A Texas megachurch has blessed more than 4,000 families within a 20-mile radius of each of its five campuses this Easter by paying off their medical debt totaling more than $10.5 million.

Stephen Hayes, senior pastor of Covenant Church based in Carrollton, announced during his Easter Sunday sermon that thanks to generous giving by church members, the church had enough extra funds to donate $100,000 to an organization that purchases medical debt for pennies on the dollar and forgives individuals and families of their debt.

Hayes explained that in years past, the church had spent upwards of $100,000 to promote Easter services through radio, TV commercials, billboards and mailers. The pastor said that a…

Rapper and Pastor Tripp Lee says Christians in America must stop trying to fit in by supporting causes that are trending at the time in a show superficial unity, and instead support a long-lasting commitment to God’s priorities.

On the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention co-hosted a conference with The Gospel Coalition, “MLK50: Gospel Reflections from the Mountaintop,” in Memphis, Tennessee, where Lee was one of the speakers. 

The event was meant to provide an opportunity for Christians, black and white, to reflect on the state of racial unity in the Church and society.

Lee began his address by sharing his testimony. He explained that he was always a rap artist but when he came to Jesus he decided to use his gifts for the Kingdom. Although only black audiences embraced him at first, eventually Christian contemporary tours asked him to join them on the road also, which exposed white crowds to his music.

“It would be really dangerous for us to assume that Christian hip-hop’s popularity equals racial…

Pointing to the miseducation of whites on black America as one reason behind enduring discrimination, Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church in Highland Village, Texas, called on white pastors to help fight against it from their pulpits.

Making no apologies for leading a predominantly white church which he loves because that’s where God called him, Chandler explained at the “MLK50: Gospel Reflections From the Mountaintop” in Memphis, Tennessee, Wednesday morning that he was concerned about some of the inconsistencies among his God-fearing flock when it comes to racial issues.

“If I preach the sermon out of the book of Isaiah on justice, my inbox would fill with their glee that I would broach the subject. But if I applied it to the subject of race, then all of a sudden I was a Marxist or I’ve been watching too much of the liberal media. If I spoke on abortion, I was applauded as courageous, as a ferocious man of God, and yet when I would tackle race I was being too political,” he said.

“If I quoted the great reformer Martin Luther … never did I get…

Pastor Bartholomew Orr, senior pastor of the Brown Missionary Baptist Church, says the American church has “big shoes to fill” when it comes to improving society.

Orr, whose Mississippi church is 10,000-members strong, told those gathered at the MLK50 Conference in Memphis, Tennessee, Wednesday that “we have some big shoes to fill,” and brought a pair of shoes to the lectern and spoke about how his father did a lot to provide both for his family and society through his work with the Civil Rights movement.

“My daddy had some big shoes to fill,” said Orr. “But my daddy was a provider. He worked by day at Hunter Fan in a factory and by night he was a shade tree mechanic and a part-time farmer.”

Young Earth Creationist and Answers in Genesis President Ken Ham has slammed an article by a Christian geologist who has listed 21 reasons why he thinks Noah’s worldwide flood account in the Bible never happened.

Ham said Monday on Facebook that the article, “Twenty-One Reasons Noah’s Worldwide Flood Never Happened,” is “sad,” because it’s not only wrong, but also because the author, Lorence G. Collins, is a professing Christian.

Ham, who’s also the president of the Ark Encounter attraction in Kentucky, takes aim at the claims made in the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry article, published in the March/April issue, which suggests that Creationists are “less imbued with scientific thinking.”

“Many Creationists love science, of course, and are quite knowledgeable,” Ham insisted, before listing the credentials of several scientists working at AiG.

“Now, we’re used to hearing false claims like that. What made me sad was that Collins was specifically writing this article to give Skeptical Inquirer magazine…

In the King James version of Matthew Chapter 21:2 Jesus asked his disciples to get him an ass which he would later ride into Jerusalem in an event that would be recognized as the first Palm Sunday.

In a now viral clip from his Palm Sunday message, Jeffrey Allen Johnson, II, associate pastor of preaching at the 17,000-member Eastern Star Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, made a controversial play on the word “ass” which has sparked a firestorm of criticism online.

“For people who’s been rejected, who’s been unused, who’s overlooked … He (Jesus) says to bring the rejected, unused, overlooked ass to me,” Johnson says in a 36-second viral clip from his message.

“And some of y’all trippin’ because I’m using the word ass when you should be giving God praise that when your ass was rejected, when your ass was overlooked, when your ass was not used, people gave up on your ass, you still had enough sense to bring your ass to Jesus. And Jesus got the best out of your,” he said, stopping short of repeating the controversial word. “I dare you to tell somebody ‘bring your ass to Jesus.'”

The clip, which was first shared by The Playmakers…