Getting to Know… Bill Hybels

1951: Born in of Dutch ancestry and raised in Calvinist theology in Kalamazoo, Michigan

1974: Hybels married his longtime sweetheart. They have two adult children (Shauna and Todd) and two grandchildren. 
1975: founded Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois with about 12,000 members. Willow's annual leadership summit, draws some 50,000 pastors and key volunteers attend or tune in via satellite.
1980s: Served as a chaplain for the Chicago Bears
1990s: One of President Bill Clinton's closest spiritual advisers.
More than 2000 non-Catholic pastors chose Willow Creek as the most influential congregation in the US.

Iran hauls off Christian pastor in new sweep

CNN interviews Lisa Daftari on the increasing tensions between Christians and Muslims in Iran.

Lutheran Church Votes in First Openly Gay Bishop

Guy Erwin is now a Lutheran Bishop in California. Here's a video report.

Pastor says Boy Scouts can no longer meet at his church

Church leaders at an Alabama church are unhappy with the decision by the Boy Scouts to allow openly gay members. Watch a video report from WBRC-TV below.

Getting to Know.. the Church of God in Christ

• Also known as COGIC
• more than 6 million US members
• National headquarters in Memphis
• Founded in the early 1900s by Charles Harrison Mason, a son of slaves and a former Baptist preacher
• America's largest black Pentecostal denomination
• Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his last sermon, at Mason Temple, COGIC's mother church

Survey suggests Americans are becoming less religious

A new Gallup poll shows 75% of Americans believe the country would be better off if it was more religious even as the country is becoming less religious. KTBC-TV has reaction to the survey in Austin.

Son of Evangelical Leader comes out as Gay

Ed Dobson's son says he is gay. After Daniel Dobson came back from serving two Army tours in Iraq, he told his parents two years ago "I’m gay. And I still love Jesus. And nothing else changes.” Dobson says his father responded, “We still love you. And nothing else changes," according to the Grand Rapids Press. He'll speak for the first time publicly about his sexual orientation in Grand Rapids, Michigan tonight at the Wealthy Theatre. Ed Dobson is retired from pastoring a Michigan megachurch and served at a top aide to the late Jerry Falwell.

Bama Scouts not allowed at some Churches after Vote

Boy Scout troops will no longer be allowed to meet in some Alabama churches after the national organization voted to allow openly gay scout members. This includes the First Baptist Church of Helena and the First Baptist Church of Pelham. Briarwood Presbyterian Church, will take a vote on whether to allow the Boy Scouts to continue meeting at the church.

Jewel's Bible diet

Jewel says she is taking her diet cues from the Bible. The singer says she has given up fast food and unhealthy snacks to only eats things that were available during the time of Jesus. She says in an interview with In Touch magazine:

“I do the Biblical diet, which means eating whole foods like they did in the time when the Bible was being written – so grass-fed beef, but no chemicals or genetically altered foods.”

Does Stephen King believe in God?

Stephen King says the "jury's out" on whether he believes in God or not. The bestselling horror book writer told NPR during an interview:

"I went to Methodist church for years as a kid, and Methodist youth fellowship on Thursday nights. Think of a bottle of soda with the cap off for 24 hours. There weren't very many bubbles left in that stuff by then. It was pretty -- it was Yankee religion and there's really not much in the world that's any more boring than that."

King went on to say that he he is not sure about God and the afterlife. "It's certainly a subject that's interested me, and I think it interests me more the older that I get. And I think we'd all like to believe that after we shuffle off this mortal coil, that there's gonna be something on the other side. Because for most of us, I know for me, life is so rich -- so colorful, and sensual, and full of good things, things to read, things to eat, things to watch, places to go, new experiences -- that I don't want to think that you just go to darkness.... As a kid, death seemed boring to me. As an adult, I think that it seems more like a waste. As far as God and church and religion ... I kind of always felt that organized religion was just basically a theological insurance scam... I choose to believe it, yep. There's no downside to that.... If you say, 'Well, OK, I don't believe in God. There's no evidence of God,' then you're missing the stars in the sky and you're missing the sunrises and sunsets and you're missing the fact that bees pollinate all these crops and keep us alive and the way that everything seems to work together. Everything is sort of built in a way that to me suggests intelligent design. But, at the same time, there's a lot of things in life where you say to yourself, 'Well, if this is God's plan, it's very peculiar,' and you have to wonder about that guy's personality — the big guy's personality. And the thing is — I may have told you last time that I believe in God — what I'm saying now is I choose to believe in God, but I have serious doubts and I refuse to be pinned down to something that I said 10 or 12 years ago. I'm totally inconsistent."

Bibles in China

In 1988, Amity Printing produced half of a million Bibles during its first year of operation. Last year, Amity printed 12 million copies, most of which were sent overseas. That makes Amity one of the largest printers in the world. It is the only publisher authorized by the Chinese government to print Bibles. Chinese Christians accuse Amity of not keeping up with demand in it's own country. Many house churches Christians say they have have given out thousands of Bibles on their own to try to make up for lack of available Bibles in China. Amity is owned by a government body (the China Christian Council) and a British group that produces Christian literature (the United Bible Societies).

Oklahoma Tornado: Divine Judgment?

Evangelical speaker and author John Piper is being criticized for the Bible verses he Tweeted right after tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma to his nearly half-of-a-million followers. Both verses come from Job--

Job 1:9- “Your sons and daughters were eating and a great wind struck the house, and it fell upon them, and they are dead.”

Job 1:20- “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.”

The tweets didn’t mention the deadly tornadoes, but critics say they were inappropriate. Evangelical writer Rachel Held Evans had strong words for what she called Piper's “abusive theology of ‘deserved’ tragedy." She backed off in a later Tweet: “Piper’s tweet was vague enough that I don’t know that he was necessarily saying this point this time. Maybe it wasn’t the best time to call him out.” But Piper tied Job and Oklahoma together when he Tweeted, “My hope and prayer for Oklahoma is that the raw realism of Job’s losses will point us all to his God ‘compassionate and merciful.’” He retired recently from Minneapolis' Bethlehem Baptist Church.  Author Philip Yancey warned Piper to avoid becoming like one of Job’s friends, trying to explain why God allows tragedy. “God endorses the confusion and even outrage that we feel when mysterious things happen... When suffering happens, it forces us to confront life in a different way than we normally do.”

166 year old newspaper closing

The United Methodist Reporter is closing at the end of the month. The Dallas-based newspaper has struggled financially for years. It began publishing in 1847. 26 people will lose their jobs. Read more about the closure here.

Atheist Tornado Survivor

CNN's Wolf Blitzer speaks with an Atheist Tornado Survivor.

Christians in China

There are some 67 million Christians in China. That's about five percent of the population, according to the Pew Research Center. Some headcounts put the figure higher than the number of members of the Communist Party--about 82 million people.

IRS Audits include Billy Graham's Ministry

The IRS was targeting more than just Tea Party groups and conservative political organizations. The federal agency targeted the ministry of Billy Graham and the relief organization led by his son, Franklin Graham, called Samaritan's Purse. Franklin Graham has written a letter to the President, calling the IRS audits as "morally wrong and unethical." It was the first time the IRS had audited the ministry. Both organizations are based in North Carolina. The state newspaper for Baptists, The Biblical Recorder, was also audited first the first time since it began publication in 1833. All three organizations were cleared by the IRS.

Christian Radio network in financial trouble

Family Radio could be going out of business. The Oakland, California network made national headlines which the man who runs the network, Harold Camping, announced a date for the end of the world. Then updated it when it didn't happen. Family Radio sold its three largest radio stations because of the financial trouble. Camping suffered a stroke two years ago.

Christian religious philosopher passes

Dallas Willard has died at age 77 of cancer. The University of Southern California philosophy professor established the Dallas Willard Center at Westmont College in California and authored many books, including The Spirit of the Disciplines, The Divine Conspiracy, Renovation of the Heart, and Hearing God. He also served on the boards of the C.S. Lewis Foundation and Biola University. Born in Buffalo, New York, Willard is survived by his wife and two children.

Judge: Bible Verses on Banners OK

A Texas judge says Bible verses on banners at public school football games are fine. Judge Steven Thomas ruled it is constitutional for cheerleaders at Kountze High School to display run-through banners with messages like "If God is for us, who can be against us." The judge decided the messages on the banners are the protected private speech of the cheerleaders. The Freedom From Religion Foundation complained about the banners last fall, claiming it amounted to school endorsement of Christianity. The ruling may be appealed. Here's a video report from WRCB-TV.

WRCBtv.com | Chattanooga News, Weather

Transgender Suit moves forward

A California judge says a lawsuit against California Baptist University filed by a transgendered student can move forward. The school expelled Domaine Javier after revealing that she is biologically male. She claims that is a violation of a state law against discrimination based on gender identity. Lawyers for Cal Baptist argue the law doesn't apply to private institutions that are a religiously-oriented.