College Closing

Bethany University is closing tomorrow. The 100-year-old Assemblies of God college in Santa Cruz has struggled financially and falling enrollment.

Baptist First

Southern Baptists may elect its first African-American to the second highest position in the denomination, vice president. Fred Luter pastors the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans. Luter was the first African-American elected to the executive board of the Louisiana Baptist Convention in 1992 and he was the first African-American to preach the convention sermon at the Southern Baptist annual gathering in 2001. Delegates are meeting in Phoenix to elect new leaders.

Camping Has Stroke

The man who claimed the rapture would take place on May 21st is in the hospital after suffering a stroke at his home in Alameda, California. Harold Camping, 89, leads the Family Radio ministry, which spent millions of dollars on billboards and other advertisements around the country to warn people about the coming judgment. After the event did not happen, Camping claimed it came spiritually and not physically and that the rapture would now take place on October 21.

Baptisms Fall Again

Southern Baptists are baptizing fewer people than in the last 60 years. The number fell in 2010 by 5%, according to the new Annual Church Profile compiled by LifeWay Christian Resources. There were 332,321 baptisms in 2010, down from 349,737 in 2009. Membership is also down .15% from 2009. That's the 4th drop in a row.

National Antem Offlimits

Goshen College will no longer allow the national anthem played at sporting events. The pacifist college in Indiana says the song's military-themed lyrics run afoul of pacifist beliefs.

Graduation Prayer Allowed

Jerusalem: City of David

In the video below, 60 Minutes reports from under the city of Jerusalem at a controversial archeological dig that has become a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Blue Like Jazz: The Movie

A film version of the best-selling Christian book Blue Like Jazz will be screened in Portland this month. The film came about thanks to an odd Internet site called Kickstarter. The site allows people to post ideas for projects that readers can pledge to support. Steve Taylor, who made The Second Chance, set a goal of raising $125,000 through the site for Blue Like Jazz. But by last fall, he had $345,992. That's when a major investor saw the interest in the film and pledged to match that amount. Taylor is now calling everyone who gave $10 or more to thank than them. He's about halfway through a notebook of 3,300 names.

Polling Numbers on Mormon Candidates

A new poll finds 25% of voters say they would be less likely to support a candidate who is Mormon, such as Mitt Romney. About one-in-three white evangelicals say they would not consider voting for a Mormon candidate. The same Pew poll found only 18% said they would never consider backing Romney while nearly 40% of Republican voters said there was "no chance" they would ever vote for Newt Gingrich or Sarah Palin.

Davis Dies

Christian music pioneer Paul Davis has died at the age of 67. His New Christian Music Radio Show could be heard on over 360 radio stations around the world. Davis worked with the artists like Johnny Cash, Amy Grant, and Bill and Gloria Gaither. During the 1980s he became director of the Gospel Music Association.

Tony Alamo Verdict

Two former members of cult leader Tony Alamo's ministry have been awarded $33 million each by a Texarkana, Arkansas jury. They claim Alamo ordered them beaten. The jury found Alamo liable for battery, outrage and conspiracy. Alamo plans an appeal and his lawyers say the men will never see the money - because there isn't any. Last year, a federal judge awarded 5 young women whom Alamo sexually assaulted and took as "wives" $500,000 each.

Life in Prison for Meyer's Former Employee

Joyce Meyer's chief of security has been sentenced to life in prison for strangling of his wife and their two sons in their beds at home in Columbia, Illinois. Prosecutors says Christopher Coleman sent fake threats in an email and spray-painted obscenities on walls at the crime scene to make it look like the killings were the work of a Joyce Meyer stalker. His deceased wife's family has filed a lawsuit against Joyce Meyer Ministries for “its failure to recognize that accused family murderer Christopher Coleman was a threat to his wife and two sons."

Selling the Crystal Cathedral

Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral plans to sell its sanctuary in Orange County, California to pay off its debt and emerge from bankruptcy. A real estate investment group is interested in buying the campus, though the buyer's identities have been released. The church owes about $7.5 million. Some 150 staff members were let go and the congregation has dropped to less than 5,000.

Pastor Settles Lawsuit

Megachurch pastor Bishop Eddie Long will not be going to court over accusations of sexual misconduct. The Atlanta pastor was accused of having sexual relations with 4 men who were teenagers at the time. Long admitted traveling and sharing rooms with his accusers but says he never coerced them into sexual relationships. Nevertheless, Long has reached an out of court settlement. Neither party would disclose details of the agreement.

Oprah's God Comments

Oprah’s final TV show included some religious comments from the daytime host. She credited the success of her show to her Harpo team and to Jesus, “because nothing but the hand of God has made this possible... For all of you who get riled up when I mention God and you want to know which God am I talking about, I’m talking about the same one you’re talking about. I’m talking about the Alpha and Omega, the omniscient, the omnipresent, the ultimate consciousness, the source, the force, the all of everything there is, the one, the only G-O-D. That’s the one I’m talking about. Be still and know it. You can acknowledge it or not, you can worship it or not. You can praise it, you can ignore it or you can know it. It’s always there, speaking to you, waiting for you to listen. ... I wait and I listen for the guidance that is greater than my meager mind. The only time I’ve made mistakes is when I didn’t listen. So what I know is, God is love. And God is life. And your life is always speaking to you.”

Bible Docudrama Planned

Survivor and Apprentice producer, Mark Burnett, has agreed to create a 10-hour History channel docudrama based on the Bible to air in 2013. The program will be titled The Bible will, according to the History channel, "bring the book to life for a new and visually oriented generation around the world." It will be shot in the Middle East, combining live action and computer-generated imagery.

Patricia Heaton's Beliefs

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Preacher Makes New Rature Prediction

Radio evangelist Howard Camping now says the rapture will take place October 21. The 89-year-old says his prediction that it would take place this past Saturday was off by five months. Camping says after his prediction did not come true, he left his home with his wife and went to a hotel, away from the media.

Poll: Will Jesus Return by 2050?

About four-in-ten (41%) expect Jesus Christ to return during the 40 years, while slightly more (46%) say this will definitely or probably not happen. That's the finding of a new Pew survey. The same question was asked in 1999 and 44% said it would definitely or probably happen. 58% of white evangelical Christians say Jesus Christ will definitely or probably return to earth in this period, by far the highest percentage in any religious group. Only about a third of Catholics (32%), and even fewer white mainline Protestants (27%) and the religiously unaffiliated (20%) predict Jesus Christ’s return to earth.

Former Megachurch Pastor Arrested

Former megachurch pastor Randy White is out jail on a $500 bond after his arrest last night for DUI. Tampa Bay police report his blood alcohol was .093 and then .095 on a second check. Florida's legal limit is .08. He and ex-wife Paula once headed Without Walls International Church, a church with some 23,000 members at its height. He left a couple of years after their divorce in 2007.