by Jim Henderson

This article was originally sent out as an email to our mailing list. Some of the comments below were received as email responses to our mailing.

Young Pastor Fakes Cancer Hides Porn Addiction

The disgraced, former pastor of one of Australia’s biggest youth churches, Planetshakers, inspired hundreds of thousands of young Christians around the world as he performed with an oxygen tube in his nose.

The father of pastor Michael Guglielmucci has revealed his son has been addicted to pornography since the age of 12. Danny Guglielmucci – whose high-profile, preacher son, Michael last week admitted his two-year battle with cancer was fake – said the “severe addiction to pornography” was part of a bizarre double life his son had been leading.

Young Nationally Known Healer Admits Emotional Affair

(more…)

By Kathy Escobar

This article was first published on the Emergent Village Weblog.

In a covert conversation in the middle of the night, Jesus, in John 3, shares with Nicodemus what it means to be born again. I love this imagery—a religious ruler sneaking out of his house so no one would see him because somehow this wild & crazy guy named Jesus had gotten under his skin. Jesus’ response to Nicodemus has become pivotal words in the history of evangelical Christianity—“no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (v. 3). I remember the day that I was “born again” in Christ. The day will be etched in my brain & heart forever. But it didn’t stop there. It wasn’t a one-time experience where I “sealed the deal and then was done with it.” Rather, it was the beginning of many more spirit-led experiences where I knew I needed to shift, change, grow in my relationship with Jesus. I believe a huge piece of our personal spiritual journey is the ability to continually be born again, to be willing to readjust our thinking, our actions, all kinds of things, as the Holy Spirit moves & changes us. Life experiences change. Cultures shift. We grow up and out and into places we never expected. And with each twist & turn we are required to re-examine our faith, listen for God’s spirit, and be willing to be “born again”.

The same thing applies corporately to “the church”, the messy & beautiful body of Christ. I believe the church is in the midst of a major, history-making “born again” experience that is creating a wide range of responses from its people. (more…)

By Jim Henderson

If the recent Saddleback Special with Barack Obama and John McCain tells us anything it’s that the evangelical wing of Christianity is in search of its soul. As I see it Rick Warren held his theologically conservative credentials masterfully in check the entire time and refused himself the pleasure of comparing Barack’s best with McCain’s worst and vice versa. I vote for Rick to become Billy Gs heir apparent as America’s pastor.

The Evangelical church is looking for its heart. Now that everyone knows we’re here what shall we do with all the attention? Like it or not if you fancy yourself a follower of Jesus, care about scripture and think church matters - America basically thinks you’re an evangelical. And while my good friend George Barna may have the ability to parse the difference I still find myself unable to distinguish between an evangelical and a born again. Nor do I think that Outsiders really know the difference either. For better or worse (and usually it’s the latter) we are called by both names. And as they say in the marketplace of ideas - perception is reality. Check out our recent blog post Saddleback Showdown: What happened to religion being a private matter? for more on this.

Speaking of The Barna Group - Their new thirty three year old President David Kinnaman is making quite the splash by selling over 100,000 copies of UnChristian What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity in less than a year. Fortunately David will be speaking at all three Born Again Church Tour conferences.

Which reminds me - some have asked why we are calling this the Born Again Church Tour. (more…)

Saturday Rick Warren hosted what has been called the Saddleback Showdown with presidential candidates taking the stage and answering questions about faith. I was unable to view the program live, so I started looking to see if it might be available to view online. The Fox website was a dead end (though video clips are available now), but YouTube offered many hits. While searching the YouTube videos on the subject I stumbled across a young mans posting of his concern over having the candidates in a faith forum saying he felt uncomfortable with faith talk because of his view of the separation of church and state. You can view the video entitled, “OBAMA & McCAIN TALK FAITH W/ PASTOR RICK WARREN - YIKES!!!” here:

In the video he says, “Why do the evangelicals have so much power? We shouldn’t give them this power.” The Born Again Church Tour asks, “What do they think about our involvement in politics?” Well, this young man thinks evangelicals have too much power. Others agree. What about you?