The Episcopal Church has held off on editing their Book of Common Prayer to possibly remove gender specific language for God. Instead, they passed a resolution encouraging the creation of new liturgies.

At the mainline denomination’s 79th General Convention in Austin, Texas, the House of Deputies approved a resolution calling for revising their Book of Common Prayer to include more “inclusive and expansive language” for both God and humanity.

The House of Bishops created their own resolution language, which among other things resolved to “memorialize” the 1979 Book of Common Prayer which involves “preserving the psalter, liturgies, The Lambeth Quadrilateral, Historic Documents, and Trinitarian Formularies ensuring its continued use.”

The bishops approved the revised amendment on Tuesday and the deputies passed it overwhelmingly via voice vote on Wednesday.

In addition to preserving the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, they approved a measure called for the introduction of revised liturgies and the creation of the Task Force on Liturgical and Prayer Book Revision.

Perry Noble’s new Second Chance Church finally found a new home about two years after the famed megachurch founder and pastor was fired from South Carolina’s largest church because of his alcohol addiction.

Noble announced on Facebook Wednesday that Second Chance Church, which was launched online late last year following his alcohol rehabilitation, will be housed in a strip mall in Anderson, South Carolina.

Since last December, Second Chance church has mostly existed online with Noble holding some meetings at his own home. This past Easter, the church held a service that was attended by as many as 2,100 people.

“It’s starting to come together!” Noble wrote in his Facebook announcement. “Our plans for upfitting the place where we will meet for Second Chance are in the permitting phase and should be done in the next week or so.”

Steven Furtick, pastor of North Carolina megachurch Elevation Church, recently preached a message titled “The Benefit of the Doubt” in which he talks about the place of doubt in the Christian life.

According to Relevant, in the message Furtick particularly discusses having doubts when reading the Bible. Although doubt is often viewed negatively in the Christian life, Furtick shared that doubt is a part of life, and that, even though he is a pastor, he still struggles with doubt like everyone else.

“I have my doubts. I read that whom the Son sets free is free indeed but sometimes I feel bound by stuff. I have my doubts. Is that alright? Do you need to find another church now that you know that the dude with the mic has some doubts? …

I meet these people and they say things to me, because of my profession I guess, they make assumptions about me, because there’s a ‘Rev.’ in front of my name. They make assumptions about me that I don’t have real doubts.”

Furtick went on to share that just because someone has doubts doesn’t mean that his/her faith is not real or is in danger.

“For me, faith has never been the absence of doubt,” he said. “Faith is not the absence of doubt; it is the means to overcome it.”

He added that having questions and wrestling through things is healthy:

“If you don’t doubt [the Bible], you’re not reading it or you’re…

A predominantly African-American megachurch in Texas says it might leave the United Methodist Church amid the denomination’s ongoing debate over issues like homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

Windsor Village United Methodist Church of Houston, which has approximately 18,000 members, is undergoing a process of prayer and discernment for possibly leaving the UMC.

Floyd LeBlanc, chairman of the Windsor Village Staff-Parish Relations Committee, told The Christian Post in an interview on Wednesday that they were holding “a series of scheduled church gatherings, including an all-night prayer event.”

“We are praying continually and corporately,” explained LeBlanc. “We are also fasting as a congregation once a week.”

“We have invited guest speakers to bless, prepare and sustain us during this time. Bishop Tudor Bismark (from Africa) was with us recently and we look forward to a visit from Bishop Raphael Green (from Missouri).”

At issue was a concern that “the denomination may not remain the same” as a result of its internal debates, with LeBlanc adding that “our focus must remain on Christ and winning souls for Christ.”

A seminary professor has argued that the biblical account of King David and Bathsheba should be treated as a “Me Too story,” not as a consensual affair as it is sometimes portrayed.

According to 2 Samuel 11, King David slept and had a child through Bathsheba, even though she was married. Then David had her husband killed.

In a recent episode of the Dallas Theological Seminary podcast “The Table” that was posted to the school’s website on Wednesday, this Old Testament event is sometimes misinterpreted.

Sandra Glahn, associate professor in Media Arts and Worship at Dallas Theological Seminary who teaches a gender studies course, explained that “Bathsheba is a Me Too story.”

“It’s often treated as an affair, where you have two consensual adults. And even it’s sometimes treated like she is going to the palace and setting out to seduce David,” said Glahn.

“David sent for her, he sent men for her. She is washing. That doesn’t even mean she’s bathing. She could have just been washing her hands. We are reading into that. And so what happens, instead of us seeing the argument of the book, which is David has gone from this shepherd boy, whom God has raised up, and now he’s abusing power. We should all take that as a lesson and a warning. But instead,…