Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist in Georgia is facing a lawsuit by former church members who are claiming that the pastor encouraged them to invest money in a company that had a $3 million capital deficit.

"If Bishop Eddie Long hadn't endorsed this they wouldn't have invested," plaintiffs attorney Jason Doss said, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The accusations against Long state that even though the bishop did not invest any of his own money in the alleged Ponzi scheme, the 12 former church members who filed the suit last month in DeKalb County state court lost more than $1 million dollars in the investment.

"He has to put his church members' interests before his own," Doss added. "He was obligated under the law to tell everybody about it, and obviously he didn't." more >>

Megachurch prosperity preacher Creflo Dollar, pastor of World Changers Church International in Georgia, is bringing the gospel of change and a gift of $10,000 to one lucky community organization in each of the six new cities he will visit as a part of his 2013 Change experience.

According to a media release from the church, Dollar and his wife, Taffi, will embark on a six-city tour starting March 15 that will see them travelling from Connecticut to Florida, "preaching and teaching to those who are ready to take the first step toward living a life without worry."

The Dollars will be stopping in Hartford, Conn.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Columbus, Ohio; Shreveport, La.; North Charleston, S.C.; and Orlando, Fla. more >>

The commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield recently hired two men who specialize in dealing with faith-based non-profit institutions. The firm recruited Eric Knowles, who will serve as Senior Director and will oversee the company's Religious Facilities Group, and Rob Fletcher, who will also aid in this department.

Knowles has worked in real estate for 27 years and has spent 14 of them years working with churches.

"When you serve church clients, their unique property types along with their unique situations, you have to have a certain amount of tolerance, patients, and you have to be willing to put the client's interests first and foremost," Knowles told The Christian Post. "A lot of our business is honestly counseling church leadership on how to make well informed decisions regarding their facilities." more >>

Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., will appear at Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs next week to discuss religious freedom at a time when individuals and institutions are being challenged about putting their faith into public practice.

The discussion at Berkley Center is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 12, and will feature Warren as well as Timothy Shah, the associate director of the Religious Freedom Project at the center which is sponsoring the event.

Shah told The Christian Post Thursday that Warren was invited to the discussion because the megachurch pastor and best-selling author "is a leading voice in America on behalf of religious freedom for all people, both here and abroad." more >>

Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia was warned about the alleged financial shenanigans of Ephren Taylor long before the businessman managed to convince members of his congregation to hand over more than a million dollars for investment deals, which the federal government says were part of an elaborate scam.

According to submitted court documents from New Birth Missionary Baptist Church reviewed by Atlanta news station WSB-TV, someone called the megachurch more than a week before Taylor's scheduled appearance before the congregation to pitch his investment deals as part of a financial seminar.

An internal memo reportedly indicates than an unidentified caller informed Bishop Long's assistant that he "did not want the church to be taken advantage of" and predicted that Taylor would "issue promissory notes to the congregation if allowed that gives him legal authorization to do what he wants and there will be no return on investment." more >>