More troubles for Sovereign Grace ministries folk.  This hit the Washington Post today: A pastor known for promoting corporal punishment has been accused of physically abusing a woman for 25 years, beginning during her childhood. The Rev. Larry Tomczak, an associate pastor at Bethel World Outreach Church near Brentwood, Tenn., was named in a Maryland lawsuit that was filed against leaders of Sovereign Grace Ministries, a denomination Tomczak helped found in the 1980s and later left. The suit was originally filed in October by three alleged victims of abuse and was amended Friday (Jan. 11) to add five...

Come on women… get with the program. Pat Robertson gives advice from his 58 years of marriage.  He knows what he’s talking about. Somehow I think his co-host doesn’t agree. Oh my. Don’t you wish you owned your own Christian television network so you could say wacky...

Joseph Wared, the director of Believe Out Loud has an op-ed piece in today’s Advocate. Wared writes: I have no doubt that there are conservative Christian leaders who provide extraordinary ministry in the social justice arenas of their choosing. Reverend Giglio’s commendable work to combat human trafficking was the rationale for his selection. But our culture is shifting, and when it comes to LGBT equality, Americans expect more from our churches. The U.S. Episcopal Church, Metropolitan Community Churches, and the United Church of Christ are just a few of the denominations that are meeting this...

Millennial Worshipers may be few and far between these days… but they’re passionate! From a USA TODAY article: Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research, a Nashville-based Christian research agency, analyzed Protestant trends from 1972 to 2010 in data collected by the General Social Survey, a biannual survey from the National Opinion Research Center. When he looked at young adults ages 23 to 35 — an age group that is often away from their parents’ influence and the cocoon of college — he found that during those 38 years: – Mainline Protestant numbers dove from 24% to...

“God told me”. Carey Nieuwhof talks about this ‘trump card’ today at his blog.  And I couldn’t agree more. He states the fact that when most people play their trump card, it really has nothing to do with any time of theological thing (like salvation, the cross, etc.) and almost always has to do with their own opinion… things like church programs, vision, direction, etc. I like what he says: Most of the time when leaders trot out “God told me”, they’re actually seeking to add divine weight to something that truthfully, is either their opinion or their (maybe...

One school district in California is mandating Yoga classes for their 5,000 students as a kind of “21st Century P. E.”. This has a handful of Christian parents upset. Is Yoga something, as Christians and church leaders, to take a stand on? Mark Driscoll has said that he thinks Yoga is ‘demonic’? Watch and listen as Matt Steen and I tackle this subject, and start the conversation… CLICK IMAGE TO WATCH Yoga Classes in School & Christian Outrage (Length:  5 min 58 sec) Subscribe to MinistryBriefing on YouTube What do YOU think?  Leave a text or video comment...

I really like the post that Michael Lukaszewski posted yesterday.  He talks about how pastors always think that the people in their churches are just like them. The reality is… they’re not. Here are some of Michael’s examples: They don’t know who John Piper or Steven Furtick are.  They are confused when you quote them without context. They aren’t familiar with their Bibles.  When you say, “You know…like it says in First Timothy,” they absolutely don’t know. They don’t work in a Christian environment.  They aren’t surrounded by Christians who love worship music and...

Johnnie Moore is the author of Dirty God (#DirtyGod). He is a professor of religion and vice president at Liberty University. Keep track of him @johnnieM . Johnnie thinks that Jesus was a lot more like you than you think, and a lot less clean cut than this iconic image of him that floats around culture. He thinks that despite the Christian belief that Jesus was both fully God and fully man, Jesus was a rather dirty God. Matt Steen and I discuss the book and the concept in this short video. Watch Jesus was a Dirty, Dirty God now… From the CNN article: Jesus was a lot more like you than you think,...

Ponder if you will the state of our world; and in particular the condition of America. Although one can easily argue the United States is still the greatest nation in the world and a country so many desire to come to— even risk their lives to enter into—there is no denying America’s social, moral and spiritual fabric continues to deteriorate at an accelerated pace. For many this is an alarming and discouraging trend. Now consider the fact that 76% of Americans claim to be Christian, making the United States one of the highest per-capita Christian nations in the world. A nation full of...

Should Hollywood and the Christian world ever collaborate and work together on faith-based films?  Such an effort is being made with the feature film Les Miserables.  Matt Steen and Todd Rhoades discuss whether or not this a good thing. According to CNN: The story in “Les Miserables” is heavy with Christian themes of grace, mercy and redemption. The line everyone seems to remember is “to love another person is to see the face of God.” NBC Universal looked to capitalize on those components and promoted the film to pastors, Christian radio hosts and influence-makers in the Christian...