MinistryWatch is an organization designed to empower donors to Christian ministries. They do this by “profiling public Christian charities, churches, and parachurch ministries” and then reporting on the results to “limit consequences of scams and prevention of fraudulent activity, promote better allocations of giving, encourage intelligent questions of organizational structure, financial health, and advance the idea of organizational transparency and best practices.”
To do so, and to keep it simple, when they audit ministries, they look for three things: the completion and public availability of a Form 990, the completion and public release of an audited financial statement, and membership in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA)
The grading system is simple.
If a ministry complies with all three of the standards above, that ministry will receive a Transparency Grade of “A.”
If a ministry meets two of the three standards, that ministry will receive a “C.”
If a ministry meets only one of these standards, it will receive a “D.”
If it fails to meet any of the three standards, that ministry will receive a Transparency Grade of “F.”
Yesterday they released their annual Top 15 Worst Christian Ministries to Donate to, and it’s about what you’d expect- basically all populated by Word-Faith heretics who are known to make millions off preaching the prosperity gospel.
Former Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear has released a mea culpa of sorts about ‘The Unintended Effects of the Law Amendment,’ recoiling at the notion that churches would be in friendly cooperation with the SBC if they appoint, affirm, or employ only men as a pastor of any kind.
Wearing his jacket inside out, Greear argues against the amendment passed by a 2/3 majority at this year’s annual meeting, saying, “I don’t oppose this amendment for theological reasons, but constitutional ones.”
It seemed all good in Greear’s world, who was busy plotting and scheming with other company men on a Trojan-Horse-via-Task-Force play. Then the National African American Fellowship of the SBC (NAAF) started to flex its fists. This race-based special interest group represents 4,000 SBC churches that identify as “Black Churches” and released an open letter opposing ratification because their churches have a disproportionate number of women pastors.
This was a shot fired at Greear and the denominational elites. Their hair instantly bristled and testicles shrunk into their bodies at the specter of facing accusations of racism over unfairly targeting their black brothers for their insistence that sisters lead them.
Despite being told that there was no liberal drift with ladies at the helm, suddenly, the fear of cleaving off the less white wing became a catastrophic nightmare. Greear had to hurry to get this out; sacrificing his principles less he invites suspicion.
@jdgreear apparently believes the SBC should allow women to:
* Teach a mixed congregation of men and women * Exercise authority over men in a ministry setting * Operate “in a pastoral role” * Have the title of pastor * And give “input at the highest levels” of church leadership
Couching his true concern in the guise of a false cover, he writes:
I do oppose this amendment because it binds the hands of the Credentials Committee from differentiating between those churches who have committed (to use Al Mohler’s words) a “grievous error” (in this case, rejecting complementarianism) and those who I believe simply have a nomenclature problem.
I’ve heard the response, “Well, before we disfellowship them, we would give them a chance to change their views and adjust their practices.”…Hopefully when we explain that the best reading of the New Testament points to “pastor” being synonymous with “elder,” they will change their titles accordingly. But what about those who don’t?…
If we ratify this amendment, we have decided a priori that they are not in friendly cooperation and the Credentials Committee will have no choice but to recommend disfellowship. Put another way, the problem with this amendment is not that it gives churches no space to change their nomenclature, the problem is in what it mandates that we do if they don’t. Complementarian churches with inaccurate titling for some of their women in ministry are put into the same category as those harboring known sex abusers or marrying gay couples.
Greear later adds:
That doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel right because this level of enforced stricture has never been true of our “rules of cooperation.”
In fact, I’d suggest that for those to whom it does feel right, perhaps they are the ones who aren’t “closely identified” with us.
What feels or does not feel right is definitely not a biblical category.
If the issue is a nomenclature issue, then the Law Amendment will fix that issue. The churches change, not the Amendment. If there are “pastors” not acting as pastors, it should be nothing to give up the title as a right response to being shown a wrong error. If they are acting as pastors and refuse to give up the title, they can follow Saddleback out the door – the SBC showing no partiality on account of a bit of pigmententation difference.
Greear’s perspective of complementarianism is so schizophrenic and shifts in the wind. His understanding of complementarianism’s theological grounding is all over the place. Look at it – this is a man who has not thought it through.
Though Greear is clearly flinching at the thought of what the NAAF leaving the SBC would cause, what did he argue days before the annual conference?
Some have said that we need to be on guard, since the prospect of female pastors in SBC churches is a “growing danger.” I disagree.
The reality is that even the largest estimates of churches with female pastors on staff make for a very small—and, in fact, shrinking—fraction of our Convention.
I can speak specifically about my own state. Here, we have about 4,300 North Carolina Baptist churches. Ten years ago, the number of female pastors was around 200. Twenty years ago, it was around 400. Now, it’s fewer than 20. So, judging by our data, this is not growing, it is shrinking. Anyone who says otherwise is either ignorant, misinformed, or being purposely divisive.
This commenter points out the obvious better than we ever could.
With this many red flags on the field, we suspect we’ve found the one piece of media from Greear that Ed Litton is guaranteed not to plagiarize anytime soon.
A chilling wave of grief swept through Nashville when Audrey Hale, a deranged transgender school shooter, infiltrated The Covenant School three months ago and opened fire. This heinous act led to the tragic loss of six lives, including three nine-year-olds, Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, William Kinney, and adults Cynthia Peak, Katherine Koonce, and Mike Hill, all above 60. Swift intervention by the police brought the horrific incident to a halt, with Hale meeting her end at their hands.
Brent Leatherwood, President of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), was personally embroiled in this tragedy as his children attended Covenant. He swiftly rallied the support of the SBC behind proposed red flag gun control laws, something they did not agree to do.
Leatherwood has likewise been instrumental in managing the legal, PR, and financial aspects at The Covenant School. He’s been vigorously appealing to the Tennessee Court to prevent the release of Hale’s manifesto, stating, “You should know, the parents and the families have asked our attorneys to leave no stone unturned as we pursue our objective to keep all of these writings out of the public domain.”
He aims to keep the manifesto private and transfer it into a newly established Covenant Children’s Trust, which he serve as trustee over.
By all accounts the Trust funded shooter Audrey Hale’s funeral but did not appear to cover the victims’ expenses, with famillies of Mike Hill and Will Kinney relegated to holding gofundme’s to cover burial costs. Ana Caudill, a close friend of Katherine Koonce, explains: “One of the things that stunned me to learn was that the Covenant families had pulled together and paid for the funeral of Audrey Hale, the shooter.”
Despite the storm of scandals and controversies swirling around the bruised and battered Hillsong Church in Australia and the Bethel Church in California, worship leaders are not shying away from incorporating songs from these two megachurches into their worship sessions.
A recent study unveiled this week shows that worship leaders gravitate towards these songs not because they top the worship charts but because they have a personal connection with them, often discovered online, at conferences, or through friends’ recommendations. According to the study:
“The most influential factors in discovering a new worship song are peer endorsements and personal experiences. Worship leaders mainly trust their friends and fellow church leaders to provide them with song recommendations.”
The study draws on responses from over 400 worship leaders across the U.S. and Canada, seeking their insights on music production and their song selection process for worship.
Demonstrating a woeful lack of discernment, a mere 16% of worship leaders admitted to being less inclined to choose a song associated with Hillsong. In comparison, 27% expressed a similar hesitancy towards songs linked to Bethel.
On the other hand, a significant 62% confessed they were likely to pick songs from Hillsong, with a slightly lesser 48% saying they would likely opt for songs associated with Bethel.
Three months ago, Worship Leader Research reported that four megachurches were responsible for producing and releasing nearly all the top worship songs released in the last decade, with Hillsong and Bethel being two of them.
The Church of the Highlands (COTH), the second largest church in the United States, has dismissed allegations that its multi-million-dollar Lodge is being utilized as a sanctuary for disgraced pastors. This clarification was provided by Layne Schranz, the senior associate pastor, in a report from the Christian Post.
“Unfortunately, there are articles out there that are completely false with no truth to them. “The Lodge that we have at our church has no recovery aspect to it. We have no restoration program. That’s not what The Lodge is for.”
The COTH, a 55,000-member non-denominational Alabama megachurch, operates on an annual budget surpassing $132 million, has 22 campuses, and is led by Senior Pastor Chris Hodges, a terrible preacher that Chris Rosebrough of Fighting For The Faith has chronicled years of wretched bible interpretation.
With poor preaching comes poor theology. Hodges holds a special interest in restoring disgraced pastors, specifically those who have committed adultery or have been involved in ‘inappropriate relationships.’
Alongside fellow pastor Dino Rizzo, Hodges believes in reestablishing these fallen pastors into the ministry, currently overseeing the recovery of about 20 pastors. The church does not view marital infidelity as grounds for disqualification from the pastorate, and in some cases, pastors are restored within a few months. Interestingly, Rizzo himself was restored to the senior pastor role at the Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, La, after a year of ‘recovery’ from a similar scandal.
Constructed for $4.5 million, The Lodge was once referred to by Senior Pastor Chris Hodges as a “kind of a pastoral recovery center” where pastors “from all over the world” can “rest, worship, and grow.” The idea is that burnt out pastors can come here and rest up, before returning to their congregations. The Lodge website reads:
The Lodge will provide a place of rest and renewal for these pastors and their spouses during their stay. We are praying this space will provide a getaway of peace for so many that devote their lives to the call that God has given them.
The Lodge and its purpose raised scrutiny after a pastor at Highlands, Micahn Carter, was let go after being found guilty of clergy sexual misconduct. Before his expulsion, Carter was employed by Together Church but was let go from there after engaging in similar sexual activity. He started attending COTH and was hired as a pastor despite being in the pastoral restoration process.
Unfun Fact: Pastor Hodges has a fascinating side gig that involves inviting pastors for a weekend-long rendezvous of imparting wisdom and guidance. This unique experience comes at a price – $7500 for singles and $10,000 for couples. A recent weekend retreat reportedly padded his pockets with a cool $200,000 to $300,000.
Now, isn’t that a fruitful way to spend a weekend?
Bobby Conner is a member of the Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders (ACPE) and a member of the Harvest International Ministries apostolic network, chaired by NAR warlord Che Ahn. After 27 years as a Southern Baptist pastor, he founded Eagles View Ministries.
From the perspective of biblically literate people, he’s known for always making stuff up. He recently said he was at ‘prophet’ Bob Jones’ house when NASA called and asked Jones to look into space for them and “tell us what you see” because they knew he could see farther into space than they could, and also claimed he once spoke a squirrel into existence.
He’s an utter and complete embarrassment. We don’t know how he can stand to look at anyone he’s preaching to in the eyes, lest he die of shame.
Despite this, he is well-respected in charismatic circles and hobnobs at conferences with all the bigwigs, such as Bill Johnson, Shawn Bolz, Jim Bakker, Chuck Pierce, Kevin Zadai, James Goll, Jeremiah Johnson, etc.
In an unearthed video from 2019, Conner recounts an incident that happened to former ‘Kansas City Prophets’ Bob Jones (later disqualified for sexual misconduct for having women undress in front of him so he could give them a ‘word’ while they stand “naked before the Lord”) and John Paul Jackson, claiming they time-travelled to catch an airplane.
Some angels came and parked Bob Jones’ truck. You already heard it. The wildest thing, Bob Jones and John Paul Jackson, both of them are in heaven watching this service today, but that’s true. Anyway, Bob Jones and John Paul Jackson was supposed to catch an airplane at a certain time. They woke up in the hotel and they woke up the time the plane was leaving. And so John Paul said, ‘well, I guess we’ll just have to try to rebook.’ Bob says, ‘no, no, I think if we’ll throw our stuff in there, we can get on.’
And John Paul said, ‘well, the plane’s leaving now.’ And here’s what happened. They got to the airport before they left the hotel. It’s the craziest thing. Yes! They got to the airport before they left the hotel and two guys walked up to them and said, ‘tickets, we’ve taken care of the luggage and we’ll park the truck.’ And so here’s what happened. They get even first class seats!
And Bob said, ‘I buckled in and John Paul looked at me and said, ‘Boy, I’m glad your friends are here.’ He said, ‘my friends? I thought they were yours.’
It was angels had come and parked the truck. And when Bob and John Paul got back to the airport, there was Bob’s red truck and the keys was hanging off the sun visor. Angels are ministering spirits sent down to aid us who are the heirs of salvation. That means they’re here to help us.”
Prominent Charismatic Says famed 'Prophet' Bob Jones Was a Time Traveler.
Two days ago, NAAF, the National African American Fellowship of the SBC, a race-based special interest group that represents 4,000 SBC churches that identify as “Black Churches,” released an open letter that was sent to President Bart Barber in opposition to ratification and enforcement of the Mike Law Amendment as a standard by which “friendly cooperation” would be determined.
The fellowship believes that women should be allowed to receive pastoral titles and serve in pastoral roles. They believe this issue may “disproportionately impact NAAF affiliated congregations” because “Many of our churches assign the title “pastor” to women who oversee ministries of the church under the authority of a male Senior Pastor, i.e., Children’s Pastor, Worship Pastor, Discipleship Pastor.” To that end, they’re requesting that the entire convention should engage in a year of prayer, study, and discussion to “allow a diversity of voices and perspectives to be heard.”
Institutionalists like Bart Barber, James Merritt, JD Greear, and Ed Litton are working together with a left-leaning segment of the convention, and playing the race card, with the agenda of either rallying the convention to reject the Mike Law amendment at its second vote at the 2024 convention or neutering the meaning of “friendly cooperation,” so that the amendment isn’t enforced as a standard for friendly cooperation.
The use of the race card is a potent move, considering the way that the institutionalists of the SBC have embraced and weaponized Critical Race Theory and Standpoint Epistemology.
Bart Barber received the letter on July 3. One week later, when the letter was made public by NAAF, Bart Barber and Baptist Press simultaneously made press releases that praised the effort. Barber said it is important to “find common ground and make decisions together.”
The positive spin that Barber put on this effort shows that the institutionalists have plans to keep the tent as large as they can at the expense of scriptural fidelity. Christians should always pray, but it is pointless to pray to ask God whether we should compromise on our faithfulness to scripture.
A counsel to compromise on the truth of scripture isn’t a “Jerusalem Council,” as James Merritt called it. Rather it is a council of self-important fools who believe that their opinion matters as much as God’s word.
Lifeway Christian Resources, once primarily known as the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board, has morphed into a controversial behemoth in the Christian publishing world. A purveyor of spiritual strychnine and peddler of outright heresy, their portfolio includes Heavenly Tourism, Omen Interpretation, New Age mysticism, Anti-Trinitarianism, Word-Faith Theology, and good old fashioned wretched theology, demonstrating Lifeway’s commitment to upholding doctrinal standards is primarily swayed by profit motives.
Financial difficulties have plagued Lifeway since 2014, with a series of losses leading to the closure of 170 physical stores in 2017. A staggering $50 million was lost between 2014 and 2019, and the 2020 budget year saw a $45 million shortfall in revenue. In a desperate move, Lifeway sold its $100 million headquarters in 2021, after occupying it for less than 4 years.
Yet, against the backdrop of these financial struggles, Lifeway recently celebrated the grand opening of a new 46,000 sq. ft. teaming space that includes “An open-concept design that features a social hub, drop-in workstations, meeting rooms with videoconferencing capability, quiet workspaces, video, photography and podcast studios, as well as post-production suites.”
Lifeway President and CEO Ben Mandrel explains:
“This space was designed to draw writers, designers, editors, artists and craftsmen together. When you create a space that’s designed for relationships, communication and teamwork, everyone who enters the building benefits….
The open workspaces, collaborative team rooms and state-of-the-art technology come together to support our work-from-anywhere culture and encourage collaboration….When staff who live outside of Nashville come to town, we want to have a space for them that feels like home, that feels fresh, creative and fun.”
(DailyMail. UK) Feminist campaigner Maya Forstater has hit out at CPS guidelines stating parents could be charged with domestic abuse for refusing to pay for their child’s transgender treatment or not using their preferred pronoun.
Updated legal guidance for prosecutors that was quietly published by the Crown Prosecution service last year includes a list of examples of abuse of ‘trans and non-binary victims’.
One is ‘withholding money for transitioning’, while another is ‘refusing to use their preferred name or pronoun.’
A third adds: ‘Body shaming or criticizing the victim for not being ‘a real man/woman’ if they have not undergone reassignment surgery.’
The guidance could conceivably apply to wives ‘abusing’ their transgender husbands or vice versa, or even children referring to their parents as ‘mum’ or ‘dad’ if they have…to continue reading click here
This article was written by Harry Howard and published at The Daily Mail UK
The studio that brought the world ‘The Chosen’ has another hit on its hands, with their new film Sound of Freedom finishing in third place at the box office.
According to movie site Joblo, while the new Insidious film and Indiana Jones took the top spots, Sound of Freedom was not far behind, and will be making far more money than the new Indy sequel, which is slated to lose $100M dollars.
Third place will belong to Sound of Freedom with an estimated $18.2 million. Add that number to the amount it took in earlier in the week when it actually beat Indiana Jonesat the July 4 box office and you have a cumulative domestic total of $40.2 million… nearly three times its reported budget of $14.5 million.
Starring Jim Caviezel, the film is “based upon the true story of former government agent Tim Ballard who quit his job to rescue a little girl from sex traffickers in the Colombian jungle. In the process, Tim ended up saving 123 people, 55 of which were children, from one mission alone.” Notably, Ballard is not a Christian, but instead is a a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Sound of Freedom has a CinemaScore of A+, a Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 77% and an audience score of 99%
