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‘I’m Not a Religious Person’: Chris Pratt Discusses Faith, Hillsong, and Online Backlash

Chris Pratt
Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In a recent interview with Men’s Health, Hollywood star Chris Pratt expressed that he never intended to become an icon of Christian faith, noting that the criticism he has received for speaking about matters of faith in public forums baffles and frustrates him.

Pratt began developing a reputation as a man of faith after a speech he gave at the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards, wherein he said, “God is real. God loves you. God wants the best for you. Believe that. I do.”

“Nobody is perfect. People are going to tell you you’re perfect just the way you are—you’re not! You are imperfect—you always will be—but there is a powerful force that designed you that way, and if you’re willing to accept that, you will have grace, and grace is a gift,” Pratt went on to say in the speech. “And like the freedom that we enjoy in this country, that grace was paid for with somebody else’s blood. Do not forget it! Don’t take it for granted.”

RELATED: Fans Call for Chris Pratt To Be Recast in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ Claiming He Is Homophobic

Since that time, Pratt has experienced considerable backlash for his faith on a number of separate occasions, with some accusing the actor of being hateful and homophobic, despite him never having spoken publicly on issues concerning the LGBTQ community and being reportedly almost universally beloved by the actors and directors who have worked with him. 

In his interview with Men’s Health, Pratt reflected on how his 2018 speech has affected the trajectory of his public persona and reputation among online critics. 

“Maybe it was hubris. For me to stand up on the stage and say the things that I said, I’m not sure I touched anybody,” Pratt said. Pratt further expressed that he understands why he has received backlash for his association with Christianity, saying, “Religion has been oppressive as f**k for a long time.”

“I didn’t know that I would kind of become the face of religion when really I’m not a religious person,” Pratt said. “I think there’s a distinction between being religious—adhering to the customs created by man, oftentimes appropriating the awe reserved for who I believe is a very real God—and using it to control people, to take money from people, to abuse children, to steal land, to justify hatred. Whatever it is. The evil that’s in the heart of every single man has glommed on to the back of religion and come along for the ride.”

RELATED: ‘Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed’ Paints Brian Houston as a Man Bent on World Domination

Some of the online backlash Pratt has received centers on the actor’s alleged involvement with Hillsong Church, which has been the target of sharp criticism for its non-affirming stance with regard to LGBTQ issues. Hillsong has also made recent headlines amid accusations that the church has long cultivated an abusive leadership culture. 

Here Is Where Every State’s Abortion Legislation Currently Stand Now That Roe Has Been Overturned

A celebration outside the Supreme Court, Friday, June 24, 2022, in Washington. The Supreme Court has ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years — a decision by its conservative majority to overturn the court's landmark abortion cases. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that had provided a constitutional right to abortion. The ruling is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states, although the timing of those laws taking effect varies.

Some Republican-led states will ban or severely limit abortion immediately, while other restrictions will take effect later. At least one state, Texas, is waiting until after the Supreme Court issues its formal judgment in the case, which is separate from the opinion issued Friday and could take about a month.

RELATED: BREAKING: Supreme Court Overturns Roe

In anticipation of the decision, several states led by Democrats have taken steps to protect abortion access. The decision also sets up the potential for legal fights between the states over whether providers and those who help women obtain abortions can be sued or prosecuted.

Here is an overview of abortion legislation and the expected impact of the court’s decision in every state.

ALABAMA

Political control: Alabama has a Republican-controlled legislature and a Republican governor who want to ban or restrict access to abortions.

Background: In 2019, Alabama lawmakers approved what was then the most stringent abortion ban in the country, making it a felony to perform an abortion at any stage of pregnancy with no exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. The only exception would be when the woman’s health was at serious risk. A federal judge issued an injunction, under the precedent of Roe v. Wade, blocking the state from enforcing the law. In 2018, voters agreed to amend the Alabama Constitution to say the state recognizes the “rights of unborn children” and “does not protect the right to an abortion or require the funding of abortion.” A 1951 law made it a crime, punishable by up to 12 months in prison, to induce an abortion, unless it is done to preserve the life or health of the mother.

Effect of Supreme Court ruling: Abortions became almost entirely illegal in Alabama on Friday. A 2019 state abortion ban took effect making it a felony to perform an abortion at any stage of pregnancy, with no exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest. All three clinics stopped providing abortions Friday morning under fear of prosecution under the 1951 state law. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson hours later granted Alabama’s request to lift an injunction and allow the state to enforce the 2019 abortion ban. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said it is now a felony to provide an abortion in Alabama beyond the one exception allowed in the 2019 law, which is for the sake of the mother’s health. Doctors who violate the law could face up to 99 years in prison. Marshall said the state would also move to lift other injunctions that blocked previous abortion restrictions, including a requirement for doctors who perform abortions to have hospital admitting privileges.

What’s next: Some Republican lawmakers have said they would like to see the state replace the 2019 ban with a slightly less stringent bill that would allow exceptions in cases of rape or incest. Proponents said the 2019 ban was deliberately strict in the hopes of sparking a court challenge to Roe.

Unify Project Allows SBC To Set Gospel-Based Racial Unity Example

unify project
Renowned pastor and author Tony Evans joined SBC President Ed Litton and former SBC President Fred Luter to announce an initiative June 15 to build racial unity nationwide, conducted by the local church, called The Unify Project. The Unify Project will work in concert with The Urban Initiative, a ministry Evans co-founded in 1981 with his late wife Lois. (Baptist Press photo by Karen McCutcheon)

NEW ORLEANS (BP) – Fred Luter, the lone African American to have served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, sees great opportunity in the Unify Project, a new national grassroots racial unity initiative he’s leading with former SBC President Ed Litton and Dallas-area pastor Tony Evans.

“It would allow us to show that it is possible, according to the Scripture, for brothers and sisters to come together — of different backgrounds, ethnicities and cultures — and be the church that Jesus died for,” said Luter, senior pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans. “He died for everyone.”

Luter, Litton and Evans announced the Unify Project at the 2022 SBC Annual Meeting in Anaheim with plans to launch the pastor-driven program in the fall, backed by a diverse core steering committee.

Litton, pastor of Redemption Church in Mobile, Ala., said the initiative extends beyond Black and white cultural groups.

“It’s important to stress too, because we have received some questions about this, that this isn’t just an African American (and) Anglo American experience,” Litton said, but includes Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans and “all sorts of divisions racially in our culture.”

Evans, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas and a noted author, theologian and radio host, will help lead the Unify Project in concert with The Urban Alternative, a ministry he co-founded in 1981 with his late wife Lois.

Within a short time following the announcement in Anaheim, Litton said, the initiative drew more than 2,000 requests for information on the program (available by texting Unify to 63566), and more than 1,000 requests for information registered at Unifysbc.org.

“I think it expresses what has been a deep current within the SBC for the last five years, and that is people see this. They have a desire for it, but they lack a plan and a strategy,” Litton said. “And one of the things we set out to do was to say, let’s not talk about, let’s not over-debate the subject as it is in our culture. Let’s just see what the Gospel tells us to do. What does the Gospel expect the Lord’s church to do?”

Luter describes Unify as an opportunity for the SBC to lead in unity at a particularly divisive time in the U.S.

“This is one that every one of us who are real true believers in Jesus Christ can come together and support. It would be great that the Southern Baptist Convention would be known for a convention that comes together to unify people, and not to divide people,” Luter said. That’s what I hope would happen. Because this racial issue is something that’s happening across the country.”

The program will allow pastors to build meaningful cross-cultural relationships that could impact the nation, Luter said.

Despite Attacks, Christian Pregnancy Centers Poised to Expand as Roe Falls

pregnancy centers
Vandalization to the Mountain Area Pregnancy Services property in Asheville, North Carolina, June 7, 2022. Courtesy photo

(RNS) — One Tuesday in early June, Kristi Brown, executive director of Mountain Area Pregnancy Services in Asheville, North Carolina, arrived at work to find shattered windows, a broken door and red, spray-painted text scrawled across the sidewalk. “If abortions aren’t safe, neither are you,” the graffiti read.

A month earlier, Politico had published a draft majority opinion in the Mississippi abortion rights case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, showing that the Supreme Court had voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. Since the draft opinion was leaked, at least a dozen pregnancy centers like Mountain Area have suffered attacks, many of which have been claimed by what appears to be a radical abortion’s rights group called Jane’s Revenge.

“You hope it’s never you, but you know it’s always a possibility,” said Brown.

With the formal announcement of the Dobbs decision on Friday (June 24), pregnancy centers in Lynchburg, Virginia, and Longmont, Colorado, were vandalized or set ablaze, just as centers braced for the influx of clients they expect in a post-Roe world.

Crisis pregnancy centers do not support or offer abortions. Instead, these organizations, most of them sponsored or run by Christians, offer free parenting classes, pregnancy tests and post-abortion counseling, hoping to give clients the option to carry their pregnancies to term. While most are not licensed medical facilities, some offer ultrasounds to confirm pregnancies or testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases.

While the centers believe they embody Christ’s love by serving what they nearly uniformly call “the unborn,” they have been long criticized by abortion rights advocates, who say the centers intentionally mislead women. Offering “pregnancy services” or “free pre-termination evaluations,” they draw women who may think the centers provide abortions. Ultrasound images are often used to help dissuade women from seeking abortion.

Planned Parenthood calls crisis pregnancy centers “fake clinics” and says they aim to “scare, shame, or pressure you out of getting an abortion” while withholding “honest facts about sexual health and your pregnancy options.”

James Harden. Photo courtesy CompassCare

James Harden. Photo courtesy of CompassCare

But crisis pregnancy centers already outnumber abortion clinics, even before some clinics began shuttering across the country in the wake of the Dobbs decision, and some pregnancy centers are moving to expand their role.

Post-Roe, pregnancy center directors say their organizations will have a better chance of reaching clients before they access abortion clinics.

“For pro-life pregnancy centers, we for the first time have the opportunity to compete head-on with this billion-dollar abortion business,” said James Harden, CEO of CompassCare, a Christian pregnancy organization in upstate New York.

Mountain Area Pregnancy Services, a faith-based organization that partners with over 100 local churches, often refers clients to an adoption agency it partners with and soon hopes to support a local foster care program, said Brown.

“If we do get an influx, we are then prepared to add staff and to add machinery, whatever we need to do,” added Brown, who said the vandalism at the center hasn’t deterred the staff.

Adam Wyatt: How To Be a Biblical Patriot, Not a Christian Nationalist

adam wyatt
Photo courtesy of Adam Wyatt

Dr. Adam Wyatt currently serves as the senior pastor of Corinth Baptist Church in Magee, Mississippi. He received his Ph.D. in Biblical Theology from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Adam has a heart for church revitalization and has served in various denominational roles within the Southern Baptist Convention. His new book is “Biblical Patriotism: An Evangelical Alternative to Nationalism.”

Other Ways to Listen to This Podcast With Adam Wyatt

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Key Questions for Adam Wyatt

-How do you define “patriotism” and “nationalism”?

-Why not just be a citizen of the kingdom of heaven and a world Christian? Why also be a patriotic citizen of one’s nation?

-What do you think the 2020 presidential election showed us about patriotism and nationalism?

-How do you advise church leaders to navigate patriotism in church contexts?

Key Quotes From Adam Wyatt

“So many people use nationalism and patriotism interchangeably, and some are pro both and some use them wrongly.”

“The way I define patriotism is it’s rooted in loyalty for our country, our home country, our land, our people and our culture. And I actually make the claim that a proper, biblically informed patriotism is the proper alternative to both nationalism and cosmopolitanism.”

“Nationalism is seeking to exalt our country over others.”

“I don’t think it’s wrong to be political. God’s given us in our country the ability to vote, and I’m thankful for that because we actually have a role to play in the political process. But also at the same time, because of social media and division and disunity and different opinions, there’s no middle ground anymore.”

“Patriotism has become a toxic word, and I think that’s unfair.”

“As a pastor, you can have your own personal opinion, but you’ve also got to be sensitive to your people while also trying to lovingly shepherd them well. And so I think there’s a tension.”

In Defiance of US Bishops, Nancy Pelosi Receives Communion at the Vatican

nancy pelosi
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., looks at Pope Francis as he celebrates a Mass on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, June 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — In defiance of some U.S. bishops, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, reportedly received communion during a mass presided over by Pope Francis on Wednesday (June 29) for the celebration of the feast of St. Peter and Paul.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone announced June 1 that the Catholic congresswoman is banned from receiving communion in her home diocese of San Francisco due to her abortion rights stance. Since then, she has been barred from receiving the sacrament in four dioceses.

Pelosi called the recent pronouncement by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade an “outrageous and heart-wrenching” decision. The U.S. Catholic bishops lauded the court’s decision, which they said overturned “an unjust law that has permitted some to decide whether others can live or die.”

Pelosi met with Francis on Wednesday before the service and received a blessing, according to one of the Mass attendees.

Sitting in the VIP section during the traditional Mass at St. Peter’s to celebrate the patron saints of Rome, Pelosi listened to Pope Francis’ homily before receiving communion from one of the many priests in the Basilica, according to eyewitnesses. Francis has rarely distributed Communion, citing precisely the desire to prevent politicization of the sacrament.

Last year, President Joe Biden, another Catholic who also supports abortion rights, said after meeting with Francis that the pontiff told him to continue receiving the sacrament. Biden later received Communion during a Mass in a Rome church that is under the authority of Francis as bishop of Rome.

In his homily, Francis urged faithful to “Go to the crossroads and bring everyone: blind, deaf, lame, sick, righteous, sinful, everyone, everyone! This word of the Lord must resound, resound in the mind and heart: everyone! In the Church there is room for everyone,” adding that “many times we become a Church with open doors but to dismiss people, to condemn people.”

Last year, Pope Francis told reporters on his return flight from Central Europe that he has never denied Communion to anyone and criticized bishops who didn’t act as shepherds and “aligned themselves with political life, on political problems.” The Vatican’s doctrinal department, in a letter in May of last year, urged the U.S. bishops to engage in dialogue among themselves and with Catholic politicians before reaching any decision.

RELATED: This Pride Month, Catholic Church shows clear, if subtle, shifts toward LGBTQ welcome

During the Mass on Wednesday, Pope Francis blessed the palliums, the liturgical vestments, of new metropolitan archbishops. He told the archbishops in attendance to “fight the good fight,” but to do so with the entirety of the faithful, without considering themselves superior.

After the Mass, Pelosi met with representatives of the Catholic charitable movement St. Egidio where she spoke in support of Ukrainian refugees and made a donation of $25,000.

Longtime, Pro-life Advocates in SBC Rejoice at Roe’s Demise

Pro-life
A family of abortion opponents stand outside the Jackson Women's Health Organization clinic in Jackson, Saturday, June 25, 2022. The clinic is the only facility that performs abortions in the state. However on Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending constitutional protections for abortion. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

NASHVILLE (BP)—Southern Baptists who have advocated for preborn children and their mothers for decades rejoiced at the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of nearly 50 years of nationwide, legalized abortion while acknowledging much work remains.

A day many persistent, pro-life advocates had long sought and prayed for arrived June 24, when the high court overruled its 1973 Roe v. Wade opinion – as well as the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey ruling that affirmed Roe — and returned abortion policy to the states. About half of the 50 states have enacted or are soon expected to enact abortion bans throughout pregnancy or at some stage of pregnancy.

The Supreme Court’s 5-4 opinion in Dobbs v. Mississippi Women’s Health Organization brought an end to an abortion rule established by Roe that cost the lives of more than an estimated 63 million preborn children.

The Southern Baptist Convention provided a leading voice among American religious groups that opposed the abortion regime produced by Roe and advocated for pro-life protections in public policies.  Messengers to the SBC’s annual meetings called for the end of legalized abortion through a series of pro-life resolutions adopted since 1980. This year, messengers approved a resolution that urged the Supreme Court to overturn Roe and Casey and encouraged states to enact pro-life policies.

RELATED: BREAKING: Supreme Court Overturns Roe

Among the many Southern Baptists who have prayed and worked for a pro-life America in law and culture, several leaders in the cause offered their reactions to Baptist Press regarding Roe’s reversal. They have advocated for life through such means as leading SBC entities; preaching in churches; teaching in seminaries, universities and colleges; advocating for pro-life policies at the federal and state level; promoting pro-life resolutions at the convention’s annual meeting; writing for publication; and/or serving in and establishing pregnancy resource centers.

Here are the responses provided by those Southern Baptists to the Supreme Court’s monumental decision:

— Richard Land served as president of the Christian Life Commission (CLC), later renamed the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), from 1988 to 2013. Already a long-time, pro-life advocate, Land was the first head of the entity to champion and prioritize the issue on behalf of Southern Baptists. He retired as president of Southern Evangelical Seminary in 2021.

“Now that the prayers of millions of Southern Baptists and other Christians have been answered, and the egregious 1973 Roe v. Wade decision has been pitched onto the ash heap of history, pro-life Christians should do two things,” Land told BP. “First, give praise and honor to our Heavenly Father for giving us this victory. Second, thank all the fellow pro-life Christians you know for their efforts and prayers over the five decades when the Supreme Court substantially took away our right to decide the nation’s law on this most foundational of issues – the sanctity of all human life.

“It has been a long battle for me — I have been pro-life since 1964, when I came into direct contact with a 12- to 14-week-old human fetus being displayed in my high school biology class. This baby was just as human as I was, merely at an earlier stage of development.

“I believe God in His providence provided me with that experience so I would never doubt the full humanity of any human baby. I was physically nauseous when the Roe v. Wade decision was announced in 1973.”

Why Learning To Move Past an Offense Is the Best Thing for You

communicating with the unchurched

Years ago, I worked with a highly skilled Director of Photography. Frankly, he was brilliant and had an amazing eye. But years before he had been stiffed financially by a producer. It was a significant amount of money, and he was devastated. But the problem was from that point on he looked at everything through that lens. It was all he’d talk about on the set. He brought it up in every conversation. He was obsessed and couldn’t get past it. As a result, people stopped hiring him because they frankly got sick of hearing about it.

In another case a man’s wife left him after only a few years of marriage. He too was devastated and it consumed every conversation. He couldn’t hold a job, and he drove most of his friends away, because it became an obsession that lasted for decades.

When I was starting college, my own father was fired from his job as the pastor of a church. It was engineered by an elder that didn’t like him preaching on the Holy Spirit. My father was gravely wronged, but he couldn’t let it go. Even though he moved on in ministry and started new churches, he couldn’t stop obsessing about the incident. Almost four decades later, when I went to visit him literally on his deathbed, it was the first thing he wanted to discuss.

I could share many more examples, but the point is, whatever wrong, frustration, or offense you’ve experienced shouldn’t become the lens you view everything else through.

Because you were financially taken advantage of doesn’t mean everyone will take advantage of you.
Because one person let you down doesn’t mean everyone else will.
Because you had a bad experience in a local church, it doesn’t mean the corporate Church has failed.

I’m not a counselor, but I know that when you hold on to that hurt and pain and make it the centerpoint of your life, you’ll never get past it.

People have experienced horrific levels of abuse, neglect, and more and were still able to look forward and move on with their life. It’s what “resilience” is all about. Holding onto the pain only elevates the person who offended you or took advantage.

Your life is more important and valuable than that. Leave it to God, and move on.

This article originally appeared here and is used by permission. 

The Church Needs Preaching That Lasts – Not “Particle Board Preaching”

communicating with the unchurched

I sometimes put myself through the painful experience of listening to the sermons of pastors outside of my own ecclesiastical circle in order to hear what is being taught in other churches–both in surrounding areas and abroad. More often than not, what I hear is anything but Christian preaching. Rather, what I hear is moral advice, life management coaching, political posturing, calls for social activism, emotionally-driven schmarmy, and a variety of works-righteousness, spiritual pep-rallies cloaked in a veneerer of biblical truth. It’s what I have called “particle board preaching.” Particle board preaching, like particle board furniture, can be made to look attractive from the outside, is affordable, and convinces us that it will get the job done; however, we can be absolutely sure of one thing–it won’t have lasting spiritual benefit for the souls of the people who listen to it (1 Cor. 3:11-15). It is not preaching that lasts. If the pastors who preach in these ways ever get around to mentioning Christ in their messages, it is almost always in a passing reference to Him as the example of one who was devoted to God so that we can be too; or, it is in a closing moment the pastor tells the congregation, “Above everything else, it needs to be about Jesus; it needs to be about Jesus.” That’s it. No cross. No atonement. No propitiation. No resurrection. No ascension. No intercession. No justification. No forgiveness. No reconciliation. No sanctification. No adoption. No glory. In short, no Jesus.

When I hear these sermons, two emotions rage inside of me–the first is anger, the second is sadness. It angers me because I know that this sort of preaching will not get those who are listening to it to heaven. I am angry because the man who is preaching these things is preaching for the wrong reasons–whether it be money, numbers, publicity, etc. I am sad because many of those listening have never heard a faithful exposition on a text of Scripture, in which God’s word is rightly divided and the redeeming glory of Christ is proclaimed. Many of the people listening to these messages have never heard the true Gospel. It saddens me because I know that others have heard solid preaching and, at least, the basic tenets of the Gospel, and have rejected it for what they are currently being fed–a milquetoast, quasi-Christian message that will do them no eternal good. So much what passes for Christian preaching is really nothing less than false teaching.

None of this should surprise us. The Apostle Paul warned Timothy that “the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth” (2 Tim. 4:3-4). The Apostle Peter warned those to whom he wrote that “there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you” (2 Peter 2:1). In fact, the entire New Testament was written, in part, to combat the plethora of theological and moral error by which believers were constantly in danger of being led astray.

So, how can we discern whether or not we are sitting under biblically faithful preaching and teaching? What tools can we give others to help them know whether or not they are listening to solid preaching, preaching that lasts? Here are a few suggestions:

Read the Scriptures Prayerfully and Perseveringly.

Discernment will only ever come from personal, prayerful and persevering time in God’s word. The Holy Spirit commended the Bereans for being “more fair-minded” than those in Thessanonica because, “they received the word [from the Apostle Paul] with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures dailyto find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11). The more we know the Scriptures, the more we will desire to sit under the faithful proclamation of the Christian message of Christ crucified and risen.

Listen to the Sermons of Trusted Preachers.

One of the great privileges that we have today is that of being able to listen to some of the greatest preachers of the last 75 years such as Martyn Lloyd-Jones, James Boice, Sinclair Ferguson, Eric Alexander, Derek Thomas,William Still, Edward Donnelly, Ligon Duncan, H.B. Charles Jr., Ian Hamilton, Phil Ryken, Rick Phillips, Joseph Pipa, Joel Beeke, Mike Campbell, Kent Hughes, D. A. Carson, Voddie Baucham, Mark Dever, John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, Alistair Begg and many more. Sites like Monergism, Sermon Audio and The Gospel Coalition make finding other solid preachers much easier.

The more we are trained in listening to good preaching, the more discerning we will be when it comes to what sort of preaching we should be sitting under in a local church. Listening to respected preachers should never be a replacement for sitting under the weekly ministry of a faithful pastor in a solid local church. It should, however, serve to help us know what sort of preaching we should be desirous of sitting under.

Make Use of Trusted Church Search Sites.

So, how do we find a solid local church? The Presbyterian Church in America, the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the Reformed Baptist Network, the United Reformed Church, the Founder’s Movement, 9 Marks and Gospel Coalition have added “church search” lists to their sites. While there is no sure guarantee that the churches listed on these sites are going to have faithful biblical and Christ-centered preaching, the chances of finding one that does on these sites is much higher than it is with anything else online.

As the people of God, we don’t need preaching that touches a momentary itch–we need preaching that lasts for the eternal well-being of the souls of God’s people. We need to find local churches in which the word of God is faithfully preached. Expositional, gospel-centered, applicatory preaching is vital for giving the people of God something to latch onto with their minds and something that touches to the inner recesses of their hearts. We need to be under the influence of the ministry of the word to such an extent that we will be able to discern error, grow in grace, and stand firm when the evil one comes in like a flood. May God give His people a desire to find such churches and such faithful preachers of the word.

 

This article about preaching that lasts originally appeared here, and is used by permission.

From “Why” to “Who” – Learning the Right Question

communicating with the unchurched

The wisest people are not those with all the answers. Wisdom teaches us to ask the right questions. Asking the right question leads to the right answer, and the right answer is always a person—never a reason. Among the educated, the privileged, or the elite the right question seems to be Why; but among the humble, the lowly, or the disciple, asking the right question is the journey from Why to Who.

From “Why” to “Who” – Learning the Right Question

Not only are we a people of unclean lips, we have become a people of prideful questions. On the lips of the childlike, Why is a question of wonder and awe; on the lips of a grown-up Why becomes a demand for accountability. Why summons those we hold responsible before the court of our understanding. And the bigger the issue, it always ends up being God:

Why did God make this happen?

Why didn’t God intervene?

Why did God give this illness or take my loved one?

We foolishly believe that if we can understand the reasons behind an event, we will be equipped to cope with it. Yet it turns out that Why never brings comfort. Cold is the comfort and hollow the explanations of people who deal in Why-answers. We ask, Why did this have to happen—and even if we could actually receive a full accounting—it brings no comfort.

Asking Who brings the Comforter near. Why demands an answer. Who seeks a comforter. Why deals in theories, ideas and concepts. Who leads us to a Person.

Even in the middle of Apostle Paul’s most theological letter, filled with theology, explanations, and reasoning we see the importance of Who. When he despaired of his wretchedness he cried out “Who will deliver me?

Who can I turn to?

Who will deliver me?

Who will walk with me?

Deeper still, Who leads us to look beyond ourselves. After we have turned toward the Comforter, the Spirit gently urges us to become the presence of Who for others:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 

This is the heart of ministry, because it’s the heart of God, the one who simply promises, “I am with you, always.”

 

This article on asking the right question originally appeared here, and is used by permission.

Ed Stetzer: Why Westboro Called Me A ‘Lying Whore False Prophet’

communicating with the unchurched

When you come into my Wheaton College office, you will notice a strange nameplate. It says, “Lying Whore False Prophet.” A few years ago, I explained the story at my former blog. I have updated it here.

Some time ago, I was part of The Nines, an online leadership event hosted by my friends at Leadership Network. The topic of my video was how churches can best handle disruptive situations.

For the video, I reflected on an experience Philip Nation and I had with Westboro “Baptist Church.” (I actually prefer the term non-Baptist, non-Church.) They picketed the church we were serving at the time.

As the video aired, the folks at Westboro tweeted from their now-suspended account.

“Every day around the world a lying whore false prophet like @edstetzer holds forth about Westboro’s testimony. #GotTheirAttention #PraiseGod

– MargiePhelps (@MargieJPhelps) October 25, 2012

If that’s the kind of label they want to put on people whose desire is to show and share the love of Jesus Christ to all kinds of people, then by all means consider me (as my Twitter bio read for a while) a Christian, Husband, Father, President of Lifeway Research, Missiologist, Pastor, Lying Whore False Prophet.

So, if believing that God loves us—including sinners, and (yes) protestors—then I am guilty.

Now, thanks to Lizette Beard, I have a nameplate that including my new title, “Lying Whore False Prophet.” I plan to keep it on my desk just to explain that God loves all people— which was what the Westboro folks objected to.

Lauren Boebert Under Fire for Saying ‘I’m Tired of This Separation of Church and State Junk’

lauren boebert
U.S. Congresswoman-elect Lauren Boebert speaking with attendees at the 2020 Student Action Summit hosted by Turning Point USA at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

U.S. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert has come under fire for saying she is “tired of all this separation of church and state junk that’s not in the Constitution.” Boebert made her comments, which have gone viral, at Cornerstone Christian Center in Basalt, Colorado, on Sunday, June 26.

“The church is supposed to direct the government,” said Boebert, who represents Colorado’s Third Congressional District. “The government is not supposed to direct the church. That is not how our founding fathers intended it, and I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk that’s not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter, and it means nothing like what they say it does.”

Lauren Boebert on Church and State

Rep. Lauren Boebert, who is squaring off against Rep. Don Coram in a primary election Tuesday, June 28, is a controversial figure. Last year, she made headlines when she compared her colleague Rep. Ilhan Omar to a terrorist.

RELATED: ​​Christians Need to Get Political, Say Eric Metaxas, Lauren Boebert, Sean Feucht at Hold the Line in Colorado Springs

Earlier this month, Boebert drew criticism for joking that she prays that President Biden’s days will “be few” and that another will “take his office,” referencing Psalm 109

Now, some are taking Boebert’s remarks on the separation of church and state as an overt call for a theocracy. The letter to which Boebert alluded was written by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association. In the letter, Jefferson addressed the group’s concerns about religious liberty, saying: 

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.

After Returning Home From Church, a 3-Year-Old’s Tragic Death in Hot Vehicle Sparks Reminder for Parents

Kendrick Engram
(L)Three-year-old Kendrick Engram Jr. -Screengrab via WTVM photo by Cassandra Thomas (R) Family's SUV Screengrab via WTVM

On Sunday (June 26), Kendrick Engram Jr., a 3-year-old from Columbus, Georgia, was tragically found unresponsive in the back seat of a Nissan SUV after he was accidentally left in the heat-soaked vehicle.

According to Buddy Bryan of Muscogee County Coroner’s office, the young boy was still strapped in his car seat when he was found. Bryan said that the boy appeared to have attempted to free himself but was ultimately pronounced dead at 8:32 p.m. The cause of death was asphyxiation from the 89 to 95 degrees of heat inside the SUV.

The boy’s grandmother, along with three of her other grandchildren, had gone to church earlier that day. After returning home, they didn’t realize the 3-year-old was left in the SUV.

RELATED: ‘We Will Adopt Your Baby’: Pro-Life Signs Spark Mockery of Evangelicals

Not knowing that the toddler was still strapped in the vehicle’s third row back seat, the boy’s uncle used the SUV to make a Wendy’s ice cream run. That is when his grandmother realized her grandson was missing.

Around 8:15 p.m., almost three hours after the 3-year-old was accidentally left inside the vehicle, his uncle found him while in the Wendy’s parking lot after receiving a call from the boy’s grandmother asking him to check for Kendrick in the SUV.

Bryan encouraged parents and guardians to “just be aware. Just be aware. If you’re an adult, be responsible. The children are innocent. They can’t help themselves, and when you have a child, that puts the responsibility on you.”

It is still unknown if the family will face charges for the boy’s death, as the investigation is ongoing.

Jannet Fennell is the founder and president of Kids and Car Safety, which exists to inform people of the danger kids face in and around vehicles. The organization provides resources that relate to children involved non-traffic vehicle related injuries and deaths.

Fennell and her team report that there were 23 heat-related car death involving children in 2021, and Kendrick is the seventh child to die from similar incidents in the nation this year.

“Every day that we delay in advancing these cost-effective detection technologies means children are needlessly at risk of dying. An occupant detection and alert system could have gotten assistance to this sweet angel before it was too late,” Fennell told WBNS News.

RELATED: Beloved Houston Pastor Murdered in Apparent Road Rage Incident

Kids and Car Safety provides a list of safety tips for parents and caregivers to create habits that will avoid such tragedies in the future. It can be viewed here.

‘We Will Adopt Your Baby’: Pro-Life Signs Spark Mockery of Evangelicals

We Will Adopt Your Baby
Screenshot from Twitter / @wildlytweeting

Following Friday’s Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, Americans on both sides of the abortion debate attended weekend rallies and protests. In the sea of homemade signs, a few stood out—and these signs are now being ridiculed online.

On Twitter, two photos are going viral of white couples holding signs stating “We Will Adopt Your Baby.” One was first posted on June 25 by a Twitter user who described it as “my favorite sign yesterday.” The date of the other image isn’t specified.

‘We Will Adopt Your Baby’: Abortion Supporters Call Signs Disingenuous

The couples and their signs are now targets of abortion advocates who criticize the sentiment as well as the system. One person tweets: “The amount of vaguely creepy-looking white couples holding up signs that say ‘Don’t abort. We will adopt your baby’ while more than 400,000 children are languishing in foster care in the United States tells you all you need to know about Evangelical Americans.”

Another person writes: “’We Will Adopt Your Baby’ but hundreds of thousands of kids could use families in the US right now, why haven’t you done it already?” An estimated 424,000 children are in foster care in America on any given day.

A self-identified foster mom calls the adoption pleas “disingenuous,” tweeting: “If you cared you would be doing something NOW, but you just want the glory of ‘saving kids’ with none of the responsibility.”

Several tweets incorporate Justice Samuel Alito’s reference to the “domestic supply of infants,” a phrase the CDC uses regarding adoption availability. One person tweets: “Women in crisis are not your way to skip the line with the shortage of the ‘domestic supply of infants.’ Acting like the child deserves a good life if you give them away but deserves poverty if you keep them is disgusting. That is the message heard loud and clear.”

She adds: “The moral of the story is don’t badger pregnant women to give you their baby. … There isn’t a human alive that doesn’t know that adoption is an option.”

Other people point out the health risks of pregnancy and childbirth, the expense of adoption, and the trauma some adoptees face. One claims that “evangelicals beat their children severely at much higher rates than the general population,” often because of “deep racism against transracial adoptees.”

Memes Mock ‘We Will Adopt Your Baby’ Signs

Backlash against the adoption message quickly led to sarcastic memes. Many feature notorious pairs, including Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, the St. Louis couple who pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters, and fictional duos from movies such as “Raising Arizona” and “Harry Potter.” Some people altered the signs to read “We Will Eat Your Baby” and “You Will Birth Us Children.”

Lifeway Research: Patriotic Displays Common in July 4th Church Services

Photo by Andrew Ruiz (via Unsplash)

Protestant pastors say they will worship God and honor America at church services this weekend, and they’re not too worried churchgoers will confuse the two.

Most pastors (56%) say it’s important to incorporate patriotic elements into worship services the week of July 4th to celebrate America, including 27% who strongly agree, according to a Lifeway Research study of 1,000 U.S. Protestant pastors. Two in 5 pastors (42%) disagree, and 2% aren’t sure.

These findings represent a small decrease from a 2016 Lifeway Research study, when 61% of pastors felt such worship service elements were important.

“While not a date on the Christian calendar, most Protestant churches adjust their worship services to acknowledge the birth of the United States each July,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “For most churches, it isn’t just tradition. The majority of pastors agree it’s important to incorporate it into the worship experience.”

Pastors with no college degree (70%) or a bachelor’s degree (67%) are more likely to see elements celebrating America as important than those with a master’s (46%) or doctoral degree (50%).

Evangelical pastors (64%) are more likely than their mainline counterparts (48%) to value timely patriotic elements in the worship service.

Denominationally, Pentecostal pastors (77%) and those at non-denominational churches (70%) are more likely than Methodist (52%), Lutheran (48%), Presbyterian/Reformed (44%) and Restorationist movement pastors (29%) to see value in special Independence Day additions.

Younger pastors, those 18 to 44, are the most likely to say the worship service doesn’t need patriotic additions (65%).

Specific Worship Service Changes

Regardless of their opinions on the importance of patriotic elements, few pastors have worship services as usual the week of Independence Day. For 15% of U.S. Protestant pastors, services are no different than other weeks.

Most pastors say the Fourth of July changes involve honoring veterans and their families as well as patriotic music. A majority say they recognize those with family currently serving in the armed forces (59%), include special music honoring America (58%), recognize living veterans (56%) or recognize families who have lost loved ones in service to our country (54%).

Three in 10 pastors say they include other special ceremonies to honor America, and 14% make other changes to the service.

“Changes to July 4th church services today are similar to those described by pastors in 2016 with significant emphasis on people who have served in the military,” said McConnell. “The biggest change is fewer churches including special music related to America (58% compared to 66% in 2016).”

Lawsuit Against David Platt, McLean Bible Church Dismissed

David Platt
Screengrab via YouTube

A year-long battle within McLean Bible Church, a multisite congregation located in the Washington, D.C. area, over a disputed elder election appears to have come to an end. On Friday, a lawsuit against the church, which is pastored by David Platt, was dismissed with prejudice.

The lawsuit revolved around the accusation of some members of McLean Bible Church that Platt and other church leaders had violated the church’s constitution in the way they conducted the election of new elders in June 2021. 

The church requires that new elder selections receive a 75% vote of affirmation. In 2021, for the first time in the church’s six decade history, the elder selections were not confirmed by the congregation’s vote. 

Following the vote, Platt addressed a whisper campaign a small group of church members had launched against him and other church leaders. The heart of the dispute was the concern of some members that Platt’s becoming the church’s lead pastor in 2017 represented a liberal drift within the church, as Platt has been a vocal proponent of racial justice.

RELATED: David Platt and McLean Bible Church Elders Sued After Recent Elder Vote Exposes Major Problems

A Facebook page called “Save McLean Bible Church” launched in June 2021, serving as an online forum for disgruntled members and former members to air their grievances with the church’s leadership. 

In a sermon on June 30, 2021, Platt told the church that this group of dissident members was spreading misinformation about him, including the lie that he intended to sell the church’s building to a Muslim group so that it could be converted into a mosque. 

Platt further argued that based on this disinformation, the small group of members had rallied inactive members of the church to be present at the church’s business meeting in order to vote down elder selections. 

A subsequent vote was held with new elder selections, and McLean Bible Church leadership took measures to ensure that only active members voted. The new elder selections were confirmed.

What constituted an “active member” was in dispute following the vote, as the church’s constitution had defined membership by regular attendance, and the pandemic had disrupted in-person gatherings. This dispute led to five church members suing Platt and the church. 

RELATED: David Platt on the Problems With Saying ‘You Can’t Be a Christian and Vote For…’

In June of this year, McLean held a revote for the 2021 elder selections in response to the lawsuit, appointing a neutral party to oversee the vote’s casting and counting. That vote was completed without incident, and the elders were confirmed. 

This Pride Month, Catholic Church Shows Clear, if Subtle, Shifts Toward LGBTQ Welcome

pride month
A rainbow shines over St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, on Jan. 31, 2021. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — During the characteristically bombastic celebrations for Pride Month in many countries all over the world this June, the Catholic Church, guided by Pope Francis, has quietly shown welcome to the lgbtqia2s+ community, while avoiding changes to doctrine.

“Catholic LGBTQ ministry has been expanding astronomically in the last decade,” said Francis DeBernardo, executive director at New Ways Ministry, a Catholic outreach program aimed at promoting inclusion and justice for the LGBTQ community, in a comment to Religion News Service on Friday (June 24).

“Pope Francis’ welcoming statements and gestures are the main reason for this greater openness to LGBTQ people,” he added.

Six transexual women from different cultural and social backgrounds walked into the Vatican for a private audience with Pope Francis on Wednesday (June 22). The meeting was not announced on the pope’s daily schedule and was organized by Sister Genevieve Jeanningros, 79, known for her work with marginalized groups, including circus performers, the homeless and members of the trans community.

Jeanningros, who does her ministry from a chapel located in a small caravan parked next to a funfair in the Roman port town of Ostia, has known the pope since his election in 2013. She told the Italian online media outlet Fanpage that she asked Francis if she could bring more than one person to the Vatican, to which he allegedly answered: “Bring them all.”

One of the trans women who visited the pope, Alessia, said the meeting with Francis “was emotional” and “they felt welcomed.”

“On Pride Month I think this is an important message,” she said. “The best part of having spoken to Pope Francis is that it was simply a meeting among people and not focused on our differences.”

Pope Francis delivers his blessing as he recites the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sept. 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis delivers his blessing as he recites the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Sept. 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

This isn’t the first time Pope Francis, who once worked as a nightclub bouncer in his native town of Buenos Aires, Argentina, has shown openness and interest in welcoming members of the LGBTQ community. During the pandemic, he asked papal almoner Cardinal Konrad Krajewski to support a group of trans sex workers who had found refuge in a parish on the outskirts of Rome. The pope has written letters of encouragement to Catholics who minister to the LGBTQ community all over the world, and on Easter of 2021 he invited a trans community in Rome to meet him at the Vatican and helped them get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Pope Francis “has given people courage, and his approach of dialogue and accompaniment has given people a Catholic explanation for how LGBTQ inclusion can be authentically Catholic,” DeBernardo said.

The Catholic Church has not made any changes to doctrine concerning LGBTQ people, and according to its catechism, homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.” But Pope Francis’ message of welcome and inclusion toward marginalized people has had ripple effects in the Catholic Church, effects that have become especially evident during this Pride Month.

One example, DeBernardo said, “is how many Catholic parishes now participate in pride parades and festivals.” New Ways Ministry, founded in 1977, was accustomed to only one such example a year. “Now, Catholic parishes’ participation in pride events is becoming a normal part of pride celebrations, and a normal part of Catholic parish life.”

On Father’s Day (June 19), Alex Shingleton and Landon Duyka, a civilly married gay couple with two daughters, stood before congregants at Old Saint Patrick’s Church in the Archdiocese of Chicago to read a reflection on the homily.

SATF Shares Expectations for Implementation Task Force

abuse reform
Photo courtesy of Baptist Press.

NASHVILLE (BP) — The work of a yet-to-be-appointed Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force (ARITF) is likely to take years, with an initial report ordered to be given at the 2023 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in New Orleans next June.

Marshall Blalock, vice chairman of the Sex Abuse Task Force (SATF) that recommended the new group, said guidelines are in place to allow as long as three years for some of the work.

“We anticipated it would take the implementation task force at least one year, maybe two years, and on the outside maybe three years,” Blalock said. “We’re hoping this next year is extremely productive and that (SBC) president (Bart) Barber is able to have a task force that’s ready to go to work and understands its responsibilities and can see some of these things move at a good pace.”

RELATED: SBC Messengers Lament, Take Steps To Address Sexual Abuse

Barber expects to name the members of the task force by the end of July after a debriefing by the SATF, he tweeted from his Farmersville, Texas, farm June 22.

“After that’s all finished, then I’m going to be moving forward quickly to name the members of this task force and get them started. I expect that I’ll have that done before the end of July, because it’s just going to take some time to process through what the task force tells me and to turn that into recommendations for people to serve,” Barber said. “Pray for me, because this is going to be one of the most important things I do this year.”

The new implementation task force, as approved by messengers, is authorized to work for one year, with the term renewable annually as needed.

“We originally were thinking that it was going to take longer than a year because we’ve had nine months, and we just got started in some respects. But we don’t know how long it will take,” said Blalock, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Charleston, S.C. “And one of the good things that we’ve already learned is that many of our state conventions are already acting on some of the (challenges and requests) we have made. And the local church and the local associations and the local Baptist conventions, that is the state convention, (have) a more grassroots ability to help affect things at the local level.”

The SATF hopes, Blalock said, that local associations, churches and state conventions will help create a culture that enables people to prevent sex abuse, policies that prevent the crime, a system that provides care and help for abuse survivors, and a society where sex abuse is no longer tolerated.

“We hope that happens at a grassroots level,” he said. “There’s no way to know how long that part will take, but what we’re seeing so far is really good progress.”

The implementation task force is charged with work the SATF clearly delineated in its two recommendations approved by messengers to the 2022 SBC Annual Meeting in Anaheim, with the added stipulation that the new task force adheres to “best practices in keeping with Southern Baptist church polity.”

RELATED: SBC Apologizes to Sexual Abuse Survivors, Reaffirms Pro-Life Beliefs in Resolutions Adopted at Annual Meeting

The implementation task force is to:

— Study the Guidepost recommendations for feasibility and bring an initial report to the 2023 annual meeting on which reforms could be adopted by the convention and how they should be implemented, including Guidepost’s recommendations for a survivor care fund and a memorial, auditing the Caring Well curriculum, and the possible creation of a permanent committee or entity.

— Assist SBC entities in studying the recommendations from Guidepost and provide advice on voluntary implementation of reforms relevant to each entity’s ministry assignment.

Churches Give Thanks for Supreme Court Decision, Recommit To Protect Life

southern baptists
Chris Johnson, vice president of church partnerships and government affairs for Lifeline Children’s Services, speaks during a worship service at FBC Concord, Tenn. on June 26. (Facebook photo)

CONCORD, Tenn. (BP) – On the Sunday after the Supreme Court’s historic overturning of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision on Friday (June 24), Southern Baptists across the country took time both to rejoice in the ruling and to discuss how Christians should respond.

Many Southern Baptist leaders not only celebrated the Court’s decision, which returns the policy issues regarding abortion back to the state level but also took time to discuss ways to minister to women who may be considering an abortion.

One such example came from First Baptist Concord in Knoxville, Tenn., which hosted a panel discussion on Sunday about the decision featuring several pro-life advocates.

Among the panelists were John Mark Harrison, pastor of First Baptist Concord, Chris Johnson, vice president of church partnerships and government affairs for Lifeline Children’s Services, and Elizabeth Graham, vice president of operations and life initiatives for the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC).

Harrison opened the panel by explaining the importance of the conversation.

“What I want to do in this moment is move us past the politics of this, and talk about how we should respond as a church and as individual Christians,” Harrison said. “This is a very important moment for us not to miss personally and as a local church.”

Graham then spent time addressing the ERLC’s role in advocating for pro-life issues, and how local churches can think of addresses these issues in their local communities.

“As a part of the Southern Baptist Convention’s ethics and public policy arm, we get to advocate for policies that protect and defend life as well as speak on behalf of churches and then speak back to churches,” Graham said.

“I think of a church congregation’s role in this in the same way as a baby dedication. When someone has a baby and wants to dedicate that child to Christ, this is a life-long journey that the church is taking. We should think about serving vulnerable moms and moms in crisis in the same way,” Graham said.

“This is not just like a single decision of we want to see this baby rescued. We do want to see this baby rescued, but we want to provide a continuum of care. We want to bring Mom into the church, share the Gospel with her, and walk alongside her in very this difficult journey,” Graham told the congregation.

Johnson spoke about his work with Lifeline, a Christian foster care and adoption agency, and said Christians have a big responsibility to step up in this area.

“We know that this decision is going to affect the foster care system and there are going to be more children who are susceptible to coming into care,” he said.

Prescription Drug Abuse Is Cause of JD Hall’s Disqualification, Church Says

jd hall
(L) FBC Sidney Logo (R) Photo of JD Hall. Screengrab via Facebook @Fellowship Baptist Church of Sidney.

On Monday afternoon (June 27), Fellowship Baptist Church (FBC) of Sidney, Montana, released a statement disclosing that their pastor Jordan “JD” Hall disqualified himself from pastoral ministry due to a dependency on the prescription Xanax.

FBC Sidney’s statement comes one day after one of Hall’s publications, Protestia, announced that they parted ways with Hall because of his pastoral disqualification.

Church leadership shared that following an incident on Sunday, June 5, they became aware that Hall had “fallen into a dependency upon prescription alprazolam (Xanax), characterized by use that exceeded his prescribed dosage.”

On June 8, Hall resigned as FBC Sidney’s lead pastor, because he believed that his dependency resulted in him being disqualified from eldership. The church body voted to accept Hall’s resignation during a business meeting.

Hall, who named former SBC president J.D. Greear as 2019’s worst Christian of the year, attempted to resign after his traffic stop in May, which had resulted in a DUI arrest, but the church rejected it. Hall’s blood alcohol level was 0.00 upon being pulled over but was cited for driving under the influence of drugs.

“I was not using alcohol or any other kind of illegal narcotic or recreational drug,” Hall had said, claiming that his inability to pass a field sobriety test was due to a Vitamin D deficiency.

RELATED: ‘Pulpit & Pen’ Founder JD Hall Disqualified From Pastoral Ministry; SBC President Says Hall’s Online Behavior Disqualified Him Long Ago

“The deacons and elders met yesterday and rejected his resignation in consultation with three well-respected and Godly pastors of other churches,” FBC Sidney’s leadership wrote in May.

At the time, the church’s council determined that Hall was exhausted and potentially addicted to working. They advised him to take a three-month sabbatical. Hall was also instructed to change his phone number, so he wouldn’t be bothered by outsiders.

FBC Sidney’s June 27 statement explained that Hall’s latest resignation was distinct from his rejected attempt in May.

“Due to the testimony of Pastor Hall regarding a known vitamin deficiency that he insisted was to blame for his lack of coordination, the church had voted unanimously to reject his resignation, believing that the situation did not disqualify him from the pastorate,” the church said.

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