Montenegro’s Churches Get a Religious Freedom Do-Over

Property dispute between Orthodox church and government that sparked mass protests in the Balkans ends—for now—with a strengthening of religious rights for evangelicals and other faiths. Europe’s second-newest nation made a second effort this week at greater religious freedom. And evangelicals in Montenegro, the Balkan nation independent from Serbia since 2006, couldn’t be more pleased. “This is a great blessing, we are out of the gray zone and drawn into legal... Read More

Black Churches Step in to Help Distribute COVID-19 Vaccines

Florida pilot program could become model for other states. In his four decades as a minister, R. B. Holmes Jr. has never dealt with so much death. More than 24,000 Floridians have died from COVID-19, including more than a few of the flock that Holmes shepherds at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Tallahassee. “No one is immune from this,” Holmes told CT. “The thief is winning. The virus is a thief.” The black pastor is especially concerned that the coronavirus has... Read More

Prayers and Praises from the World’s Hardest Places to Be a Christian

The struggles and joys experienced by believers in 11 nations on Open Doors’ Christian persecution watchlist. More than 340 million Christians live in places with very high or extreme levels of persecution, according to Open Doors’ 2021 World Watch List. Since these believers are our brothers and sisters in Christ, we thought it might be helpful to hear from the church and those close to them in 11 different countries on how God is working—and how you can pray for them.... Read More

Florida reports 277 COVID-19 deaths Friday, tying state record

Palm Beach County: Test results for residents were reported , leading to a daily positivity rate of %. That’s from % the previous day. Broward County: Test results for residents were reported , leading to a daily positivity rate of %. That’s from % the previous day. Miami-Dade County: Test results for residents were reported , leading to a daily positivity rate of %. That’s from % the previous day. ... Read More

Will they work together? Biden faces Florida Republicans who rejected his win

Republican House members across Central Florida, including U.S. Reps. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, Daniel Webster, R-Clermont, and Scott Franklin, R-Lakeland, were asked if they would work with Biden, acknowledge his win and push back on conspiracy theories such as QAnon and the false allegation that Antifa or other left-wing groups were behind the Capitol assault. ... Read More

SBC President’s Church Reinvestigates Bryan Loritts’s Abuse Response

Seven months after hiring Loritts as executive pastor, the Summit Church has commissioned an independent review of how he handled voyeurism incidents at his former church. The Summit Church has retained the services of an outside firm to perform an independent review of specific actions taken by Pastor Bryan Loritts in his handling of 2010 sexual misconduct allegations against his then-brother-in-law at a Memphis church Loritts pastored. A statement released by the church acknowledged that... Read More

Missions and Missional: Remembering History

Part 3 of Ed Stetzer’s chapter from the recent release “Conversations on When Everything Is Missions” How do justice and evangelism co-exist? How do we manage to accomplish both demonstration and proclamation without repeating the perilous mistakes of the missio Dei movement of the middle last century while also avoiding an extreme restrictivism that is all faith and no works (cf. James 2:14-26)? I am what I call an integral prioritist. I believe in integral, holistic... Read More

Older Floridians: Guinea pigs for the safety and success of the COVID-19 vaccine

Until now, research about the vaccine’s effect on older people has been minimal and short term. Of the 21,720 people who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine rather than the placebo in its phase 3 trial, 7,971 or 37% were over age 55. Pfizer’s study did not include a breakout for those 65 and older. In the Moderna phase 3 trial, of the 15,181 volunteers given the vaccine rather than the placebo, 3,763 or 25 percent were older than 65. ... Read More

Florida calls for restricting COVID vaccines to state residents after complaints of shots going to tourists

The residency proof required would allow part-time Florida residents to qualify as residents, which means snowbirds from Canada and the northern United States would still qualify. Among the acceptable forms of proof are a property deed, lease, Florida driver’s license, utility bill and mail from a financial institution. ... Read More