Minnesota District Court Judge Patrick Diamond has ordered USA Powerlifting to allow trans-identified males to compete in the women's division amid a national debate about the fairness of allowing biological men who identify as females to compete against women. Diamond wrote that USA Powerlifting, which describes itself as the "leading drug-tested powerlifting organization in the United States," violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act by implementing a policy banning trans-identified males from competing in the women's division. The Minnesota Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of "sexual orientation or sex." USA Powerlifting gave plaintiff JayCee Cooper and other trans-identified athletes the option to compete in a separate category, thereby preventing biologically female athletes from having to compete against biological males while not forcing trans-identified athletes to compete in the division that corresponds with their biological sex. However, Diamond dismissed the move as inadequate, arguing that by "making a person pretend to be something different, the implicit message being that who they are is less than." Eighteen states have passed laws requiring athletes to compete on sports teams that match their biological sex as opposed to their gender identity, including Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. Read more.

A Florida pastor was arrested for allegedly drugging and raping a married parishioner after promising her a "spiritual revival" in his home. Eddy Noelsaint, the senior pastor of the Evangelical Church of Restoration in Orlando, was arrested on two counts of sexual battery. Noelsaint reportedly confessed to taking advantage of his parishioner twice, per a press release from the Osceola County Sheriff's Office and Fox 35. The sheriff's office believes there could be more victims. The woman says she went to Noelsaint's house to undergo a "spiritual revival" in July 2022, which is a common practice in her home country of Haiti. The pastor instructed her to take a shower and walked into the bathroom and asked for sex, which she declined. He later made her green tea, and she reported feeling sick after drinking it. The pastor then gave her pills twice, which gave her a headache and made her sleepy. After requesting he call 911 due to her heart racing, he instead allegedly took her into another room and "sexually battered her." She says that she was again raped by the pastor in Nov. 2022 when she went to his house thinking she would be meeting with his wife to search for apartments, per Fox 35. Read more.

A Texas woman stabbed her five young children, killing three of them last Friday. Shamaiya Deyonshana Hall, 25, has since been arrested and charged with three counts of capital murder. Bail has been set at a collective $6 million. The murders come less than two years after her mentally troubled twin sister stabbed her 7-year-old daughter to death. The Ellis County Sheriff's Office said in a press release that an investigator with Texas Child Protective Services visited Hall’s home last Friday and decided to remove the children. The sheriff's office was contacted around 4 p.m., but five minutes later, officers with the Italy Police Department who arrived at the scene were shocked to discover a 6-year-old boy and 5-year-old boy and girl twin siblings dead. A 4-year-old boy and his 13-month-old sister are still alive and were transported to Children's Hospital Dallas in critical condition. "We ask for you to keep the family, the community of Italy, and first responders in your thoughts and prayers during this tragic time," the Ellis County Sheriff's Office said. Read more.

Wallace B. Henley discusses living in "an age of information glut" while simultaneously suffering a poverty of wisdom. In reflecting on the "consensus elites" and the unprecedented control the government imposed over every facet of society in the wake of COVID-19—which was likely leaked from a chemical lab in Wuhan, China—Henley highlights the words of Jordan Peterson, explaining that you will pay the price for everything you do and everything you don't do: "You don't get to choose to not pay a price. You get to choose which poison you're going to take. That's it." Nonetheless, we must seek the wisdom found in God's Word or "we may find ourselves closing our businesses, shutting down our churches, and locking down our schools—in short, suspending our lives—just to escape the breeze from Wuhan," Henley concludes. Read more.

Bunni Pounds, the founder and President of Christians Engaged, writes about local governments and public schools caving to "woke" agendas as a culture battle rages on. Pounds offers four practical ways believers can be the "salt and light" they are called to be, including by being a civic voice, a kids' champion, and by praying publicly. Read the full list here.

As we think about February being the month of love, we wanted to take a moment and celebrate an inspirational, Christian community that encourages, prays, and financially supports each other in difficult times.

Our friends at Medi-Share have gathered a community of believers who commit to loving each other by praying for each other’s health concerns and sharing in the costs of each other’s medical bills, every single day. Since 1993, they have shared in almost 6 billion dollars in medical expenses from their community.

For Medi-Share, it’s more than just the dollars they’re able to help with… it’s about the people and families on the other side who are experiencing the love of Jesus through sharing burdens and prayers. Learn more about this loving community today!

Women make up the majority of the Christian church in every country of the world. Their presence has been instrumental in the expansion of Christianity to the Global South, as well as the explosive growth in the Chinese house church movement. Speaking at the recent Global Consultation of the World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Gina Zurlo presented the findings of her research on the role of women in Christianity to missions leaders from around the world. Zurlo, co-director of the Boston-based Center for the Study of World Christianity, stated, "Church history is full of nuns, martyrs, queens, pastor's wives, mothers, single and married female missionaries, teachers, nurses, indigenous evangelists, and many other women who helped Christianity grow, survive and thrive. Women are central to the faith, not marginal, although they are often treated as such." Calling global Christianity a "woman's movement," Zurlo added that women are the "most active church members" and are "utterly critical for the continuation of the Christian faith into the future." Read more.

Eastview Christian Church in Illinois has hired an attorney from Wagenmaker & Oberly to conduct an investigation after the church's longtime senior pastor resigned over allegations that he covered up sexual misconduct by his son. Central Christian Church announced that they fired Caleb Baker after he was caught in an extramarital affair with another church staffer, prompting allegations that Eastview's Pastor Mike Baker covered up his son's sexual misconduct. While Mike Baker disputes the allegations, a former colleague of Caleb Baker at Eastview alleged in a Feb. 22 statement on Facebook that Caleb Baker was "let go" as an employee of the church in 2016 after it was disclosed that he was involved sexually with multiple women at the church. Eastview elders said in an earlier statement that they only became aware of the allegations of abuse against Caleb Baker after he left the church in 2016. Although the elders at the time acted after they were made aware of specific allegations via letters that purported to be written by victims of abuse, the purported authors denied that they wrote the letters. It was not until July 2022 that they got a complaint from a former employee alleging an abusive culture in 2016. Since receiving that letter, the elders said they started an independent investigation that will continue in light of the revelations about Caleb Baker's affair at Central Christian Church. Read more.

Platinum-selling worship band Hillsong United recently released the expanded edition of their new record Are We There Yet in the midst of what Jonathan "JD" Douglass described as a prolonged and "challenging" season that has made their music truer than ever. In an interview with CP, Douglass explained, "We definitely have been through quite a bit. I do feel like so has the rest of the world, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that last year was one of the most challenging years for us. But the good thing is, I feel like we experienced God in such a new and fresh way and all the things that we write and sing about have never been more true, even for us." Hillsong has recently been the subject of various rumors and accusations. Last year, it was the focus of a Discovery Plus docuseries that rehashed accusations and instances of misconduct perpetrated by former church leaders that came to light in recent years. However, Douglass remains hopeful, telling CP, "I can honestly say at the end of the day, when we got to the end of last year, that I feel like my faith and trust and experiencing God's goodness has never been better. I love the Word of God and I believe that as the psalmist writes in Psalm 119, it is 'a lamp unto our feet and a light into our path.'" Watch the full interview here.