EDITOR’S NOTE: “Signs and Wonders” is a column that shares thoughts on news items that either do not rise to the level of a news story for MinistryWatch or are slightly (even significantly) outside of our normal charity and philanthropy “beat.” My goal is to be punchy, opinionated, and not to worry much about being slightly off brand. If that is not for you, no hard feelings. But if it is…read on.
John MacArthur’s Replacement Named. WORLD and other news outlets are reporting that “Grace Community Church in California affirmed a new senior pastor, more than a year after the death of renowned theologian John MacArthur. The pastor and author, known for his podcast “Grace To You,” died last July at the age of 86 after contracting pneumonia.” The new pastor is Nathan Busenitz, who served several years as MacArthur’s personal assistant, according to a statement from the church. Busenitz grew up at Grace and attended the Master’s University and The Master’s Seminary in Southern California. Busenitz also served as executive vice president of The Master’s Seminary, where he also worked as a professor of historical theology.
America in Transition. Aaron Renn is a guy I pay attention to. (I interviewed him on the MinistryWatch podcast back in 2024.) His gift is taking complex, often chaotic data sets and organizing them into a coherent system. He’s done it again in his latest post. He writes, “America is in a time of transition, one in which the old institutional arrangements no longer seem to satisfy or be fit for purpose. One thing that shows a growing sense of this transition moment is the wave of new institutions and publications that have been started or de facto rebooted via a rebrand in roughly the last dozen years.” He then charts a dozen or so publications and institutions on a scale that is “oriented towards acceleration (the techno-industrial side) and others towards formation (the human-social side).” Among the organizations and publications he places in his model are Plough, Center for Christianity and Public Life, The Lamp, and American Reformer. It’s a fascinating model, and one I recommend. You can read Renn’s complete article here.
Demography is Destiny. I think the larger question Aaron Renn doesn’t quite get to is this: How is it possible to live in a democracy that has more than 300 million people? It is easy to vote for the “common good” when my well-being is intimately intertwined with the well-being of others. But what happens when geography and demographics erode that intimate intertwining? The answer is: tribes form, and these tribes become pitted against each other. The Founding Fathers understood America as an experiment. An experiment in self-government, of course, but also an experiment in what it means to be a neighbor, a constant reassessment of the question posed by Jesus: Who is my neighbor? Alexander Hamilton asked in Federalist No. 1, published in 1787, whether Americans would be able to govern themselves by “reflection and choice” rather than through “accident and force.” We’ll see.
Terry Law Ministries Has New Name. World Compassion Terry Law Ministries (WCTLM) is a nondenominational, faith-based international organization. It was founded by Dr. Terry Law in 1969 to assist churches in meeting the physical and spiritual needs of people in their communities. Law died in 2020, but the ministry continues. It recently changed its name to OneCoMission. A few years ago, Kim Roberts wrote a story for MinistryWatch called “Speaking From the Dead” about ministries that are heavily dependent on a founder and how they survive after the founder dies. OneCoMission seems to be an organization that has handled that transition well.
Sports Gambling Disaster. Baptist News Global reported, “On Dec. 10, 2025, Jared Nuness resigned his position as Baylor University’s longest-tenured assistant basketball coach. In a social media post, Nuness cited a ‘personal issue’ preventing him from being able to remain fully committed to his job. He implied the issue was health-related, stating, ‘At this time Whitney and I decided I need to focus on my physical health.’” However, newly released NCAA legal documents indicate that Nuness improperly placed bets on collegiate and professional sports. According to BNG, “Nuness’ resignation occurred just one day after the NCAA began collaborating with Baylor on the investigation.”
This is, in my view, another tragedy wrought by the legalization of sports gambling. It’s an epidemic that churches and ministries have largely ignored, as our own Makella Knowles reported here.
Red Flags Missed. When we cover a scandal or ministry failing here at MinistryWatch, we often discover that the wrongdoing had been “hiding in plain sight” for years. “Red flags” were missed or ignored — often for years. I thought about that reality when I read a news story about a Catholic priest in Pennsylvania who stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from his parishes, from the Knights of Columbus, and from his own elderly and infirm mother.
Father Gregory Madeya, 69, was arrested last Friday. He faces 10 criminal charges. He used the money to “procure illegal narcotics such as heroin and cocaine, finance an illicit relationship, and to purchase luxury items such as a Mustang sports car for cash and numerous cruises, taken with a former religious brother who was previously convicted of stealing $220,000 from his parish,” said retired IRS investigator Robert Warren. “This case is a cross between ‘Breaking Bad’ and the ‘Bells of St. Mary.’” He also said it was “preventable with a little effort.” The red flags were there, but no one spoke up.
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