| | Revival at Kentucky college faces hurdles from school leadership, moves worship off-campus | | Curated for you byCP Editors | | Good afternoon! It's Wednesday, March 1, and today's headlines include a Kentucky college moving its worship off-campus following pushback from school officials, an Eastern Catholic monk who renounced Christianity for Islam, and a new children's book that is combatting gender ideology with biblical truth. | | Students who tried to organize a revival worship service at Union College of Barbourville in Kentucky found themselves at odds with school officials over meeting rules. The group of 15 students began holding a gathering on campus last Friday, drawing around 150 students. However, Fox 56 in Lexington reports that as the meeting began, faculty informed the students that they could not hold the gathering at the school student center. When the gathering grew considerably and began to include non-students, officials said they could hold the service at the student center, provided they did not include non-students. The event's organizers declined these terms from school leadership and decided to move their worship off campus to the local streets instead. | | One unnamed student interviewed by Fox 56 explained that school officials "just kept harping about a process" and said meeting organizers were not "even aware before any of this that there even was a process." The student explained, "We knew there was a process for starting clubs and such, but in our eyes, we didn’t see this as any different as 10 to 15 of us going to the library to study." Another student interviewed by the outlet said those at the gathering are interested in continuing something similar on campus, adding that they have "talked about maybe starting a club, one where we can do something like worship once a week or gather together and pray." Union President Marcia Hawkins released a statement last Friday in which she explained that the college "is committed to providing a welcoming environment for all, regardless of religious affiliation or belief." Continue reading. | | P.S.Looking for a way to close out your week? Stay in the know with In Case You Missed It, a Friday-only newsletter that features a roundup of the top stories of the week and a selection of faith-based highlights. Subscribe here. |
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| Former youth pastor sentenced 60 years in prison for sex crimes | | A former Southern Baptist youth pastor was sentenced to 60 years in prison Friday after he pleaded guilty to 13 counts of sexual assault and child pornography charges involving six different boys. Keenan Hord, 33, will reportedly be eligible for parole in 15 years. Hord, who worked for First Baptist Church in Bentonville, Ark., and Bellevue Baptist Church in Arlington, Tenn., will have to register as a sex offender and have no unsupervised visits with children, including his own, if he is released early, per The Commercial Appeal. The former youth pastor was arrested in Aug. 2022 in connection with crimes committed from 2020 through 2022, when he was still serving as a youth pastor at First Baptist Church Bentonville. He allegedly had inappropriate contact with a 15-year-old, with detectives discovering more than 5,000 text messages between him and one victim. Court documents show Hord engaged in "sexual intercourse or deviate sexual activity" with multiple minors in 2020-2021 while he was employed "in a position of trust or authority over the victims." Read more. | | New Yorker satire headline mocks those who 'search the Bible' for God’s views | | In a piece from his satire column "Satire from The Borowitz Report," The New Yorker humorist Andy Borowitz took aim at the professed faith of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett with the headline, "Amy Coney Barrett Searches Bible for God's Opinion of the Internet." The column, an apparent nod to the Supreme Court battle in Gonzelez v. Google, depicts a fictional scenario where Barrett "called for a recess in arguments before the Supreme Court so that she could search the Bible for God's views on the Internet." The column concludes with Barrett instructing her clerks to "comb the Bible for the Almighty's opinions on digital matters," only to result in their failure to "find any mention of the Internet in the books of Genesis, Exodus, or Leviticus, but were said to be 'holding out hope' for the Book of Numbers." This is not the first time Borowitz has taken aim at Christians or conservatives. In 2012, he declared that "the baby Jesus was the last homeless person the Republicans liked." In 2012, the New Yorker made headlines for a controversial cover depicting "Sesame Street" characters Bert and Ernie celebrating same-sex marriage. Bill Hull, co-founder and CEO of The Bonhoeffer Project, has cautioned that many people do not take the mocking of Christians seriously. "If there is anything worse than being mocked by Borowitz or some 'funny only to the left' humorist, it is being ignored," Hull said via email. Read more. |
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| Why so much outrage over the burning of an LGBT Pride flag? | | Family Research Council President Tony Perkins discusses recent outrage over a woman who set an LGBT flag in New York on fire. While the media, political leaders and law enforcement have barely acknowledged a nationwide string of attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers across the U.S., they have been quick to take action and tout the LGBT movement's resilience. "[N]o one is defending this woman's actions. Respect for other people's property—whether it’s a ministry or a drag bar—ought to be a reasonable expectation of every American. There's no excuse for lawlessness in any form or against any person. That said, the hysteria over what happened in SoHo is a powerful illustration of where we are as a nation, and ignoring it only primes the pump for more hypocrisy," cautions Perkins. Read more. | | Want to help your child build lasting, meaningful friendships? Here's how | | In this op-ed, WinShape Camps for Girls' Amy Lowe discusses the importance of children building meaningful friendships with others, noting that such bonds can help kids overcome feelings of anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Lowe shares how summer camps can help children build such bonds, explaining, "Summer camp is a great place to make friends, first and foremost because there are no distractions—no iPhones, TikTok or streaming TV. It may take campers a little while to adjust, but once they do, they're all on the same page, interacting with each other instead of sitting on bunks staring at a screen." While camp cannot fix everything, it's an important step in teaching today's generation the power of learning and growing together, Lowe writes. Read more. |
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| Eastern Catholic monk renounces Christianity for Islam | | Hilarion Heagy, an Eastern Catholic monk and priest, recently renounced Christianity and embraced Islam. News of his change in beliefs triggered multiple headlines in Islamic media and consternation among some who knew him to be a devout Christ follower. In a statement on Facebook Friday, Abbot Damian Higgins of the Holy Transfiguration Monastery in California, identified Heagy as Troy Heagy, saying he visited the monastery as "Fr. Hilarion" last year. Higgins noted that Heagy "served faithfully in a Russian Orthodox Monastery for many years until he sought to unite himself in an Eastern Catholic Community in Wisconsin," adding that Heagy expressed his intent to found a monastic community in Texas. "He only recently revealed through social media that he had an interest in the Sufi tradition of Islam from 20 years ago. He never had any indication of this interest and can only say that, while here, he was an example of a faithful Christian man in every respect. We pray that he may return to the fullness of Truth revealed in The Incarnate God, Jesus Christ," Higgins added. Read more. | | Jen Wilkin doubles down on public school comments | | Bible teacher and author Jen Wilkin defended her views on children attending public schools during The Gospel Coalition's "Good Faith Debates" series. The mother of five revealed that all other children have attended public school and many of her family members are active in the public school system. "I would never say everyone should choose public school, but I would say we should try really hard to, if at all possible because we believe in the public school ideal. We believe that education is a right; it’s necessary for human flourishing; it’s good for society. It’s a mark of civilization," she stated. Her comments faced backlash on social media, with some taking issue with her stance. "The community does not have a say in how you choose to educate your children. Your first ministry is always your family and then you work outward. You don’t sacrifice your family because the community’s needs are somehow more important," asserted podcaster Chris Hohnholz. Wilkins subsequently defended her position in a series of tweets, calling the criticism a "mischaracterization" of her argument. Read more. |
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| 'The Chosen,' Candace Cameron Bure Movieguide Awards winners | | The 30th annual Movieguide Awards, which took place on Feb. 10, aired on Sunday on UPtv. During the awards ceremony, the hit Christian television series "The Chosen" took home the Epiphany Prize for the most inspiring movie for its theatrical release of the first two episodes of Season 3. "The Chosen," which is the first-ever multi-season show about the life of Jesus, is also the No. 1 crowdfunded media project in history. Meanwhile, actress Candace Cameron Bure won the best family television award for her Great American Family film, "A Christmas … Present," her first movie with the family-oriented media company. The "Full House" alum serves in an executive role for Great American Family media. Dolly Parton took home the Epiphany Prize for the most inspiring television show for her "Mountain Magic Christmas." Read more. | | New children's book fights back against gender ideology | | Husband-and-wife duo Ryan and Bethany Bomberger have written She is She, a book that utilizes rhymes and colorful illustrations to "counter the lies of gender spectrum politics and illuminate the beauty of what a girl is." The book's description reads, in part, "God created us male and female and with thousands of beautiful and biological differences. Children, tragically, have become the main target of LGBTQ+ and other 'woke' activists who want to peddle political propaganda to the detriment of our nation's youth. But kids are not the testing ground for anyone's emotional or sexual affirmation. Children deserve their innocence, and they deserve the truth." The couple says they are fighting back against what they see as a "demonic" attack on the biblical definition of gender and sexuality, which Bethany elaborated on during an interview with CP. "There are all these lies that have now been put in place to try to really combat the simple truth that we are biologically, beautifully different. There is this push … a demonic push. The enemy knows if he catches our children at younger and younger ages, then he doesn't have to wait till they're in college to start making this decision," explained Bethany, who is a former educator. "We have to reach our children before a broken world does; we have to teach them before the broken world reaches them," the mother of four added. Watch the full interview here. | | | | | | | | Thank you for spending part of your day with us. We look forward to seeing you again tomorrow! -- CP Editors |
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