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Good afternoon! It's Friday, June 3, and today's headlines include Rick Warren's announcement that he is stepping down from Saddleback Church in September, the U.S. State Department's remarks on Russia's destruction of Ukrainian religious sites, and research on the connection between church attendance and pro-life beliefs.
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Saddleback Church co-founders Rick and Kay Warren have announced that Echo.Church's Andy and Stacie Wood will become their successors in September. "Kay and I believe so much in this couple. We love them so much, and we are confident that God has prepared and chosen them to take up the baton and run the next leg of the Saddleback marathon. We truly, deeply, confidently and unreservedly endorse this couple to take our church to the next level of growth and impact," Warren said in a statement. Although Warren and his elders began the official search for his replacement last summer, he explained in a 22-minute video that he began thinking about succession nearly 20 years ago when his 2002 book The Purpose Driven Life became a bestseller. Although their initial intent when they started the church in January 1980 was to lead it for 40 years, Warren says he had an uneasy feeling about stepping down in the months leading up to January 2020. "[I]t became crystal clear six weeks after our church’s 40th anniversary when the COVID pandemic hit and all of our services got shut down for 14 months," he explained. Read more.Also of Interest ... |
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The U.S. State Department has accused Russia of engaging in the "suppression of religious leaders" and condemned its military forces' "appalling destruction of religious sites" in Ukraine during the State Department's release of its annual report documenting the state of religious freedom worldwide. During a press conference Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the report offers a "thorough, fact-based review of the state of religious freedom in nearly 200 countries and
territories around the world" and cited Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan as other countries that routinely discriminate against religious minorities. He also condemned China for its continued "genocide and repression of predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other religious minority groups" and told reporters that more than 1 million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have been detained in internment camps in Western China since 2017. Read more and watch the press conference here. |
Also of Interest...
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A new report from Lifeway Research has revealed that Evangelicals and other Americans who attend church regularly are more likely to oppose abortion than the religiously unaffiliated and those who go to church less often. The survey found that nearly two-thirds of those who held "Evangelical beliefs" identified as pro-life, compared to 53% of non-Evangelicals and 70% of "non-religious" respondents who identified as pro-choice. Christians who attend church weekly were more than twice as likely to be pro-life. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Adam W. Greenway said the research "underscores the truth that the ultimate solution to this moral problem, like all moral problems, is spiritual transformation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ among individuals that
will eventually translate into societal changes." Read more. |
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The California state Senate has passed a bill that eliminates requirements for schools to report certain students' behaviors to the police. While the bill's sponsor, state Sen. Steven Bradford, D-Gardena, says the move will reduce the criminalization of K-12 students, others argue it could compromise students' safety. Senate Bill 1273 eliminates a previous requirement that school administrators report drug and alcohol-related incidents, leaving
the response to substances on campus up to educators. It also exempts students from a provision that states any person who "willfully disturbs" a public school or school meeting is guilty of a misdemeanor and is subject to a fine of up to $500. Under the bill, educators will now choose whether to report a student who behaves in a verbally or physically threatening manner to the police. Read more. |
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Christian Post Executive Editor Dr. Richard Land writes about the life of General Douglas MacArthur and the impact the general has had on Land, the baby boomer generation, and all of America. "Thank God that He raised up men like Douglas MacArthur and the tens of thousands of men and women who have, in times of America’s greatest need, been willing to sacrifice 'all their tomorrows' that we might have the freedom too many of us too often take for granted," Land writes. Read
more. |
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Today is World Clubfoot Day, and Justin Narducci discusses why it's "a day for celebrating how far we have come, and how far we still have to go, in humanity’s fight against clubfoot." Narducci writes about the importance of early intervention to correct clubfoot, noting it is easiest to treat when the individual is an infant. He points to faith-based organizations such as Hope Walks, Hope and Healing International, CURE International, and CBM, which actively provide treatment to children in low and middle-income countries where pediatric
healthcare is limited. Asserting the only way the world will be able to overcome clubfoot for good is by investing in early childhood intervention, Narducci concludes, "[L]et us recognize that we have the tools—through early intervention—to prevent clubfoot from plaguing God’s children in the future." Read more. |
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This Sunday, 50 days after the Empty Tomb was discovered, we celebrate Pentecost Sunday, commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Disciples and other followers of Jesus Christ.
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Pentecost is still vital today as it represents the beginning of the Christian Church and reminds of Jesus’ promise that God would send us the Holy Spirit.
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Leading up to Pentecost Sunday, Crossmap.com has unique content to bless you and deepen your relationship with Christ. |
Find more at the Crossmap Pentecost Special Section. Visit Now! |
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Nameeta Renu, a member of the Order of Consecrated Virgins in Bombay in Mumbai, India, addressed whether the feminism fight was central to the first-century church in a piece for the Global Sisters Report, a self-described "independent, nonprofit source of news and information about Catholic sisters and the critical issues facing the people they serve." Renu, whose bio states that she has a doctorate in theology
on spiritual guidance and integral formation, contrasts the two archetypes of Mary and Martha, asserting that Martha embodied the "relatively conservative" early church views on women's roles, while Mary "represents the feminist church as envisioned by Jesus." Renu also stated that God "wants both men and women to be liberated from patriarchy" and called Mary Magdalene the "Apostle to the Apostles," suggesting that such a claim to apostleship holds as much weight as the Apostle Paul. Read more. |
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A Lebanese Christian party leader is threatening to reject any coalition government that would place allies of the Islamic terror group Hezbollah in the country's seat of power. Samir Geagea, the head of the Christian party Lebanese Forces, told Reuters this week that the group will continue to boycott any power-sharing deal if a new consensus cabinet is formed that includes anyone aligned with the
armed Shi'ite movement being appointed as prime minister. The Lebanese Forces holds the largest bloc in Lebanon's fragmented Parliament with 21 of 128 seats. Hezbollah lost its parliamentary majority in last month's election, but the Hezbollah-led alliance secured 61 seats. "[Hezbollah] shouldn't celebrate too much," Geagea said. According to Reuters, he also warned that any further parliamentary divisions could result in a "major confrontation" between the Iran-backed Hezbollah and its allies and the Saudi-aligned Lebanese Forces. Read more. |
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A spokesperson for Cora Jakes Coleman, the eldest daughter of megachurch Pastor T.D. Jakes, called online allegations that she manipulated a vulnerable Texas mother into giving up her child for adoption "slanderous" on Thursday while insisting that all adoptions made by the 34-year-old divorcée were legally executed. Michelle Loud, a Texas hairstylist who identified herself in an online video as the biological mother of one of Cora Jakes' adopted children, accused Jakes of playing "on my vulnerability." Jakes' response comes in the wake of the arrest of her former husband, rapper Richard Brandon Coleman (stage name SkiiVentura), for "continuous sexual abuse of a young child/children." The Wayne McCollum Detention Center in Waxahachie, Texas, confirmed with The
Christian Post on Thursday that Richard Coleman has remained in custody on a $150,000 bond since his May 4 arrest. Read more. |
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Thank you for spending part of your day with us. We look forward to seeing you again on Monday! -- CP Editors
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