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CNN)Bishop Eddie Long, the controversial leader of one of the nation's largest megachurches, has died, according to the suburban Atlanta church he presided over. He was 63. Long died after a battle with an aggressive form of cancer, according to a statement by the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church. Long was a national figure and one of the most innovative and polarizing pastors in the contemporary church. He was also a paradox. He was a preacher who led an infamous march against same-sex marriage and denounced homosexuality, but he also settled a lawsuit by four young men who said he...

The pastor of one of America’s largest megachurches stirred up Christmas controversy after preaching that the story of Jesus’ virgin birth is not crucial to the Christian faith. “If somebody can predict their own death and resurrection, I’m not all that concerned about how they got into the world,” Andy Stanley said in a Dec. 4 sermon at North Point Community Church, which draws 36,000 attendees across six locations in suburban Atlanta. “Christianity doesn’t hinge on the truth or even the stories around the birth of Jesus. It hinges on the resurrection of Jesus.”

Link From The New Yorker Select articles about Bell here on FR: Pastor Rob Bell Grows Frustrated Amid Questions on 'Sinfulness' of HomosexualityChristian Pastor/Author Rob Bell Supports Gay MarriageRob Bell's "Love Wins" and the Biblical Doctrine of Hell

A Canadian study has found that Mainline Protestant churches that have both modern worship services and teach a literal interpretation of the Bible grow faster. (Photo: Reuters/John Gress)A parishioner cries as he signs a song of worship in the 7,000-seat Willow Creek Community church during a Sunday service in South Barrington, Illinois, November 20, 2005. Institutions like Willow Creek and Houston's Lakewood Church, each drawing 20,000 or more on a weekend, offer not just a vast, shared attraction but a path that tries to link individuals on a faith-sustaining one-to-one level beyond the crowd, observers and worshipers say.The Canadian researchers who authored...

A north Dallas church is sticking to its convictions after it revoked a gay man's membership, saying he no longer desired to resist sin. In a candid facebook post last Sunday, Jason Thomas wrote about a painful anniversary one year ago about the day Watermark Community Church sent him a letter revoking his membership. Thomas said he spent years of his life in church programs that promised to help him over come his attraction to men. Many of those years was at Watermark Community Church. One program he participated in is described as a "12 step discipleship through recovery", also...

Pastor Andy Stanley is defending his approach to preaching amid questions from prominent evangelical leaders who contend his methods undermine the Bible's authority and pave the way for unbelief. In a lengthy article in Outreach magazine on Friday, the pastor of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, responds to his critics and affirms that he believes in biblical inerrancy. What he is doing, he argues, is changing the angle from which he speaks to more effectively engage a post-Christian society, particularly millennials who have left the Church. Controversy arose in light of Stanley's recent sermon series wherein he argued...

A pastor ousted by his megachurch in South Carolina over problems that included alcohol use has been a close friend of Elevation Church pastor Steven Furtick and has served on the board of overseers at the Charlotte church. As recently as 2014, Perry Noble – removed July 1 by the board at NewSpring Church in Anderson, S.C. – was described as the longest serving member of the Elevation board. Elevation officials did not respond Tuesday to requests for comment on whether he was still on the board. Elevation, started in 2006, is one of the fastest growing evangelical churches in...

ANDERSON, SC The Rev. Perry Noble, who started NewSpring Church nearly 20 years ago, is no longer its senior pastor. Early in Sunday’s 9:15 a.m. service, Executive Pastor Shane Duffey announced that Noble had been removed as pastor on July 1, after the NewSpring board of directors had “made a difficult and painful decision” to make a change. Duffey said the termination by the state’s largest and richest church came after Noble “had made unfortunate choices,” and that the board members had confronted Noble on numerous occasions regarding his use of alcohol. The announcement came three days after a closed-door,...

A former pastor at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church has been asked to resign as lead pastor of a church he’s served for three years after he refused to agree to its biblical position on homosexuality, fearing it would alienate people in the LGBT community. Gerald Sharon, the lead pastor at Southwest Church in Indian Wells, California, who spent 11 years at Saddleback Church serving in various leadership roles, was asked to step down from the pastoral role he has served for over three-and-a-half years since he left Saddleback because he now refuses to affirm the church’s position on homosexuality. On...

The ex-senior pastor at Seattle's Mars Hill megachurch, which imploded in 2014, formally launches his new operation in Scottsdale, Arizona. Driscoll is still facing a federal RICO racketeering suit by former church members in Seattle. But he is preaching at evangelical conferences around the country... He was brought down, in Seattle, after a complaint by 21 Mars Hill pastors and worship leaders that Driscoll had bullied, intimidated and manipulated those who worked at the church. The charges were sustained, in a report never released by church elders. Driscoll brought misogyny and homophobia to the pulpit. He famously called women "penis...

Four popular megachurch pastors are promising to bring an interesting combination of hope, comedy and honesty in a new faith-based talk show to be tested on FOX this summer called "The Preachers." "The Preachers" will be hosted by John Gray, an associate pastor at Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas; E. Dewey Smith Jr., senior pastor at The House of Hope Atlanta and The House of Hope Macon; Orrick Quick, pastor and founder of God Seekers Church in High Point, North Carolina, and Jamal Bryant, pastor and founder of Empowerment Temple AME Church in Baltimore, Maryland. Asked in an interview with...

Robert Jeffress, pastor of the 12,000 member First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, is rebuking talk radio host Glenn Beck for his recent criticism of evangelical Christians who live in the South and are not supporting Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) 97% ’s campaign to secure the Republican Presidential nomination. “All throughout the South the Evangelicals are not listening to their God,” Beck said at a rally in Utah on Monday. “Beck’s wacko comment speaks for itself,” Jeffress tells Breitbart News. “However, by using the phrase ‘their God’ to refer to the God we evangelical Christians worship, Beck is finally admitting...

A woman has filed a lawsuit against a Florida megachurch after it reportedly did not pay her the promised hush money to keep her alleged affair with a pastor a secret. Church member Arlene Miranda filed the suit against Orlando Baptist Church based in Orange County, saying the church failed to pay the agreed $3,000 so she would keep quiet about her alleged affair with Pastor David Janney, 61, married, and the church's president. "They threatened me. If I didn't sign it, they threatened me," Miranda told WFTV. Miranda denied she filed the lawsuit for the money, saying "I committed...

If you are a Christian, you better brace yourself for great persecution. It has gotten very little attention from the mainstream media, but federal authorities have uncovered an ISIS plot to 'shoot up' a Detroit megachurch. 21-year-old Khalil Abu-Rayyan of Dearborn Heights, Michigan told authorities that he actually intended to take a gun into a very large church in Detroit that can seat up to 6,000 people and start killing Christians. He has been charged with supporting the Islamic States and with "illegally having a firearm while using a controlled substance". Abu-Rayyan actually admitted that since he can’t be part...

Mark Driscoll finally made it official: He’s starting a new church in Phoenix. The culmination of a comeback that has been gaining steam over the past year, the former Mars Hill pastor announced the news of The Trinity Church on Monday by email, Twitter and a new website. In a folksy video on the site, which begins with a “howdy” from Driscoll, the pastor said he and his wife, Grace, sitting by his side, were “hoping, trusting, praying, planning and also a little” — he made a jokey grimace — “worrying about planting a church here.”

A Texas megachurch that recently voted to leave Presbyterian Church (USA) over theological differences agreed to pay its former regional body approximately $1.5 million to maintain control of its church property. First Presbyterian Church of San Antonio announced Sunday that it reached a settlement with Mission Presbytery over retaining ownership of its name and property. "Under the terms of the settlement, FPC will provide $1,525,000 to the denomination. Mission Presbytery will contribute $125,000 of this amount to the John Knox Ranch Summer Camp," read the announcement. "The contribution to the camp provides one quarter of the $1 million being raised...

Macel Falwell, the widow of the Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr., has died. She was 82. Jonathan Falwell, the pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church and one of the Falwells’ three children, posted a message on Twitter late Thursday night. “My sweet mom slipped into Heaven just a little while ago. I can’t believe I’ve been so blessed to have her in my life,” he wrote. Additionally, the Thomas Road Baptist Church website has a photo of Macel Falwell with the accompanying text, “In Loving Memory of Mrs. Jerry Falwell.” Macel Falwell was born Macel Pate on Oct. 4, 1933. Jerry...

The South Carolina church that was founded by the Southern Baptist Convention's first president has adopted a new non-discrimination policy that will allow for the congregation to not only marry same-sex couples but also ordain openly gay, lesbian and transgender ministers. Dr. Jim Dant, senior minister of the 184-year-old First Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina, explained in a recent interview with Greenville Online that his church, which is no longer Southern Baptist, voted earlier this year to take up a new policy that does not allow the church to discriminate in any facet of its ministry on the basis...

Megachurch leader and author T.D. Jakes says that homosexuals should attend congregations that affirm their lifestyle and that politics do not need to reflect biblical ethics, adding that his position on homosexuality is both “evolved and evolving.” During an interview with the Huffington Post on Monday, Jakes was asked by a viewer if he believes that homosexuals and the black church can co-exist. “Absolutely… I think it is going to be diverse from church to church. Every church has a different opinion on the issue and every gay person is different,” he replied. “And I think that to speak that...

While American evangelists such as Franklin Graham and Rick Warren are not afraid of speaking on sensitive topics such as same-sex marriage, abortion, or political strife, Joel Osteen prefers not to discuss those while at the pulpit, saying those topics often "turn people off." During a recent interview with WBUR's "Here & Now" radio program, Osteen said everybody has his or her own calling, but tackling politically controversial issues is not something that he has been called out to do. "I have friends who are very political. They're pastors and that's what their thing is. But I think sometimes, in...