Leonardo Blair

Latest

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  Sep 15, 2020

  More So. Baptists embracing alternate ‘Great Commission Baptists’ name in wake of racial unrest

  Southern Baptist Convention churches are being encouraged to use an alternate name, “Great Commission Baptists,” in another step by the world’s largest Baptist denomination to distance itself from its racist past amid ongoing racial unrest.

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  Sep 14, 2020

  Church, family grieve after beloved pastor is killed in crossfire at Miami flea market

  Family members and churchgoers are reeling after Pastor Gregory Boyd, leader of New Birth Harvest Outreach Ministries Churches of Deliverance in Miami, Florida, was shot and killed while getting a bite to eat at a local flea market last Thursday. He was 54.

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  Sep 14, 2020

  Day before pastor fatally shot wife, video allegedly shows him threatening to kill her

  “Can I promise you something? If I don’t kill your sister then I am fake,” Sylvester Ofori, the self-styled prophet and leader of Floodgates of Heaven International Ministries in Orlando, Florida, threatened his brother-in-law last Monday before storming off.

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  Sep 14, 2020

  Conn. governor skewered for suggesting black churches should lead support for COVID-19 vaccine

  Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont is coming under fire from religious and political leaders in his state for suggesting that black churches should lead support for a coronavirus vaccine. His suggestion comes at a time when a majority of U.S. voters continue to express reticence about being first in line to get it.

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  Sep 12, 2020

  13-y-o grandson of Enchanted Forest founder among multiple dead as wildfires ravage Western states

  Wyatte Tofte, the 13-year-old grandson of the creator of the Oregon fantasy theme park, The Enchanted Forest, his dog Duke, and his grandmother, Peggy Mosso, are now among multiple people killed by wildfires that have razed homes, churches, and millions of acres  in several western states.

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  Sep 12, 2020

  Most US adults say religious belief is matter of personal opinion: study

  A majority of American adults believe religious belief is a matter of personal opinion according to new data from the 2020 biennial State of Theology survey  but fewer people are now expressing that view.

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  Sep 11, 2020

  Northside Baptist Pastor Fred Evers dies of cancer

  Fred Evers, the longtime pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Tifton, Georgia, passed away Monday after a months-long battle with esophageal cancer. He was 64.

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  Sep 11, 2020

  Pastor Sam Boyd launches new ‘simple’ church year after resigning over inappropriate relationships

  A year after resigning as senior pastor of Forest Hills Baptist Church in Nashville due to inappropriate relationships, longtime preacher Sam Boyd officially launched a new “simple” church on Wednesday with core beliefs that include “mercy, grace, forgiveness, redemption, reconciliation and restoration.”

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  Sep 10, 2020

  Christian college fires prof. over song about human sin colleague found offensive

  A longtime professor of religion and philosophy at the Indiana Christian liberal arts institution Taylor University says he was recently fired for refusing to remove a song he wrote about man’s inherently sinful nature titled “Little Hitler” from YouTube following a complaint. 

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  Sep 10, 2020

  Florida church ‘devastated’ after self-styled prophet shoots wife dead at work

  A Florida church is “devastated” after their pastor, who's also a self-styled prophet with thousands of followers, was charged with fatally shooting his wife outside her job at the Navy Federal Credit Union just two days before their fifth wedding anniversary Tuesday.