A 44-year-old Baptist missionary was shot and killed in the war-torn nation of Cameroon Tuesday, about two weeks after he, his wife and their eight children arrived there.

Charles Wesco was shot in the head while traveling in a region where the military has been fighting separatists, according to Reuters.

His wife, Stephanie Wesco, had posted on Twitter after he was shot, “I’m sharing what is worse than a nightmare. My precious husband was shot in the head on our way to town today. He is fighting for his life. Please pray.”

Hours later, she posted an update, announcing his death. 

“My Precious husband, Charles, is now with the Savior he adored and faithfully served for many years,” she wrote. “His life focus was seeking to cause others to love Jesus and serve him. My prayer is that somehow someway Jesus will be glorified through my Precious Charles’ death and that God will not let his death have been in vain. He is receiving the Martyrs crown from his Lord. My heart is broken. I want to wake up from a horrific nightmare. Please pray for us.”

The Wescos were sent to Cameroon through First Light Baptist Mission in Oshkosh, Wis. His brother, Timothy Wesco, is pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Elkhart, Ind. He’s also a state representative. 

“He loved the Lord. He loved family,” Timothy Wesco said. “The Lord giveth. The Lord taketh away. Blessed be…

With the midterm elections less than a week away, Nancy Pelosi is making big promises to the LGBT community about the Democratic agenda if they retake the House of Representatives. 

Pelosi recently told the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard that the Equality Act will be one of her top priorities. The Equality Act would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of classes protected by the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which already includes race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. The law also bans gender discrimination in shops, healthcare, loans, housing, and jury discrimination.

The most controversial aspect of the bill prevents employers and retailers from withholding services based on the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act. RFRA, introduced by late Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, approved by all but three Senators, and signed by President Bill Clinton, protected religious Americans from government intrusion into their religious practices. 

A recent spate of Supreme Court cases protected not only individuals but also businesses. This summer the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Masterpiece Cakeshop after they were fined for not baking a cake for a same-sex wedding. The court found that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission was hostile to the owner’s religious beliefs. Hobby Lobby won a victory before the court in 2014 it ruled they…

WASHINGTON (RNS) — A new survey shows a sharp racial and religious divide over whether the actions of President Trump are encouraging white supremacist organizations.

Three-quarters of black Protestants say Trump’s behavior and decisions are emboldening white supremacists while slightly more than a quarter of white evangelicals agree with that view. Overall, more than half of Americans — 54 percent — say this is the case.

The findings, released Monday (Oct. 29), are part of Public Religion Research Institute’s 2018 American Values Survey, which addressed U.S. views on issues such as the presidency, the #MeToo movement, immigration and police brutality.

The survey comes days after a massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue by a gunman with apparent anti-immigrant animus and a racially motivated shooting in which a white gunman killed two black people at a Kroger supermarket in Jeffersontown, Ky., after trying unsuccessfully to enter a predominantly black church.

Meanwhile, the Defense Department readies for a migrant caravan’s approach toward the U.S.- Mexico border that Trump has called an “invasion.”

PRRI found that majorities of the religiously unaffiliated (69 percent), Hispanic Catholics (68 percent), non-Christians (64 percent) and Hispanic Protestants (63 percent) say the president is encouraging white supremacists, compared with fewer than half of white mainline Protestants and white Catholics (43 percent each). Evangelicals — and, to a lesser degree, white Catholics — also voted for Trump by wide margins in 2016 and many continue to…

While for many Americans, Oct. 31 is associated with Halloween, for many churches across the world, the date is meant to celebrate the birth of the Protestant Reformation.

Wednesday marks the 501^st anniversary of when Augustinian monk Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to a church door in Wittenberg, located in modern-day Germany, to protest the abuses in the Roman Catholic Church.

Over the centuries, several songs have been written that celebrate or at the least reflect key themes of the Reformation. Here are seven hymns to help one celebrate the Protestant holiday.

A Mighty Fortress is Our God

This one had to be on the list. Considered by many to be “Battle Hymn of the Reformation,” scholars believe Martin Luther wrote the song during the 1520s.

The earliest confirmed appearance of the song in a hymnal comes from 1533. Since then, it appeared in many others, having been translated into approximately 200 languages.

O Lord, Look Down from Heaven, Behold

Another one from the pen of Martin Luther, this hymn was originally published in the first Lutheran hymnal, titled the Achtliederbuch, in…