Leonardo Blair

Latest

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  Feb 10, 2020

  Ron Carpenter was promised $6.25M retirement payout in transition plan with John Gray, court docs say

  Redemption Church Pastor Ron Carpenter Jr. said he was promised a retirement package of $6.25 million to be made in annual payouts of $250,000 for 25 years in a failed transition agreement with fellow megachurch pastor John Gray of Relentless Church, court documents filed in South Carolina on Friday reveal.

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  Feb 10, 2020

  Christian father loses wife, 6 children in house fire

  In the aftermath of the blaze that razed his home and left him as the sole survivor early Saturday, fire officials in Mississippi say the lifeless bodies of five of Jake Presley’s six children were found huddled together in one room while the bodies of his wife and another child were found in another bedroom.

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  Feb 9, 2020

  So. Baptists bring on pastor to mobilize some 4,000 black churches for missionary work

  The Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board announced the hiring of Jason Thomas, a pastor with a decade’s worth of experience in campus ministry, to mobilize the denomination’s nearly 4,000 black congregations for missionary work.

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  Feb 6, 2020

  Beloved pastor and wife married 65 years die hours apart after crash

  A beloved pastor from Ashville, Alabama, and his wife of 65 years died just hours apart Tuesday after a car accident that has left their community reeling in grief.

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  Feb 6, 2020

  John Gray says Ron Carpenter leased him church with $13M debt, refused to meet privately over dispute

  Pastor John Gray of Relentless Church in Greenville, South Carolina, says he is “eagerly” waiting to go to court Friday with fellow megachurch leader, pastor Ron Carpenter of Redemption Church, in a dispute over payments for the Relentless Church campus owned by Carpenter.

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  Feb 5, 2020

  Willow Creek’s interim pastor to step down as church drops top candidates to fill Hybels’ shoes

  Elders at Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago announced Thursday that Steve Gillen, their interim senior pastor will step down on March 17. Gillen has been serving in the role since the church’s founder, Bill Hybels, resigned amid a sexual misconduct scandal in 2018.

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  Feb 5, 2020

  James MacDonald launches Home Church Network for those who want to skip ‘drama’ of large churches

  Months after teasing a 2020 return to ministry, James MacDonald, the former leader and founder of the Harvest Bible Chapel megachurch in greater Chicago is promising to deliver a new Home Church Network without the “drama” of large churches for those who struggle to get to church, stay in a church, or simply can’t find a church where they fit in.

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  Feb 5, 2020

  Trump to appoint first black pastor of Jimmy Carter’s church to help former prisoners

  President Donald Trump is expected to name the Rev. Tony Lowden, the first black American to lead Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, where former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, are longtime members, as the administration's "reentry czar," to help former prisoners reentering the workforce.

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  Feb 4, 2020

  Megachurch pastor John Ortberg allowed volunteer attracted to minors to work with children, church reveals

  John Ortberg, senior pastor of the nearly 4,000-member Menlo Church in Menlo Park, California, exhibited “poor judgment” when he knowingly allowed a volunteer who confessed to having an attraction to minors to work with children, church elders said. Ortberg is now undergoing a period of restoration.

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  Feb 3, 2020

  Senior pastor of historic Ebenezer Baptist Church where Dr. King preached enters Senate race

  Rev. Raphael Warnock of Atlanta's historic Ebenezer Baptist Church where the Rev. Martin Luther King Sr. and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., served as pastors announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate on Thursday “to make sure every voice is heard.”