North Carolina

A pastor in North Carolina who has been strongly condemned by many Christians for making anti-gay comments was given a standing ovation by his congregants during the church service Sunday.

Several members of Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden, N.C., and about 100 visitors gave Pastor Charles Worley a standing ovation when he approached the pulpit Sunday, Hickory Record reported. Others lift their hands in support of the 71-year-old pastor.

Worley received widespread criticism after his May 13 sermon in which he said gays should be rounded up into an electric fence and left to die. His remarks were apparently in response to President Barack Obama's May 9 announcement that he supports legalizing gay marriage. more >>

A church in Wake Forest, N.C., is expecting more than 1,200 people to gather for a Memorial Day picnic – the state's largest – on Monday to honor veterans who have served America and to give glory to God for His providential acts in the country's history.

Hosted by Hope Baptist Church, the all-day outdoor Old-Fashioned Memorial Day Picnic will feature patriotic speeches, live music, a free barbecue lunch, rides in vintage military vehicles, a children's parade, a living history camp, and special remarks by two WWII veterans, the church announced Saturday.

"We owe a great debt to the sacrifice our veterans have made to oppose tyranny and defend our nation's cherished liberties," Scott T. Brown, a church elder and the organizer, said in a statement. more >>

A Christian student group has dropped a lawsuit against the University of North Carolina-Greensboro after the university agreed to officially recognize the group as religious, therefore making the group exempt from the university's nondiscrimination policy.

The legal group the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed the lawsuit on behalf of the "Make Up Your Own Mind" club, a pro-abstinence, pro-life group, after the university refused to acknowledge it as a religious group.

According to the university's nondiscrimination policy, non-religious groups must offer open membership to all students, regardless of their religious beliefs. more >>

Minister Franklin Graham appeared on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) this week, co-hosting its signature ministry program "Praise the Lord" with network co-founder, Jan Crouch, just as the network is facing scrutiny over allegations of financial dishonesty.

Graham, son of famous evangelist Billy Graham and president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) and the humanitarian aid ministry Samaritan's Purse, hosted Crouch at BGEA's picturesque retreat and training center, The Cove, in Asheville, N.C.

Graham and Crouch, who created TBN with her husband, Paul, in 1973, discussed evangelism in foreign countries, in particular Asian countries like India and China, as well as conflict-torn African countries like Sudan and South Sudan, where Samaritan's Purse is particularly active. Graham acknowledged the challenges, but focused on the role Evangelical Christians have in spreading the Gospel, or as the co-hosts put it, "bringing the word of God to the end of the world." more >>

A Wilmington Church sign calling for the defense of traditional marriage in North Carolina that was stationed in front of a polling location is causing controversy among some, who are saying it influenced and swayed voters on North Carolina's marriage amendment.

The amendment in question, which passed by a majority citizen vote of 61 percent earlier this week, clarified that the bounds of legalized traditional marriage are between one man and one woman, making NC the 30th state in the country to include a prohibition on gay marriage in the state constitution.

The sign placed outside Devon Park United Methodist Church in Wilmington, or precinct W28, petitioned that exact argument. "A true marriage is male and female and God," the sign reads right above a "Vote Here" sign that showed people where to go to fill in their ballots. more >>

Christian artist Thomas Kinkade, who died in his California home on April 6, had suffered an overdose from accidentally consuming an excessive amount of Valium and alcohol, according to a coroner's report made public Monday.

Kinkade, who called himself the "Painter of Light," was 54 years old when he passed away last month at his Monte Sereno, Calif., home and his death had been attributed at the time to natural causes.

Local television news station NBC Bay Area reported Monday, however, that the Santa Clara County Coroner has concluded that Kinkade actually died of "acute ethanol and Diazepam intoxication," meaning an overdose of alcohol and Valium. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, Diazepam (among a class of antidepressants known as benzodiazepine), goes by the brand name Valium. The drug is commonly prescribed to help "relieve anxiety, muscle spasms, and seizures and to control agitation caused by alcohol withdrawal." more >>