| | Students hold revival worship during spring break | | Curated for you byCP Editors | | Good afternoon! It's Thursday, March 9, and today's headlines include university students holding a worship event over spring break, Arkansas passing a universal school choice program, and an interview with "Southern Gospel" star Max Ehrich. | | While thousands of students are on vacation during spring break in Virginia, students at Regent University have been engaging in impromptu worship services that include the sharing of testimonies and exhortations from Scripture. Regent students and others began holding the evening services last month after some traveled to Asbury University in Kentucky to participate in the revival there. Regent's director of campus ministries, Jeff Gossmann, told The Christian Post that this week marks spring break for the university, but "students, faculty, staff and the community continue to meet for spontaneous worship and prayer." The school's Shaw Chapel is open all week for prayer and praise, Gossmann noted, adding, "It feels like the same quality of spiritual renewal I experienced while at Asbury." | | Gossmann made the trek to Asbury with a professor and two students last month. "We came back excited about what God was doing, not just at Asbury University but at other universities, too. We were convinced that the revival was the fruit of something God was doing that was larger than any one school," he explained. "It was clear that God has been drawing Gen Z to Himself. Gen Z has suffered so much loss from the pandemic. This revival is like a coming-of-age party for Gen Z. I believe that, through this revival, Jesus is saying to Gen Z, 'I see you. Welcome to the table.'" Continue reading. | | P.S. CP is proud to announce the release of "Exposing the Gender Lie," a free e-book in partnership with Summit Ministries. Click here to download your copy today. Don’t forget to sign up for the Unmasking Gender Ideology conference on March 23rd in Dallas, Texas, which is set to feature a panel of experienced professionals such as Mary Rice Hasson, J.D., of The Ethics & Public Policy Center, Woman II Woman founder Amie Ichikawa, and Summit Ministries President Dr. Jeff Myers. Have you listened to CP’s Generation Indoctrination podcast? Listen now on your favorite podcast platform. |
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| Podcast: A deep dive into the Asbury revival | | The Asbury University revival that unfolded last month still has people talking. In this episode of "The Inside Story," CP reporter Michael Gryboski gives the full scoop on what unfolded, why it matters, and explains why these spiritual moments and movements were filled with so many surprises. "So much is made of Generation Z and its tilt toward disbelief," Gryboski said, noting this generation is the "least religious generation of Americans ever. ... But then again, other polling is showing that Gen Z Americans are very spiritually curious." Listen now. | | Co-worker responds to whistleblower's claims about gender clinic | | Jamie Reed, a former case manager at Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital from 2018 to November 2022, stated in a sworn affidavit last month that she witnessed healthcare providers lying to parents about the side effects of taking drugs to transition. The whistleblower further alleged that the clinic did not track the adverse outcomes patients experienced after leaving the center and that it initiated medical transitions for more than 600 kids from 2020 to 2022. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced a probe into the clinic in response to Reed's allegations that the clinic pushed medical interventions on children, sometimes without their parents' consent. Jess Jones, a former co-worker of Reed's, has argued that parents with children expressing a desire to transition raised "red flags" about Reed. Jones told The Missouri Independent, "We said: 'This is a person who isn't safe for us.'" Some parents who spoke to the outlet claimed it took months and not hours for their children to receive medical intervention. As Reed's attorney, Vernadette Broyles, noted, the testimonies shared by The Independent are from parents who had positive experiences at the clinic. Broyles also stated that some patients who detransitioned may feel hesitant to come forward about their past decision. "It does not surprise me that you would find someone in that honeymoon phase," she said. Read more. | | Also of Interest... | | Former transgender clinic worker exposes ‘appalling’ practices: 'We hurt this kid'Missouri AG investigates transgender clinic accused of harming hundreds of childrenDetransitioners sue medical providers over body-mutilating sex-change surgeries | | Arkansas passes universal school choice program | | Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed Senate Bill 294 on Wednesday, becoming the fifth state to enact a universal school choice program. The Arkansas LEARNS Act, which passed the state Senate by a vote of 26-8 on Tuesday, also bans certain topics from being taught in public classrooms. The bill includes a plan for the state to adopt a universal school choice program by the 2025-2026 school year. Students who have disabilities, are facing homelessness, attended a failing school in the previous school year, or have parents who are active duty military are eligible to receive vouchers for the 2023-2024 school year. The bill ties education funding to students, giving them 90% of what schools receive per student in state funding to support their private school or homeschool education. It calls for a $50,000 starting salary for teachers, placing Arkansas among the states with the highest minimum teacher pay. The bill also includes a provision for the Department of Education to ensure communications and materials do not "indoctrinate" students with "ideologies," with the legislation specifically mentioning critical race theory. It further prohibits public school teachers from providing classroom instruction on sexually explicit materials, gender identity and sexual orientation to students before the fifth grade. Sanders called the new law a "historic win for parents, teachers, and students that will set the education model for the nation." Read more. |
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| 6 reasons why revival is not the focus of the New Testament | | In this editorial, Dr. Joseph Mattera outlines six reasons why revival should be viewed as a means to an end and not the end itself. On the list: Praying for revival implies your church is dead, a primary focus of the New Testament was discipleship and not revival, and great outpourings of the Spirit are expressed differently based on the context. Read the full list here. | | How God answers our prayers when we pray selflessly | | Is God answering your prayers? In this op-ed, Oscar Amaechina reflects on the motives people have when calling on God, noting that it is essential that people pray selflessly. Amaechina shares how he realized God was not answering his prayers, which prompted him to consider more deeply what he was praying about. "I came to realize that all my family's prayers were just about ourselves and our family's needs. Nothing else. So, we decided to change the way we pray. We shifted from 'God provide for all our needs' to 'God use us to meet the needs of the helpless,'" he explains. "I must confess that since then, God has been faithful. ... When we trust Him and focus on feeding others, God also feeds us." Read more. |
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| The power to choose in a child’s hands | | Instead of you choosing from hundreds of pictures of children who need sponsors, your picture goes to the kids, and one of them will choose you. And in doing so, people like Shanda are experiencing God’s goodness through the simple act of a child. | | Shanda and her family said yes to sponsoring a child with World Vision while attending Soul City Church in Chicago. "We believe it's a part of our mission as believers in Christ," says Shanda about helping others. Their photo was taken, then sent to Mwala, Kenya, along with photos of hundreds of other Soul City congregants, to be displayed at a large community event. | | In Mwala, a rural community of 40,000 people two hours east of Nairobi, Kenya, the freedom to choose is an unfamiliar luxury for children like 9-year-old Junior. Learn more | | |
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| Pastor steps down after arrest for driving intoxicated with unlicensed weapon, child in car | | The lead teaching pastor at Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, resigned on Sunday, days after he was arrested for allegedly driving while intoxicated with a child under 15 and an unlicensed weapon in his car. Ben Bolin, minister of church planting and missions, confirmed to CP that Drew Erickson resigned from his role at the Southern Baptist congregation in a letter dated March 5. Bolin could not immediately say how soon after the arrest the decision to resign was made. It was also unclear as of Wednesday whether the 40-year-old pastor, who also served as an adjunct professor of preaching at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, is still affiliated with the school. Officials at the seminary told CP that they could not confirm details of his work history with the institution without his approval. Read more. | | Family pastor blames mental illness for mom killing 3 children | | The pastor of a maternal great-grandmother of the five children brutally stabbed by their 25-year-old mother which resulted in three of them dying in Italy, Texas, last Friday blamed the attack on mental illness. Pastor Preston Dixon of Mt. Gilead Baptist Church in Ellis County called on the public to pray for the two surviving children and their grieving family members. "This is the end result of a mental instability that’s gone awry. Something happened, mentally, and that’s where we are," Dixon told Fox 4. The children’s mother, Shamaiya Deyonshana Hall, has been arrested and charged with three counts of capital murder and is in custody with bail set at a collective $6 million. Read more. | | Another megachurch votes to leave UMC | | Covenant United Methodist Church of Dothan, Ala., has voted to leave the United Methodist Church over concerns regarding the apparent theological direction of the denomination. Covenant UMC members voted 406-64 in favor of leaving, while four abstained. The church, which boasts approximately 2,600 members, is the latest in a string of hundreds of churches to vote to leave the UMC amid its debate over its official stance on homosexuality. Covenant UMC Pastor Kyle Gatlin told CP that major factors for wanting to leave included "the direction we saw the denomination was headed," theologically. This included some bishops refusing to enforce the UMC Book of Discipline's rules prohibiting the ordination of noncelibate homosexuals and the blessing of same-sex unions. "We saw Episcopal leaders not enforcing the discipline. Churches and pastors blatantly ignoring the discipline. We saw this in our Jurisdiction and in others," Gatlin explained, adding that it "felt like for the long-term future of our church, now was the time to leave." The UMC Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference will hold a meeting to ratify the votes of congregations that have voted to leave on May 7. Read more. |
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| WATCH: Max Ehrich baptized on set of 'Southern Gospel' | | Emmy-nominated actor Max Ehrich recently shared with CP that he was baptized on the set of his latest film, "Southern Gospel." Ehrich explained that while his character was getting baptized, he realized that he wanted to get baptized, too. "I felt like this movie really brought me closer to Jesus, closer to God. I was really, really excited to get baptized," he explained. The film tells the true story of Samuel Allen, a 1960s rockstar given a second chance to overcome his past. The movie, which follows Allen as he finds himself in jail on a drug charge, reveals how he walked down the wrong path after struggling with years of hurt stemming from churchgoers who mistreated his family. When he's given a second chance, Allen follows in his father's footsteps to become a preacher and overcomes the influence of a church leader with a personal vendetta against his family. Ehrich hopes sharing this story will help people recognize that they are loved, they are forgiven, and they matter. "I do think that a lot of people have a connotation when it comes to church, God and Jesus ... I would just want them to know that they are loved and that they are forgiven and that they mattered. Jesus loves them, God loves them. And when they're ready to see them, They're there," he added. "Southern Gospel," which also stars Katelyn Nacon ("The Walking Dead,"), Emma Myers ("Wednesday") and Gary Weeks ("Outer Banks"), hits theaters nationwide on March 10. Watch the full interview now. | | | | | | | | Thank you for spending part of your day with us. We look forward to seeing you again tomorrow! -- CP Editors |
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