“I forgive him, and that’s the hardest thing to say.” These are the words of 32-year-old Tiffany Wallace, the daughter of one of the victims who died in the shooting at West Freeway Church of Christ in Texas over the weekend.

As Christian Headlines previously reported, more than 240 parishioners were gathered inside the church located near Fort Worth, Texas, when a gunman began firing upon them. The gunman shot two members of the church before members of the church’s security team drew their own weapons killing the shooter. One of the two victims was 64-year-old Anton “Tony” Wallace, NBC DFW reports. Tony was a father, grandfather, husband, church deacon and registered nurse.

According to his daughter, Tony had just finished giving out the eucharist when an unfamiliar man stood up and took aim at the church’s security guard. In the chaos, her father was shot. 

Wallace recalled running to her father upon realizing that he had been hit. 

“I ran toward my dad and the last thing I remember is him asking for oxygen, and I was just holding him, telling him I loved him and that he was going to make it,” Wallace told the NBC News affiliate.

The grieving daughter then reflected on what a wonderful person her dad was. 

“He was very loved – a very loved man – very humble. He would literally give you the shirt off of his back,” She said. “He…

The United Methodist Church announced on Friday that they are planning to split the denomination.

According to The Washington Post, UMC church leaders shared in a nine-page announcement that an agreement had been reached allowing for the creation of a new denomination for traditional-minded churches within the UMC. 

If the plan is approved in May at the UMC’s annual General Conference, the new denomination will be called “Traditionalist Methodist” and will be made up of all of the churches opposing same-sex marriage and LGBT ordination. The plan would also give the new denomination $25 million in UMC funds and allow the churches that are breaking off to keep their local church properties, United Methodist News reports. The plan also designates $39 million toward ensuring that “there is no disruption in supporting ministries for communities historically marginalized by racism.”

According to The Washington Post, the majority of the UMC’s African churches along with several American churches are expected to adopt the Traditionalist Methodist denomination. 

Following the split, the remaining part of the UMC will hold a second conference in order to remove bans on same-sex marriage and LGBT clergy. The remaining part of the UMC will maintain the denominational title of United Methodist.

UM News reports that the plan – which is still officially being drafted…

Christian conservative commentator Candace Owens says she will not be appearing on a British podcast with Jameela Jamil after the podcaster rescinded the invite to speak on the show.

According to the Christian Post, Owens said she believes Jamil canceled the show after Owens and the podcaster exchanged divided messages on Twitter about a news story where a transgender man gave birth using a female sperm donor.

“SAD TO ANNOUNCE that @jameelajamil has revoked my invitation to her podcast [because] I tweeted ‘only women can give birth,’” Owens said on Twitter. “Apparently the statement made her trans co-workers feel ‘unsafe.’”

SAD TO ANNOUNCE that @jameelajamil has revoked my invitation to her podcast bc I tweeted “only women can give birth”. Apparently the statement made her trans co-workers feel “unsafe”.

My refusal to untether myself from biological realities has cost me, yet again.

SAD! pic.twitter.com/OTHcO0TEy4

— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) December 30, 2019

In the tweet, Owens also shared a screenshot that showed Jamil telling Owens she was disinvited from the podcast appearance because “we have trans people working with us” and they could be offended by Owens’ tweet.

“You are both free to say whatever you like about this publicly,” Jamil’s message read. “I’m sure you will have an entertaining spin. But nothing is worth my…

The estimated 70 million deaf people around the world who communicate by signing could have a Jesus Film in their own heart language within several years thanks to a crowdfunded project by Deaf Missions and the Jesus Film Project.

The ministries have raised $746,000 of the $4.8 million needed to fund the project, which will involve actors and actresses signing with American Sign Language (ASL), which is used by 70 million people worldwide.

As of now, deaf people must rely on closed captioning to watch a movie about Jesus. 

Chad Entinger of Deaf Missions said a Jesus movie with sign language would make a major impact in spreading the gospel. It would be the first movie of its kind. 

“The heart language, it’s related to a person’s identity,” Entinger signed through an interpreter for Mission Network News. “For a person to see something in their heart language, that really will capture their heart, and they’ll feel, that person will then, will feel like ‘Oh my goodness, they’re actually communicating to me. This is my language.’”

Deaf Missions’ Jesus Film would use native signers to “bring the story of Jesus to life” from a “Deaf perspective for a deaf audience,” according to the ministry’s website. 

Production could take three to four years, Entinger told Mission Network News.

“We really believe that God can and will use the movie in sign language to…

Abortion was the leading cause of death globally in 2019, with more than 42 million life-ending procedures completed, according to statistics compiled by Worldometers. The number of worldwide abortions is equivalent to the combined populations of America’s 31 largest cities, according to U.S. Census data listed on the World Population Review website.

Using the data, LifeNews reported an estimated 42.3 million deaths were attributed to abortion. By comparison, 8.2 million people died from cancer in 2019, 5 million from smoking, 13 million from disease, and 1.7 million died of HIV/AIDS, for a combined total of 27.9 million deaths.

Worldometer’s compilation of data found there were 58.6 million deaths last year attributed to violence, disease and natural causes, but not abortion since those figures are not included mortality rates.

“The abortion number is incomprehensible, but each of those 42 million abortions represents a living human being whose life was violently destroyed in their mother’s womb,” authors Steven Ertelt and Micaiah Bilger wrote in their LifeNews article. 

“Each unborn baby already had their own unique DNA, making them distinct from their mother. That DNA indicated if the child was a boy or girl, their eye and hair color, their height, possible genetic disorders and other disabilities, and much more. In most cases, the unborn babies’…

A progressive advocacy group is complaining about a U.S. Air Force base selling Christmas candy with Jesus’ name on the packaging, calling it a form of “proselytizing.”

Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., sold the candy in its shop during the Christmas season, according to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF). A member of MRFF saw the candy in the shop and sent the organization a complaint, along with a photo. The red and white candy packaging prominently says “Jesus” on the front of the packaging.  

“Peterson’s selling of for-profit, clearly marked ‘Jesus candy’ at its base exchange (BX) is merely the fundamentalist Christian straw breaking the MRFF clients’ backs,” MRFF founder and president Mikey Weinstein told CrooksandLiars.com. “Any pathetically proffered pretense by the U.S. Air Force at Patterson that Christmas is a mere secular holiday is totally belied and betrayed by this in your face sale of this ‘proselytizing’ candy with the fundamentalist Christian version of its ‘God’s name’ emblazoned on all over the packaging.”

The email from the MRFF member to the organization read, “The base exchange at Peterson Air Force Base is currently selling ‘Jesus’ candy. The exchange at the Air Force Academy was also selling ‘Jesus’ candy at Halloween, although I didn’t get any pictures of that.”

Peterson Air…

The Trump administration has called on the Chinese government to release a megachurch pastor who has been sentenced to nine years in prison for simply preaching the gospel.

Wang Yi, the founding pastor of Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, Sichuan province, was found guilty on charges of “inciting subversion of state power” and “illegally operating a business,” according to the Guardian.

Pastor Yi was detained in December 2018 along with several other church leaders from the influential, 5000-strong protestant church. While the others have since been released, Wang Yi, who has personally called on President Xi Jinping to “repent of his sins,” has been punished harshly by the Chinese state.

Now, the Trump administration is calling on him to be released with immediate effect.

“We are alarmed that Pastor Wang Yi … was tried in secret and sentenced to nine years in prison in connection to his peaceful advocacy for religious freedom. We call for his immediate and unconditional release,” said U.S. State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus wrote in a statement Tuesday.

Ortagus added that this was “yet another example of Beijing’s intensification of repression of Chinese Christians and members of other religious groups” and urged Beijing “to uphold its international commitments and promises made in its own constitution to promote religious freedom for…

A group of evangelical ministers tasked with investigating allegations of misconduct against charismatic pastor Todd Bentley have concluded that he should be biblically disqualified from ministry.

Bentley, who was instrumental in the Florida-based “Lakeland Revival” of 2008, has been accused of sexual misconduct with members of his staff. The man leading the investigative panel, Dr. Michael Brown, said he compiled 60 questions for Bentley, which were answered through his attorney, despite Bentley’s initial agreement to cooperate with the investigation.

The goal of the investigation, Brown shared in a statement on Facebook, was to answer the questions: “Does Todd Bentley, founder of Fresh Fire Ministries, live up to the high standards required of those who serve as representatives of Christ? Is he qualified, according to our understanding of biblical standards, to be a recognized leader in the Church?”

The answer the panel landed on was, “without a doubt, Todd is not qualified to serve in leadership in ministry today.”

According to the statement, the investigation revealed numerous allegations dating back to 2004 and included instances of sexting, adultery, vulgar language and substance abuse. In light of Bentley’s reluctance to engage in a healing process, Brown summarized that the panel saw “no signs of true, lasting repentance,” . reports.

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