Leonardo Blair

Latest

• 
  May 1, 2026

  FBI Boston recovers 17th-century reliquary urn stolen from Italian church

  A 17th-century reliquary urn, carved and gilded in wood and believed to be one of 17 ecclesiastical artifacts stolen from the Church of San Michele Arcangelo di Cangiano in Italy between Aug. 1, 2012, and Aug. 31, 2022, has been recovered by the FBI’s Boston Division.

• 
  May 1, 2026

  Louisiana pastor indicted for embezzling $343K from church says he worked without pay

  A Louisiana pastor indicted for embezzling more than $343,000 from one of two churches he pastors has denied the charge and claims he worked without pay for four years when he discovered the church was having financial problems.

• 
  May 1, 2026

  Father Augustine Tolton, America’s first black priest, is getting a shrine

  Father Augustine Tolton, America’s first publicly recognized black priest, is set to get his own shrine on the site of the shuttered St. Boniface Church in Quincy, Illinois, where he offered his first public mass.

• 
  May 1, 2026

  Are Mainline churches on the brink of extinction?

  Some two decades ago, former pastor-turned political scientist and researcher Ryan P. Burge, who was raised Southern Baptist, found a more comfortable home for his faith in an American Baptist Churches USA congregation.

• 
  Apr 30, 2026

  Fmr. Spokane mayor seeks $10M for damage caused by censure over prayer event

  Former Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward is seeking $10 million from the city for the “irreparable harm” she claims to have suffered since city leaders formally denounced her for attending a 2023 worship event hosted by conservative activist missionary Sean Feucht and receiving prayer from former state legislator-turned-pastor Matt Shea.

• 
  Apr 30, 2026

  Twitch streamer ‘Minister Zay’ hit by car during faith walk

  Isaiah Thomas, a popular Christian streamer known online as Minister Zay or hmblzayy, who embarked on a 3,000-mile “faith walk” from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to California last month to raise money for at-risk youth and build a trade school, had his walk stalled on Tuesday after he was struck by a car in Indiana.

• 
  Apr 29, 2026

  Victory Church leaders resign after youth pastor son admits plans to meet with minor in video

  Victory Church in East Palatka, Florida, is now looking for a new pastor after their recently installed senior pastor and his wife resigned following the release of a video showing their youth pastor son confessing to sending sexually explicit photos online to someone he thought was a teenage girl.

• 
  Apr 28, 2026

  Fmr. Sen. Ben Sasse reveals cancer diagnosis has drawn him closer to God, warns about digital revolution

  Four months after revealing that he had Stage 4 pancreatic cancer and was given just as much time to live, former Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska says he’s now much closer to God because of his diagnosis and is expected to live a little longer thanks to “providence, prayer and a miracle drug” called daraxonrasib.

• 
  Apr 28, 2026

  8-year-old ‘Kid Pastor Luke’, who says God called him to preach in dream, writes a devotional

  Luke Tillman, the 8-year-old “Kid Pastor” who became a viral sensation three years ago for baptizing his stuffed Paw Patrol toys and has continued to share his faith with more than half a million followers on Instagram, has written a new devotional for kids that’s set to be released in September.

• 
  Apr 27, 2026

  Pushpay acquires Nurture.io to help churches pastor well, engage and care for members

  Pushpay, a leading payments and engagement solutions provider for the faith-based and nonprofit sectors, has acquired Nurture.io, a pastoral care and engagement platform that aims to help churches identify and better engage with lapsed members, including those disengaging from attendance, giving, or volunteering.