Free Republic

The ELCA leadership loves ELCA Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber. She is the face and voice of today’s ELCA. Bolz-Weber pastors a church whose website states it is “queer inclusive,” “social justice oriented” and “irreverent."

10News cameras captured exclusive video of 55-year-old Otis Holland being taken into custody by U.S. Marshals at the San Ysidro border. Federal authorities received a tip that he had been living at a church in downtown Tijuana. They are not sure how long he had been hiding out in Mexico, but they are looking into the possibility there could be more victims...The pastor has been the focus of an international manhunt since June 2010. He was the minister of a church that held services in a tax preparation building in Henderson, NevHolland is accused of molesting at least three girls...

He was outnumbered, and the cowards attacked him by surprise from behind, deceitfully calling "Pastor, Pastor." They committed quite the "own-goal" if they were trying to show who is "greater." "Suspect in Pastor Mulinde acid attack arrested," from New Vision, December 26 (thanks to Olive): Three days after a suspected acid attack on Pastor Umar Mulinde of Gospel Life Church, Police has arrested one person in connection with the incident. Addressing a press briefing on Monday, Police spokesperson, Asuman Mugenyi said one person had been arrested but declined to disclose the details. He confirmed that acid was used in the...

Two veteran street preachers in Houston are facing a bench trial for spreading the biblical message about homosexuality – and other sins – on one of their favorite corners for preaching in Houston. That the message was direct is obvious, from a photo of the situation that developed for David Stokes of BulldogMinistries.com and Dave Allen of HornofSamuelBook.com: Their sign warns those who are "Drunks, homosexuals, abortionist, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists, witches, idolators" that "Hell awaits you." Their hearing will be in Houston Municipal Court, which is run by Barbara E. Hartle, who, according to the Dallas Voice, is...

Video obtained exclusively by The Daily Caller shows Illinois Senator Barack Obama, then campaigning for Democrats before the 2006 midterm elections, praising Reverend Jeremiah Wright and telling an audience that he “stole” the title of his book “The Audacity of Hope” from Wright’s sermon of the same name, which he “loved.” Obama also referred to Wright as “my pastor.” “I’m not plugging the book, but the title of it, ‘The Audacity of Hope.’ Some people have noticed that I actually used that line in the speech that I gave at the 2004 Democratic Convention,” Obama said on November 4, 2006...

(Reuters) - A New York pastor has been arrested and accused of fraudulently cashing pension checks worth nearly a quarter-million dollars sent to a school teacher who died more than a decade ago, authorities said on Thursday. Rev. Victor Rosa was accused of deceiving New York City's Teacher Retirement System into thinking that teacher Maria Sicardo was still alive and had her checks sent to a building he owns in the Bronx, investigators said. He would cash the checks, which amounted to about $241,000, often at a local bank, investigators said. Investigators said they interviewed bank staff, who recalled Rosa...

Rep. Michele Bachmann's devout Christian convictions have been the topic of much media coverage since she declared her presidential candidacy. On Aug. 27, for example, the Orlando Sentinel reported, "Speaking before the annual awards dinner of the Florida Family Policy Council in Orlando, Bachmann … repeatedly declared her devotion to Christianity and told stories of how it changed her life. She told and interpreted Biblical stories, and offered Christian lessons she said she followed." What hasn't been widely reported, however, is what Bachmann thinks about the Mormon faith of Jon Huntsman Jr. and Mitt Romney, two of her competitors in...

Iranian pastor Yusef Nadarkhani will not face the death penalty for apostasy but is a traitorous “Zionist” who has committed “security crimes,” an official said on Friday, according to Fars news agency, amid a Western outcry over his sentence. Nadarkhani’s lawyer told AFP that the remarks by Gholam-Ali Rezvani, deputy governor general of the northern province of Gilan where the pastor’s case is being reheard, were the first time security offences had been mentioned. Rezvani’s comments were also the first public remarks by an Iranian official about Nadarkhani’s case. “The issue of crime and of capital punishment of this individual...

Washington (CNN) -- Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani will be put to death for several charges of rape and extortion, charges that differ greatly from his original sentence of apostasy, Iran's semi-official Fars News agency reported Friday. Gholomali Rezvani, the deputy governor of Gilan province, where Nadarkhani was tried and convicted, accused Western media of twisting the real story, referring to him as a "rapist." A previous report from the news agency claimed he had committed several violent crimes, including repeated rape and extortion. "His crime is not, as some claim, converting others to Christianity," Rezvani told Fars. "He is guilty...

I recently interviewed a man who is suing the Obama administration for racial discrimination–against white people. Normally I wouldn’t describe anyone by their skin color, but it’s interesting to note in this instance that the man filing the lawsuit is Black.

14 Muslim-majority nations make conversion away from Islam illegal; several – including Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Sudan – impose the death penalty on those who disbelieve. The self-styled Islamic Republic of Iran has sentenced to death by hanging a Christian pastor, born to Muslim parents, for apostasy.

CSW is urgently calling for action on behalf of Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani who faces execution anytime from Thursday onwards after refusing to renounce his faith. Pastor Nadarkhani is currently on trial in Rasht. He has appeared in court three times this week and each time has refused to renounce his faith when asked to do so by the court.

You don't often find a Pentecostal preacher who converts to Catholicism, but it does happen. To hear a first-hand account of just such a transformation, you may want to check out a special mission series at 7 p.m. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday at Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church, 3601 S.W. 17th. The featured speaker for all three nights will be the Rev. Alex Jones, a former Pentecostal preacher from Detroit who became a Roman Catholic a decade ago after studying the early church. Jones is now an ordained deacon in the Catholic church. After his conversion, 62 people...

Southern Baptist Pastor Leaves Everything for the Eucharist I grew up in a strong Christian home.  My parents were, and still are, two of the most devout Christians I have ever known.  They instilled in me not only the importance of knowing about Christ, but knowing Him personally.  When I was 10 years old, I pledged my life to Jesus and was baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  My teen years were filled with opportunities for spiritual growth thanks to the encouragement and example of my parents and youth leaders. ...

America's Days Are Numbered.. Sunday Sermon A well known Minister is starting a new sermon series called: "Twilight's Last Gleaming" In Dallas, First Baptist Church minister Robert Jeffress says he will start the sermon series on Sept. 11th. "Twilight's Last Gleaming" - will talk about how Christians won't be able to save America. Despite the title and the premise Jeffress says the message is designed to be uplifting. "The sermon series kicking off on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks is actually based on a book of the same name to be released in January 2012 by Worthy...

The Journey Home with Marcus Grodi LIVE - Mondays 8 PM ET Encore – Tuesday 1 AM ET & 9 AM ET, Thursday 2 PM ET, Saturday 11 PM ET This exciting call-in program examines why so many people, including fallen away Catholics and individuals from other denominations, are being drawn home to the Catholic Church. August 1 David Currie Former Bible Church missionary David Currie was raised in a devout Christian family whose father was a fundamentalist preacher and both parents teachers at Moody Bible Institute. Currie's whole upbringing was immersed in the life of fundamentalist Protestantism -...

Former U.S. Congressman Walter Fauntroy was among the foreigners trapped in the Rexos Hotel in the Libyan capital of Tripoli.An associate of Martin Luther King, Fauntroy, 78, arrived in Libya a week ago as a part of a peace mission.Fauntroy, pastor of the New Bethel Baptist Church, had warned the danger he and the journalists faced."As a minister who believes in the fervent and effective prayers of the righteous, I have joined with Dr. K.A. Paul in an appeal to people ... to pray for deliverance for not only us, but the press corps.

Rev. Vincent Lachina JACKSON, August 16, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The claim of a clergyman who is also a chaplain for Planned Parenthood that he is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention has been repudiated by a spokesman for the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board in comments to LifeSiteNews.com Dressed in a clerical collar, Rev. Vincent Lachina urged the crowd gathered for the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Personhood Amendment Hearing last Wednesday to vote against the pro-life amendment. He prefaced his remarks by saying, “I am an ordained Southern Baptist minister with 47 years of service to the family of God....

The pastor of a large Florida congregation was found dead in a Times Square hotel room Friday. The body of 42-year-old Zachery Tims, a senior pastor from Orlando, was found on the floor of his room at the W Hotel on Broadway, police said. No criminal activity was suspected as of Sunday. Tims founded the New Destiny Christian Center in Apopka with his wife Riva in 1996. The church has grown to a congregation of 8,000 people. Two years ago, Tims divorced his wife of 15 years after admitting to an affair with a stripper, reported Black Christian News in...

TEHRAN, IRAN (Worthy News)– Iran’s secretive supreme court has reportedly overturned a death sentence handed down to an evangelical pastor for leaving Islam, surprising trial observers who were earlier informed about an execution ruling. However concerns remained Monday, July 4, about the future of 33-year-old Yousef Nadarkhani, as he remained under pressure to recant his faith in Christ, his lawyer and Christians said. “The supreme court has annulled the death sentence and sent the case back to the court in [his hometown] Rasht, asking the accused to repent,” said his lawyer, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, in a statement to French news...

On the eve of celebrating our independence and freedom in the United States, a man in Iran faces death for being a Christian. In the last few days, the Supreme Court in Qom, Iran upheld the death sentence of Youcef Nadarkhani for converting from Islam to Christianity. His death sentence could be carried out any day. Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani of the Church of Iran denomination was arrested in his home city of Rasht on October 13, 2009, while attempting to register his church. He was arrested because he allegedly questioned the Muslim monopoly on the religious instruction of children in...

Henderson police are looking for a Las Vegas pastor wanted in connection with the sexual assault of underage girls. Otis Holland, 54, is wanted on 11 counts of sexual assault of a victim under age 16, a count of child abuse and a count of conspiracy to commit a crime, police said. Police issued the warrant last week, but said Holland may have fled to California. In December, Holland was arrested on three counts of sexual assault of a victim under age 16. During the investigation, police said they discovered allegations that Holland may have had inappropriate conduct with other...

The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs cannot stop a pastor from invoking the name of "Jesus Christ" in his Memorial Day prayer at Houston National Cemetery, a federal judge said Thursday. Scott Rainey, lead pastor at the Living Word Church of the Nazarene, on Thursday filed a lawsuit requesting a temporary restraining order against the VA and its director of the Houston National Cemetery from censoring his prayer reference to Jesus. The suit argued that the government is unconstitutionally censoring his speech and engaging in religious viewpoint discrimination. The judge hearing the case agreed with Rainey, granting his motion for...

SANFORD, Fla. -- A night of Bible study came to a terrifying end for members of a Sanford church on Wednesday when deputies said two masked men stormed into the building and robbed everyone inside at gunpoint. **** The pastor told WFTV that the robbers stole almost $500, including money one man needed for his chemotherapy.

Gun belonging to Pastor Terry Jones fires outside Detroit news stationUpdated: 3:22 am DETROIT, Mich. -- Our FOX affiliate in Detroit confirms Pastor Terry Jones' gun was fired in their parking lot after a live appearance at their studio on Thursday night. Jones had just wrapped up an appearance on FOX2's "Let It Rip" ahead of a court appearance to determine whether he will have to pay a bond for security outside a planned protest at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, Michigan. His gun discharged into the floorboard of his car after the show. No one was hurt....

For Imam Muhammad Musri, watching the mobs in Afghanistan incited to violence last Friday by the burning of a Quran by Gainesville Pastor Terry Jones was like a nightmare come true. He feared it, he foresaw it, he felt helpless to prevent it. This is what Musri thought he had prevented last fall when he persuaded Jones to drop his plans to burn the holy book of Islam on the anniversary of 9/11. Instead, it was just a delayed reaction when angered Afghans overran U.N. offices and killed seven civilians. "Muslims are outraged, but there is nothing we can do....

LIVE - Mondays 8 PM ET Encore – Tuesday 1 AM ET & 9 AM ET, Thursday 2 PM ET, Saturday 11 PM ET April 04 Michael Matthews - Former Baptist Minister Michael's conversion story - in pdf format

The controversial pastor who has sparked riots in Afghanistan which have left at least 20 dead has said he would rather die than stop preaching against Islam. Reverend Terry Jones said his right to speak out was more important than the lives of those who had died during the unrest - or any American soldiers who might be killed in the future. He said he would continue his campaign against Muslims even though every single one of his 30 parishioners had deserted him.

SNIP "This was a surprise," Gen. Petraeus said. The Quran burning in Florida, he added, was "hateful, extremely disrespectful and enormously intolerant." Gen. Petraeus, U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry and other Western envoys Sunday met President Hamid Karzai to discuss the security crisis caused by the Florida incident. While Gen. Petraeus said he had no doubt that Mr. Karzai is taking the situation seriously, some Western officials have complained that the Afghan president himself has exacerbated the tensions with his pronouncements on the issue. Most Afghans learned about the Quran burning in Florida only when Mr. Karzai on March 24 condemned...

Terry Jones burned a Koran, and an Afghan mob killed at least seven UN personnel. Connected? Surely, but that hardly makes Jones responsible for murder, he told ABC News in a Nightline interview last night: CLICK ON THE ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO OF TERRY JONES' STATEMENT Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who oversaw the burning of a Koran last month, said he did not feel responsible for the violent protest at a United Nations compound in Afghanistan today that left at least 11 dead. Instead, he said the violence proved his point.“We wanted to raise awareness of this dangerous...

wording of Constitution: “A vote of three fourths of the quorum present and qualified to vote shall be necessary to extend a call “ If 51 people voted, how many yes votes would be required to extend a call?

Is being a Protestant single pastor like being a married Catholic priest? Is it an oxymoron? I never would have thought so until the economic crisis hit, and I had to find a new pastoral position. For the first time in my career my future was in the hands of a search committee, rather than a personal connection. I’m ordained, 37, single (never married), with experience pastoring in large churches. Given my credentials, I had zero anxiety initially. Then I started reading “job requirement” phrases like these in pastoral job applications: -“We are looking for a married man” -“Preferably married”...

Arlington police have arrested and charged a 24-year-old man in connection with the fatal church attack that left a pastor dead and his assistant severely injured. Records show that Steven Lawayne Nelson, 24, was booked into the Arlington city jail Saturday afternoon. He was charged with capital murder. Authorities initially believed that Nelson was in Dallas but then they got word that he was headed back to his apartment in Arlington where he lived with his mother. Members of the U.S. Marshal’s fugitive task force were called in to help with taking him into custody. Earlier today, officials spotted someone...

ARLINGTON - Police are searching for a suspect or suspects after a 29-year-old pastor was found dead and his 67-year-old ministry assistant critically injured inside the NorthPointe Baptist Church in the 2200 block of Brown Boulevard in Arlington. Arlington officers found Pastor Clint Dobson dead and Judy Elliott severely beaten after receiving a call at about 4:15 p.m. Thursday. The caller had gone to the church after becoming concerned that no one could be reached. After looking into the window and seeing a motionless body on the floor, the person called the police. Elliott was transferred to John Peter Smith...

“Local pastor charged in assault,” the Akron Beacon Journal reports. “Minister accused of speeding off in Lexus with repo man on hood.” If the repo man’s story bears out, it sounds like a pretty wild ride: He said the pastor was smiling during parts of the drive as he weaved and made sharp moves in an apparent effort to toss the repo man off. ''He hit the windshield wipers to try to knock my hands off the hood,'' Falzini said. ''He was laughing at me, telling me he was going to take me on the interstate.'' Pastor Marc Neal is...

A prison minister is reaching out for the third time to child-actress-turned-troubled-celebrity Lindsay Lohan, who has battled DUI, felony grand theft, and drug charges. In his latest letter to the “Mean Girls” star, Marty Angelo, who himself was arrested in 1980 for two counts of cocaine possession, said he is “saddened” to see her face yet another formal charge. “Lindsay, I am speaking to you today as not just a prison minister and friend of your father but as a person who has traveled down the same road you are on,” writes Angelo in a letter released Thursday. “I know...

Controversial US pastor Terry Jones has pledged to appeal against his ban on visiting the UK after being invited to speak at an anti-Islamic demonstration. The preacher sparked outrage when he announced plans by his Florida-based church to burn copies of the Koran to the mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the US. But he told Sky News he was "disappointed" by the ban and would look to have the decision overturned - particularly given the family he has living in the UK. Mr Jones said: "We would ask it be reconsidered and the ban lifted. "I have...

If you grew up Catholic, it may be difficult for you to relate to those who profess faith in Jesus but whose stomachs turn at the thought of being Catholic. It might seem odd that the Catholic theology you’ve grown up with is seen by others as an offense to God. I was one of the stomach turners. There are days that I wake up and I still can’t believe I’m Catholic. I grew up in the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, usually referred to as Foursquare. Foursquare is a Pentecostal denomination that began in the 1920s and is...

Richard Davis grew up in the black Pentecostal church in the 1960s and '70s that preached homosexuals were doomed not only to eternal damnation but a hotter place in hell than where other sinners might go. Old Testament scripture quoted from the pulpit fostered within Davis a homophobia. By the time Davis was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1982, the overt condemnation of gays in the black church had been tempered into an unspoken acknowledgement that some members of the congregation, and the clergy, might be homosexual. But as long as they did not acknowledge their sexual orientation, they...

Washington • The former pastor of Nevada Republican Senate-hopeful Sharron Angle has offered a scathing screed against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s Mormon faith, calling it a cult with “kooky” beliefs and alleging the church employs a hit squad to “kill” its enemies. In an interview with the Reno News & Review, the Rev. John Reed of Sonrise Church in Reno pulled no punches in slamming the faith. “Harry Reid’s allegiance is to Salt Lake City,” Reed told the alternative weekly paper. “The Mormon church is rich, powerful, they do illegal things. They do secretive things.” Reed, the pastor, went...

LITHONIA, Ga. (Sept. 27) -- Despite allegations that he lured four young men into sexual relationships, many of Bishop Eddie Long's followers remain unwavering in their support for him as he pledges to fight the accusations like David fighting Goliath. Casting himself as the Bible's ultimate underdog, Long went before thousands of faithful supporters at his megachurch Sunday and promised to battle claims in lawsuits filed last week that he abused his "spiritual authority." "I feel like David against Goliath. But I got five rocks, and I haven't thrown one yet," Long said in his first public remarks since the...

The city of Gainesville, Florida, plans to send a bill estimated at more than $180,000 to Pastor Terry Jones for security costs surrounding his controversial threat to burn Qurans on the anniversary of the September, 11, 2001, attacks, a police spokeswoman said Friday. Officers secured malls in the region, the University of Florida's football stadium and areas around the church in the days leading up to the planned event. "If we had known this in advance, then we would have refused to have security," he said.

SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane police say a 74-year-old pastor was reaching for a handgun in the waistband of his pants when he was shot by a sheriffÂ’s deputy last month. Pastor Wayne Creach was killed as he approached an unmarked police car in the parking lot of his Spokane Valley business after dark. Police Lt. Dave McGovern said Tuesday that Deputy Brian Hirzel warned Creach several times to drop the handgun he was holding, and that Creach instead put it in the waistband. Hirzel ordered Creach to get on the ground, and struck him in the knee with a baton...

Pastor Terry Jones told NBC's "Today" show on Saturday that his church in Gainesville, Fla., would not burn Qurans in protest of the building of an Islamic center near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks. "We will definitely not burn the Quran, no," he said.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The minister of a Florida church said he has canceled plans to burn copies of the Quran because the leader of a much-opposed plan to build an Islamic Center near ground zero has agreed to move its location. The agreement couldn't be immediately confirmed. The Rev. Terry Jones said Thursday that Americans oppose the mosque being built at the location and that Muslims do not want the Quran burned. He said instead of his plan to burn the books on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of 9/11, he will be flying to New York to speak...

Around 2,000 ministers and religious leaders are expected to attend Glenn Beck’s “Divine Destiny” event Friday night ahead of the television and radio personality's more publicized “Restoring Honor” rally on Saturday. Beck will hold Friday’s faith-based event at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington to rally conservatives of different faiths around their shared values, principles and strong belief that faith can play an essential role in reuniting the country. “Whether we care to believe it or not, our country is in our danger’s hour,” says Beck. ”And there’s only one answer.” For the event, Beck spent the past year...

The Journey Homewith Marcus Grodi LIVE - Mondays 8 PM ET Encore – Tuesday 1 AM ET & 9 AM ET, Thursday 2 PM ET, Saturday 11 PM ET This exciting call-in program examines why so many people, including fallen away Catholics and individuals from other denominations, are being drawn home to the Catholic Church. ViewADDITIONAL INFORMATION Be Part of Our Audience! To be part of The Journey Home Program call 1-800-221-9460 Mondays at 8PM ET.

A Phoenix-based youth pastor is worried that his ministry could face legal troubles under Arizona’s new immigration law. “We don’t ask people for their documents to come hear about Jesus,” said Ian Danley, youth pastor at Neighborhood Ministries, during a conference call with immigration reform advocates Wednesday afternoon. The evangelical pastor said regular ministry work, such as driving teens to worship events, could be “criminalized” under the new Arizona law if a church worker knowingly transports youths who are illegally residing in the United States. “The local community here feels under attack,” Danley said. “Recent high school graduates in my...

At 8:30 AM, Saturday, July 17, Pastor Ronnie Wallace, a black Pastor and disabled Veteran from Charlotte, N.C., was arrested by seven white police officers on the public right of way in front of the Family Reproductive Health Abortion Clinic on Hebron St, Charlotte N.C. for obstruction. Pastor Wallace comes regularly to this spot to preach the gospel and offer hope to women who are entering the clinic. Pastor Wallace, a war veteran, is disabled, walks with a cane and cannot stand for long time. ...

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. – The Rev. Robert H. Schuller, founder of Southern California's Crystal Cathedral megachurch and host of the "Hour of Power" televangelism broadcast, announced Sunday he will retire after 55 years in the pulpit and his daughter will take over. The 83-year-old Schuller told his congregation that Sheila Schuller Coleman will become sole lead pastor, after sharing that role with her father for the past year. Coleman previously served as principal of a private Christian school run by the cathedral and head of the Orange County church's family ministries division. She was ordained just a month before she...