Inside Bethel Church, leaders Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton say they're taking responsibility ... but also deeply unsure of what that means

Christian ministries getting the most in govt grants, via Ministry Watch

Never trusted my neighbor’s groundhog, but these seem to know spring is coming.

Well the answer, it turns out, involves a riding crop. Story updated.

What kind of "joke" does a pastor tell that's so offensive someone is still upset 10 years later and his church board decides it's worth investigating ... twice? That's one question for America's sixth-largest megachurch right now.

What kind of "joke" does a pastor tell that's so offensive someone is still upset 10 years later and his church board decides it's worth investigating ... twice? That's one question for America's sixth-largest megachurch right now.

In one of his last sermons, Acts 29 VP Tyler Jones talked about accountability “Who will help keep me honest in my spiritual growth? Who will hold me accountable?” he said. A few weeks later, he confessed to a long-term extramarital relationship.

Acts 29 VP Tyler Jones has been removed from leadership after confessing to a "long-term extramarital relationship"

World's tallest church finally got the cross on top, bringing the structure to its full 566 feet after 144 years of work. Still not finished though. Final touches are expected to take another eight years.

Pedro Cantu brought his family to the U.S. in 1990. The four of them only had two suitcases and their faith. He started a church the following year—Amor y Restauración (Love and Restoration)—and became a spiritual leader in his community. On Saturday, he was killed. My latest reporting:

Two months ago, Myles and DeLana Rutherford were praying with President Trump and leading worship in the White House. Last week a Georgia prosecutor slammed them for failing to report a church leader when he was accused of sexually molesting a 15-year-old boy.

The Kansas State house passed a bill today making clergy mandatory reporters of child abuse, 111 to 5. Now goes to senate.

The Global Methodist Church now has more than 7,000 congregations worldwide, 16 months after official formation at 1st General Conference in Costa Rica

Always a thrill when my writing escapes the bonds of English

Shout-out to Daniel for noting the previous preachers at the Pentagon's monthly services. I tracked them all down, but he's the only other reporter yet to actually include this context. I'm tracking them (& those at Labor Department) here: publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/government...

Pentagon prayer service —> reformation/revival —> American transformation —> .... theocracy? Christian nationalist Doug Wilson preached at Pete Hegseth's monthly Pentagon service yesterday.

Fact of the day: More than 24 million people have downloaded Hallow, the most popular prayer app. About 2,000 have completed the app's 1,000-day prayer streak.

Jesse Jackson should be remembered, in part, as an option that American evangelicals considered and rejected. His story is partly the story of how “evangelical” really meant “white evangelical,” and then for a moment that didn’t have to be true, and then it really was ...

A detail about a Bethel minister that raised even my eyebrows:

Greg Laurie's former No. 2 says he is living paycheck to paycheck and can't afford to defend himself from a lawsuit accusing him of abusing 20+ children

Some unusual campaign finances in MyPillow founder’s run for governor of Minnesota. And more than half his donors are retirees. My reporting:

A rare Good Shepherd fresco in the ancient city of Nicaea is going to be restored by Turkey's Ministry of Culture

Report: 165 bricks-and-mortar Christian retailers sold a combined $20 million Bibles in 2025, up 5.4% from the previous year. Top-selling translations were: - NLT - NIV - KJV - ESV

When the Dollar General parking lot gives you lemons

In evangelical circles, the word "evangelical" is disappearing. From Daniel K. Williams:

Providence Christian College, a Reformed school in Southern California, announced this week it is closing its doors

Sharp analysis of the managent-vandalism of the Washington Post: “if your motto is “Move fast and break things,” it turns out that a lot of what gets broken is what the rest of us value most.” open.substack.com/pub/tinabrow...

Turns out white evangelical support for Donald Trump isn't immovable

A Baptist pastor told the FBI he didn’t consider himself a pedophile but had long struggled with a p*rn addiction. He had more than 100,000 obscene images of children on two hard drives when he was arrested. Last week, 14 women whose abuse was captured in those images filed suit against him.

“Offering and publishing legitimate critiques of the state, which often involves engagement with international platforms and audiences, may now easily be construed as ‘collusion’” in Hong Kong apnews.com/article/hong...

Along with major media industry layoffs at the Washington Post and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, CBN cut around 90 jobs this week.

Fact of the day: There are more than 10,000 artists on Spotify tagged as “Christian hip-hop,” making it one of the platform’s largest sub-genres of rap.

Interesting book that doesn’t quite know the moral of the morality tale it’s telling.

A little mind-bendy: A Presbyterian elder is not being allowed to leave a Florida church that left the Presbyterian Church in America.

Interesting stat from Pew. Also, it looks like 13% of Americans say religion is very important but they *don't* attend religious services weekly or more.

"This ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world's greatest news organizations," former Executive Editor Marty Baron said in a statement Wednesday.

"Love your enemies ... so that you may be children of your Father in heaven"

A thoughtful article on a perennial question substack.com/home/post/p-...

Seeing the Sistine Chapel in Rome was one of the more disappointing experiences I've had with great historic art. Mostly tourists quietly taking photos and then guards loudly scolding them. apnews.com/article/last...

I looked through the last (?) document dump of the Epstein files for names of evangelical leaders. There aren't many, but some. Jeffrey Epstein recommended reading James Dobson and Ken Starr signed off an email to the sex offender with "hugs."

A few evangelicals appear in the Epstein files, including James Dobson, Eric Metaxas and Ken Starr. My reporting here: julieroys.com/jeffrey-epst...

Call upon him Call upon him There is power in the name

On the substack this morning

Local newspapers are needed to cover these stories. Support yours. #LocalNewspapers

This week in the life of my Appalachian church, I was lucky enough to sit in a pew where I got to hold a baby. On Wednesday at the gym, a grandpa who doesn’t go to our church said “Heard you got to hold that baby in church!”

A legal asylum-seeker who works at Chipotle and plays music at a church in Maine went missing. His pastor searched and searched, eventually finding his abandoned car with the keys on the floor. ICE grabbed him. No criminal record. No explanation.

A Reformed Presbyterian minister got deep into “race realism” and then, prompted by Charlie Kirk’s assassination, started publicly advocating for white supremacy. Last week, the church responded. My latest reporting at @julieroys.bsky.social:

The decline of a legacy media org feels extra tragic, I think, when the big problem is bad decisions at the top

Nope no nope unh-unh no. Do not like.

One practical change the charismatic megachurch Bethel is promising in response to extensive evidence of a coverup culture: “wider communication when substantiated allegations are brought forth and met with unrepentence.” One question: Is the church sitting on any cases like that right now?