundreds,” people reporting allegations have asked to be connected to an advocate.

The SBC task force also said all reports are kept confidential. No task force member or adviser, including Denhollander, was given information about callers to the hotline.

South Carolina pastor Marshall Blalock, who chairs the task force charged with implementing abuse reforms approved last summer, said survivors and advocates have every right to ask questions in this process.

“When concerns are raised, it is important to hear them,” he said.

Baptist Woman in Mexico Near Death After Alleged Beating by Catholic Leaders

By

Diana Chandler and Mark Kelly

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January 12, 2023

Mexico attack — Hidalgo state in Mexico. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

HIDALGO, Mexico (BP) – A Baptist woman is hospitalized in critical condition after a beating tied to unjustly applied local customs and laws in an indigenous Catholic community in Mexico, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reported.

Catholic leaders are accused of severely beating Maria Concepcion Hernández Hernández because of her Baptist faith.

Hernández Hernández, a member of the Great Commission Baptist Church in the majority Catholic community of Rancho Nuevo, was not expected to live after the leaders tied her to a tree and severely beat her Dec. 21, Anna-Lee Stangl, CSW joint head of advocacy, told Baptist Press Jan. 5. Hernández Hernández’s pastor, Rogelio Hernández Baltazar, was beaten and detained when he intervened, CSW reported, referencing local sources.

The beatings allegedly stemmed from a dual legal system in Mexico that allows local indigenous communities to govern based on customs that vary by village, Stangl said, known as the Law on Uses and Customs.

“Some of these villages interpret that as, they can mandate what everyone in their village believes and practices,” Stangl said of the uses and customs laws. “The law actually says that it has to be operated in accordance with the constitution and human rights protections. But in practice, the government very rarely intervenes to make sure that that’s done.”

Since 2015, the indigenous community has prohibited Protestants and other religious minority landowners from accessing their land or cultivating crops. Among the 450 residents of the village, about 160 are members of the Baptist church, CSW told Baptist Press.

“The Baptist church has been growing even in the midst of the aggressions,” CSW quoted a source.

The U.S. Department of State, in is 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom; the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, in its 2017 Annual Report; and persecution watchdog Open Doors International, in its 2021 World Watch List of countries where Christians face the most persecution, have all reported that customs and use laws have led to the persecution of religious minorities.

Persecution from customs and use laws is more common in isolated communities with large indigenous populations, Stangl said, particularly Hidalgo, Guerrero, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Puebla and Michoacán.

CSW has asked Southern Baptists to pray for the communities and advocate with U.S. congressional leaders for intervention.

“This case is really typical in that it’s been going on for at least seven years,” Stangl said of the Rancho Nuevo case. “It began with the village taking away the basic rights of the Protestants and telling them they couldn’t vote anymore, they could no longer access medical services. In 2018 they forbade their children from attending the local school, which is a public school. Then it escalated to what we saw on the 21st of December.”

Hernández Hernández was attacked when she visited a plot of land she owns after a neighbor asked her to remove two trees, CSW reported, a move that might have been designed to intentionally draw Hernández Hernández to her attackers.

Radical Muslims Kill Christian After Religion Debate

By

Morning Star News

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January 12, 2023

Somali_Knife — AMISOM Public Information, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – A 37-year-old father of four was killed on Jan. 2 after participating in a Christian-Muslim debate in eastern Uganda at which 13 Muslims put their faith in Christ, sources said.

Ahamada Mafabi was returning from the debate in Nakaloke, Sironko District outside Mbale when men on two motorcycles shouting the jihadist slogan, “Allah Akbar [God is greater],” knocked him off his motorcycle and sliced his neck with a knife, one of the Christians sent to escort him said.

The attack took place at about 10 p.m. in Munkaga cell, Bukasakya Ward in Mbale, said his pastor, whose name is withheld for security reasons.

“Muslims responded openly to receiving Christ,” the pastor said of the public debate that took place before the attack. “There were shouts from the Muslims demanding that Mafabi leave the grounds of the meeting, saying, ‘Mafabi, stop your blasphemous utterance of equating Issa [Jesus] to God, calling him the Son of God.’”

Seeing the hostility, the pastor assigned two Christians to escort Mafabi to his home in Butaleja District, he said.

One of the men escorting him, whose name is withheld for security reasons, said they saw two motorcycles coming from behind carrying four people after they reached Munkaga.

“As they bypassed us, they shouted the Islamic slogan, ‘Allah Akbar’ and then hit our motorcycle down with a metal object,” he said, adding that he and the other escort fled for their lives. “The attackers overpowered him and cut his neck with a long Somali knife.”

Mafabi is survived by his wife and four children, ages 3 to 14 years old, all of whom need to be relocated, the pastor said.

Mafabi had left Islam to put his faith in Christ in December 2020 after several visits with the pastor in an undisclosed village in Butaleja District. Initially the pastor housed him to protect him from Islamists upset with his conversion, and later his church rented a house for him elsewhere.

Knowledgeable in both Islam and Christianity, Mafabi helped the pastor begin Christian-Muslim debates in mid-2021, and in one year more than 100 Muslims put their faith in Christ, he said. Mafabi faced severe Islamist hostility, escaping four assassination attempts, and the pastor also received threatening text messages.

One such message, he said, read, “Stop taking our members to your church. Let this be known to you that your church and your life is at risk.”

The pastor requested prayer for the widow and her children, who need support for food, shelter and school fees. He also expressed concern for his ministry’s newly built center for converts from Islam, where they are discipled and trained in job skills to make up for losing employment because of their faith.

The pastor has reported the crime, and police are investigating.

“I have some fears, but this is part of the spiritual warfare that comes with Christian persecution, and I am ready to face it,” he said.

The attack was the latest of many instances of persecution of Christians in Uganda that Morning Star News has documented.

Uganda’s constitution and other laws provide for religious freedom, including the right to propagate one’s faith and convert from one faith to another. Muslims make up no more than 12 percent of Uganda’s population, with high concentrations in eastern areas of the country.

This article originally appeared here.

Living Alone: A Christian Response to Rising Isolation

By

James Emery White

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January 12, 2023

The New York Times (NYT) recently ran an article on how more older Americans are living by themselves than ever before. In fact, people 50 and older who live alone constitute one of the country’s fastest-growing demographic groups.

To put this in perspective, in 1960 only 13% of all American households had a single occupant. Today it is fast approaching 30%. Among households headed by someone 50 or older, it climbs to 36%.

Among the factors driving this trend are changes in attitudes surrounding gender and marriage. As the NYT reports, “people 50-plus today are more likely than earlier generations to be divorced, separated or never married.”

Regardless of how people themselves may feel about their housing situation, the research has been deemed unequivocal: people aging alone experience worse physical and mental health outcomes and shorter life spans. According to the research of Markus Schafer, a sociologist at Baylor University, “Even with an active social and family life, [people in their 50s and 60s who live alone] are generally more lonely than those who live with others.”

In his groundbreaking book Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam noted the loss of social capital in the world. As the title suggests, once we bowled in leagues, now we bowl alone. Long before the time when the internet became the wallpaper of our life (Putnam’s book was released in 2000), there were already the signs of a culture becoming increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors and other social structures. Putnam notes that as the 19th century turned into the 20th, social capital was also at a low point. Urbanization, industrialization, and widespread immigration uprooted Americans from friends, social institutions and families. New organizations were created to fill the need. His book argued for needing to do the same as the 20th century turns into the 21st.

The Church is uniquely poised, as it has always been, to provide just that.

But the isolation and individualism present in our world is not simply solved through an embodied community. A recent Lifeway study found that less than half of all Christians active in church spend time with other believers to help them grow in their faith. The younger the age, the more individualistic they are. Two-thirds say they don’t need anyone in their life to help them walk with God.

This suggests that the need is not for less online community and more in-person community. Rather, the need is to use every available means at our disposal to foster community, and then to cast the biblical vision for going higher up and deeper in.

Or more to the point,

… closer in.

This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.

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3. Many church outreach programs fail because they do not feel natural.

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