Televangelist Jesse Duplantis is now saying that he never asked followers to donate toward a $54 million jet, but instead called on them to join him in believing that God would provide him with the new aircraft.

Duplantis, the founder of Jesse Duplantis Ministries in Louisiana, received much backlash after it was widely reported last week that he’s seeking donations toward a new Dassault Falcon 7X during his “This Week with Jesse” program.

Even though the prosperity preacher already owns three planes, he said that he’s been “burning them up for the Lord” and that the Falcon 7X would allow him to get to places nonstop.

In a new four-minute video posted the ministry’s website, Duplantis attempts to clarify his earlier remarks where he claimed that God told him to believe that He would provide a Falcon 7X and that he would not have to pay for…

Christian leaders are voicing their support after the Supreme Court ruled this week in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a same sex couple.

The ruling was 7-2 in favor of baker Jack Phillips. In 2012, Phillips refused to bake a cake for David Mullins and Charlie Craig. The couple wanted a cake to celebrate their wedding, which was set to take place in another state.

Phillips said he couldn’t bake the cake for the couple because of his religious beliefs.

In the ruling, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which followed up on a complaint filed by the couple, showed hostility toward Phillips.

Christian evangelist Franklin Graham said the decision was an “answer to prayers.”

“We thank God for answered prayer! Today the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Jack Phillips, the Colorado baker who refused to create a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage ceremony. This is a huge win for religious freedom!”

Said Russell Moore, of the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention:“The Supreme Court is right: the state should not compel people to use their artistic gifts for speech that goes against their deepest-held convictions,” he tweeted.

Sutherland Institute’s Bill Duncan, director for The Center for Family and Society, said he

Paige Patterson is still listed on the program as giving the sermon at his denomination’s upcoming annual convention, despite being condemned for expressing views “antithetical to the core values of our faith,” in the words of a member of a seminary board that fired him as president emeritus last week.

As the Southern Baptist Convention’s meeting approaches, the question remains: Will Patterson give the sermon or won’t he?

Denominational leaders say that the decision is up to Patterson. “It will be his call to make as to whether or not he would voluntarily withdraw prior to the annual meeting,” Roger S. Oldham, spokesman for the SBC’s Executive Committee, said Friday (June 1).

Long a lionized figure in the Southern Baptist Convention, considered a patriarch or founding father by many, Patterson was until recently best known for pushing back against feminism and the women’s movement. Last month, in a dramatic #MeToo moment, he was fired for demeaning women.

But according to the bylaws of the SBC’s meeting, to be held June 12-13 in Dallas, since Patterson was elected by the messengers, or delegates, at last year’s meeting to preach the sermon at the upcoming gathering in Dallas, that body must also vote to remove him.

“The only body that would have the authority to change that would be the messengers of this year’s meeting or…

When United Methodists gather at their annual conferences, they often sing the opening words of a hymn by the early Methodist leader Charles Wesley, “And are we yet alive, and see each other’s face?”

It’s a throwback to the days when circuit-riding ministers on the American frontier were lucky to live past age 40 and paused for a spell of fellowship.

But this year, “Are we yet alive?” resonates as United Methodists wait to see how the denomination will move forward despite paralyzing disagreements over homosexuality.

“Our denomination is in chaos,” said the Rev. Mike Slaughter, pastor emeritus of Ginghamsburg Church, a United Methodist congregation near Dayton, Ohio. “Our bishops don’t agree with each other. I hear fear. I hear denial. We’ve come to this place where we reflect what’s going on in our national politics now. It’s a sad day.”

“Annual conference” has two meanings in the United Methodist Church: The term refers to the yearly regional gatherings, part revivals and part business meetings, that occur in each region across the United States — usually a state or a portion of one — and across the world. (The church’s membership is almost 7 million in the U.S. and 12.5 million worldwide.) It also refers to the regions themselves.

The 56 annual conferences in the U.S. meet between late May and early July each…