Pastor Frank Pomeroy now carries a pistol to each and every church function.

The gun isn’t new; he’s had it for years. But it was not until the shooting rampage nearly four months ago that killed more than two dozen at First Baptist Church including a pregnant woman — and his own daughter — that he began wearing it regularly, in a holster on his hip.

As fresh mass shootings such as the one at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., which killed 17, reopen debates about gun control, members of this  Southern Baptist congregation are relying on what they hope is added safety plus  ongoing prayer as they move forward.

At this 92-year-old congregation near the town’s one blinking red light, many members believe God allowed the Nov. 5 massacre to happen as — in Pomeroy’s words — “blood’s seed for revival.”

Those beliefs couldn’t be more different from those of the Florida teenagers who believe they can reform an American political culture that has resisted curbs on the availability of weapons.

This week, those students begged President Trump to support tougher gun control legislation, including bans on assault rifles.

Here in Sutherland Springs, a few days earlier at a Sunday morning Bible study, Pomeroy told members that for Christians, prayer, not protests, is the primary Christian response.

“When I see the aftermath…

Wheaton College has won a religious freedom battle it has been fighting for five years and will not be forced to provide abortion-inducing drugs in their employee healthcare plans.

The Christian Post reports that a district court judge has ruled that forcing the Illinois-based Christian college to fund the morning after pill or abortion-inducing drugs would violate their religious freedom.

Wheaton, as well as other Christian institutions and organizations, have been fighting against the contraceptive mandate included in Obamacare which would force them to include abortion-inducing drugs and birth control in their healthcare plans.

“The government is not above the law — that’s why we have civil rights laws. Wheaton should never have had to go to court to protect its rights in the first place. This order ensures we won’t have to come back,” said Diana Verm, Wheaton alumna and legal counsel at Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represented the college.

Wheaton’s president, Philip Ryken, said that the college is thankful for the ruling:

“We are grateful to God that the court recognized Wheaton’s religious identity and protected our ability to affirm the sanctity of human life. The government should never have tried to force us to provide drugs and services against our faith, and we are pleased by the resolution of our…

An LGBT activist group seeking to change the United Methodist Church’s official stance on homosexuality is rallying support behind an Ohio pastor who may lose his clergy credentials for defying denominational rules on gay marriage.

Last year, charges were brought against the Rev. David W. Meredith after he married a man, which goes against the UMC Book of Discipline’s ban on noncelibate homosexual clergy.

Reconciling Ministries Network sent out an email to supporters last week, urging them to attend the church trial proceedings for Meredith, scheduled for next month.

“Rev. David Meredith will go before the North Central Jurisdictional Committee on Appeals in two weeks. We’re calling on you to be a part of the cloud of witnesses gathered to affirm inclusion and resist exclusion,” wrote Alex Shanks of RMN.

The senior pastor of Clifton United Methodist Church in Cincinnati, Meredith married his partner of nearly 29 years, Jim Schlachter, in May 2016.

A complaint was filed and in October 2017, Meredith was charged with three offenses: “Immorality including but not limited to, not being celibate in singleness or not faithful…

Two photos of evangelist Billy Graham ran prominently in the local paper after his successful 1950 Atlanta crusade. In one, Graham grinned broadly as he waved goodbye; in the other, crusade ushers hauled off four bulging money bags full of “love offerings.”

Deeply stung, Graham, who died on Wednesday (Feb. 21) at age 99, determined he would never again give people reason to suspect his motives. Steps he took before and after the publication of those photos help account for the longevity of Graham’s ministry. “America’s preacher” escaped the major money and sex scandals that plagued so many other traveling evangelists.

“He was a model of financial respectability,” said Graham’s biographer, William Martin, senior fellow for religion at Rice University’s Baker Institute. “There was never a desperation pitch.”

Although collections were still sought at each of his crusades, Graham agreed after the Atlanta crusade to take a fixed salary from the newly formed Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

In 1952 his salary was $15,000, according to Martin; by the late 1990s he earned nearly $200,000 a year from his organization, according to MinistryWatch, a North Carolina-based group that rates the financial health of Christian ministries. The same went for his crusade team. Never again would they pocket any money raised at his crusades — it all went to the local…

Doug Sager, a beloved pastor who led the multi-campus First Baptist Concord church in Knoxville, Tennessee, for 20 years until his retirement in 2013, has died. He was 78.

“It seems that God has been calling His most faithful home,” Sager’s family began in a statement shared on Facebook Saturday night in an apparent allusion to the passing of evangelical icon Billy Graham just days earlier on Feb. 21.

“We are grieving the loss of our Daddy, Papa, and everyone’s ‘Brother Doug,’ but we are also rejoicing that he is now in the arms of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is most certainly being welcomed home with a ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant.’ We are beyond grateful for all of the people who have prayed and wept and waited with us, and we continue to ask for your prayers during this time.”

When Sager retired from First Baptist Concord in 2013, it was known as the largest Southern Baptist church in Knoxville with more than 8,000 members, 10 News reported.

Despite retiring from First Baptist Concord, however, Sager went on to serve as the senior pastor at Vonore Baptist Church in Tennessee where he had been for the last four years.

It is unclear…

Author William Martin learned with the rest of the world that the subject of his biography, “A Prophet With Honor: The Billy Graham Story,” died on Wednesday (Feb. 21) at age 99.

An updated version of the 1991 book was scheduled to be published on March 6, months ahead of what would have been Graham’s 100th birthday.

Martin, 80, senior fellow for religion at Rice University’s Baker Institute, spoke with Religion News Service on the day Graham died. Martin talked about the evangelist’s legacy, and why there won’t be a next Billy Graham.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Can you tell me how you learned of Billy Graham’s death and what was your first reaction?

I’ve been retained by ABC-TV since, I think, 1998 to be available on this day. I was standing at my counter in my kitchen looking over the newspaper and just about to go exercise and I saw the phone ID that said ABC.

I’ve been thinking about Billy Graham a great deal and, of course, keenly aware that he was 99. It is a significant passing but what is most significant about it is that he had such a remarkable and influential life.

You have written what many people consider the definitive biography, “A Prophet With Honor,” about the man who was known as America’s preacher. How would you sum up his life in just a few sentences?

He achieved a great deal more than…