When a church’s sexual abuse is so pernicious the church should close
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on February 11, 2025. “The nation of Israel was born because Joseph went to prison,” former IHOPKC pastor Mike Bickle told the congregation in what would become his final sermon in October,2023. “He’s thrown in prison because of the betrayal of his brothers.” Then he concluded, “The nation […]
Hegseth’s nomination fits the TheoBro pattern creating abuse culture
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on November 26, 2024. Given the state of their churches, it makes total sense that conservative evangelicals would elect a president who has a history of bragging about sexual assault. And it also makes sense that this sexually abusive president would nominate five people to his cabinet who […]
Steve Lawson preached fire and brimstone except for himself
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on September 23, 2024. “Megachurch pastors in Dallas are starting to drop like flies,” I wrote back on June 25 after Tony Evans and Robert Morris stepped away from ministry at prominent megachurches. Apparently “starting” was the keyword because over the next three months, the number of Dallas pastors […]
What’s happening to megachurch pastors in Dallas?
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on June 25, 2024. Megachurch pastors in Dallas are starting to drop like flies. On June 9, Tony Evans stepped away for an unspecified period of time from the 10,000-member Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, a church he started in his living room and led for 48 years, explaining vaguely that […]
The horror of Let Us Prey may not be as far from home as you think
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on November 30, 2023. “Every IFB church is a powder keg ready to explode,” says Eric Skwarczynski on Let Us Prey: A Ministry of Scandals, which released last weekend on HBO Max and Investigation Discovery. The four-part docuseries follows the stories of sexual abuse survivors within the Independent Fundamental […]
Sex, Tech, and Faith: Sexual Ethics for a Digital Age (Review)
This past year, I connected with the American Academy of Religion to write academic reviews of books about religion. For my first review, I discuss Sex, Tech, and Faith: Sexual Ethics for a Digital Age by Kate Ott. You can read my entire review of her book here.
The weakness of complementarian theology on display in Duggar trial
This article originally appeared on December 9, 2021 at Baptist News Global. As we reflect back on 2021, one theme will be how three of the major conservative evangelical denominations have become compromised by sexual abuse and sexual abuse coverups. The Presbyterian Church in America became embroiled in a scandal over the past couple years when a […]