LOUISVILLE, Miss. (USA Today) — A Mississippi church has chosen to leave the United Methodist Church over conflicting views on homosexuality, abortion and the teaching of Islam. The First United Methodist Church of Louisville decided to leave the denomination Sunday morning during a “membership affirmation,” said Mike Childs, the pastor of the church. The vote […]

NASHVILLE (USA Today)— Frank S. Page, a prominent Southern Baptist leader, has resigned from his top role in the largest Protestant denomination in America because of a “morally inappropriate” relationship. Page, the president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committee, stepped down Tuesday from the leadership role and retired from active ministry, according […]

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (Baptist Press) — A Malaysian pastor threatened with death for trying to convert Muslims to Christianity remains missing more than a year after his February 2017 kidnapping in Kuala Lumpur, a family friend confirmed to Baptist Press today (March 26). The family of 63-year-old Raymond Koh has heard nothing of his whereabouts […]

(ABC News) — A 16-year-old Florida boy is suspected of beating his friend to death with a baseball bat, authorities said, alleging that the teen was jealous of his friend’s relationship with a girl. Police say the suspect persuaded friend Giovanni Diaz, 15, to go into a wooded area Monday afternoon, where the teen “viciously […]

(Haaretz) — Three would-be tomb raiders in northern Israel were recently jailed for breaking into Galilee graves dating to biblical times, using a small bulldozer, no less. The robbers were caught red-handed in the ancient biblical town of Mishkana, also known as Maskana, and were foiled before they could do too much damage to the […]

TUPELO, Miss. (The Clarion Ledger) — A 13-year-old girl is dead in Monroe County after authorities say she was shot Saturday by her 9-year-old brother. Sheriff Cecil Cantrell said the girl would not give up a video game controller when her brother wanted it. Cantrell said she was shot in the back of the head […]

NORTH AUGUSTA, SC (WJBF) — A North Augusta family is rebuilding after a fire left them without a home. The family lost everything, including their two dogs, but among all the rubble one thing remained. “I will never leave you or forsake you, and He hasn’t left us, ” homeowner Wendy Crawley told WJBF NewsChannel 6. Crawley […]

SHYMKENT, Kazakhstan (Radio Free Europe) — A court in Kazakhstan has acquitted a woman who was charged with illegal missionary activity after she showed another person how to download the Bible on a smartphone. The South Kazakhstan Regional Court, in the city of Shymkent, found Dilobarkhon Sultanova not guilty on March 13. Continue reading this story […]

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (Fox News) — A Florida teenager—who had previously been investigated for “alleged violent tendencies”—watched jihadist videos and read the Koran “to give him courage” before stabbing a 13-year-old boy to death and seriously injuring two others at a birthday sleepover Monday, cops said. Corey Johnson, 17, was charged with first-degree murder […]

BERLIN (Associated Press) — German prosecutors said Monday they were notified that a former Nazi death camp guard dubbed the “Accountant of Auschwitz” died before he could begin serving his 4-year sentence. Hannover prosecutor Kathrin Soefker said a lawyer informed her office that Oskar Groening, 96, died Friday in a hospital. The office is awaiting […]