Hurricane Sally made landfall early Wednesday morning near Gulf Shores, Alabama, displacing residents as floodwaters continue to rise.

“There are entire communities that we’re going to have to evacuate,” Sheriff David Morgan said according to the Associated Press. “It’s going to be a tremendous operation over the next several days.”

In Orange Beach, at least 50 people were rescued. In Escambia County, more than 40 people were rescued.

In downtown Pensacola, the National Weather Service reported nearly 3 feet of water, and near the Naval Air Station Pensacola, more than 2 feet of rain was recorded.

“It’s not common that you start measuring rainfall in feet,” said forecaster David Eversole in Mobile, Alabama. “Sally’s moving so slowly, so it just keeps pounding and pounding and pounding the area with tropical rain and just powerful winds. It’s just a nightmare.”

Some half-a-million homes and businesses also lost power.

In Pensacola, resident Kenneth McElroy said a tree fell through his house into his living room.

“You can’t get down on yourself, it will make it worse,” he said. “At least everybody is accounted for.”

He added, however, that he is still hopeful.

“A pandemic, and a hurricane, what’s next?” he said. “Sunny days and good times.”

Sally pummeled the coast as a Category 2 storm but weakened to a Category 1 storm. Heavy rain is expected to continue into…

Hillsong Worship recently announced a new children’s book called “What a Beautiful Name,” inspired by their award-winning song of the same name.

Written by Hillsong’s Brooke and Scott Ligertwood, as well as Ben and Karalee Fielding, the 40-page book features a little boy named Oliver who goes on an adventure with his monkey pal Leo to discover the name in a song his mother sings. According to The Christian Post, Oliver was inspired by the Fieldings’ son and his stuffed animal.

“Every single week we receive emails, social media postings and YouTube videos of children the world over singing this song,” the authors told The Christian Post. “Some know the words perfectly, others make up their own. Regardless, their little hearts are being opened to the gospel message, and we want to help make this message even more accessible.”

The book opens with the line, “On a regular Monday, in Oliver’s room, in through the door came a familiar tune…”

Oliver sails the high seas and travels through a jungle to discover the name. It’s in a moment of rest that he remembers the name: “Creator and Savior, who made everything, Beautiful, Wonderful, Powerful King…JESUS.”

The authors hope the book engages little readers to explore the wonder and beauty of God.

“Worship is wonder,” they said. “Teaching children about worship is to teach them about the…

Megachurch pastor Joel Osteen will be opening his doors to congregants on October 18th, The Christian Post reports.

After 7 long months of simply streaming the services online and on SiriusXM satellite radio, Osteen’s church has decided to open its doors again. But congregants must sign up online, as capacity is limited to 25% of the chapel and everyone is required to wear a mask.

The Lakewood, Texas, church’s website states they will be adhering to the CDC guidelines.

Osteen said in a statement that “For the past six months we have been consulting with medical experts here in Houston and adhering to the guidelines set by the Texas Governor and the Houston Mayor and feel that it is the appropriate time to begin reopening the church for in-person worship services.”

He continued, “We are moving forward carefully and will reopen in a steady, gradual manner. We have undertaken many effective safety precautions, as well, that are designed to create a safe environment for our members who wish to attend.”

Osteen’s church isn’t the only one to have begun reopening, but it is one of the more prominent ones.

Big House Church in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia Beach reopened its doors months ago making it one of the first megachurches around the country to reopen. Like Osteen, they have taken the proper precautions, urging people who have Coronavirus to stay home and recommending churchgoers wear a…

(RNS) — Giving to congregations has shifted upward after churches closed their buildings earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, a survey shows.

The new State of the Plate research finds that close to two-thirds (64%) of churches across the country reported in August that giving is either up (22%) or steady (42%). By contrast, in April, a similar share of churches (65%) said they had seen a drop in giving.

“This is encouraging news for churches across America,” said Brian Kluth, a former pastor who is now national spokesperson for the National Association of Evangelicals’ Financial Health initiative. “These new findings show that most churches and their families are figuring out ways to survive and even thrive in the midst of all the challenges that the pandemic has thrown their way.”

The findings are based on responses from 1,076 mainline, evangelical and independent Protestant churches. Seven in 10 of them had less than 200 attenders before the pandemic.

A third of the responding churches were in cities or suburbs, almost another third were from towns, about a quarter were from rural areas or small towns and 9% were from large cities.

The vast majority of respondents — 87% — said their congregations are currently meeting for in-person worship services. But more than half (58%) said attendance in person is half or less compared with pre-pandemic times. Six percent said…

(RNS) — As racial tensions have risen in recent months, a new report reveals that some Christians are becoming less motivated to act on racial justice, and an increasing share say there is “definitely” not a race problem in the country.

“Christians generally, and practicing Christians in particular, have changed their minds on addressing racial injustice, but if anything, they’re actually moving away from being motivated,” said David Kinnaman, president of Barna Group.

“It’s not a majority of Christians, but it is a segment of Christians who say they’re unmotivated or not at all motivated to address racial injustice,” he said, adding that the group has “essentially doubled” in the last year.

Thirty percent of practicing Christians — people who identify themselves as Christians, have attended worship in the past month and claim to strongly prioritize their faith — say they are not motivated to engage in matters of racial injustice (12% unmotivated, 18% not at all motivated). That’s an increase from 2019, when 17% said they were not motivated (9% unmotivated, 8% not at all motivated).

That was one of the most surprising findings of the summer study on race by Kinnaman’s California-based research firm.

“I think there was a lot of anticipation that the last three, four months might change Christians’ perspectives on some of these things,…

Last Saturday, one of the three co-founders of the Black Lives Matter organization spoke out against televangelist Pat Robertson for rendering the group as anti-Christian, Newsweek reports.

Robertson, who hosts the 700 Club, made the remarks on Thursday’s broadcast as the televangelist called out the movement’s Marxist ideologies, as seen on their website.

“They’re talking about Marxist communism,” Robertson said. “They’re talking about destroying the nuclear family. They’re talking about destroying essentially Christianity as being racist. And all the way through, they want to upend the capitalist structure and destroy America.”

While he affirms the phrase “Black Lives Matter”, the televangelist noted that the organization is ultimately, “a stalking horse for a very, very radical anti-family, anti-God agenda.”

“People should be aware that they’re not just standing with the poor oppressed Black people. Of course we want to stand with people against police brutality. Of course we do,” he said.
“But we don’t want to go along with a lesbian, anti-family, anti-capitalist Marxist revolution. We don’t want that for America.”

In a statement released on Saturday, BLM co-founder Patrice Cullors decried Robertson’s comments as “completely inflammatory and dangerous” as she defended the group’s support of Christianity.

“In response to…