May 13, 2020: Churches as virus test sites, Samaritan's Purse doc describes treating patients, calling out evangelicals
Wednesday, May 13, 2020:
Here are the latest headlines, brought to you by The Christian Post.
— 24 churches to serve as COVID-19 testing sites in NY
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Two dozen churches in predominantly minority communities are serving as new testing sites in New York.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo made the announcement on Saturday, lamenting that low-income and minority communities “are suffering the most” and that they need to work to “resolve these disparities.”
The state is hoping to stop the spread of the virus through more testing.
— Samaritan’s Purse doctor describes time at NYC field hospital
After discharging their last COVID-19 patient last week, Samaritan’s Purse is taking down its temporary field hospital in New York City. Dr. K Elliott Tenpenny, who led the hospital, told The Christian Post that the job was honestly “hard.”
While many of the patients improved, some didn’t make it.
He said, “This disease is a terrible disease. It really devastates people but it does it in a way that’s very sudden.”
He and his team sustained one another through prayer and chose to celebrate each time a patient was discharged by ringing a bell.
— Frank Wright calls out ‘heresy’ among evangelicals
Frank Wright, who is president of D. James Kennedy Ministries, is calling out evangelicals who are drifting from Scripture.
He told The Christian Post that he is “fearful for the future of the Church where the shepherds are not fulfilling their responsibility to rightly handle the Word of truth."
He specifically called out the Southern Baptist Convention, the Presbyterian Church of America, the National Association of Evangelicals, fast-food chain Chick-fil-A, and megachurch pastor Andy Stanley.
— More churchgoers believe Trump was ‘anointed by God’
A recent report showed that more churchgoers believe President Donald Trump and presidents in general were “anointed by God.”
Belief that Trump was anointed by God increased from 29.6% last year to 49% this year among white Protestants who attend church at least weekly, according to researchers Paul A. Djupe of Denison University and Ryan P. Burge of Eastern Illinois University.
The researchers pointed out that a similar percentage, 49.1%, among weekly churchgoers who are not white Protestants also believe Trump was anointed by God.
— Ministry expert encourages ‘speaking pagan’ more in outreach
In order to better reach the mainstream culture during a time of shutdowns due to the pandemic, Joshua Laxton of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College advised ministries to shift from speaking only “Christianese” to “being bilingual.”
He said, “We do a good job speaking Christianese, we do a great job speaking to the church. But can we speak pagan? That’s the question.”
To read more stories from a Christian perspective, visit christianpost.com.
