(RNS) — Megachurch pastor Darrin Patrick’s cause of death has officially been ruled a suicide, according to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department.

Patrick died May 7 in Pacific, Missouri, just outside of St. Louis. The cause of death was a gunshot wound and the medical examiner ruled it a suicide, Franklin County Sheriff Steve Pelton told Religion News Service.

Patrick was a teaching pastor at Seacoast Church, a multisite megachurch based in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, and the founding pastor of the Journey Church in St. Louis, where he lived.

Seacoast Church announced in a May 8 statement that Patrick had died of what appeared to be a “self-inflicted gunshot wound.”

His death came as a shock to friends and colleagues.

Patrick, who was known for helping people grow and overcome adversity, was remembered as being “passionate about the Lord.”

He had been a rising star in Reformed evangelical circles and served as vice president of the Acts 29 church planting network. He was later fired from Journey for what church elders called misconduct, including “inappropriate meetings, conversations, and phone calls with two women” and an abuse of power.

Patrick received counseling and went through a restoration process that lasted 26 months, according to a 2019 blog interview posted at Christianity Today. He returned to the ministry as a preacher but not as a senior pastor of…

A Pew Research Center survey says that among white evangelicals, President Donald Trump holds a 72 percent approval rating.

The rating is a drop of six percent since April, but the survey also found that 82 percent of white evangelicals say they are leaning toward voting for Trump’s re-election.

Just 17 percent of white evangelicals say they will support the Democratic presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden.

“Donald Trump has to be north of 81 percent (to win),” CBN News Chief Political Analyst David Brody said. “82 percent is a little too close for comfort. He’s probably got to be up close to 83, 84 or 85 percent.”

If Trump earns 84 or 85 percent, “it’s over – he wins a second term,” Brody said.

“The road to the White House goes through evangelicals – the Trump administration knows it,” Brody said.

In the 2016 election, Trump won with 81 percent of the white evangelical vote.

The new survey also found that non-evangelical white Protestants gave Trump a 56 percent approval rating and white Catholics gave the president a 54 percent approval rating.

Trump may have lost some support following the death and subsequent protests from the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer. Trump was also criticized for staging a photo with him holding a Bible in front of St. John’s Church near the White House.

Also in June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a…

Wheaton College said Friday it had dismissed its chaplain due to “inappropriate comments and actions of a racial and sexual nature.”

Wheaton College President Philip Ryken said in a Friday email to the college community that chaplain Timothy Blackmon had been dismissed following a four-month investigation, the Daily Herald reported. 

Although Blackmon “did not engage in sexually immoral relationships or physical sexual misconduct,” the investigation “revealed conduct inconsistent with Wheaton’s policies and commitments,” Ryken said.

“Following this investigation and adjudication, as well as a trustee review process, Tim Blackmon is no longer employed at Wheaton College,” Ryken said in the email. “Because of the unique role of the Chaplain as one of Wheaton’s primary spiritual leaders, we believe it is important to share this information with the campus community. 

“In deference to the confidentiality of multiple parties in a personnel process, though, we do not plan to provide additional information beyond this message and encourage our community to respect the privacy of the individuals involved.”

Ryken said he recognized it was “painful news” for the Wheaton College community.

“As our community experiences brokenness, we also recognize our ongoing need of restoration and reconciliation,” Ryken wrote. “We lament this situation and pray for…

Charlie Daniels, the country/gospel singer and southern rocker who was best known for 1979 hit The Devil Went Down to Georgia and who also was an outspoken Christian, died Monday from a stroke. He was 83.

Daniels and his Charlie Daniels Band played a style of music that attracted fans of country, rock, bluegrass and gospel. He was a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Musicians Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry.

Daniels won Dove Awards, Country Music Association Awards and Grammys.

He died at Summit Medical Center in Hermitage, Tenn.

Daniels spoke about his faith at concerts often, even if it wasn’t a predominantly Christian audience.

He discussed his faith during a 2017 appearance on The 700 Club.

“I believe that Jesus Christ was the only begotten Son of God, that He came to Earth, that He was nailed to a cross for my sins, that He left here. He ascended [and] He’s gonna descend one of these days. He’s gonna come back and pick us up,” he told The 700 Club.

His 2014 book, Never Look at the Empty Seats: A Memoir, was published by Thomas Nelson, a Christian publisher. It includes a section on Daniels’ Christian beliefs. It also includes an invitation for the reader to accept Christ.

“You have to believe that Jesus is the Son of almighty God,” he wrote. “… [I]t’s a ‘come as you are’ proposition. You can’t wait to clean your life up by…

Rapper and award-winning artist Kanye West announced that he will be running for President of the United States in the November 2020 election.

The 43-year old musician made the now-viral announcement on Twitter over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

“We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future,” West wrote on July 4^th.

“I am running for president of the United States! #2020VISION.”

We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States 🇺🇸! #2020VISION

— ye (@kanyewest) July 5, 2020

Further details on the rapper’s bid for the presidency have yet to be revealed, though this is not the first time West has announced that he would be running for President.

At the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, West asserted that he would be running for President in the year 2020, BBC News reports. Then. last year, at Fast Company’s Innovation Festival, West announced that he would be running in 2024.

The crowd who was present at the festival laughed at West’s declaration, but the musician asserted that he was serious.

“What are you laughing at?” he asked the crowd. “We would have created so many jobs that I’m not gonna run, I’m gonna walk.”

West even teased changing his name to “Christian Genius Billionaire Kanye West” for the presidential run.

So far,…

The father of a 19-year-old man killed in Seattle’s “Capitol Hill Organized Protest” (CHOP) zone says he doesn’t know what happened to his son, but that he is trusting God.

“Somebody’s kids did that to my son,” Anderson said. “I wouldn’t wish that on nobody else’s kid. I’m being a Christian in my heart … ‘Lord, just bless me so I can be strong.’

“It’s in God’s hands. Everything’s in God’s hands. God’s going to take care of me, and he’s going to take care of my son,” he added.

Horace Lorenzo Anderson was talking with Fox News about the CHOP zone, an area in Seattle where police are not patrolling and protestors are governing the zone.

According to Faithwire, Anderson’s son, also named Horace, was killed in the area, but Anderson said authorities have not contacted him to tell him what happened.

“I’m numb; I’m still numb today,” Anderson said in an interview Wednesday with Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “I got to bury my son tomorrow. It’s just been a lot going on.”

The roughly six-block area in Seattle was first called the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. The area became police-free after officers left the area in front of the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct. Protestors and police had been clashing with one another for days before police left.

According to the Daily Mail, the…

(RNS) — The Rev. Isiac Jackson Jr. was one of many Mississippi residents who took it as a spiritual victory when the state’s lawmakers voted Sunday (June 28) to remove the Confederate symbol from the state’s flag.

“God answers prayer,” said Jackson, president of the General Missionary Baptist State Convention. “He may not come when you want him, but he’s always on time.” 

Jackson was one of many Black faith leaders who had spoken out against the flag, which was adopted in 1894 as Mississippi’s whites tried to consolidate political power after Reconstruction. The bill’s passage, and Republican Gov. Tate Reeves’ signature two days later, closes the door on a debate that has long frustrated African Americans, who make up 37.8% of Mississippi’s population, the largest percentage of any state.

“Black folks in the state of Mississippi have been praying for the removal of that flag for over a hundred years,” he said of the former banner. “God fixed the hearts of former slaveowners’ children to bow to the will of God and remove that flag.”

But tucked inside the legislation changing the flag was a peculiar mandate. “The new design for the Mississippi state flag recommended by the commission shall not include the design of the Confederate flag, but shall include the words ‘In God We Trust,’” the act reads.

Requiring the phrase has drawn a range…

Chicago Red Stars forward Rachel Hill recently released a statement explaining why she chose to stand during the national anthem on opening day of the Challenge Cup for the National Women’s Soccer League despite her teammates taking a knee in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

According to ESPN, in a Twitter post on Tuesday, Hill asserted that while she stood during the National Anthem out of respect for her military family, she “wholeheartedly” supports the Black Lives Matter movement.

“When I stood for the national anthem before the Chicago Red Stars’ most recent game, this was a decision that did not come easily or without profound thought,” Hill shared, noting that she sought out advice on what to do from family, friends and teammates.

“I chose to stand because of what the flag inherently means to my military family members and me. But I 100% support my peers.” She asserted.

Hill added that she tried to show solidarity with her Black teammates and the Black community as a whole by placing her hand on Defender Casey Short’s shoulder and bowing her head.

“I struggled, but felt that these actions show my truth, and in the end, I wanted to remain true to myself,” Hill wrote.

Hill went on to note that she spoke with several of her Black teammates, including Short and Sarah Gorden before and after the game, noting that she will…