The Supreme Court has rejected the plea of a Nevada congregation to suspend state-imposed restrictions on in-person gatherings that only apply to faith communities and not secular entities.

In a 5-4 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts joined liberal justices to deny an appeal of Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley in Lyon County, whose plea had been rejected by lower courts, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The church argued that Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak’s public-health orders gave casinos and other secular businesses greater leeway than houses of worship, which are prohibited from conducting in-person worship services with more than 50 people.

Calvary Chapel wanted to hold services for up to 90 members, 50% capacity, while fully complying with social-distancing rules and other required measures.

The judges made no comment while…

A youth pastor from Chicago has taken dual-guardianship of several young men from some of the city’s most underserved neighborhoods and has allowed them to live in the suburbs where they are offered improved education, discipleship and resources.

Pastor Terrance Wallace, founder of the InZone Project, helps oversee seven young men living in a suburban home in Wauconda, Illinois, and has brought them into his family in a literal sense. He plans to move over 20 others from the city into a suburban mansion in the affluent Barrington Hills this fall. 

Wallace’s structure of removing youth living in underserved areas to another area with more opportunities first came to be in 2011 when he initially launched the InZone Project in New Zealand.

“My kids in New Zealand had to come home and write essays on Chicago violence and gangs,” Wallace, a…

An outbreak of the new coronavirus swept through a Michigan convent “like wildfire,” killing 13 of religious sisters who lived, prayed and worked together in a matter of weeks, a Global Sisters Report said Monday.

“I get chills thinking about that,” Sr. Mary Andrew Budinski, the superior of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary convent in Livonia, where the women lived communally, said in the report. “The raw grief is yet to come, I think.”

The Global Sisters Report, which is a nonprofit project of the National Catholic Reporter publishing company, said all of the women who died were members of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice, or Felician Sisters. St. Felix was a Franciscan friar.

Between Good Friday on April 10 and May 10, 12 of the sisters died after battling the coronavirus. Then on June 27, one of 18 other sisters who initially survived the illness died from its effects to become the 13th fatality. Obituaries provided by Suzanne English,…

Pastor John MacArthur of California’s Grace Community Church has announced that his church would continue to hold in-person services despite state-mandated restrictions banning in-person worship services.

About two weeks after California indefinitely closed churches and other businesses in more than 30 of the state’s 58 counties as part of its response to the coronavirus, author and theologian MacArthur has given a biblical basis for his decision. “Compliance would be disobedience to our Lord’s clear commands,” he wrote in a statement to the congregation on Friday. 

“Government officials have no right to interfere in ecclesiastical matters in a way that undermines or disregards the God-given authority of pastors and elders,” MacArthur wrote.

Christ is Lord of all. He is the one true head of the church (Ephesians 1:22; 5:23; Colossians 1:18). He is also King of kings—sovereign over every earthly authority (

JOS, Nigeria, July 23, 2020 (Morning Star News) – Islamic extremists have executed five Nigerian men in Borno state, with one executioner saying it was a warning to “all those being used by infidels to convert Muslims to Christianity,” according to a video posted on Wednesday (July 22).

Three of the men shot to death from behind on the video were identified as Christians by a resident of Borno state, where the executions apparently took place.

In the 35-second video posted on YouTube by Eons Intelligence before it was removed, the three Christians kneel blindfolded by red cloth alongside two others believed to be Muslims while five men armed with AK-47 rifles stand behind them.

“This is a message to all those being used by infidels to convert Muslims to Christianity,” one of the executioners says in the Hausa language, translated by Morning Star News. “We want you out there to understand that those of you being used to convert Muslims to Christianity are only being used for selfish purposes.

“And that is the reason whenever we capture you, they don’t care to rescue you or work towards securing your release from us; and this is because they don’t need you or value your lives. We therefore, call on you to return to Allah by becoming Muslims. We shall continue to block all routes [highways] you travel.

“If you don’t heed our warning, the fate of…

A growing number of pastors believe their churches will not meet in person until 2021 because of the coronavirus.

As Christian Headlines previously reported, last week, Andy Stanley, pastor at North Point Community Church in suburban Atlanta announced that they would not meet in person until 2021, becoming the first in what some believe will be a growing trend.

According to Christianity Today, the Barna Group surveyed a group of pastors over the past week and 5 percent of them said they did not expect to have in-person worship services for the rest of 2020. While the number may seem small, in May, there were no respondents who thought they would not meet until next year.

Of the pastors who were surveyed most recently, 49 percent said their churches were already gathering weekly for worship, which is down from 56 percent in late June. Twenty-six percent of pastors said they had plans to resume meeting in July or August and 16 percent indicated their churches would meet in person again in September or October. Another 5 percent do not anticipate gathering in person until November or December, meaning that 10 percent of the pastors surveyed believed their churches would not meet together until at least November.

Stanley explained the rationale for not gathering for worship until 2021 in a video announcement to their church body. He said they would only have a small percentage…

Pastor Greg Laurie prayed at an event on Thursday where Secretary of State Mike Pompeo implored world leaders to demand change from China.

“Lord, today we come before you to thank you that we live in the United States of America,” Laurie, the pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship Church in Riverside, California, began. “And one thing we treasure so greatly is the freedom we have from you to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

“We have the freedom to speak our minds, the freedom to worship, and the freedom to proclaim the message that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead and can give us that personal liberty, life and happiness we desire if we trust Him as our Savior and Lord,” Laurie concluded.

According to Air 1, at the event, Pompeo spoke about China’s communist regime.

Pompeo asked that the free world helped “induce” change in China, where there have been increasing levels of violence and what Pompeo called a “totalitarian” environment.

“Communists almost always lie,” he said. “The biggest lie that they tell is to think that they speak for 1.4 billion people who are surveilled, oppressed and scared to speak out.”

According to the New York Post, Pompeo was speaking at the Nixon Library in California. Nixon is credited as being the first president to create “harmonious”…

Most Protestant churches in the United States have returned to in-person services, and most also are practicing social distancing by closing off certain seats to battle the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new LifeWay Research survey.

More than 70 percent of Protestant churches met in-person in July – a stark contrast to April when only 10 percent met.

The survey of Protestant pastors shows that 71 percent of churches met July 19, 73 percent met July 12, and 70 percent met July 5.

Meanwhile, churches are taking extra precautions to stop the spread of the virus.

For example:

• 94 percent are providing hand sanitizer, masks or gloves to those needing it.
• 86 percent are conducting additional cleaning of surfaces.
• 76 percent are closing seats to increase distance between people and to practice social distancing.
• 59 percent recommend masks. Around a third (35 percent) are requiring them.

Although most churches did not meet in May, a majority (55 percent) said they met the first weekend in June.

Still, 21 percent of pastors say they have not met since the pandemic started.

One-fifth (21 percent) of churches have offered drive-in services during the pandemic, according to the study.

“Resuming in-person worship services has not been reverting to worship as usual,” said Scott McConnell, executive director LifeWay Research. “Churches are making efforts to make the environment…

A GoFundMe page created for the family of a church planter and pastor who was killed in a highway accident as he was helping a driver who had stopped in the traffic lanes has raised nearly $300,000. 

The account, set up for the family John Powell, senior pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in New Caney, Texas, stood at $284,365 Friday afternoon from donations of over 2,700 people. 

On Twitter, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor Andrew Walker, a family friend who set up the account, expressed his astonishment at the outpouring of support, adding that “the global body of Christ is a living portrait of Romans 12:15: ‘Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.’”

Powell was accidentally killed on July 18 in Sherman, Texas, after he pulled over to assist individuals who had been involved in a crash. The 38-year-old pastor was struck by a passing semi-truck and died at the scene of the accident. He left behind…

A coalition of more than 100 religious leaders and theologians, including some registered Democrats, sent an open letter to the Democratic platform committee Friday, urging it to reject taxpayer funding of abortion and to embrace policies that support “legal protection for pre-born children.”

The committee is expected to release its proposed platform in the coming weeks.

The letter was organized by Democrats for Life and includes signatures from former Fuller Theological Seminary president Richard Mouw, Baylor University professor George Yancey, National Latino Evangelical Association President Gabriel Salguero, and seven individuals associated with Notre Dame.

The current Democratic platform, the letter says, supports “abortion extremism.”

“Some of us are registered Democrats and some of us are not, but we appreciate the Democratic Party’s stated commitment to human rights, equality, and fairness,” the letter says. “Accordingly, we urge the Democratic Party to embrace policies that protect both women and children: legal protection for pre-born children, improved prenatal care for women in need, especially women of color, alternatives to abortion, and a comprehensive culture of life free from violence, poverty and racism.”

The letter specifically urges the platform committee to reject taxpayer funding of abortion. The 2016 Democratic Platform called for the repeal of…