The following stories had the most page views at the MinistryWatch website during the month of June. We present them here in a “countdown” format, from 10 to 1. The first few sentences of each story are reproduced below. To read the entire story, click on the link. To read the Top 25 stories of 2023, click here.
By Bob Smietana. The last time Southern Baptists gathered in Indianapolis for their annual meeting, six preachers were vying for the chance to lead the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. During that 2008 meeting, three megachurch pastors squared off against a pair of former missionaries and a small church preacher from North Carolina before Johnny Hunt, a popular Georgia preacher, prevailed. Sixteen years later, Southern Baptists are headed to Indy again this June. And just like in 2008, they’ll have six different choices for president.
By Jessica Eturralde. An agreement with state legal regulators bars former President Donald Trump’s legal adviser Jenna Ellis from practicing law in Colorado. The agreement comes after Ellis, a Christian attorney who has worked with James Dobson Family Institute, Colorado Christian University, and Summit Ministries, pleaded guilty of aiding and abetting the conspiracy to overturn 2020 election results in Georgia. In October, Ellis pleaded guilty to a single charge of aiding and abetting false statements and writing in violation of Georgia law.
By Bob Smietana. A volunteer at Hickory Grove Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist megachurch in Charlotte, North Carolina, was arrested last month after church leaders learned he had been accused of sexual abuse by a student at the church’s Christian school. The student had told church officials in April that her father, Jeffrey Riesenberg, who had volunteered with the church’s student ministry for a decade and had coached in its recreation program, had assaulted her. She said she had not told other family members about the alleged abuse.
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By Kim Roberts. Grand Canyon Education (GCE), a for-profit marketing agency for Grand Canyon University (GCU), has been sued in federal court for allegedly engaging in a racketeering scheme by students who enrolled in the university’s doctoral programs. Tanner Smith and Qimin Wang are the plaintiffs arguing that GCE induced students “to enroll in doctoral degree programs at Grand Canyon University, which has been controlled by GCE, by lying to students about how much they would need to pay to obtain their doctoral degrees from Grand Canyon University.”
By Warren Cole Smith. The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has been one of the success stories in recent American church history. Most denominations in the U.S. are in decline, but ACNA, founded just 15 years ago, has grown to more than 1,000 congregations and a membership of 120,000. As I have written elsewhere, Anglicanism has the potential to breathe new life into the evangelical movement. But the denomination is experiencing growing pains.
By Warren Cole Smith. Two faculty members at Appalachian Bible College were fired May 6 after filing a complaint with the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE). The complaint is directed against Rosalie Anderson, the wife of college president Daniel Anderson. It alleges “a pattern of behavior that is inconsistent with Christian integrity and professional teaching standards.”
By Kim Roberts. Educational Media Foundation (EMF), which operates K-LOVE and Air1, the largest radio network ministries in the contemporary Christian music world, has undergone significant leadership changes and turnover in the last 18 months. The ministry has gone through two CEOs, and several other key executives left last summer.
By Brittany Smith. The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) will spend the next year investigating the book “Jesus Calling” to assess its “appropriateness for Christians.” This decision was made last week at the denomination’s 51st General Assembly (GA) in Richmond, Virginia. According to its website, GA is held each year for pastors and church leaders in the PCA to “discuss, debate and decide biblical and ministry issues.”
By Jessica Eturralde. Megachurch pastor and Trump’s former spiritual advisor Robert Morris is responding to claims that 40 years ago, he periodically sexually abused an underage girl when his family visited her parent’s home. The alleged victim was 12.
By Adelle M. Banks. Tony Evans, the longtime leader of a Dallas megachurch and bestselling author, has announced that he is stepping back from his ministry due to “sin” he committed years ago. “The foundation of our ministry has always been our commitment to the Word of God as the absolute supreme standard of truth to which we are to conform our lives,” Evans said in a Sunday (June 9) statement to his Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship church that was posted on its website.