MinistryWatch Podcast

On today’s program, more turmoil at St. Andrew’s Chapel in Florida—the church started by R.C. Sproul. Allegations surface as the church grapples with the fallout of recent excommunications. We’ll have details. And, World Water Day was last week, and that prompted us to look at ministries that are in the clean water business. Which ones should you support? We’ll take a look. Plus, former Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines died last week at 68 after a bout with cancer. He led one of the SBC’s largest churches for nearly two decades. But first, a former PCA pastor was sentenced this month to 30 years in prison for abusing a minor. The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Kim Roberts, Isaac Wood, Tony Mator, Bob Smietana, Makella Knowles, and Jessica Eturralde. Until next time, may God bless you.

Christina Hello, everyone, I’m Christina Darnell, the managing editor of MinistryWatch. Welcome to the MinistryWatch podcast. In today’s extra episode, I talk with Warren Smith about some news items that are slightly (even significantly) outside of our normal charity and philanthropy “beat.” So, Warren, what’s up first? Warren Up first today is a podcast episode featuring Carl Lentz. Christina Are we talking about the same Carl Lentz who was a pastor of Hillsong New York and was famously involved in a number of scandals a few years ago? Warren That’s the guy. And before I say more, Christina, I should say that as a Christian, I believe in redemption, restoration, and second chances. And the podcast I heard him on, Carey Nieuwhof’s Leadership podcast, is one I listen to often. But his episode with Carl Lentz left me sad and confused. Nieuwhof asked the right questions, and Lentz often gave the right answers. But I still cannot help but think he needs to find a career out of the limelight as an entrepreneur or a business consultant and just stay away from church leadership and big platforms for a while longer. He says he is working on a book about his experiences, what he learned. I am sure it will be a bestseller. I will not be one of its buyers. You can watch or listen to the interview here. Christina But, Warren, you said you believe in second chances. When a pastor or ministry leader has a fall, what should they do? Are they permanently disqualified from ministry? Warren Well, in some cases, yes. It’s interesting to me that sometimes even secular organizations understand that. If you get convicted of certain kinds of financial fraud, you receive a lifetime ban from working in the financial services industry. Do I believe a child abuser can be saved? Absolutely, but I don’t want that person running a kindergarten ever again. Christina So what are they supposed to do? Go get a job at Home Depot? Warren Funny you should say that, because that’s exactly what Phil Cooke says they should do. He wrote an article recently that I like, and that’s exactly the title: “Maybe the Best Thing for A Fallen Pastor Is a Job at Home Depot.” “When leaders betray trust,” he writes, “rushing them back into the pulpit isn’t restoration, it’s denial.” I agree 100 percent. You can read the entire article here. Christina Let’s change gears a bit, Warren, and talk about a topic that is important to us here at MinistryWatch. Warren   MinistryWatch exists to help bring transparency and accountability to Christian ministries. We have noticed that there is a growing transparency crisis in both ministry spaces and in the country at large. Read, for example, my article on the importance of Form 990s to ministry transparency, and the practice of some ministries not to file them. Christina This trend in Christian ministries appears to be part of a larger trend in the country and even around the world. Warren Transparency International just released its annual Corruption Perceptions Index. According to The Signal, “The United States hit its lowest score ever—extending a decade-long slide. The global average also fell to its lowest level in more than 10 years.” Christina Warren, you learned this week of the passing of your friend and ministry leader Jerry Eisley. Warren I did, and though our listeners have probably not heard of him, he’s a guy who has quietly shaped an entire movement. There’s an entire movement today of Christians and the arts. I think of Andrew Peterson and The Rabbit Room. Or Charlie Peacock and the Art House Movement. SD (Sam) Smith and his Story Warren. Even Gabe Lyons and the Q Conferences. All of these movements owe a debt of gratitude to Jerry Eisley, who died this week at age 76. When I was 20 years old and a junior in college, I had an internship in Washington, DC. My friend Jan Dargatz (who went on to become a successful writer and who also died recently) introduced me to Jerry and his wife Twila, and they offered to let me stay in their home in Georgetown until I could find a permanent place to live. I stayed in their basement apartment for a week, and that week changed my life. I had just read A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken, and — to me — Jerry and Twila were the real-life Van and Davy of that book. I wanted to be them when I grew up. Christina Just a year earlier, they had formed The Washington Arts Group. Warren That’s right. They got me involved in The Washington Arts Group and I made friends that I still have today, including people like the actor Tom Key, Sen. Bill Armstrong, who went on to become the president of Colorado Christian University, and Cal Thomas, who I saw just a few months ago. On my many trips to Washington over the years I would often stop by Foxhall Gallery, Jerry and Twila’s business, and we would share a meal and often pray together. Jerry was one absolutely one of a kind. For me, the world is a different place without him in it. Condolences to his family and friends. Our consolation is that we shall meet again. Christina It’s a big pivot from the Washington Arts Group to Cowboy Church, but here we go! Warren Yes, I guess that is a big pivot, but I think it was a pivot Jerry would appreciate. His tastes were expansive, eclectic, and he was all about people pursuing their calling in life, so – in a way – Cowboy Church would be right up his alley. But I will confess that it was not always up my alley. I was raised in the suburbs, and I live in the city today. But, like a lot of people of my generation, when I was a kid, I had “country cousins” and would often spend a few weeks on their farms each summer. I helped put myself through college working on a ranch in New Mexico, so I developed a deep appreciation for farm and ranch life. That also means that the idea of a “cowboy church” is not new to me. I have even been to a few outdoor “cowboy church” services. That said, I found this article from Houston Public Media on cowboy churches to be one of the best I’ve ever seen, and I commend it to you. Christina Warren, let’s look at one more story before we go, and I’m almost reluctant to talk about it. Warren I am too. It’s the story of the Duggar family. You may remember the Duggar Family, who became stars at too young an age because of their “19 and Counting” television series. The series has been off the year for five years, after a decade-long run, but the family’s troubles continue. Christina Oldest son Josh Duggar is in prison for receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material. Warren Last week, Joseph Duggar was arrested for alleged sex crimes against a 9-year-old girl during a vacation in 2020. Duggar, a married father of four, was arrested on March 18 and charged with “Lewd and Lascivious Behavior, involving unlawful sexual activity with a minor.” Christina We have chosen mostly not to cover this tragic story here at MinistryWatch. Warren This short paragraph will likely be it for us. But I wanted to mention it just enough to make this point: We are not meant to be celebrities. This insight is not original to me, but it is worth reminding ourselves of from time to time. Christina Any final notes before we go? Warren I have some travel coming up in the next couple of months, and I would love to see you. I will be in Los Angeles in April and Nashville; Dallas, and Knoxville in May. I will be in Denver and Colorado Springs in June. I will be doing reader lunches in all these cities. Let me know if you would like to join us. My email is wsmith@ministrywatch.com. Christina The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. Join me and Warren again on Friday for our look at the news of the week from a MinistryWatch perspective. Until then, may God bless you.

As you can read elsewhere on MinistryWatch, the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives is now 25 years old. Despite the good intentions of those who founded it, the office – like many government entities – has outlived its usefulness and needs to end. Resources mentioned in today’s program: David Kuo’s 2006 book Tempting Faith. 2001 Cato commentary “The Federalist Case Against Faith-Based Initiatives” by Robert Levy. 2001 Cato briefing paper “Corrupting Charity: Why Government Should Not Fund Faith-Based Charities” by Michael Tanner. Richard Land, longtime president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and now Executive Editor of The Christian Post expressed strong reservations, famously warning that government “shekels” would bring “government’s shackles.” Marvin Olasky, a key intellectual figure behind “compassionate conservatism” and an advisor to George W. Bush during his Texas governorship, played a role in conceptualizing the original Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, as early as 2002 began to have concerns about the office. The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. Until next time, may God bless you.

On today’s program, Angelus Temple in Los Angeles—widely considered the first U.S. megachurch—has replaced its longtime pastors Matthew and Caroline Barnett. The announcement came after a sabbatical turned into a permanent separation. We’ll have details. And, current news often leads to urgent fundraising pleas—but is your money going where you think it’s going? A recent example sought money to get Bibles to Iran, and prompted MinistryWatch to take a deeper look. Also, the latest list from the MinistryWatch 1000 database—a look at ministries that do not file a Form 990. That list is getting longer, and why it matters. But first, former New Life Church pastor Brady Boyd is starting his own church services less than 5 miles from his old church. The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Kim Roberts, Tony Mator, Bob Smietana, Adelle Banks, and Jessica Eturralde. Until next time, may God bless you.

Hello, everyone, I’m Christina Darnell, the managing editor of MinistryWatch. Welcome to the MinistryWatch podcast. In today’s extra episode, I talk with Warren Smith about some news items that are slightly (even significantly) outside of our normal charity and philanthropy “beat.” So, Warren, what’s up first?  Warren James Talarico, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate in Texas, is using religious language to appeal to moderate voters. Conservative and Christian commentators have rightly called out Talarico for trying to make the Bible say what it clearly doesn’t say. I especially commend to you this article by my friends and former colleagues John Stonestreet and Tim Padgett. Christina We’ll have a link to that article in today’s show notes. Warren That’s great. I hope a lot of our listeners will read that piece. The bad news, though, is that it is likely that Talarico will likely fool a lot of people whose faith has been poorly formed, or non-Christians who nonetheless want to appear faith friendly. It doesn’t help that the GOP has chosen prosperity gospel spokespeople such as Paula White to carry their banner. I think critiques of Talarico’s heresies would have more credibility if those critics had also been on record calling out prosperity gospel heresies. (Just for the record, Stonestreet has. Christina Again, we’ll link to an article he wrote, a critique of White and the prosperity gospel, in today’s show notes, here.) Warren Again, I’m glad, because I think both articles taken together are a good reminder that heresies pull us away from the gospel from all directions, not just from one or two. Christina Warren, the next item was of particular interest to us, since we work for one of the publishers the article talks about. Warren Axios published an article this saying “Smaller web publishers, with 1,000–10,000 daily page views, are experiencing the most precipitous traffic declines in the AI era, according to new Chartbeat data.” Artificial intelligence has meant that more people are getting answers to questions directly from AI and not by clicking on the results of Google searches. Christina My own experience confirms that. I’m using AI more and more. Warren Me, too. When I “google” something, I often don’t click on the links anymore, but just read the two or three sentence AI generated answer. Christina But that’s hurt the traffic of small publishers. Warren It has. Axios continues: Over the past two years, referral traffic from traditional search engines has declined by 60% for small publishers, compared with 47% for medium-sized publishers and 22% for large publishers, per Chartbeat. Medium-sized publishers are outlets with 10,000–100,000 daily page views, on average. Large publishers are those with more than 100,000 daily page views on average.” Christina For the record, MinistryWatch fits into the “medium” category, and we have seen our page views go up steadily over the past two years. Warren Last year, we had about 4-million-page views on our site. This year, we are on track for about 4.5 million. Christina We write a lot about the state of evangelicalism here at MinistryWatch, and there’s now a new book out that critiques evangelicalism as a movement consumed by conspiracy theories. Warren   You’re right. We do write a lot about the overall state of evangelicalism. I have my own issues with evangelicalism. I even wrote a book about it! (A Lover’s Quarrel With The Evangelical Church.) One of the reasons I wrote that book was my concern that most critiques of evangelicalism were from those who had no real interest in the church’s health and restoration. They were merely ham-fisted attempts to take down the church. Jared Stacy’s new book Reality In Ruins,unfortunately, fits into that category. That’s why I was delighted to read Bonnie Kristian’s lengthy and thoughtful review of the book at Christianity Today. She does a fantastic job dismantling the exaggerated arguments of the book while, at the same time, acknowledging that what Jared Stacy describes is indeed true of some of the darker corners of the evangelical movement. While We’re At It. Check out Bonnie Kristian’s Substack. It’s one of the few “blogs” (Is Substack a blog? Are blogs still a thing?) that I read from beginning to end. Christina We also note a passing this week. Warren You may have heard that Paul Ehrlich died last week. He was 93.  Ehrlich made news in the 1960s called The Population Bomb, which predicted widespread starvation and war as a result of overpopulation. Liberals used the book to promote abortion, contraception, and homosexuality as an “evolutionary adaptation” to procreative unions. Christina Ehrlich turned out to be spectacularly wrong about this and many other matters. Warren The real reason for population growth in the 20th century was the worldwide increase in living standards and lifespan. As population expert Steven Moshertold me, “The reason the population grew was not because we were breeding like rabbits, but because we were no longer dying like flies.” But we’ve likely reached the end of longevity increases, so if birthrates stay the same, look for population declines in most countries in the world in the decades ahead. That’s already happening in much of Europe. Christina You also note this week that shopping malls are making a comeback. Warren Shopping malls have been distressed for the past decade or more, with many of them closing down or being repurposed. But my friends at Axis, a Christian ministry that helps parents keep an eye on youth culture and how it’s affecting kids, noted this week that “Gen Z is driving a resurgence in mall shopping, with many malls redesigning public spaces to be more “photogenic” and social-media friendly, as well as popular online stores like Edikted opening brick-and-mortar locations.” Christina Is this an anomaly or a new direction? Warren It may be too early to tell. But it could be the 2.0 version of the social media era, an era that provides an antidote to social media isolation with a dose of 80s and 90s mall culture. Christina Any final notes before we go? Warren   I have some travel coming up in the next couple of months, and I would love to see you. I will be in Los Angeles in April and Nashville in May, where I’ll be speaking to the annual meeting of the Evangelical Press Association. And I’ll be speaking at Summit Ministries in Manitou Springs, Colorado, in June. I will be doing reader lunches in all three cities. Let me know if you would like to join us. My email is wsmith@ministrywatch.com. Christina The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. I’m Christina Darnell, along with Warren Smith. Until next time, may God bless you.

In this week’s EXTRA episode, we talk about unsung heroes. We want to tell more of their stories here at MinistryWatch. I do not want you to think we are getting soft. We will continue to engage in the fact-based analysis and deeply reported accountability journalism we have always done. But we would like to include more stories featuring below-the-radar Christian leaders serving faithfully in communities all over the country. So, drop me a line. My email is wsmith@ministrywatch.com. I cannot wait to hear your stories. For a link to a transcript of today’s episode, click here. The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. I’m Warren Smith. Until next time, may God bless you.

On today’s program, 22 plaintiffs who say they were abused at a Christian children’s homes in Romania are suing Harvest Christian Fellowship—who sponsored the children’s homes—and its famous pastor, Greg Laurie, claiming the church knew about the abuse and could have stopped it. Plus, are Donor Advised Funds right for you—things you should consider before choosing. And, a businessman is looking to donate a historic college campus to a ministry focused on “spiritual revival of our Christian faith.” Also, Beth Moore will be ending her popular Living Proof events in 2027. But first, a Virginia judge has ruled that a discrimination lawsuit against Liberty University can move forward. The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Kim Roberts, Tony Mator, Fredrick Nzwili, Bob Smietana, and Jessica Eturralde. Until next time, may God bless you.

  Christina Hello, everyone, I’m Christina Darnell, the managing editor of MinistryWatch. Welcome to the MinistryWatch podcast. In today’s extra episode, I talk with Warren Smith about some news items that are slightly (even significantly) outside of our normal charity and philanthropy “beat.” So, Warren, what’s up first? Warren This week, I’ve been thinking a bit about Lonnie Frisbee, one of the more interesting and tragic figures of American Evangelicalism was Lonnie Frisbee. Christina He was a key figure in the so-called “Jesus Revolution” of the 1970s, and he helped found two church movements still around today: Calvary Chapel and Vineyard Churches. Warren That’s right. He influenced John Wimber, Greg Laurie, and many others. He died this week (March 12) in 1993 of AIDS. But before he died, he had an outsized impact on the Jesus Revolution, both for good and for ill. I won’t go into his biography here, but if you check out my “Signs and Wonders” column this week, I have a link to a longer story I did about him a few years ago. It will be in the show notes for today’s program. To read more about Frisbee and the mark he left on American Evangelicalism, click here. Christina You’ve also been thinking about Kazakhstan this week. Warren Yes, it might sound strange, but I am paying attention to Kazakhstan this week. Christina That seems kind of random. Is there a reason? Warren They vote on Friday on a new constitution, the third constitution since 1993. Kazakhstan is one of the largest countries in the world by land mass. And within Kazakhstan is the largest lake in the world, the Caspian Sea, which is not a sea at all, but a massive lake the size of the state of Montana. Christina But for all its size, it has only about 20 million people. Warren A long-time Soviet satellite, it is an independent nation with a sizable Christian population – about 20 percent. However, it is a country that has a history of human rights, free speech, and civil liberties violations. Critics say the new constitution will further consolidate power with the country’s chief executive. Christian ministries operating in Kazakhstan include the Kazakhstan Baptist Union, Youth for Christ, Salvation Army, Operation Mobilization, and International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. Christina Another event happening this week is a bit outside of MinistryWatch’s normal coverage, but is a huge cultural event. That’s the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. Warren South by Southwest, commonly called “South by,” is one of the largest tech, movie, music, and culture events in the country. It regularly draws 120,000 to Austin, Texas. I covered SXSW for WORLD and was always able to find some explicitly Christian events going on. Last year, there was a significant faith component to the proceedings. Silicon Valley Christian hosted SVC at SXSW. It was the largest explicitly Christian gathering at South by this year. Last year’s event included a “keynote conversation” with actor Zachary Levi, cultural conversations about Christianity in tech spaces, and music, including musicians Matt Maher and For King and Country. The details on this year’s event are vague, though its Sunday worship service appears still to be on. Christian artists appearing at South by this week include Mission and Sam Llanes. Christina South by Southwest has a significant technology component. In fact, it was at South by that Twitter was first rolled out, in the early 2000s. From those beginnings, social media has gone on to take over the world in many ways. Warren That’s right, but now new laws are attempting to limit social media, especially in the lives of young people. One of those new laws was recently passed in Virginia. Christina But WORLD Magazine reports that a federal judge on Feb. 27 temporarily paused enforcement of the Virginia law. Warren The law would limit minors under 16 to one hour of screen time per social media platform per day.”  The law was supported by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the state’s attorney general, and an overwhelming bipartisan majority of the Virginia legislature. Christina Nonetheless, U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles sided with NetChoice, an industry trade group representing YouTube, Google, X, Netflix, and other platforms. Warren The judge said the law violated First Amendment free speech protections. Giles said the 2025 law “burdens more speech than necessary as it requires all persons to verify their age before accessing speech that is protected for everyone.” The state has appealed the ruling. Christina And there’s more trouble in the Anglican Church in North America. Warren ACNA appointed Bishop Julian Dobbs to be its acting archbishop back in November, when Archbishop Steve Wood was credibly charged with sexual harassment of one of his employees. Now, old accusations that Dobbs misappropriated $47,862 have been raised by one of his rivals, Bishop Derek Jones. Christina Jones left ACNA a few months ago following a controversy over his leadership of the military chaplains. He has formed a new denomination called the Anglican Reformed Catholic Church. Warren Dobbs is now suing Jones for defamation. Dobbs says the disputed sum is $3,750, and the money was not misappropriated, but temporarily put into the wrong back account. The mistake was caught and quickly corrected. Former Archbishop Foley Beach backs up Dobbs’ version of the story. Dobbs asked a federal court in Alabama to order Bishop Derek Jones to pay compensatory and punitive damages. Christina That brings us to the end of this week’s conversation. Any final notes before we go? Warren A few. Did you know I also write fiction? I published a novel back in 2017, and I’m working on a new novel now. The Blacklist, an influential community of screenwriters and novelists, is featuring my novel-in-progress Up The American on its site this week. If you want to read the excerpt they are publishing, I’ll link to it in today’s show notes. I have some travel coming up in the next couple of months, and I would love to see you. I will be in Los Angeles in April and Dallas in May. I will be doing reader lunches in both cities. Let me know if you would like to join us. My email is wsmith@ministrywatch.com. Christina The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. I’m Christina Darnell, with my co-host Warren Smith. Until next time, may God bless you.

On today’s Extra episode, some reflections on the life of former U.S. Senator Ben Sasse. Ben Sasse spoke plainly when he announced his cancer diagnosis a couple of weeks ago. In his public letter announcing the diagnosis, Sasse wrote: “Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die.” But, as Sasse reminds us, we are going to die one day, and we should let that knowledge burn away the idols in our lives and teach us how to live. His candor, his clear-eyed but hopeful posture toward death, offers lessons for us all. The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. Until next time, may God bless you.

CHRISTINA Hello, everyone, I’m Christina Darnell, the managing editor of MinistryWatch, and today we’re inaugurating a new feature here on the MinistryWatch podcast. Here’s Warren Smith, the President of MinistryWatch, to explain. WARREN That’s right, Christina. For the past couple of years, I’ve been writing a column called “Signs and Wonders.” “Signs and Wonders” is a column that shares thoughts on news items that either do not rise to the level of a news story for MinistryWatch or are slightly (even significantly) outside of our normal charity and philanthropy “beat.” My goal with the column was to be punchy, opinionated, and not to worry much about being slightly off brand. CHRISTINA And that approach has worked. Your “Signs and Wonders” column is often among our top ten stories of the week. WARREN So, after talking with you about that, we decided to do this audio version of the column. We won’t be posting this on the website. After all, the “Signs and Wonders” column itself is already there, but we will be dropping this into the podcast feed each week, and we hope you enjoy it. CHRISTINA So what’s up first? WARREN This week, the National Religious Broadcasters became the Pro-War Religious Broadcasters. It is not clear to me why the National Religious Broadcasters felt a need to issue a statement in support of Trump’s War this morning, but it did. I will not reprint it here. You can find it online if you are so inclined. CHRISTINA But it appears that the NRB might have outkicked its coverage, as they say in football. WARREN That’s right. The Associated Press reports this week that even among the president’s hardcore media supporters there is division. It will be interesting to see of MAGA media faithful remain…well…faithful. As up Wednesday, the American death toll is up to six people. The total death toll has topped 800. CHRISTINA We don’t cover a lot of international news here at MinistryWatch, but you wanted to highlight the worsening situation in Nigeria. WARREN The situation in Nigeria is not getting as much attention in the U.S. as it deserves. Islamic radicals are trying to impose Sharia law to a large swath of the country, and local residents are resisting. What is happening in Nigeria could erupt into a larger conflict. CHRISTINA Nigeria has more than 230 million people, with Christians making up 40% of the population. WARREN If what is happening in Nigeria explodes into a full-blown religious war, the consequences could be devastating. More than a dozen Christian ministries, including Cru, Samaritan’s Purse, Compassion International, World Vision, and SIM International have a presence in the country. CHRISTINA Closer to home, you’ve turned your attention to Christian romance novels. WARREN I was interested in and mildly frustrated by an article in Christianity Today about Christian romance writer Jeannette Oke. The 91-year-old author has sold more than 30 million copies of her soapy, sentimental books. CHRISTINA Several of them have been turned into Hallmark movies. WARREN I was interested because the story was well-written and fact filled. I was frustrated because the story failed to note that the romance genre has killed serious fiction in this country. Some reports say romance novels account for 30 percent of adult fiction sales. Maybe I’m just getting old and crotchety, but — in my view — “Christian Romance Novel” is an oxymoron. The sentimentality of a “romance novel” are in active war against the realism of true Christian fiction. Can you imagine a Christian publisher today bringing out Flannery O’Connor or Wendell Berry or Walker Percy? CHRISTINA Warren, let’s pivot and talk about a controversy involving the beloved Minneapolis preacher and ministry leader John Piper. WARREN He stirred social media last week by tweeting a Bible verse. That Bible verse is Leviticus 19:34. “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” CHRISTINA But what seemed to generate the controversy was a one line comment he added. WARREN He then added this comment: “Christians know the miserable bondage we were all in.” CHRISTINA The post has (so far) gotten 1.9 million views and about 2000 comments. So why do you think the tweet got so much attention? WARREN The tweet is controversial because our current immigration policy is polarizing. Some of Piper’s critics have included Calvary Chapel Chino Hills pastor Jack Hibbs and James Lasher of Charisma Magazine. One of my more perceptive readers, Salvatore Luiso, emailed me that it was “sadly ironic” that Piper is being criticized for taking a Bible verse out of context by people in the charismatic movement who engage in “absurd interpretations of Bible verses taken out of context.” He has a point. CHRISTINA Speaking of the charismatic movement, Paula White-Cain is at it again. WARREN At a conference in Florida called the Unleashed Conference, covered by Christian Leader, she urged attendees last week to give a “sacrificial seed…out of obedience to God, and she tied their giving to spiritual breakthroughs.” CHRISTINA The 2026 Unleashed Conference took place in late February, and featured speakers including former Kansas Governor Sam Brownback and Anglican priest Calvin Robinson. WARREN In other words, people who should have known better than to associate with Paula White-Cain, who was investigated by Sen. Charles Grassley a dozen years ago. CHRISTINA Can you give us a taste of what she said? WARREN Yes, here is a taste of White’s message: “How many of you want to be a blessing?” she asked. “Because I’m telling you, there’s an anointing of release right now. I want $100,000 to come in. I want $100,000. There are ten people that could give $10,000. There’s a hundred people that could give $1,000. Get a check, make it payable to Paula White Ministries,” said White-Cain. “If you say, ‘I don’t have it,’ give a $100. Bring up a sacrificial seed.” To which I can only add: Stay as far away as possible from this charlatan’s theology. CHRISTINA Warren, I’ve noticed in your social media feeds you often remember fallen military heroes. And this week you are remembering John Chapman. Who was he? WARREN John Chapman died in combat on this date in 2002. He was the first Airman awarded the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War. If you don't know about him, check out this article. I highly recommend taking some time with it. It is the powerful story of a true American hero. And, I might add, the battle which cost him his life and for which he got the Medal of Honor, was captured on video by a drone that was flying over the battle to provide support. The video can be found on social media and it is done tastefully. It’s not graphic. And I recommend finding it and getting a more immersive understanding of this hero’s story. I should add that Chapman was a husband, father, and a committed Christian as well. CHRISTINA Any closing thoughts? WARREN I have some travel coming up in the next couple of months, and I would love to see you. I will be in Los Angeles in April and Dallas in May. I will be doing reader lunches in both cities. Let me know if you would like to join us. My email is wsmith@ministrywatch.com. CHRISTINA The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. I’m Christina Darnell, with my co-host Warren Smith. Until next time, may God bless you.