MinistryWatch Podcast

On today’s program, a South Carolina church is facing fallout after it became known that its pastor is a registered sex offender for abusing a minor. Leaders knew when they hired him, but didn’t alert members. We’ll have details. And, years ago a handful of Dallas-area churches that started as multi-site campuses of The Village Church transitioned to becoming independent churches as part of a church-planting initiative. We checked in to see how they are doing. Plus, another Christian university is shuttering its doors due to financial hardship. We’ll take a look. But first, a technology company has acquired two sister websites from Christianity Today. Gloo, a technology company that is behind the famous “He Gets Us” campaign has acquired two sister news sites from Christianity Today: Church Law & Tax and ChurchSalary. 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, Daniel Ritchie, Bob Smietana, Samuel Heard, Jessica Eturralde, Brittany Smith, and Christina Darnell. A special thanks to the Biblical Recorder for contributing material for this week’s podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.

We live in a polarized time. People with whom we disagree are not just wrong, but evil – or so we (and they) often think. John Inazu thinks that posture towards those with whom we disagree is neither helpful nor biblical. He thinks empathy, curiosity, and love – both loving our neighbors but also loving our enemies – is both a biblical approach, and an approach that is more likely to change hearts and minds. John Inazu is the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion at Washington University in St. Louis. His latest book, the one we’re discussing today, is Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect (Zondervan, 2024). Inazu is also the author of Liberty's Refuge: The Forgotten Freedom of Assembly (Yale University Press, 2012) and Confident Pluralism: Surviving and Thriving Through Deep Difference (University of Chicago Press, 2016). He is co-editor (with Tim Keller) of Uncommon Ground: Living Faithfully in a World of Difference (Thomas Nelson, 2020). Inazu is the founder of The Carver Project and the Legal Vocation Fellowship, a Senior Fellow with the Trinity Forum, and a Senior Fellow with Interfaith America, where he co-directs (with Eboo Patel) the Newbigin Fellows. The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. Until next time, may God bless you.

The book, "Jesus Calling," has sold more than 45 million copies, but it has been the object of criticism from its first publication date in 2004 until now. The Presbyterian Church in America’s decision to do an in-depth study of the book is a gift to the broader Christian church, presenting the opportunity to settle controversies about the book once and for all.

On today’s program, the Christian Reformed Church synod have voted to suspend leaders within the denomination who approve of LGBTQ lifestyles…their message: repent or disaffiliate. We’ll have details. Also, ministries continue to distance themselves from megachurch pastor Robert Morris after a woman claimed he abused her starting when she was 12 years old. We’ll look at the latest. And, a new report shows that donors gave more in 2023…but the real dollar impact was rocked by inflation. But first, the Church of the Nazarene’s only seminary is getting pushback for platforming Pro-LGBTQ faculty and speakers. 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 Ethan Meyers, Tony Mator, Kim Roberts, Marci Seither, Jessica Eturralde, Chloë-Arizona Fodor, Paul Clolery, Brittany Smith, and Christina Darnell. A special thanks to The NonProfit Times for contributing material for this week’s podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.

Christian colleges and universities are in a tough spot. Spiraling costs and shrinking demographics, plus technological and other cultural concerns, are putting unprecedented pressure on them. We’ve reported on the closures of many Christian colleges here at MinistryWatch, and our reporting has barely touched the magnitude of the problem. According to Higher Ed Dive, at least 116 colleges have closed since 2016. Between 2010 and 2020, 29 Christian colleges closed or merged with other schools. On today’s extra episode, Warren Smith discusses what is happening at Cornerstone University, Montreat College, and LeTourneau University – and what we can learn from these institutions. The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. Until next time, may God bless you.

On today’s program, Megachurch Pastor Robert Morris resigns as senior pastor of Gateway Church after a woman claims he abused her decades ago starting when she was 12 years old. We’ll have details. And, Lincoln Christian University closes its doors debt free…with plans to continue its ministry through a new institute. We’ll take a look. And, Southern Baptist Convention legend Paul Pressler died earlier this month, his legend mired with accusations of sexual abuse. But first, Appalachian Bible College fired two professors after they filed a complaint with the Association for Biblical Higher Education. 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, Brittany Smith, Kim Roberts, Bob Smietana, Christina Darnell, and Warren Smith Until next time, may God bless you.

The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has been one of the success stories in recent American church history. Most denominations in the U.S. are in decline, but ACNA, founded just 15 years ago, has grown to more than 1000 congregations and a membership of 120,000. In today’s commentary, I share my thoughts about what’s needed to keep ACNA on an upward trajectory. In today’s podcast, I promise a few links. Here they are: As I have written elsewhere, Anglicanism has the potential to breathe new life into the evangelical movement. “The Augustine Appeal,” asserts that the “ordination of women to the priesthood is a ‘recent innovation’…and we affirm the theological conclusion that the practice has ‘insufficient scriptural warrant.’” Heath McClure is the “assisting priest” at a congregation called Luminous Church. McClure became suddenly famous last weekend when former Jars of Clay lead singer Dan Haseltine posted a photo of the two of them (and others) at a pro-LGBTQ Pride event in the affluent Nashville suburb of Franklin. Luminous calls itself a “hospitable and inclusive community.” McClure wears a rainbow-colored T-shirt saying, “A Pastor With Pride.” Anne Kennedy, a conservative commentator and Anglican church member, wrote a scathing commentary that went semi-viral in the Anglican world. Kennedy took a close look at the website of Luminous Church and found much that troubled her and many Anglicans.

On today’s program, almost 11-thousand Southern Baptists gathered in Indianapolis this week, facing a long list of key decisions, including abuse reform, a constitutional amendment about women pastors, and the election of a new president. We’ll take a look . Also, megachurch pastor and bestselling author Tony Evans is stepping away from his pastoral role due to ‘sin.’ Details have been few, but we’ll tell you what we know. And, seven key executives at K-LOVE have left in the last 18 months…we’re asking ‘why?’. But first, Southern Baptists elect a new convention president. Clint Pressley, a North Carolina megachurch pastor known for a conservative but even-keel approach to leadership, was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Pressley, who has led Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte for the past 14 years, prefers a suit and tie and a more traditional approach in worship, and he has indicated that his more formal style will translate into his leadership. “It seems like the kind of rhetoric and the temperature is really high and I’d like to see it come down a good bit,” Pressley told Religion News Service earlier this year. 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 Bob Smietana, Adelle Banks, Kathryn Post, Kim Roberts, Jessica Eturralde, Tony Mator, Brittany Smith, Christina Darnell, and Warren Smith Until next time, may God bless you.

A couple of months ago I came across an article that I haven’t been able to get out of my mind. It’s called “The End and Future of the Church/”Para-Church” Relationship: A Call for Generous Partnership.” The article was written by two people I have come to respect a great deal in the past few years. One of them is Amy Sherman, who has written a number of important books on the Christian response to poverty. Her co-author is my guest today, Scott Harris. Scott is the Vice President of Church and Global Engagement for an organization called Mission Increase. Mission Increase exists to equip donors, nonprofits and churches fulfill their God-given mission and increase their Kingdom impact through training, and coaching. Scott’s specific role is to help churches and nonprofits work better together to reach their neighbors and nations. It’s hard to find a mission statement more in line with the goals of MinistryWatch than that one, and that may be why I’ve been running into Scott all over the place in the past few years, including at the most recent True Charity conference, which we’ve written several stories about in the past few months. Some of you might also remember that MinistryWatch did a short series of articles on generous churches, churches that are doing outsized projects with their missions dollars. Scott was instrumental in helping us identify those churches and helped us make contact with them. In the article we discuss today, Scott and Amy say that the current state of church/parachurch relationships is a major hindrance to the effective work of the Body of Christ in Jesus’ Kingdom Mission in our day. They explain why and how this is so, and what we can do about it. To read for yourself the article we discussed, click here: https://missionincrease.org/churches/#para-church To read more about Mission Increase, see a 2020 article we did on this ministry: https://ministrywatch.com/teach-a-ministry-to-fish/ The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. Until next time, may God bless you.

On today’s program, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Abuse Reform Task Force will be ending next week…without any names on its website of pastors credibly accused of abuse…and with no clear path forward. We’ll take a look. And, Salem Media Group pulls Dinesh D’Souza’s movie ‘2000 Mules’ from all its streaming platforms. We’ll have details. Plus, a Texas United Methodist megachurch announces it will continue to NOT host same-sex weddings at its facilities. This, despite the denomination’s ruling last month that lifted the ban on LGBTQ clergy and weddings. But first, another former Kanakuk Kamp staffer has been arrested for child sexual assault. 46-year-old Matthew Harmon was arrested on May 28, 2024. Harmon was wanted for the sexual assault of a child in 2007 when he was a teacher and coach at the Providence School in Dallas. He turned himself in to the Dallas County jail, the police department told MinistryWatch. Harmon worked summer camps at Kanakuk in Durango, Colorado, and Kanakuk in Branson, Missouri, beginning in 1995 through the mid-2000s. 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, Brittany Smith, Bob Smietana, Yonat Shimron, Adelle Banks, Daniel Ritchie, Bethany Starin, Jeffrey Walton, Jessica Eturralde, and Robyn Spradlin. A special thanks to The Institute on Religion & Democracy for contributing material for this week’s podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.