Hillsong NYC Pastor Carl Lentz Speaks Out after Coronavirus Diagnosis

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Hillsong NYC Pastor Carl Lentz Speaks Out after Coronavirus Diagnosis


Hillsong NYC Pastor Carl Lentz Speaks Out after Coronavirus Diagnosis

(RNS) — Hillsong Church NYC pastor Carl Lentz is urging people to take the coronavirus pandemic seriously after testing positive for COVID-19 himself.

Lentz confirmed his diagnosis Tuesday (March 24) to Religion News Service. He’d first announced it Monday night in an Instagram Live video that is no longer available.

The pastor told RNS he hoped by speaking out he could calm people’s fears about a positive test being a death sentence, “but, at the same time, also try to get people to take it seriously.”

“Because the longer people won’t take it seriously, the longer this is going to go on,” he said.

Lentz described his symptoms as “kind of like a flu, but heavier,” with extreme body aches.

The most common symptoms of the coronavirus are cough, fever and shortness of breath, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hillsong NYC canceled its in-person gatherings and moved its Sunday services online March 15 to encourage people to stay home and slow the spread of the coronavirus. The church had already been planning for the move as the number of cases increased in New York City, Lentz said.

Last week, the pastor said he started feeling poorly and got tested.

“Our whole team probably got hit pretty hard with it. New York in general seems to be a little bit of an incubator,” he said.

New York has reported more than 25,600 cases of coronavirus and 210…

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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.

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The pandemic’s impact on weddings: Three biblical words of hope

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The pandemic’s impact on weddings: Three biblical words of hope

My wife and I will celebrate our fortieth wedding
anniversary this year. (Just typing those words makes me feel older than I did
before I wrote them.) But I remember our wedding as if it were last year.
Events that change your life stay with you all of your life.

I make this point in light of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on weddings around the world. Nearly 350,000 US weddings and more than 600,000 international weddings were set to take place in April and May.

Couples can still get married as scheduled but with very few people in attendance, or they can postpone the event for months or longer. This dilemma has major impacts on vendors, couples with aging family members, those who wish to start a family soon, and couples who lose their jobs and cannot afford to finance the celebration they planned.

In these days of deep discouragement, perhaps a story can
help.

Three biblical words of hope

John 2 tells us of Jesus’ first recorded miracle. He was
invited to a wedding in Cana of Galilee along with his disciples. However,
“the wine ran out” (v. 3). This was a catastrophe of far larger
significance than might meet the eye today.

In their culture, weddings were arranged years in advance.
Families in their small, typically impoverished villages saved for many years
for this great celebration. Everyone was invited. And in a day when drinking
water was scarce and unreliable, wine was essential. For the wine to run out
would be a grave embarrassment for the family, a failure that would forever
mark the couple and their wedding.

So Jesus’ mother appealed to her son for help. You know what
happened: he instructed the servants to fill six stone jars to the brim with
water, then draw some out and bring it to the “master of the feast”
(a kind of wedding planner who was leading the event). By turning water into
wine, our Lord saved the celebration.

What can we learn from this miracle?

One: Jesus loves…

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Denison Forum.

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Washington National Cathedral Donates 5,000 Medical Masks Resurrected from Crypts

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Washington National Cathedral Donates 5,000 Medical Masks Resurrected from Crypts


Washington National Cathedral Donates 5,000 Medical Masks Resurrected from Crypts

(RNS) — The Washington National Cathedral will donate thousands of medical masks to two hospitals in the nation’s capital after discovering a trove of the much-needed protective equipment just feet from where Helen Keller and other prominent Americans lie in the cathedral’s underground crypts.

Bought in 2006 as a precaution during an outbreak of the H5N1 flu, also known as bird or avian flu, the more than 5,000 N95 respiratory masks had been forgotten until early this month, when the cathedral’s chief stonemason, Joseph Alonso, remembered coming across them in an unfinished area of the crypt level.

Though still in their original packaging, the masks were technically expired, and cathedral staffers first reached out to the manufacturer and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to determine whether they were safe to use.

Since the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. last month, mass buying of N95 masks has resulted in a critical shortage at medical centers. Doctors across the country have been reusing masks, along with medical gowns and eye shields, risking spreading the disease to multiple patients or contracting it themselves.

Given the dire situation, Kevin Eckstrom, the chief communications officer at the cathedral, said they were told the decade-old masks “were either fine or better than nothing.”

On Wednesday (March 25), 3,000 masks will be…

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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.

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‘Extremely Alarming’: New Swarms of Locusts Ravage Africa, Middle East

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‘Extremely Alarming’: New Swarms of Locusts Ravage Africa, Middle East

Video online shows millions of locusts descending upon the Middle Eastern country of Oman as swarms as big as 37 miles continue to plague Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

Dominic Abu Hana, a presenter on a Lebanese news network, tweeted a video on March 15 of a flood of locusts in Oman. The video now has more than 4.5 million views.

جديد كوارث ٢٠٢٠: النمل يغزو سلطنة عمان! pic.twitter.com/5Nbr3WpwOk

— Dominic Abu Hanna دومينيك ابو حنا (@dominicabuhanna) March 15, 2020

Hana mistakenly called the insects ants in his post, but Omani officials later confirmed with journalist Hassan Hassan that they “are actually ‘small-size’ locusts.”

Africa and parts of the Middle East have been fighting plagues of locusts since late January. The insects present a major threat to agriculture and food supplies.

“When the conditions are right, the population can explode very fast. Locusts travel by wind, and they can travel at least 150-200 km a day,” said Nasser Al Shamsi, Oman’s Director of Plant Protection Services at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

“A single female locust can lay up to 100 to 300 eggs,” he told the Times of Oman. “The period of maturity of the larvae inside the eggs is about two weeks, and the problem is that when they hatch, very large numbers of insects are formed. You can imagine the damage thousands of locusts can cause.”

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said on Tuesday the situation is “extremely alarming” in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia “where widespread breeding is in progress and new swarms are starting to form, representing an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods at the beginning of the upcoming cropping season.”

New swarms are also forming in South Sudan, Yemen, and Iran. The government agency says the situation is under control in Sudan, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iraq, Pakistan, and India.

The coronavirus pandemic has complicated the situation because it is slowing down the delivery of pesticides that can kill the insects.

Source CBN

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Justin Bieber invites 130 million people to church: Biblical answers to your coronavirus faith questions

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Justin Bieber invites 130 million people to church: Biblical answers to your coronavirus faith questions

Pop star Justin Bieber invited his 130 million Instagram followers to his church’s online broadcast. Churches are using drive-in theaters as a way to offer worship services in time for Easter. 

And a public art nonprofit in Georgia is delivering yard signs that read, “EVERYTHING WILL BE OK.” Profits will be used to support local artists and art teachers.

A reassuring yard sign in Dunwoody, GA.
Via Davey Sherwinter with Create Dunwoody.

The pandemic has been dominating our world long enough for certain faith questions to become common. Let’s take time this morning to address them from the word of God. 

Is this the end of the world? 

“In around 2020, a severe pneumonia-like illness will spread throughout the globe, attacking the lungs and the bronchial tubes and resisting all known treatments.” This is a prediction made in 2008 by a woman named Sylvia Browne in her book End of Days: Predictions and Prophecies About the End of the World. 

Her prediction faded from public memory and she died in 2013. But the coronavirus pandemic has brought her book new attention; it shot up to No. 2 on Amazon’s nonfiction chart and was selling for hundreds of dollars.

Is this the end of the world? 

Revelation 6 describes the “four horsemen of the apocalypse,” the fourth of which was “given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth” (v. 8, italics added). Jesus spoke of a day when “there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences” (Luke 21:11, italics added). 

But he also stated, “You do not know on what day your Lord is coming” (Matthew 24:42). In fact, he will come “at an hour you do not expect” (v. 44). 

In other words, if this were the end of the world, it would already be the end of the world. And as horrific as coronavirus is, historians have been reminding us that humans have faced…

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Denison Forum.

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Dealing with Depression in a Church Revitalization

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Revitalize & Replant is sponsored by the North American Mission Board and ChurchReplanters.com. More than 10% of churches in North America are at risk of closing and the North American Mission Board is committed to reversing this trend by decreasing the death rate of existing churches while simultaneously increasing the birth rate of new churches. To learn more about what it means to become a replanting pastor or to explore resources for replanting and revitalization in your own church, visit ChurchReplanters.com.

Do you have a question about church revitalization or replanting for us to use on the podcast? Visit the podcast page to submit your question. If we use it on the show, you’ll get a copy of Autopsy of a Deceased Church and Reclaiming Glory.

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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Thom Rainer.

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Kathy Griffin Says She Can’t Get Coronavirus Test Despite Being Hospitalized With ‘Unbearably Painful’ Symptoms

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Kathy Griffin says she hasn’t been able to get tested for the coronavirus despite her “unbearably painful symptoms.”

The 59-year-old comedian revealed on Twitter Wednesday that she’s been sent to a “COVID-19 isolation ward in a major hospital ER” after visiting an urgent care facility. She shared a picture of herself laying in a hospital bed wearing a mask, although it’s unclear when the photo was taken.

Despite experiencing symptoms consistent with the coronavirus, Griffin said her attempts to get tested have been unsuccessful.

“The hospital couldn’t test me for #coronavirus because of CDC (Pence task force) restrictions,” Griffin added, citing the vice president.

USA TODAY has reached out to Griffin’s rep for comment.

SOURCE: USA Today, Cydney Henderson

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Sutton Turner on People Flock to Church After a National Crisis

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Sutton Turner on People Flock to Church After a National Crisis

For the first time in recent history, people are being kept away from church during a national crisis. Pearl Harbor, the Stock Market Crash of 1929, the Financial Crisis of 2008, and especially after Sept. 11, 2001, people flocked to the church. Many of us remember 9-11 like it was yesterday, and the recent days have brought us to an all too familiar place.

In 2001, I was a CEO in Texas. On the morning of Sept. 11, I was on a plane from Oklahoma City through DFW to Dulles/Baltimore Airport. During the flight, our pilot rang five bells, which tells the flight attendants there’s an emergency. They left their carts in the aisles as the pilot announced, “cabin, prepare for an abrupt turn.” I had just enough time to clutch my laptop to my chest. After we landed, the pilot told us that as our plane was about to enter Washington D.C., airspace, the Air Force stated that anyone entering would be shot down.

When I got on the ground in Dallas and opened my Motorola flip phone, I called my office. They were very worried and had gone to a little Episcopal Church close to our office to pray. Yes, my whole staff made up of believers and nonbelievers went to church and prayed for our country and our president. That weekend, churches across America were flooded with people wanting to worship Jesus, many for the very first time. Out of a crisis came a profound evangelism opportunity.

As we look across America today, for the very first time in our history, our church doors are closed. Churches must reach their congregations via online services and sermons. Many churches are scrambling, trying to figure that out with only a week to go.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Sutton Turner

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Texas Bans Abortions during COVID-19 Pandemic, Threatens Doctors with Jail

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Texas Bans Abortions during COVID-19 Pandemic, Threatens Doctors with Jail


Texas Bans Abortions during COVID-19 Pandemic, Threatens Doctors with Jail

Texas on Monday became the second state to order abortion clinics to halt abortions during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to save masks and other personal protective equipment.

The warning from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton applies to all licensed health care facilities and professionals, including abortion clinics and abortion doctors.

Paxton says he is enforcing an order from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who on Saturday said “all licensed health care professionals and all licensed health care facilities shall postpone all surgeries and procedures that are not immediately medically necessary.”

“We must work together as Texans to stop the spread of COVID-19 and ensure that our healthcare professionals and facilities have all the resources they need to fight the virus at this time,”

Paxton said in a statement. “No one is exempt from the governor’s executive order on medically unnecessary surgeries and procedures, including abortion providers. Those who violate the governor’s order will be met with the full force of the law.”

Paxton’s website says the governor’s order applies to routine dermatological, ophthalmological, and dental procedures, as well as “orthopedic surgeries or any type of abortion that is not medically necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother.”

Ohio’s attorney general previously issued a similar order. Failure to comply with…

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Controversial Comedian Kathy Griffin Hospitalized with ‘Unbearably Painful’ Coronavirus-like Symptoms, Slams Trump for Inability to Get Tested

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He’s lying. I was sent to the #COVID19 isolation ward room in a major hospital ER from a separate urgent care facility after showing UNBEARABLY PAINFUL symptoms. The hospital couldn’t test me for #coronavirus because of CDC (Pence task force) restrictions. #TESTTESTTEST https://t.co/18fRiOBsdN pic.twitter.com/0sU9fHu4r0

— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) March 25, 2020

Click here to read.

SOURCE: Entertainment Weekly

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