MinistryWatch Podcast

COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP) – It happens with a couch or mattress. It happens with two chairs facing each other across a table. While refugees’ initial days and months in America can be complex and filled with paperwork and immigration meetings, churches have learned there are direct, simple ways to meet needs. Not long after it began six years ago, Living Hope Church in Columbus was helping deliver donated furniture on behalf of a group of non-profit organizations. It became apparent that the items were going toward a growing migrant population consisting of those from the Middle East and Central America. The white, middle-class community that Aaron Taylor, Living Hope’s pastor, had grown up in was rapidly changing. Members of Living Hope Church in Columbus, Ohio, load items for its ministry center / Photo by Aaron Taylor “There are pockets of these communities around with people moving in from all over the world, and it opened our eyes,” he said. The need grew, and soon the church took it on as its own. It began with a question to their non-profit partners: What would they like to see available to the refugee population? The answer was a furniture store. “About five months after that, we opened a ministry center next to our church that now serves 12-20 families a month on average,” Taylor said. “It stays stocked through approximately 12 non- or for-profit groups, so it doesn’t cost the church.” Sometimes new mattresses arrive by way of a nonprofit donation. Coffeemakers and toasters get to the shelves through Walmart overstock. Recliners and other furniture items with small scratches or dents that prevent them from making the showroom floor are more than suitable for clients of the Living Hope ministry center. “When we step in, in many cases we’re able to provide the large items for, say, a two-bedroom apartment,” Taylor said. “It changes the game for families.” One essential need has brought major benefits to children trying to acclimate to American schools. “We’ve provided children with beds and have heard back from school counselors that the child came to their school and had low grades and was always tired. They would have a lot of emotions to process still,” Taylor said. “They’ll get a bed of their own and six or eight weeks later the counselors will say it isn’t the same kid. Their entire demeanor has shifted.” Further east, about 20 members of Pillar Church in Dumfries, Va., help with the English as a Second Language classes that benefit primarily those who have fled Afghanistan since the Taliban retook the country in 2021. Pastor Colby Garman said the benefits go both ways. “The conversations with our people have brought another level of understanding [for the situation],” he said. “It puts a face on what is a challenging problem and what it’s like to build a new life in America.” His wife Annie taught ESL for years in public schools and brought those concepts to the English immersion classes. The people his church serves are not believers, but the time together has led to discussions about faith. “Many of them had family members who were killed and they’re trying to figure out what’s next. It has become an open door for the Gospel,” said Garman, whose church lies just south of Washington, D.C., and is located near Marine Corps Base Quantico, where more than 3,700 Afghan refugees were received and cared for when the Taliban took over. In Columbus, Taylor has seen similar benefits to his church stepping forward to help. “It’s been good for us,” he said. “I remember [former SBC president] J.D. Greear asking years ago that if our church closed its doors, would the community know we were gone? This has been a good way for us to establish a presence for our church that is meeting a tangible need. “It has also led us to become a multilingual, multiethnic church. We have people from seven nations. Our worship services are two languages.

Today I welcome back to the program Al Fadi, with the Strategic Resource Group, an organization that funds projects to reach unreached people groups in the Middle East and North Africa, the so-called MENA region of the world. Al has been on the program before to discuss a bible translation project for Hejazi speaking people. This is an Arabic language spoken by more than 11 million people. More than three years ago, I started reporting on a new initiative by the Strategic Resource Group that – if successful – could have a dramatic impact on the way we do Bible translation. They are using a so-called Translation Service Provider – an organization that normally translates contracts, treaties, movie scripts, books, and all manner of other material – to translate the Bible. I wrote my first article about this process in August of 2021. But one aspect of this project that is different from those undertaken by traditional Bible translation organizations is the remarkable degree of transparency SRG has shown to me in the process. Since this project began, I have been checking in with them every six months to get updates, and to hear lessons learned.  And that’s what we are doing today. The very fact that Al and SRG are allowing me to have these regular check-ins is dramatically different from the way the Bible translation industry normally operates.  It’s an industry cloaked in secrecy and layers of bureaucracy.  In fact, for the past four years or so, I’ve written about 50 articles on the industry and its practices, and I’ll have links to some of those articles in today’s show notes.  I encourage you to check them out:  https://ministrywatch.com/bible-translations/ I’d like to remind you that MinistryWatch is donor supported.  We take no money from ministries.  All of our content is free.  No paywall.  That means we couldn’t do what we do without faithful donors.  You guys are the real heroes of this enterprise.  So if you’d like to join that heroic group by pitching in to make sure that MinistryWatch remains a viable endeavor, you can go to MinistryWatch.com and hit the “donate” button at the top of the page. And if you donate in the month of August, we’ll send you, as our thank you, a digital subscription to WORLD Magazine. This subscription has a $50 value, but is yours with a donation of any size to MinistryWatch. The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh.   We get database, technical, and editorial support from Stephen DuBarry, Christina Darnell, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Until next time, may God bless you.

On today’s program, new life breathed into a lawsuit against Dave Ramsey’s company. A former employee claims he was fired for not sharing Ramsey’s religious beliefs on how to handle the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ll take a look at the court’s latest ruling in the case. And, a Southern Baptist pastor in Florida faces a minimum sentence of life in prison without parole over harrowing child abuse allegations—but new state laws also mean the death penalty is on the table. Also, Andrew Wommack announces plans to pass the baton to new leadership at Charis Bible College in Colorado. But first, Gordon College was denied forgiveness on $7 million in COVID-era Paycheck Protection Program loans. It submitted an appeal, but in July a judge dismissed most of the college’s claims. The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh.  We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Kim Roberts, Bob Smietana, Yonat Shimron, Kathryn Post, Tony Mator, Jessica Eturralde, Shannon Cuthrell, and Brittany Smith. Until next time, may God bless you.   FIRST SEGMENT Warren: Hello everybody. I’m Warren Smith, coming to you from Charlotte, North Carolina. Natasha: And I’m Natasha Cowden, coming to you from Denver, Colorado. And we’d like to welcome you to the MinistryWatch podcast. Warren: On today’s program, new life breathed into a lawsuit against Dave Ramsey’s company. A former employee claims he was fired for not sharing Ramsey’s religious beliefs on how to handle the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ll take a look at the court’s latest ruling in the case. And, a Southern Baptist pastor in Florida faces a minimum sentence of life in prison without parole over harrowing child abuse allegations—but new state laws also mean the death penalty is on the table. Also, Andrew Wommack announces plans to pass the baton to new leadership at Charis Bible College in Colorado. Natasha: But first, Gordon College was denied forgiveness on $7 million in COVID-era Paycheck Protection Program loans. It submitted an appeal, but in July a judge dismissed most of the college’s claims. Warren: Like many colleges and organizations in 2020, Gordon College received COVID relief funds as part of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). But when the Massachusetts-based college applied for forgiveness, the Small Business Administration (SBA) denied its request on the $7 million loan. Gordon then sued the SBA for violating its free exercise of religion, equal protection, and due process rights, along with violations of the Administrative Procedure Act. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in the District of Columbia dismissed most of the claims brought by Gordon College in a memorandum opinion issued in late July. In her opinion, Howell said the SBA had sought follow-up documentation from Gordon College because the “employee count” was “indicative of concern.” Natasha: How so? Warren: In April 2020, Gordon submitted its PPP application with 495.67 employees listed. It reached this number using the full-time equivalent method, which counts part-time employees as a fraction of an employee. A spokesperson for the college told MinistryWatch. “Gordon College followed the procedures given at the time of the loan application and most importantly, used these funds completely in the manner in which they were presented by the SBA: to avoid layoffs of employees and continue to provide them with a paycheck even though the College was forced to shut down operations for months in 2020,” Natasha: So what’s the issue? Warren: The court recited that in later documents, the school “self-reported” 639 employees at the Massachusetts campus, which exceeded the maximum count of 500 employees allowed under the program. Gordon College told MinistryWatch that when it applied for loan forgiveness in July 2021,

Former video editor claims he was fired for failing to follow Ramsey's faith-based beliefs on how to deal with COVID-19 pandemic. By Bob Smietana for Religion News Service A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of a former employee who claimed Ramsey Solutions, the company run by Christian personal finance guru Dave Ramsey, discriminated against him during the COVID-19 pandemic. Brad Amos, a former video editor at the Franklin, Tennessee-based company, sued Ramsey Solutions in 2021, saying he was fired for not agreeing with Ramsey’s faith-based views about how to respond to the pandemic. During the pandemic, Dave Ramsey downplayed the risk of COVID-19, referred to those who wear masks as “wusses,” barred employees from working at home and said his company would be guided by faith not fear. Amos’ attorneys alleged that at the Lampo Group — which does business as Ramsey Solutions — wearing a mask or social distancing was seen as “against the will of God,” and employees were required to agree with Ramsey’s beliefs about the pandemic. Attorneys for Amos also claimed that his faith, including Amos’ belief in the so-called Golden Rule — doing unto others as you would have them do unto you — required him to mask, social distance and comply with other CDC recommendations during the pandemic. His insistence on doing so, Amos alleged, led to his firing. “Amos says that his termination was based on his failure to submit to Lampo’s religious practices and his expression of his own religious beliefs with regard to COVID measures. These facts form the basis for Amos’s religious-discrimination claims,” according to a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth District. Amos’ attorney also claimed that Ramsey Solutions had committed fraud by allegedly lying to him about the “cult-like” atmosphere at the company. In December, a U.S. District Court had dismissed both the discrimination and fraud claims before they went to trial, saying Amos had failed to show he was discriminated against. In the lower court ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Eli Richardson wrote that “it is not enough that a plaintiff’s sincerely held religious beliefs do not align with the religious beliefs that underlie the employment policy (requirement) that the plaintiff was terminated for non- complying with. Instead, the plaintiff needs to have alleged a religious belief that conflicts with an employment requirement,” Richardson wrote. On Thursday (Aug. 8), the Sixth Circuit ruled that the district court had erred in dismissing Amos’ discrimination claim. The court ruled that federal law protects employees from discrimination based on “religious non-conformity” — also known as reverse discrimination, or requiring an employee to follow a religious belief or practice. The Sixth Circuit Court also ruled that a belief in the Golden Rule qualified as a religious claim and was protected from discrimination. During the appeal, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a friend of the court brief, urging the appeals court to reverse the lower court ruling — saying Amos had made a plausible claim for religious discrimination. The EEOC also argued that the term “reverse religious discrimination” was not accurate and said the term “religious non-conformity” was more accurate in cases like the one involving Amos. “As with all other types of religious-discrimination claims, the employer is accused of discriminating against the employee on the basis of religion,” the EEOC wrote. “Here, however, it is the employer’s religion that is the focus. But that doesn’t make the discrimination ‘reverse.'” “We’re happy with the result and look forward to the opportunity to continue fighting for our client,” Jonathan Street, an attorney for Amos, told RNS in a statement. The case will now return to the lower district court for trial. Ramsey Solutions did not respond to a request for comment.

Here at MinistryWatch, we constantly consume all kinds of media. We are constantly looking for stories, and we are constantly looking at how other media outlets handle the stories we cover. We ask: How can we add value to a story? Is this a story that fits our mission? Should we even cover this story at all? Answering these questions is not always easy, but asking them and struggling with the answers have made me a better journalist and a better reader and viewer of other people’s work. In the process of asking these questions (and others, which I will highlight below), I have developed some thoughts about media bias that have been helpful to me and might be helpful to you, too. I have identified four forms of media bias – along with questions to help you avoid being seduced by them. On today’s episode, I will share them with you. The producer of today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. Until next time, may God bless you.

On today’s program, after a slew of controversies, Southern Baptists chose a low-key leader. We take a closer look at new SBC President Clint Pressley. And, Pastors and politics—legally, what are churches and other Christian nonprofits allowed to do when it comes to this year’s presidential campaign? We also highlight the results are in from our summer survey of top ministry executives. They tell us their biggest challenges—and hopes for the future. But first, a former youth volunteer for Vineyard Church in Anaheim, California, has been sentenced to more than 120 years in prison. The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh.  We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Jessica Eturralde, Daniel Ritchie, Kim Roberts, Tiffany Stanley, Yonat Shimron, Anna Piela, and Brittany Smith. A special thanks to the National Association of Evangelicals for contributing material for this week’s podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.   FIRST SEGMENT Warren: Hello everybody. I’m Warren Smith, coming to you from Charlotte, North Carolina. Natasha: And I’m Natasha Cowden, coming to you from Denver, Colorado. And we’d like to welcome you to the MinistryWatch podcast. Warren: On today’s program, after a slew of controversies, Southern Baptists chose a low-key leader. We take a closer look at new S-B-C President Clint Pressley. And, Pastors and politics—legally, what are churches and other Christian nonprofits allowed to do when it comes to this year’s presidential campaign? And, the results are in from our summer survey of top ministry executives. They tell us their biggest challenges—and hopes for the future. Natasha But first, a former youth volunteer for Vineyard Church in Anaheim, California, has been sentenced to more than 120 years in prison. Warren: Todd Christian Hartman, 41, has been sentenced to 125 years to life for collecting and creating child pornography materials and molesting four girls between the years 2009 and 2014. In 2015, investigators found hundreds of child pornography images and videos in Hartman's Newport Beach home. Federal agents arrested Hartman on child pornography charges, but the case collapsed after a judge ruled he was not informed of his Miranda rights at the time of his arrest. Natasha: What happened next? Warren: In 2016, Hartman contacted the father of two of his victims and admitted to repeatedly molesting one of them after meeting through his volunteer work at the Anaheim Vineyard Church children's ministry, starting when the girl was 6 years old. Hartman was also convicted of molesting the girl’s younger sister and molesting a 14-year-old girl and 12-year-old girl at a sleepover in 2009. Natasha: How did the church respond? Warren: MinistryWatch contacted the Dwelling Place to inquire about Vineyard's handling of the employee's concerns, including whether or not church leadership was informed. We have not yet heard back at the time of publication. Natasha: Let’s move to our next story Warren: A Colorado man has been sentenced to at least eight years in prison for sexually abusing a child, with the possibility of life behind bars. Michael Paustian, age 53, pleaded guilty to sexual assault of a child from a position of trust for a victim under the age of 15. He also pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child. Both are class 3 felonies. Natasha: Was he connected to a ministry? Warren: Paustian was employed by Group Publishing as the company’s creative director. Group Publishing is widely known for publishing curriculum used by churches. He’d began working at Group Publishing in 2005, and informed “company leaders in 2023 that he was being accused of incidents that allegedly happened in his home 18 years ago, not related to his work at Group.”

On today’s MinistryWatch EXTRA episode, Warren Smith shares a review he wrote for “The Dispatch” of Megan Basham’s new book Shepherds For Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded The Truth for a Leftist Agenda. The fundamental flaw of the book is that it fails to note that the real problem in evangelicalism is that pastors have succumbed to the populist right in far greater numbers than they have to the progressive left, and the consequences for the Gospel and the purity of the church have been far more consequential. Warren unpacks these ideas in this week’s EXTRA episode. To read the complete article, in The Dispatch, click here. The producer of today’s episode is Jeff McIntosh. Until next time, may God bless you.

On today’s program, Liberty University reaches a settlement with former president Jerry Falwell Jr. after years of back-and-forth lawsuits between the two parties. Now, they say they are putting the past behind them. We’ll have details. A small university in North Carolina is beating the odds…while other Christian colleges face closure, this school is thriving. We take a look at what they’re doing. Also, Steven Furtick’s Elevation Church released its annual report—the Charlotte-area church saw revenue of more than $108-million in 2023. The leadership at Gateway Church continues its shakeup following revelations that its founding pastor Robert Morris abused a minor in the 1980s. The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh.  We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Jessica Eturralde, Kim Roberts, Shannon Cuthrell, Yonat Shimron, Brittany Smith, and Christina Darnell. Until next time, may God bless you.   COMPLETE MANUSCRIPT BELOW:   FIRST SEGMENT Warren: Hello everybody. I’m Warren Smith, coming to you from Charlotte, North Carolina. Natasha: And I’m Natasha Cowden, coming to you from Denver, Colorado. And we’d like to welcome you to the MinistryWatch podcast. Warren: On today’s program, Liberty University reaches a settlement with former president Jerry Falwell Jr. after years of back-and-forth lawsuits between the two parties. Now, they say they are putting the past behind them. We’ll have details. And, a small university in North Carolina is beating the odds…while other Christian colleges face closure, this school is thriving. We take a look at what they’re doing. Also, Steven Furtick’s Elevation Church released its annual report—the Charlotte-area church saw revenue of more than $108-million in 2023. Natasha: But first, the leadership at Gateway Church continues its shakeup following revelations that its founding pastor Robert Morris abused a minor in the 1980s. Warren: Seven weeks after Robert Morris resigned from Gateway Church after Cindy Clemishire publicly claimed he abused her when she was 12 years old, Gateway has announced that Morris' son, James Morris, is stepping away from the church. James Morris was slated to take over church leadership after his father’s impending retirement in 2025. But after Clemishire’s claims went public, Robert Morris admitted “moral failure" with a “young lady” before resigning as the Texas megachurch’s lead pastor. Weeks later, James Morris and three other elders announced they would temporarily step down to allow room for a third-party investigation. But last week, in a special announcement to the congregation, Gateway elder Tra Willbanks announced that James Morris and his wife, Bridgette Morris, had decided to permanently relinquish their positions at Gateway. Natasha:  How did the congregation take that? Warren: Church attendees gave them a standing ovation. Then Willbanks said Gateway elders support James and Bridgette Morris' desire to establish a church in the future. I should mention that James and Bridgette Morris are not the only ones to have left in the fallout of Robert Morris’ resignation. According to the leadership pages on its website, Gateway has made additional changes to its staff and elder board. It removed former-felon-turned-Prison Ministry Campus Pastor Stephen Wilson after Wilson's past sex charges from 2002 involving a minor became public. Natasha: Who is going to minister as the church moves forward? Warren: Willbanks informed congregants that Max Lucado, a popular author and teaching minister at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, and Swedish pastor Joakim Lundqvist, will be filling leadership roles at the church. Lucado will become the interim teaching pastor, preaching at Gateway about twice a month. Lundqvist will share preaching duties with Lucado and take on a p...

You may have heard the term ex-vangelical. An ex-vangelical is someone who formerly identified as an evangelical, but no longer does so. The phenomenon has created a sub-genre of books from memoirs – such as those by Josh Harris, Rachel Held Evans, and others -- to more journalistic accounts, such as Sarah McCammon’s “The Ex-Vangelicals.” But is there really a groundswell of people leaving evangelicalism? Are these books fair representations of evangelicalism? Is the rejection of the ex-vangelicals really a rejection of Christianity, or a rejection of a certain brand of evangelicalism defined more by culture and politics than theology? These are questions Miles Smith set out to answer. He read many of the ex-vangelical books and wrote a helpful article about it called “Reading The Exvangelicals” for Mere Orthodoxy. Miles Smith is a historian by training. He attended university at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina, and got a Ph.D. from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. He now teaches at Hillsdale College. But he has come on strong in recent years as a public intellectual. I have found his commentaries helpful and highly readable. In addition to  Mere Orthodoxy, he has written for The Gospel Coalition, Public Discourse, The Federalist, and The University Bookman. The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. We get database, editorial, and other support from Christina Darnell, Kim Roberts, Casey Suddeth, and Stephen Dubarry. Please join me on Friday for our round up of the week’s news, with my co-host Natasha Cowden. Until then, may God bless you.

The 2024 Summer Olympics are about to begin in Paris, and that event should be of interest even to those who don’t much care about sports. For one thing, it’s the 100th anniversary of the 1924 Olympics, also held in Paris, in which Christian missionary Eric Liddell won a gold medal. That story was famously recounted in the Academy Award winning movie “Chariots of Fire,” and the story and that movie has become a part of the lore of the modern evangelical movement. Another story unfolded 48 years ago, at the Montreal Games, in 1976. It was that year, at the height of the Cold War, that the American women’s swim team, a team many called the strongest in the world at that time, went up against the East German women’s team. Though the American team brought home a lot of hardware from those games, many sports historians and others believe the women of that team were robbed of their place in Olympic history by the aggressive doping program of the East Germans. Swimming World Magazine has called those Olympics “Doping’s Darkest Hour.” The East German doping program eventually led to reforms in the Olympic movement. That said, if you have been following this year’s Olympics coverage, you may know that a new doping scandal, involving Chinese athletes, threatens to taint this year’s games. So this story of the 1976 games, which has elements of heroism, courage, leadership, and character is as relevant today as ever. And there’s no better person to tell this story than Casey Converse. His book is “Munich to Montreal: Women’s Olympic Swimming in a Tarnished Golden Era.” Casey had a front row seat to the controversy. He was a member of the USA Olympic Swim Team at the Montreal Olympics. He was also an American record holder in the 1650. From there, he coached at the United States Air Force Academy for 28 seasons. He was recently selected as one of the top 100 college swim coaches in the last 100 years by the College Swimming & Diving Coaches of America. He also served as a consultant for the documentary “The Last Gold,” which is a film account of the story we’ll talk about today. Also, if I might insert a personal note here: Casey is a friend. My son Cole swam for the Air Force Academy’s men’s team during his time there, and I got to know Casey a bit. I was personally inspired by his mentorship of generations of young swimmers and future Air Force officers, including my son. I should also add that he is now battling a very serious form of cancer, and I’ve been able to see his character and his faith shine brightly as he faces this new challenge. It’s an honor to know him, and an honor to have him on the program. The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. Until next time, may God bless you.