MinistryWatch’s Top 10 Stories for March
The following stories had the most page views at the MinistryWatch website during the month of March. 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 2025, click here.
By Kim Roberts. Burk Parsons, senior pastor of St. Andrew’s Chapel and chief editorial officer and teaching fellow for Ligonier Ministries, has been found guilty by a church judicial commission on three charges and indefinitely suspended from his role as a teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church in America.
By Kim Roberts. Another group of plaintiffs, this time including seven women, have filed lawsuits against California megachurch Harvest Christian Fellowship and its lead pastor Greg Laurie for sexual abuse they claim to have suffered at the hands of Paul Havsgaard.
By Isaac Wood. A church founder and leader of Acts 29 Network has been removed from his positions of ministry leadership after confessing to an “inappropriate relationship with a woman.” After Tyler Jones, vice president for Acts 29 and founder of Vintage Church, confessed, Vintage Church elders met on Feb. 18 and voted to remove Jones from his role, effective immediately. Acts 29 then dismissed him from his VP position.
By Kim Roberts. Mike Bickle, former leader of International House of Prayer in Kansas City (IHOPKC), has “disqualified himself permanently from holding any such high and honorable office anywhere in the Body of Christ in his lifetime,” according to a Pastoral Recommendation Team (PRT) report, convened by Tikkun Ministries.
By Kim Roberts. A federal lawsuit against Liberty University brought by a former Title IX investigator can move forward, a federal district court in the Western District of Virginia decided on March 2. Liberty University and several of its administrators, including President Dondi Costin, filed a motion for summary judgment, asking the court to decide in its favor and prevent the plaintiff’s claims from moving forward to trial. The court granted a few of the defendants’ requests, but left much of the lawsuit intact to move ahead through the legal process.
By Tony Mator. Last September, Pastors Matthew and Caroline Barnett began a sabbatical from leading Angelus Temple, a Foursquare megachurch with a Sunday attendance of about 8,200 worshipers at its historic Los Angeles campus. Five months later, the sabbatical became a permanent separation.
By Kim Roberts. A lawsuit alleging sexual abuse, coercion, and cultlike practices has been filed against Global Outreach Developments International, also known as G.O.D. International. The ministry was founded by Gregg Garner in 1996 and is located in Nashville, Tennessee. Its mission is to equip “a globally conscious community to serve the poor and marginalized through education, advocacy and empowerment, without discrimination, demonstrating unconditional love.”
By Kim Roberts. Twenty-two plaintiffs who claim they were abused at Christian children’s homes in Romania have consolidated their lawsuits into one against California megachurch Harvest Christian Fellowship, its pastor Greg Laurie, former missions pastor Richard Schutte, and the alleged abuser Paul Havsgaard.
By Kim Roberts. St. Andrew’s Chapel, the church started by Dr. R.C. Sproul in Sanford, Florida, has fired back in response to statements made by Dr. Stephen Nichols about his “excommunication” from the church.
By Kim Roberts. Stephen Nichols, former president of Reformation Bible College (RBC) and Ligonier Ministries Teaching Fellow, has spoken out about rumors circulating online about his family. In a recent letter to supporters, Ligonier President and CEO Chris Larson announced that Nichols would conclude his tenure at Ligonier and RBC on May 31, 2026. The webpages for each ministry have removed references to Nichols’ positions of leadership.
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