Megachurch

Calvary Chapel movement founder Chuck Smith will undergo radiation and chemotherapy treatment for his lung cancer sometime this week, announced Pastor Mike MacIntosh of Horizon Christian Fellowship in San Diego, Calif., via a post on his Facebook page this past Saturday.

Pastor Smith, 84, who was instrumental in starting the nation’s Jesus movement in the late 1960s, announced to his church congregation at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa during Sunday services on New Year’s Day that he was diagnosed with lung cancer.

It was first announced that he would have surgery to remove the cancer. However, The Christian Post learned last week that further analysis of tests taken the week before were needed before a surgery date could be scheduled. more >>

A young evangelical pastor urged Elevation Church attendees to get past their church and their popular pastor, Steven Furtick, and “get underneath” to what God is doing.

“If we can’t get there, we’re going to be at a superficial plane,” Matt Chandler, lead pastor of the Village Church in Highland Village, Texas, told over 2,500 people at the Code Orange Revival in Charlotte, N.C., on Friday.

As the third speaker at the 12-night revival, Chandler went into the event to “proclaim the majesty of Jesus” to thousands at Elevation Church and thousands more watching on the Web and TV. more >>

Bishop Eddie Long’s church in Georgia announced on Sunday that New Birth Christian Academy, which was expected to close down after the Christmas break, will reopen this week.

The academy in Lithonia in eastern DeKalb County will reopen through a cooperative agreement with Aurora Day School, Art Franklin, spokesman of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, said, according to Channel 2 Action News.

Franklin said the announcement was made during the Sunday worship service. Details of the agreement with the Aurora Day School, which has campuses in Tucker and Roswell, will be released during a press conference this week. more >>

Ed Young, founding pastor of Texas-based Fellowship Church, suffered a minor eye injury from exposure to the sun during the 24-hour bed-in with his wife, Lisa, on the church’s roof to discuss truths about sex before a live Internet audience.

Dressed warmly, Ed and Lisa Young remained under a white comforter in bed on the roof of their Grapevine megachurch, conducting bedside interviews, talking via Skype with pastors and friends about sex in marriage from God’s perspective. But the eye injury forced the couple to take a break toward the last few hours, ahead of their scheduled 6 a.m. CST ending time on Saturday.

The live streaming of the 24-hour bed-in carried on, however, with volunteers taking over in the absence of the pastor couple. more >>

The Calif. megachurch Crystal Cathedral on Saturday held a memorial for Fred Southard, the former chief financial officer who died of a heart attack at his home in the Newport Coast last Sunday. A close friend said Southard was shattered after he was asked to retire last January.

The bankrupt church in Garden Grove, Calif., whose board has approved the sale of its campus to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County, held the memorial service for Southard, who had retired last January amid a financial crisis, Saturday morning.

The 75-year-old former CFO suffered a heart attack on Jan. 8 after he watched the Denver Broncos defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers at his home, according to The Orange County Register. He was pronounced dead after he was taken to the hospital. more >>

Night two of Elevation Church’s “Holy Ghost, old-school revival” began Thursday night with the theme of God’s faithfulness.

Jentezen Franklin, senior pastor of Free Chapel in Gainesville, Ga., and Free Chapel OC in Irvine, Calif., spoke to audiences on location in Charlotte, N.C., and via Web streaming as the second speaker for the 12-day Code Orange Revival.

He said he had prepared a sermon, but after the time of worship he decided to scrap it to talk about God’s faithfulness. “You’ve been messing with me tonight,” he told crowds. more >>