Billy Graham's friend and music director was a man of joyful faith shaped by his love of Scripture.Last week, the world lost another giant of the faith, Rev. Cliff Barrows, 93, who passed after several months of declining health. Following a public funeral service today at a church in Charlotte, North Carolina, he will be interred nearby in a private ceremony on the grounds of the Billy Graham Library.
Much has and will continue to be written about Cliff’s legendary life and legacy, includ
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The Cliff Barrows I Knew
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Died: Beverly LaHaye, Pastor’s Wife Who Led Religious Right
The founder of Concerned Women for America was credited by President Ronald Reagan with “changing the face of American politics.”Beverly LaHaye, a timid pastor’s wife who became a fierce champion for conservative Christian politics and a force mobilizing hundreds of thousands of religious women, died on Sunday in a retirement home in El Cajon, California. She was 94.President Ronald Reagan once praised LaHaye as “one of the powerhouses” of the conservative movement
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More Pastors Are Leaving Ministry Over Church Conflict
But experts say it can offer opportunities for leaders and congregations to grow.
Conflict had become the norm at Trinity Church in Redlands, California.The lead pastor left in 2022 amid a wave of disgruntled attendees. Following his departure, some church members remained upset at the congregation’s elders. In all, there had been at least a dozen situations that came up over a 14-year period.When Doug Baker arrived as interim pastor, he knew the conflict had to be addressed. Trinity calle
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Sports Can Be a Touchdown for Faith. Beware of Encroachment.
As a lifelong athlete and coach, I know sports build character. But I worry about the idolatrous, selfish culture of American athletics.When my wife told me that my son received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at his football game, I was enraged. He’d aggressively thrown the ball back to the official he believed had missed a call. I flew into a lecture about leadership, respect for authority, and composure. I even called friends and family to register my disbelief and embarrassment.But
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Your Neighbors (Probably) Don’t Hate You
They might not even know you’re there. When paranoia eclipses our witness, here’s what to remember.This piece was adapted from Russell Moore’s newsletter. Subscribe here.Some colleagues and I happened to be meeting in New England this week, so we drove a little bit north to a small village in Vermont called St. Johnsbury, right in the line of the totality of the solar eclipse.Even before the sky darkened, I was mesmerized by the people gathering in the town square, each with a
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Chuck Swindoll Steps Down as Senior Pastor, but Won’t Retire
At 89 years old and more than 60 years into ministry, the Stonebriar Community Church founder plans to remain its primary preacher after the church names his successor.Chuck Swindoll has said that pastors “should never retire,” and the 89-year-old won’t be stepping away from the pulpit even as his church welcomes his successor.Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas, announced this week that Swindoll will transition to founding pastor, continuing to preach on Sundays, as J
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In ‘Civil War,’ What You See Is What You Try to Forget
The new dystopian thriller reminds viewers it’s not just what we witness that matters, but how.There’s nothing more frightening than the sound of a camera shutter in the new film Civil War.Distributed by A24, the production company behind releases like Everything Everywhere All at Once and Past Lives, the movie depicts the remnants of a United States government battling the Western Forces, an alliance between Texas and California. If you’re looking for reasons—Why these f
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Make Nepal Hindu Again: Christians Concerned by Rising Religious Nationalism
Hindutva ideology is crossing the border from India and making ministry more challenging for churches in the former Hindu kingdom.More than 15 years after Nepal officially became a secular democracy, the former Hindu monarchy may have a religious extremism problem, incited and aggravated by its closest neighbor.In an “alarming” development, Indian Hindutva ideology and politics have begun to spread throughout the country, as local experts and journalists report. This proliferation ha
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Our Faith Is Not Too Fragile for Science
An excerpt from The Sacred Chain: How Understanding Evolution Leads to Deeper Faith.I sat by myself at one end of the boardroom, fidgeting with a few notes on the table in front of me. At the other end were about ten older men in suits and ties peering over their tables, arms crossed. It wouldn’t have been difficult for someone just walking in to determine which end of the room held the power.After my brief opening statement, the rest of our time was set aside for “discussion.”
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More Porridge? Senegal Protestants Debate Exchanging Holiday Foods with Muslims
Ngalakh combines baobab fruit and peanuts to end Easter in West African nation, reciprocated by the sharing of meat breaking Ramadan’s fast.In Senegal, Muslims love to share meat. Christians share porridge.Ending the monthlong Ramadan fast this week, the faithful in the Muslim-majority West African nation invited Christian friends to celebrate Korite (Eid al-Fitr), focus on forgiveness and reconciliation, and share a wholesome meal of chicken.A little over two months later during Tabaski (
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More Porridge? Senegal Christians Debate Exchanging Holiday Foods with Muslims
Ngalakh combines baobab fruit and peanuts to end Easter in West African nation, reciprocated by the sharing of meat breaking Ramadan’s fast.Muslims in Senegal love to share meat. Its Christians share porridge.Ending their monthlong Ramadan fast this week, the faithful in the Muslim-majority West African nation invited Christian friends to celebrate Korite (Eid al-Fitr), focus on forgiveness and reconciliation, and serve a wholesome meal of chicken.A little over two months later during Taba
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Baptists Call on House Speaker Mike Johnson to Stand with Ukraine
Seminary leaders say that the country, where Baptists are the largest Protestant denomination, has lost hundreds of churches in the war with Russia.
Southern Baptist leaders have written to US House Speaker Mike Johnson, a member and former official of their denomination, urging him to support Ukraine in Russia’s war against its Eastern European neighbor.“As you consider efforts to support Ukraine, we humbly ask that you consider the plight of Christians,” wrote the leaders, wh
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We Are ‘Gods’ Because We are God’s
The Book of John reminds us that Jesus’ humanity makes ours possible.Nearly halfway through John’s Gospel, Jesus tells those gathered in the temple at the Feast of the Dedication, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’?” (10:34). In effect, Jesus says that Scripture says that God says, “You are gods.” What is Jesus on about?It really is quite surprising. After all, we read the Scriptures and learn that human beings
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Some Evangelicals Want a Third-Party Option, Even Without a Chance at Winning
The American Solidarity Party is a small but growing alternative to the Trump-Biden race.Charlie Richert would really like to stop voting for his dad.But in the last couple presidential election cycles, the 30-year-old attorney in Indianapolis has been unable to square his conscience with picking either the Republican or Democratic party nominee, so he’s resorted to writing in a name.“There’s no way I can escape having my faith inform how I vote,” said Richert, a nondenom
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How a Chinese-Born Research Scientist Became a Daring Online Evangelist
CT’s outgoing Asia editor recalls how God led him to America, toward the Christian faith, onto the internet, and outward to serve the global Chinese church.I was born in southwest China, in the Ganzi (Garzê) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province. Only a few days after birth, I was sent to Chengdu, the province’s capital city. My sister and I were raised by our grandmother while my parents, both medical doctors, were sent by the Communist Party to the rural Tibetan a
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The Church Loses When Our Arts Communities Die
Christian writers and artists need communities of like-minded creatives so we can best serve both the church and the world.I can remember the moment small literary magazines entered my life and established a subtle but dominating influence. I was talking with my dad about some classes I was taking at the end of my undergraduate years, and I shared an idea that had recently popped into my head: “I want to start a magazine. I’ll invite some friends who like to write and are into photog
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The Book of Job Gives Us Good News for an Unfair World
The book reminds us that life is unjust, but so is the gospel of God’s grace.Life is unfair, and that is a problem.All humans seem to have an “unfairness radar” that goes off whenever we encounter senseless injustice. From trite examples provoking our frustration, such as someone cutting us in line, to those that deeply grieve us, like a young mother of three fighting terminal cancer, we mourn with an acute sense that the world is not as it should be. Or consider unfairness on
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Record-Setting Betting Weighs on College Athletes
As players face new pressures from bettors upset with their performance, chaplains in the NCAA are trying to help students remember their imago Dei.The odds are bringing little favor to college athletes, who are facing more pressure over their performance from bettors.South Carolina’s defeat of Iowa for the women’s NCAA championship on Sunday drew record-breaking betting numbers. BetMGM announced that the game had drawn the most bets of any women’s sporting event ever.Last year
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After Taiwan’s Powerful Earthquake, Christian Aid Groups Work to Rebuild Lives
On an island where Buddhist disaster relief is prominent, Christians work with churches to care for children and families.When a 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit the east coast of Taiwan Wednesday morning, Carissa Wang, branding communication director of World Vision Taiwan, was on the Taipei subway on her way to work. She felt the carriage sway more than usual, and then it stopped at the next station as an announcement alerted passengers that service had ended due to an earthquake.Wang and her Worl
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Would Jesus Overturn Your Board Table?
I served on the RZIM board. Christians in many leadership roles can learn from my failures.The room was hot, and I stared at the pristine white table in front of me, being careful not to lift my eyes, my muscles tense. To my left were members of the International Board of Directors of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), seated at the table and joining on video. To my right were lawyers. One of them was preparing to read to us the 12-page report of a months-long investigation into sex
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Died: Joseph Kayo, the Kenyan Leader Who Revolutionized Worship in East Africa
His Pentecostalism put him at odds with many but the Deliverance Church founder stood firm in his convictions “to bring back the glory of God back to the Church in these last days.”Joe Kayo, known by many as the father of the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement in East Africa, died on November 2, 2023. He was 86.Kayo founded churches in four countries: Deliverance Church Kenya, Deliverance Church Uganda, Juba Pentecostal Church in South Sudan, and Family of God Churches of Zimbabwe. At
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Vietnam’s New Religious Decree Further Burdens Local Churches
Pastors and religious liberty advocates worry the government’s effort to manage religion will bring tighter control.Operating a church in Vietnam just became even more difficult thanks to new government regulations that went into effect over the weekend. Under Decree 95, the government will now require religious groups to submit financial records and allow local government officials to suspend religious activities for unspecified “serious violations.”Nguyen Ti Dinh of Vietnam&r
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Andrew Peterson: ‘No Teachable Moments’
The writer of the best-selling children’s book series The Wingfeather Saga hopes season 2 of the television adaptation “will be taken as a story first.”
Can a fantasy epic introduce the gospel to kids? That’s the hope behind The Wingfeather Saga, the children’s book series turned television show that’s just premiered its second season. (Episode 1 is available for viewing starting today, April 5, on www.angel.com; the remaining six episodes will be released wee
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New Atheism Finally Learns How to Destroy Christianity
Richard Dawkins’s cultural “Christianity” could hollow out our faith far more efficiently than straightforward attacks.This piece was adapted from Russell Moore’s newsletter. Subscribe here.One of the most notorious atheists has had a “come to Jesus” moment. He’s also figured out, at long last, a way to undermine the Christian religion he loathes. And, unlike his previous efforts, this one could actually work.Richard Dawkins, the author of The God Delusi
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It’s the End of the World (But Not as We Know It)
The total eclipse is the latest of many apocalyptic expectations corrupting our view of Revelation.Next week’s solar eclipse has stoked the flames of end-time speculations, once again whipping doomsday theorists into a frenzy.As the April 8 event will take place primarily over North America, some in the US are anticipating a great Day of Judgment complete with terrorist attacks, biological warfare, and nuclear meltdowns. According to alt-right conspiracy theorists, including some fringe ev
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The Bible’s Development Is a Messy Story, but It Can Bolster Our Faith
If anything, the historical details are even messier than Susan Lim’s new account allows.What does history have to do with faith? Everything. As Paul attests in 1 Corinthians 15, Christ died. He was buried. He was raised on the third day. And then “he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve,” and then “to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time (vv. 5–6). Because Jesus’ work for his people unfolded on earth for everyone to see, t
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An Eclipse Is Evidence of Things Unseen
Astronomy teaches us to see the light in the world’s darkness.At the climax of the crucifixion story, darkness comes over the land. Jesus, crowned with thorns, cries out. The earth quakes; the temple curtain is ripped in two. God’s moment of greatest love seems like defeat: a fissure between heaven and earth. But, the Gospels hold, this isn’t the end of the story. The darkness ends, and Sunday morning comes. The stone in front of the grave is rolled away. “Do not be afrai
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The Christian Faith of ‘Shogun’s’ ‘Blue-Eyed Samurai’
The real-life John Blackthorne was an Englishman who came to be known as Anjin. What the letters he left behind reveal about his relationship with God.In Shizuoka, the prefecture of Japan where I grew up, you can find a park dedicated to the first Englishman to enter Japan. A small public space along the water in the city of Itō, it commemorates Miura Anjin, or William Adams, who arrived in the country when his ship washed up on its shores.Captured by local leaders, Anjin was put in the ser
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Faith Deconstruction Can Be a Search for Answers or a Search for Exits
Christians should encourage doubters’ questions. They should also discern what those questions might be seeking.Wrestling with Christian faith—questioning, doubting, reforming, and even falling away from it—has been part of the Christian tradition as long as there’s been a Christian tradition. Christianity asserts some big claims about the world, and a healthy faith can mean wrestling with these claims at some point along our faith journey. The result can be a more robust
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How Do LGBTQ+ Students Fare at Christian Colleges? It’s Complicated.
Our research, based on large-scale student surveys, finds a surprising and complex interplay of religion and mental health at US universities.In 2021, the Religious Exception Accountability Project (REAP) brought a lawsuit calling for “an end to the U.S. Department of Education’s complicity in the abuses and unsafe conditions thousands of LGBTQ+ students endure at hundreds of taxpayer-funded, religious colleges and universities.”The underlying premise of REAP’s suit is th
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