Joanna Gaines’ surprise pregnancy may have been unplanned. But it was no mistake. And after welcoming baby #5, the star is opening up about the family’s precious and unexpected gift from God!

Chip and Joanna Gaines dropped a huge bomb on Fixer Upper fans in September 2017. As the wildly popular HGTV show entered its fifth season, the stars announced it would be the last.

Soon after, the couple followed up the big announcement with more news. They were expecting their fifth child. And naturally, most people assumed there was a link between the show’s cancellation and the Gaines’ growing family.

But as it turns out, this was actually a case of God’s perfect timing!

Chip and Joanna had no idea another child was headed their way when making the decision to end their show. They simply realized they were stretched too thin.

“We had a lot on our plates, and at some point, you have to call those shots when you feel like you need a break,” Joanna said.

Chip says the eye-opening moment occurred after he checked Twitter at 2 a.m. He saw a tweet from a customer who’d ordered a wreath yet, 3 weeks later, it still hadn’t arrived. Chip stayed up all night worrying over the shipping snafu, realizing it was becoming impossible to properly balance family, the business, and the show.

“It was really easy for us to feel like we could do it all when the show and the…

New allegations surfaced Sunday against Bill Hybels, founding pastor of Willow Creek Church, leading his successor to announce his resignation. Steve Carter, teaching pastor at the Chicago-based megachurch, announced his resignation on his blog, saying that he can no longer lead the church in light of its earlier responses to the allegations against Hybels.

Hybels stepped down earlier this year after multiple women reported instances of sexual harassment and misconduct. The latest accusations came from his former assistant Pat Baranowskiin The New York Times.

Baranowski told the paper that Hybels’ harassment began when she worked with him in the 1980’s. She said it started with an unwanted backrub and escalated to other instances of Hybels touching her and rubbing up against her. He also asked her to procure pornography for a “research project” and invited her to watch it with him.

She said she stayed silent at the time because she was afraid she would hurt the church. “I felt like if this was exposed, this fantastic place would blow up, and I loved the church. I loved the people there. I loved the family. I didn’t want to hurt anybody. And I was ashamed.”

Carter said these most recent allegations were the last straw for him. He said in his resignation, which was posted on his blog, that, “The new facts and allegations that came to light this morning…

When a new Chick-fil-A opens in most parts of the country, people celebrate. But when the company announced a new store for Toronto – its first franchised international restaurant – the reception wasn’t as hospitable. 

It started when Chick-fil-A president Tim Tassopoulos released a letter July 25 announcing a series of new restaurants in the Canadian city.

“We are looking forward to putting down real roots and becoming a part of this dynamic and diverse city,” he wrote. “Our first location will open in the first half of 2019. From there we have plans to invest in bringing approximately 15 more restaurants to the Greater Toronto Area over the next five years.”

He added that “we are driven by a desire to serve” and that “it will be our pleasure to serve you in 2019 and the years to come.”

But many of the country’s left-leaning and LBGT citizens – apparently reacting to the company’s Christian roots – weren’t excited, according to Fox News.

“Just a friendly Canadian reminder that we are a progressive country and have morals and fight for equal rights for all,” one Toronto citizen, Chris Lotts, wrote on Twitter. “We don’t want your bigoted and discriminatory business opening anywhere north of the border. #BoycottChickFilA.”

Another Torontonian, Wayne Leung, wrote, “You’re not welcome here. I know your homophobic…

The United Methodist Church has rejected a complaint submitted by approximately 600 people against Attorney General and UMC member Jeff Sessions over his support for family separation policy.

Earlier this year, Sessions received much criticism for citing the Bible in his defense of the federal government policy of separating illegal immigrant parents from their children, with many in the UMC rejecting his statements as incompatible with Church teaching.

The Reverend Debora Bishop, superintendent of the Mobile District of the Alabama-West Florida Conference, sent a letter to the complainants last week rejecting their complaint against Sessions.

According to Bishop, the UMC’s church court system cannot be used against Sessions because his comments regarded “political actions” and not “personal conduct.”

“Sessions was carrying out the official policy of the President and/or the United States Department of Justice. It was not an individual act,” wrote Bishop.

The parents of an Ohio transgender teenager who wanted to change her name from Heidi to Elliott are suing the judge who told them the teen wasn’t mature enough to make the decision.

Judge Joseph Kirby in June refused the request of Kylin and Stephanie Whitaker to change the name of their 15-year-old child who was born a female but identifies as a male.

Kirby noted that “children change significantly and rapidly” and argued that the teen might grow up and regret her decision. The teen can come back at age 18 to complete the process, Kirby wrote.

“Age. Develop. Mature,” Kirby wrote in his decision, according to WKRC-TV.

The Whitakers and the parents of two other transgender teens filed suit Friday, Aug. 3, against Kirby.

“This process has been more complicated than it should have been,” Kylin Whitaker said, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer. “This should have been a private family matter, [but] instead we feel our rights were violated.”

Kirby, the suit says, believes widespread media attention about transgender cases is influencing children. 

“Kirby suggested that [the teen’s] expression of his gender identity was not sincere but, instead, was a result of exposure of media coverage to the transition of Caitlyn Jenner,” the suit says.

Michael Foust is a freelance writer. Visit his blog, MichaelFoust.com

Publication Date: August 6,…

A new free app from the people behind YouVersion Bible App has gotten more than 265,000 installations in less than three days, making it the second most installed app.

Known as the Bible Lens, the free app was launched last Friday. By Sunday evening, Bible Lens was number two on the most installed apps, second only to YouTube: Watch, Listen, Stream and ahead of free apps like Messenger, Snapchat, and Instagram.

The Bible Lens app takes relevant Bible verses and matches them with a person’s photos, creating visually appealing, sharable artwork, the creators say.

Bobby Gruenewald, founder of YouVersion and a pastor at Life.Church, said in a statement that while “technologies emerge and create new possibilities, it’s important to us that the Bible be at the forefront of innovation.”

“We believe Bible Lens will make it easier for people to see connections between the Bible and their everyday lives, and we’re encouraged by the number of people who have shown an interest in engaging with the Bible in this way,” stated Gruenewald.

The launch of Bible Lens comes weeks after YouVersion celebrated its 10th anniversary, having been launched on July 10, 2008.