MinistryWatch’s Top 10 Stories for May

The following stories had the most page views at the MinistryWatch website during the month of May. 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.

10. TX Jury Awards Southwestern $7M From Insurer

By Mark Wingfield. The already twisting legal case involving Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s defense of claims it failed to protect a female student from sexual abuse took another turn May 7 in a Fort Worth, Texas, courtroom.

9. There’s More to the Amish Story

By Jonas Kurtz. Warren Smith’s January essay on the numerical growth of Amish and Old Older Mennonite groups caught my attention. Indeed, their numbers appear to be increasing due to their very high birthrate. However, many of these congregations have two other features that deserve greater attention: their rules-based belief system and the evidence of frequently high rates of abuse.

8. Is the Age of the Megachurch Over?

By Warren Cole Smith. The last half-century might one day be described by church historians as the Age of the Megachurch. However, it appears that this era — if it existed at all — is coming to an end.

7. Newsboys Co-Founder Wes Campbell Files Defamation Lawsuit Over Michael Tait Stories

By Kim Roberts. Wes Campbell and the musicians of the Christian band Newsboys have filed a federal lawsuit against World Vision, The Roys Report, and concert promoters for an “orchestrated campaign to drive Campbell and Newsboys out of the Christian concert market.”

6. Court Rules Dane Ortlund’s Church Illegally Fired Former Employee in Retaliation

By Bob Smietana. A Chicago-area church led by bestselling author and pastor Dane Ortlund must pay $93,000 in back wages and damages to a former staffer after a judge ruled the church retaliated against her.

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5. Daystar Abuse Allegation Investigation Closed

By Kim Roberts. The police department investigating accusations that sexual abuse was covered up by Daystar Television Network’s founding family, Joni and Marcus Lamb, has announced it is closing the investigation with no charges filed.

4. Sam Allberry Resigns Over ‘Inappropriate Relationship’ With a Man

By Kathryn Post. Sam Allberry, an evangelical pastor and apologist who advocates for celibacy as the faithful path for Christians with same-sex attraction, has been “disqualified from gospel ministry” following an “inappropriate relationship with an adult man in 2022,” according to a statement from elders at Immanuel Nashville, a nondenominational church where he has served as an associate pastor since 2023.

3. Joni Lamb, Daystar TV Ministry Co-Founder, Dies at 65

By Bob Smietana. Joni Lamb, the co-founder of Daystar Television Network, a prominent Christian television ministry, died May 7. She was 65.

2. Fallout at Ligonier Ministries and Reformation Bible College

By Kim Roberts. Dr. Stephen Nichols has been a prominent figure in Christian reformed circles. He was president of Reformation Bible College (RBC) and a teaching fellow at Ligonier Ministries. He was also a member of St. Andrew’s Chapel, the church founded by influential Bible teacher R.C. Sproul. But that all changed recently after he was publicly excommunicated from St. Andrew’s—around the same time RBC and Ligonier announced his departure.

1. Minnesota Pastors Charged With $2M Fraud

By Tony Mator. $2,784 for shoes. $71,342 for restaurants. $169,462 for travel. These are just some of the ways the husband and wife co-pastors of a Minnesota church used charitable assets as their “personal piggy banks,” state prosecutors claim.

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