Leonardo Blair
Leonardo Blair is an award-winning investigative reporter and feature writer whose career spanned secular media in the Caribbean and New York City prior to joining The Christian Post in 2013. His early work with CP focusing on crime and Christian society quickly attracted international attention when he exposed a campaign by Creflo Dollar Ministries in 2015 to raise money from supporters to purchase a $65 million luxury jet. He continues to report extensively on church crimes, spiritual abuse, mental health, the black church and major events impacting Christian culture.
He is a 2007 alumnus of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he was an inaugural member of the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism. He lives with his wife and two sons in New York City.
Latest
Evangelist and wife had big plans to spread the Gospel, now both are charged in child rape case
Sword of the Lord Publishers, a Christian publishing ministry in Tennessee that rented a building to the ministry of evangelist and father of six, Benjamin Garlick, who was recently arrested and charged with several counts of child rape, said they were “shocked” by the allegations against the preacher who has been saved since age 5, and had big plans to spread the Gospel in the Hispanic community.
Practicing Christians more likely to be 'spiritually open' than non-Christians, study finds
As America's religious landscape grows more syncretic and the population's connection to Christianity continues to weaken, data from a recent Barna study shows that practicing Christians are more spiritually "open" or interested in exploring other spiritual traditions than non-Christians or Christians who don't practice their faith.
Christian teen fatally shoots self in front of police at party parents warned her not to attend
Jaylee Chillson, a 14-year-old Kansas teen whose parents say she was in therapy for relentless bullying at her school, fatally shot herself in front of a police officer after her family reported that she left their home to attend a party she was told she was not allowed to go to.
Wedding inferno kills at least 100 in Iraq’s biggest Christian town; bride and groom survive
Family members of a Christian bride and groom confirmed Wednesday that they survived a massive fire that erupted during their wedding celebration killing at least 100 and injuring more than 150 of their guests in Iraq’s biggest Christian town in northern Nineveh province Tuesday.
McLean Bible Church begins voting to affirm Mike Kelsey as a lead pastor
Though he was previously named as a lead pastor of David Platt’s McLean Bible Church in Virginia, members of the church now have until Wednesday to cast their vote to affirm longtime pastor of the multi-campus congregation, Mike Kelsey, in that role due to recent changes in the church’s constitution.
Jerry Falwell Jr. accuses Liberty University leaders of financial, sexual misconduct in lawsuit
Former Liberty University president and chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. has accused multiple past and current members of the Evangelical Christian university's senior leadership team of sexual misconduct and self-dealing in an amended lawsuit.
Traveling Tennessee pastor, father of 6 arrested for alleged child rape; wife charged with facilitating abuse
A traveling Tennessee pastor and father of six who recently raised thousands of dollars online to help purchase a vehicle to carry his ministry across the country has been arrested and charged with several counts of child rape, while his wife has been charged with facilitating his abuse.
Man who survived being shot by gunmen while taking out trash says ‘God was with me’
A 42-year-old recently married father who was shot as he took out the trash while cleaning his home in Norcross, Georgia, is thanking God for helping him escape with his life.
Thousands protest church’s decision to block granny from being buried in cemetery over tithes
A Virginia pastor is facing protest from thousands of online supporters of a late longtime member and grandmother of his congregation who he allegedly blocked from being buried in the church’s cemetery with many of her departed family members due to a dispute over tithes.
SBC Exec. Committee expels church after pastor defends blackface impression of Ray Charles
Five months after Pastor Sherman Jaquess of Matoaka Baptist Church in Ochelata, Oklahoma, defended his decisions to wear blackface mimicking legendary singer Ray Charles and dress like Native American figure Pocahontas, the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee has expelled his church from the nation's largest Protestant denomination.