Chip and Joanna Gaines, whose public embrace of their Christian faith has made them especially popular among American Evangelicals, are facing new allegations of hypocrisy.
The “Fixer Upper” stars serve as producers for &#8220;Back To The Frontier,&#8221; a new show on HBO Max in which three families attempt to live as 19th-century homesteaders. One of the couples, Jason and Joe Hanna-Riggs, are gay men with adopted children. Their inclusion in the show has caused some Christians to accuse the reality stars of failing to live up to the values they have publicly espoused.
Ed Vitagliano, vice president of the American Family Association, also publicly called out the couple for disappointing their fan base.
“This is sad and disappointing, because Chip and Joanna Gaines have been very influential in the evangelical community,” Ed Vitagliano, vice president of the American Family Association, <a href="https://x.com/AmericanFamAssc/status/1943747871985025097">said</a> on X.  &#8220;In the past, they have stood firm on the sanctity of marriage regardless of the personal cost that has entailed.&#8221;
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Chip and Joanna Gaines’ new show on their Magnolia Network spotlights a same-sex couple and their two sons, drawing concern from Christians who expected the network to uphold biblical values.
“This is sad and disappointing, because Chip and Joanna Gaines have been very… <a href="https://t.co/LKMupgB6o3">pic.twitter.com/LKMupgB6o3</a>
&mdash; American Family Association (@AmericanFamAssc) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmericanFamAssc/status/1943747871985025097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Chip Gaines responded to the backlash on X.
“Talk, ask [questions], listen.. maybe even learn. Too much to ask of modern American Christian culture. Judge 1st, understand later/never,” he wrote on Sunday. “It’s a sad sunday when ‘non believers’ have never been confronted with hate or vitriol until they are introduced to a modern American Christian.”
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Talk, ask qustns, listen.. maybe even learn. Too much to ask of modern American Christian culture. Judge 1st, understand later/never
It’s a sad sunday when “non believers” have never been confronted with hate or vitriol until they are introduced to a modern American Christian💔
— Chip Gaines (@chipgaines) <a href="https://twitter.com/chipgaines/status/1944344464215957561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“On our way to church,&#8221; the father of five wrote in a follow-up <a href="https://x.com/chipgaines/status/1944378161732485352">post</a>. &#8220;Y’all enjoy this beautiful Sunday!”

Chip and Joanna Gaines

Fans Accuse Christian TV Stars Chip And Joanna Gaines Of Hypocrisy With New Reality Show

Chip And Joanna Gaines Slammed For Including Same-Sex Couple In New Series

Conservatives

Entertainment

Evangelicals

Joanna Gaines

LGBT

Social Issues

Television

U.S.

On Wednesday, former Arkansas GOP governor and staunch Evangelical Christian Mike Huckabee was confirmed as the U.S. Ambassador to Israel in a 53-46 vote mostly along party lines in the Senate, with Pennsylvania Democrat Senator John Fetterman being the lone Democrat to vote for him.
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Confirmed, 53-46: Confirmation of Executive Calendar #67 Mike Huckabee to be Ambassador to the State of Israel.
&mdash; Senate Cloakroom (@SenateCloakroom) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenateCloakroom/status/1910015728457318844?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“Mike has been a lifelong friend of Israel and an ardent supporter and defender of Israel’s right to exist,” Arkansas GOP senator Tom Cotton <a href="https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/speeches/cotton-supports-mike-huckabees-confirmation-as-ambassador-to-israel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a> in championing the nomination. “ In 1973, Mike made his first trip to Israel as a recent high school graduate. The experience of visiting the Biblical sites at the center of history had such a profound impact on the 17-year-old Mike Huckabee that he would go on to lead tens of thousands of people on similarly life-changing visits.”
In 2017, Huckabee made it clear that he believed that the Biblical lands of Judea and Samaria — where virtually all the events recorded in the Bible took place — were part of the Jewish homeland, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/03/politics/huckabee-west-bank-settlements/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying</a>, “I think Israel has title deed to Judea and Samaria. There are certain words I refuse to use. There is no such thing as a West Bank. It’s Judea and Samaria. There’s no such thing as a settlement. They’re communities; they’re neighborhoods; they’re cities. There’s no such thing as an occupation.”
Even before President Trump moved the American embassy to Jerusalem in his first term, Huckabee said, “The only people who have ever had Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) as a capital have been the Jews. Nobody else has ever made this city a capital, ever. So it shouldn’t even be controversial. Now it will be, but it shouldn’t be.”
In 2015, Huckabee <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/andrewkaczynski/huckabee-two-state-solution-is-irrational-unworkable-plenty" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> bluntly, “I think it&#8217;s time for us to quit playing this pretentious game that there&#8217;s gonna be a two-state solution where both sides share the same country and real estate and streets &#8217;cause they&#8217;re not. One of the sides, the Palestinians, continue to say that Israel doesn&#8217;t have a right to exist. You can&#8217;t forge an alliance with that.”
“We never can accept the notion that Israel will be divided,” he continued, saying the boundaries of Israel were given “not by the United Nations but by almighty God.”

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Holds Nomination Hearing For Mike Huckabee To Be Ambassador To Israel

Fierce Israel Supporter Mike Huckabee Confirmed As Ambassador To Israel

Christianity

Mike Huckabee

Pro-Israel

Pastor and Christian author Ray Ortlund deleted a social media post on Monday where he said that he would be voting for Vice President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/kamala-harris" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kamala Harris</a>, claiming it was “misinterpreted” after conservative backlash.
Ortlund, the founder of Immanuel Church in Nashville, wrote on Threads, “Never Trump. This time Harris. Always Jesus.” The pastor has written numerous books on theology and Christian life and serves as the president of Renewal Ministries, which was started by his father, Ray Sr.
After conservative Christians raised concerns with Ortlund’s post, the pastor deleted it and <a href="https://www.threads.net/@rayortlund/post/DAhPIe6MW6h?hl=en">wrote</a> in a follow-up post, “I have deleted a post from earlier today because it was being misinterpreted. I should have foreseen it. My fault.”
Ortlund’s original post was praised by some, including “Never Trump” New York Times columnist David French, who replied to Ortlund, writing, “This is the way.” Conservatives, such as Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham, however, criticized the pastor for publicly backing Harris.
Basham, who recently released her New York Times-bestselling book “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Shepherds-Sale-Evangelical-Leaders-Leftist/dp/0063413442">Shepherds for Sale</a>,” said that Ortlund’s support for Harris “should not be surprising.” “Shepherds for Sale” reveals how some Evangelical leaders have been co-opted by the Left for political purposes.
“This should not be surprising if you’ve been paying attention. Especially given Ortlund’s participation with French’s hard-left funded political Bible study curriculum, the After Party,” Basham wrote.
“It’s understandable that some Christians feel they cannot back Trump. It is not understandable to back Harris. Don’t confuse Ortlund with principled third party voters or abstainers. This is indefensible,” she added.
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This should not be surprising if you’ve been paying attention. Especially given Ortlund’s participation with French’s hard-left funded political Bible study curriculum, the After Party.
Learn more about this secular funded group designed to sway Christian vote here. 
(Anyone… <a href="https://t.co/9L5SnWSEv4">pic.twitter.com/9L5SnWSEv4</a>
&mdash; Megan Basham (@megbasham) <a href="https://twitter.com/megbasham/status/1840519088285614183?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 29, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Under his original Threads post, Ortlund was questioned by a social media user who wrote, &#8220;How can you vote for Harris/Walz as a believer? Do you think that killing babies is something Jesus would support? Put your personal views on the person aside and vote for the party that is going to support your morals and religious beliefs. I believe that any party that has ANY association with murdering children of GOD should be immediately out of the question.”
The pastor responded, &#8220;Abortion is a horrible evil. But the evils on the other side have risen to levels that jeopardize the foundational rule of law in our country. I am thinking long-term and voting for us to have a national renewal in the future.”
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<a href="https://t.co/UesnSj3aPx">pic.twitter.com/UesnSj3aPx</a>
&mdash; J. Chase Davis 🌲 (@jchasedavis) <a href="https://twitter.com/jchasedavis/status/1840506168168550522?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 29, 2024</a></blockquote>
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When Ortlund was pressed to explain how he could vote for Harris, he <a href="https://www.threads.net/@rayortlund/post/DAhXOKYsYIq?hl=en">replied</a>, “I’m sorry. But answering your question could risk reversing my decision to delete.”
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Immanuel Church did not respond to a Daily Wire request for comment from Pastor Ortlund.
Other influential Christian leaders have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/why-evangelicals-for-harris-are-nothing-more-than-wolves-in-sheeps-clothing">publicly voiced support</a> for the Democratic nominee in the 2024 election, and some have even joined a group named “<a href="https://www.evangelicalsforharris.com/">Evangelicals for Harris</a>,” which claims that Evangelicals “need to reaffirm who they are by voting for someone who better reflects Christian values.”

Cross on Top of a Church

Influential Pastor Deletes Post Endorsing Kamala After He’s Slammed By Conservatives

Influential Pastor Deletes Post Endorsing Kamala After He's Slammed By Conservatives

2024 Election

Christians

Church

Donald Trump

Elections

Kamala Harris

Politics

On September 19, the Associated Press published <a href="https://apnews.com/article/evangelicals-harris-trump-christians-vote-9d5cb379dc3c2fdb3f4954c556a29ec5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an article</a> with the headline, “These evangelicals for Harris are voting their values—by backing Kamala Harris.” This headline intrigued me. I wondered what values evangelical Christians could possibly share with Harris, since evangelicals live by the Bible and especially the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I have my suspicions that these “evangelicals” featured by the mainstream media are not what they seem. The intended effect here may be to cause enough doubt among true evangelical voters that they stay home on Election Day. Although those voters would not vote for Harris, they may no longer feel comfortable voting for Trump, either.
Yes, Donald J. Trump’s flaws are well known, though permit me to point out that many of his alleged and most egregious transgressions occurred while he was yet a Democrat. Since Christianity is a “come as you are” religion, most Christians understand that people are not bound by the mistakes they make during the journey of life. What some Christians struggle with is the contradictions that they see within Trump and the Republican Party more broadly. The GOP’s platform has retreated from its non-negotiable stances on the sanctity of human life and the importance of marriage as a permanent union between one man and one woman. Given the divorce rate in America, the standards were perhaps too high for the latter to carry much sway. Even so, the Republican platform more closely aligns with those convictions shaped by Biblical truths than the Democrats’ alternative.
Let’s look at Vice President Kamala Harris’s current policy stance on certain issues versus her platform on those issues during her presidential bid (she has assured her donors and followers that her values remain the same — wink-wink!) Harris supports the killing of unborn babies at any stage of development. Reproductive freedom, the euphemism for abortion, comes with no limits in her mind. In 2019, Harris is on record in an American Civil Liberties Union questionnaire stating that she would cut financial support for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and offer gender transition surgeries to border crossers. Since the Biden-Harris Administration has tried to rewrite Title IX of the Civil Rights Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (now blocked by the Supreme Court), it is a safe bet that she supports men competing in women’s sports. Former President Trump has made it clear that he opposes biological males participating in women’s sports and would eliminate the expansion of the law that allows men to compete against women.
Despite Democrats and Republicans moving closer together on pivotal issues, Bible-believing Christians would still find more like-minded people in the Republican Party.
With all that in mind, the question still begs: does Harris offer a certain appeal for evangelicals, and should the Trump team be concerned? One such Harris-friendly evangelical group, Evangelicals for Harris, is targeting Christians with ads and arguments meant to persuade them that Harris is closer to their views than Trump.
I decided to dig a little deeper into Evangelicals for Harris to determine if they are disaffected Republicans who believe that Democrats best represent Christian values. What I discovered takes us back to 2008 and the decision that progressives made to go after the religious vote following the election of Barack Obama. First of all, Obama kept in place Bush’s Faith-Based and Community Initiative that allowed churches big and small to feed from the federal trough. It provided federal grants to churches who were providing social services to underserved populations. This meant that some of the black megachurches whose pastors had endorsed George W. Bush quickly switched their allegiances to Obama. Under Obama, money flowed to any organization or group that could make a religious claim. Not surprisingly, that’s when we saw the emergence of liberal evangelical groups supported by private and public funds.
Federal dollars eroded at the common understanding of evangelicalism, making the meaning fuzzier and fuzzier. It was no longer just about Jesus and the Gospel. Evangelicalism was opened up to progressive interests: its purposes now included advocacy for global warming and reproductive freedom. This attracted the dark designs of atheists bent on remaking America in their godless image, such as George Soros.
A 2010 op-ed by Mark Tooley, President of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, documented Soros’ influence well: “George Soros’s Evangelicals.” His article focused most prominently on Richard Cizik, the former head of The National Association of Evangelicals, who had represented the organization in Washington, D.C. for almost three decades. Two years earlier, Cizik had been forced to resign from that position but had reinvented himself with a return to power with a new organization he founded, New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good. Now, Cizik serves as the executive director of Evangelicals for Democracy. Soros’s Open Society Foundation funded Cizik as well as another progressive “evangelical” Jim Wallis, the theologian who founded and edited the Sojourners Magazine and also received money from the Open Society Institute.
The influence of those like Soros wouldn’t be possible if existing evangelical powerhouses weren’t receptive to them. Using Marxist and Fabian socialists-inspired strategies, America’s churches (including the Southern Baptist, America’s largest Protestant organization) have been infiltrated with progressive evangelicals who are indeed shifting the organization and its member churches to the left. In 2019, the Southern Baptists shocked the world with its adoption of Resolution 9, “on Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality,” clearly concepts that its members were clueless about. One provision of the tortuous resolution stated that “critical race theory and intersectionality should only be employed as analytical tools subordinate to Scripture—not as transcendent ideological frameworks.’ Thereby, it brought into its midst a godless approach rooted in conflict theory. When the organization’s conservatives attempted to revisit the issue and insist on the authority of scripture unaided with Marxist tools, leaders of progressive black churches like Reverend Dwight McKissic, A Baptist Pastor, from Texas threatened to leave the organization.
Ironically, McKissic is one of the Evangelicals for Harris quoted in the AP article I mentioned earlier. According to him, there is “no moral superiority of one party over another.” For proof, McKissic cited “the GOP’s decision to ‘abandon a commitment to ban abortion with a constitutional amendment’ and to soften its stance against same-sex marriage in its party platform.” Although the authors of that article would have you believe that McKissic is an evangelical Christian who sees commonality with Harris, there is no evidence I am aware of that McKissic ever supported Trump, or the Republican Party once Obama came on the scene.
Reverend Jim Ball, the former Executive Vice President for Policy and Climate Change at the Evangelical Environmental Network, is the organizer of Evangelicals for Harris. He has stated that, “Diversity is a strength for us. We’re not looking for total unanimity. We’re looking for unity. We can be united while we have differences.”
It is these connections that lead me to believe that much-publicized evangelicals supporting Harris such as Evangelicals for Harris are, in truth, wolves in sheep’s clothing: progressives seeking to pull away Christian Trump supporters by pointing out his lack of humility, his “meanness”, waffling on issues like the sanctity of human life and the sacredness of traditional marriage. Whether they are successful at making any serious inroads into the traditional evangelical base remains to be seen. What is clear is that part of the strategy is to create disillusionment in the followers of Jesus Christ, hoping that this group will stay at home on election day. We can only pray that Christians are wise to the game.
 * * *
Dr. Carol M. Swain is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Faith and Culture (Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church) and is the author of The Adversity of Diversity: How the Supreme Court’s Decision to Remove Race from College Admissions Criteria will Doom Diversity Programs (co-authored with Mike Towle). X (carolmswain), LinkedIn (carolmswain), Instagram (drcarolmswain), GETTR (carolmswain) and Truth Social (carolmswain).
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

US-POLITICS-VOTE-HARRIS

Why ‘Evangelicals For Harris’ Are Nothing More Than Wolves In Sheep’s Clothing

Why 'Evangelicals For Harris' Are Nothing More Than Wolves In Sheep’s Clothing

Bible

George Soros

Leftists

Opinion

Title IX

A multitude of shots were reportedly fired into the home of a Tennessee Evangelical pastor on Tuesday night while one of his children was inside.
Pastor Greg Locke, the lead pastor at Global Vision Bible Church in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, <a href="https://www.fox17.com/news/local/gunfire-erupts-at-controversial-tennessee-pastors-home-truly-horrific">said</a> a “madman unloaded an entire magazine of bullets,” adding, “one of the bullets cut through the headboard of our youngest daughter’s bed and lodged in her pillow.”
“It’s 2:00am and for the last 3 hours our home has been a full blown crime scene,” Locke wrote on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/PastorLocke/">Facebook</a>. “According to the security cam footage, we pulled into our driveway exactly ONE MINUTE after a madman unloaded an entire magazine of bullets from an automatic weapon into our house, garage and my truck. The sound on the video is truly horrific.”
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The Wilson County Sheriff’s Office <a href="https://people.com/greg-locke-pastor-gunfire-home-child-home-8706260">stated</a> that “approximately 30-40” shell casings were recovered at the home.
Locke, who maintains Jews should ultimately believe the Gospel, is also a fierce defender of the state of Israel. He <a href="https://www.facebook.com/PastorLocke/posts/983520136474317?ref=embed_post">wrote</a> on Facebook in May:
<blockquote>
The last days division in the “Church” will be between those that unflinchingly stand and support Israel and those who are so woke and non-discerning that they stand with media-infused Palestinian oppression. THAT’S IT FOLKS!!! The closer we get to the return of the LORD, the more Israel will be fiercely hated. It’s a fact! It’s a Biblical promise! True followers of Jesus, will do what Jesus taught us to do….STAND WITH ISRAEL. God has not cast off His people, but the lukewarm and weak Church will do just that.
I will not be bullied, silenced, coerced or shamed. You can call me every immature name you wish. You can ignorantly tell me that Israel is fake and Jews are false. You can threaten me with anything and everything you wish. You can keep showing me pictures of dead or wounded civilians and children. You can keep ignoring the true facts. You can just simply keep walking right past me. I won’t lose an ounce of sleep. I have ZERO tolerance for Jew haters. &#8230; So again, as you watch all of this play out, you will see it clearly. The final division and persecution will boil down to two groups: THOSE WHO STAND WITH ISRAEL AND COWARDS.
</blockquote>
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Pastor Locke has been criticized by some for his hardline political positions and controversial teachings on the demonic.

Washington Post

Multiple Shots Fired At Home Of Fiery Tennessee Evangelical Pastor

Crime

Shooting

Tennessee

The following is an edited transcript of a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire/mobilizing-the-faith-vote-ralph-reed-s-62-million-strategy-8-25-24" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Morning Wire interview</a> between Daily Wire Culture Reporter Megan Basham and Ralph Reed, founder and chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. They discuss the presidential race and how the Trump and Harris campaigns are trying to win over Christian voters.
The faith vote has always been especially crucial to the GOP. In recent elections, however, Democrats have been putting more effort into expanding beyond black churches and making a pitch to other Christian voting blocs, particularly evangelicals. This cycle has seen the rise of &#8220;Evangelicals for Harris,&#8221; a group that counts Billy Graham’s granddaughter and the chairman of Christianity Today’s board among its members.
* * *
MEGAN: Well, thank you so much for joining us Mr. Reed. To start, I saw that Faith and Freedom is planning to spend $62 million to turn out the evangelical vote this year. What specifics can you give us about that effort?
REED: Well, it is the most comprehensive and ambitious ground game program directed at voters of faith in modern American political history. We will knock on 10 million doors of homes that have between 17 and 18 million modeled evangelical Christians and other social conservatives registered to vote in those homes. That&#8217;s about half of all the homes that the entire Republican Party Vote knocked on in 2022. There&#8217;s never been an organization outside the Republican Party on the right that has visited this many voters at their door, engaging in face-to-face conversations. We&#8217;re also making 10 million Get Out The Vote calls with volunteers using an app where they can pick a battleground state and call voters in that state. And we&#8217;re also sending 24 million Get Out The Vote texts, and we&#8217;re focused on low propensity voters who have voted in one or less of the last three elections. We have 6,000 volunteers and about 4,000 paid staff engaging in this effort. We&#8217;re also distributing voter guides in 113,000 churches, and we&#8217;re doing voter registration drives in about 25,000 churches. So it&#8217;s a massive, massive effort, and I think this effort alone, by itself, is enough to make up the margin that we saw in 2020 where in Wisconsin the votes separating Biden and Trump were only 20,000, in Arizona 10,000, and in Georgia 11,700. I&#8217;m confident we can make up those margins and more just with this project alone.
MEGAN: Well, you know, you have to say that the Left seems to be recognizing the importance of that evangelical vote in a way that they maybe didn&#8217;t in the past. And we&#8217;ve seen efforts in recent weeks to brand Kamala Harris as a woman of strong Christian faith. Christianity Today ran a story about how she inspires black faith leaders. We&#8217;re also seeing a lot of legacy media outlets stressing Tim Walz&#8217;s Lutheran identity. So do you think this branding is working?
REED: No, because I think it misapprehends the faith vote. The media and many on the Left think that evangelical Christians and faithful Roman Catholics are driven by identity politics. They think that if a candidate says they&#8217;ve been born again, that they&#8217;re going to vote for them, or that they have a deep and abiding faith that they&#8217;re going to vote for them. We have so many examples of that not being true that I don&#8217;t know why they still think it. These voters are driven by issues and by policy and this is the most pro-abortion ticket in U.S. history, in Harris and Walz. It&#8217;s the most anti-Israel ticket in American history. It&#8217;s the most anti-religious freedom ticket in American history and Harris and Walz are on record supporting a scheme that would pack the Supreme Court and force the premature and unconstitutional retirements of three of the most conservative justices on the Supreme Court, including Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. They would replace them with justices to the left of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor. So, you know, those are the issues that burn in the hearts and give meaning to the souls of these voters, not whether or not you go to the same church they do or you can quote Scripture. And there&#8217;s no better example of that than Donald Trump — he had been married multiple times; he had been tabloid fodder for decades; he owned casinos in New Jersey and elsewhere. He was not somebody who had lived a perfect life, but he was pro-life, he was pro-Israel, he was pro-religious freedom. And he said he would appoint conservatives to the federal courts, including the Supreme Court, and he did so. He kept those promises and I assure you, there is a deep reservoir of appreciation and gratitude to Donald Trump in the faith community because of the promises he made and the promises he kept and the promise of a second Trump administration.
MEGAN:  Well, I&#8217;d like to sort of turn the camera a little bit, but stay on this topic. We are now seeing a group called “Evangelicals for Harris” that was just established. And it&#8217;s not just fringe. Their first event includes the Chairman of the Board of Christianity Today as a speaker. We&#8217;re also seeing that Redeemer Presbyterian, the high profile Church founded by the late Tim Keller, is hosting a symposium on faith and politics that is exclusively featuring Harris supporters, including David French of The New York Times. What would you say to these churches and organizations about how they are living out their faith in the public sphere.
REED: Well, there&#8217;s nothing new about where Christianity Today is. Remember, they editorialized for the impeachment and removal from office of Donald Trump when he was previously president. They&#8217;ve been way beyond Never-Trump for a long time, and there&#8217;s nothing new about that. And you know Franklin Graham, the you know the the son of Billy Graham and heir to his ministry — Billy Graham, of course, was involved in the founding of Christianity today — has pretty much said that his father would be embarrassed if he were still alive by what&#8217;s happened to what he helped found. I think there&#8217;s some of that out there. Look, it&#8217;s a free country, and to be clear 15% of the evangelical vote is about six or seven million votes. It&#8217;s a lot of people, but it&#8217;s still only 15% of the evangelical community, and they&#8217;re a distinct minority. It&#8217;s a free country. They&#8217;re free to share their view, but I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s going to work to advocate the election of people who are for abortion up to and in some cases, including infanticide and who advocate rolling back a conservative majority on the Supreme Court that, for the first time in a half a century, has given Christians the right to express their faith in the public square free from discrimination and persecution. In the Coach Kennedy case, where there was a coach in [Washington state] who would pray with athletes after games at mid-field, it was totally voluntary. He was disciplined by his school, that case went all the way to the Supreme Court. The court not only ruled in favor of Coach Kennedy and those athletes&#8217; right to pray, but they overturned the so-called Lemon Test, based on a Supreme Court decision from 1971 called Lemon v. Kurtzman that, in its application, greatly prescribed and restricted religious speech in the public square. And finally, these voters, these believers, are as pro-Israel as any Americans since the founding of our country, over 225 years ago, and they believe strongly in the right of Israel to not only defend itself, but to have the backing of the United States as its stronger, strongest allies. And to have Kamala Harris out there trying to muscle and browbeat Israel into a ceasefire agreement that would allow Hamas and other Iranian military proxies to threaten Israel&#8217;s right to exist is not going to be supported by voters of faith. These are core moral issues for them. They&#8217;re not political issues, they&#8217;re moral issues. They&#8217;re issues of right and wrong, and they see Harris and walls as anti-Israel, anti-life, anti-family, anti-traditional values and anti-religious freedom. And correctly so.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire/mobilizing-the-faith-vote-ralph-reed-s-62-million-strategy-8-25-24" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LISTEN: Catch the full interview with Ralph Reed on Morning Wire</a></h4>
MEGAN:  I think that&#8217;s what I&#8217;m getting at when you say that these are moral issues, that previously, in 2016 in 2020, the argument you saw from some of these folks was that they were morally opposed to Donald Trump, therefore we are going to sit out or vote third party. But now they are openly supporting Kamala Harris. Do you feel like fig leafs have kind of fallen this election?
REED: I may want to stay away from the fig leaf analogy. I don&#8217;t want to make this personal. I really don&#8217;t even know David French, I&#8217;ve read his stuff on occasion, he seems like a person of integrity. Seems like a fair minded and serious believer, even though I don&#8217;t agree with him politically, but to take the position that he&#8217;s now taking — that he has publicly taken in an Op/Ed in the New York Times — that he&#8217;s now not just not voting or voting for a third party or writing somebody&#8217;s name in, but he&#8217;s voting for Kamala Harris. And I think that for believers to do any of those three things, vote third party, stay home, or in the worst case scenario to vote for Harris and Walz is to be complicit in the immoral and unethical and indefensible policies that they would advance. They&#8217;re always talking about how we&#8217;re trying to protect constitutional norms — what more violates and assaults constitutional norms than trying to pack the Supreme Court? That&#8217;s been attempted one time in American history — technically more than one, you could talk about Adams and his 11th hour appointments of Federalist judges. There are a couple of other examples that we don&#8217;t need to get into, but the most extreme is Franklin Delano Roosevelt trying to expand the court in 1938. It was summarily rejected by the voters in those midterm elections. He withdrew the proposal. No one has dared to do it again until now. And that strikes at the very heart of our constitutional democracy, because it means that you&#8217;re okay with the Supreme Court interpreting and applying the constitution to the passage of laws unless they vote against you, and the minute they vote against you, you then want to pack the court and change all the decisions. And the irony of some of the Christian Never-Trumpers who are now coming out and saying they&#8217;re going to vote for Harris is one of the decisions that they&#8217;re trying to reverse is the decision that those folks, meaning the Christian Never-Trumpers, have devoted their entire careers to trying to overturn, which was Roe v. Wade — which other than Dred Scott, is probably the most morally indefensible and evil decision ever rendered by the Supreme Court. You could argue Plessy v. Ferguson, but there are very few of these. And so I think it&#8217;s a shame. Look, Donald Trump says and does things that I wish he wouldn&#8217;t say or do. But in the end, it&#8217;s not about whether or not the candidate&#8217;s personal style or personality, or even governing style is the one that I would prefer. It&#8217;s about policy and how it affects people. And if you implement a policy that will lead to the taking of innocent human lives, in many cases, after they the child can feel pain after they can survive outside the womb and in a handful of cases, not a lot, but enough to matter after they&#8217;ve been born, I don&#8217;t see how you can defend that morally or biblically. I certainly can&#8217;t, and I could never vote for Harris or Walz. 
MEGAN: So what do you say to the evangelical voter who may be feeling a little demoralized about the GOP position on abortion right now and what they see as, at best, maybe a softening of the language in the GOP platform. How do you argue that they should still turn out the vote for the GOP? 
REED: Well, I would encourage them to go back and actually read the Republican Party platform. By the way, Megan, I should be clear, it&#8217;s not the platform that I would have passed. It&#8217;s not the platform that I would have written but I can not only defend it, I can advance it on moral terms, because there are two things in that platform that most people may not even be aware of. The first is, it asserts that the unborn child is a person constitutionally and legally and therefore deserving of protection under the 14th Amendment&#8217;s clause that guarantees equal protection of all persons. The 14th Amendment was introduced and ratified after the Civil War to make sure that freed slaves were not discriminated against, that they were equal before the law. Obviously, that didn&#8217;t happen in one of the greatest tragedies of American history, but that was the aspiration and intent of the 14th Amendment. And that language, saying that an unborn child is a person for purposes of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, has been in the Republican Party platform since 1984. And remember that the 14th Amendment doesn&#8217;t just apply to the States, it also applies to the federal government. So when people say that when Donald Trump rewrote the platform at the convention in Milwaukee, he removed any role for the federal government, it&#8217;s just simply not true. So the 14th Amendment applies to the federal government. Secondly, the platform calls for the passage of bans on late term abortion, which is a term that is not defined, but which, for purposes of the pro-life movement, is generally defined as at least after 20 weeks, and as science advances, probably 15 weeks, and that language also clearly anticipates and includes action by the federal government. So I would say when you have one party that is calling for abortion at any stage of pregnancy for any reason, paid for with tax dollars, including under Medicaid, and the other party, saying that the unborn child is a person should be protected under the Constitution, it clearly is not today, and the child won&#8217;t be protected unless one or two things happens: Until either &#8220;A,&#8221; the Supreme Court rules if that language in the 14th Amendment does apply to the child; or until Congress passes a law that codifies that and then that is upheld by the court. So one of those two things has to happen. This is clearly an aspirational position, as it has been since 1984 but it is in there. Now, what is not in there, Megan is the human life amendment language. We had previously called for the passage of a human life amendment to the Constitution. I would say I still support that, okay, but I would simply make two points. Number one, in the 44 years that that has been in the Republican Party platform, no one has even brought to the floor for a vote a human life amendment of the constitution. So, I don&#8217;t think that you know that the fact that that isn&#8217;t in the platform means that we don&#8217;t have other tools at our disposal. The second point I would make is that the fact that we overturned Roe in the Dobbs decision, that was the main reason why we wanted a human life amendment. The purpose of the human life amendment was to overturn Roe. Roe has now been overturned. So while I still favor a human life amendment, I just want to set the facts straight on what the platform says. And I also think we should make it abundantly clear that the person running on that platform is Donald J. Trump, who is the most pro-life president in American history. He spoke at the March for Life. He defunded Planned Parenthood under regulations that he promulgated. He re-adopted and strengthened the Mexico City policy to ensure that U.S. tax dollars do not pay for abortions or promote abortion overseas. And most importantly, he appointed not one, not two, but three Supreme Court justices who were critical in the Dobbs decision. So I have no reservations at all about either the platform or this ticket. 
MEGAN: All right. Well, Ralph Reed of Faith and Freedom, we thank you so much for your time.
REED: Thanks so much. Thanks for having me.
* * *
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire/mobilizing-the-faith-vote-ralph-reed-s-62-million-strategy-8-25-24" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LISTEN: Catch the full interview with Ralph Reed on Morning Wire</a></h4>

Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Policy Conference Held In Washington, D.C.

Mobilizing The Faith Vote: Ralph Reed’s $62 Million Strategy

Abortion

Democrats

interview

Morning Wire

Pro-Life Movement

Ralph Reed

Readers Pass

Voting

Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham&#8217;s latest book revealing the leftist influences on American Evangelicalism hit the shelves on Tuesday and quickly jumped into the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/new-releases/books/?ie=UTF8&amp;ref_=sv_b_3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">top 10 bestsellers</a> in new book releases on Amazon. 
In “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Shepherds-Sale-Evangelical-Leaders-Leftist-ebook/dp/B0CRQGNLMY">Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda</a>,” Basham “documents how progressive powerbrokers — from George Soros, to the founder of eBay, to former members of the Obama administration — set out to change the American church. Their goal: to co-opt evangelicals for political purposes.” 
The book also documents how a megachurch pastor pushed fellow pastors to move their views on sexuality to the Left and how leftist talking points on climate change and “systemic racism” have crept into American churches. “Shepherds for Sale” is the #1 bestseller in Christian Church Leadership on Amazon. 
“Shepherds for Sale” hits the shelves as controversy erupts in the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC). Earlier this month, the board of the ERLC, which is the SBC’s lobbying arm, announced it was firing President Brent Leatherwood, who has faced criticism from conservatives within the SBC over his apparent friendly statements about Joe Biden and his advocacy for a red flag law in Tennessee. 
Hours after the announcement, however, the ERLC <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2024/july/brent-leatherwood-erlc-president-fired-trustees-biden.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">backtracked</a> and said it was reinstating Leatherwood. Board Chair Kevin Smith, who took responsibility for firing Leatherwood, resigned after Leatherwood was reinstated. Basham said the controversy shows more proof of how the SBC is being influenced by legacy media, but she added that rank-and-file Southern Baptists are waking up to the political influences on their denomination. 
“The New York Times, CNN, the Atlantic, POLITICO, and many other secular media outlets, immediately howled about Leatherwood’s ouster. That tells you they understand how valuable he is to them in his position,” Basham said. “In the end, Leatherwood was reinstated, but there’s no question that this is not over because of the unhappiness of Southern Baptists with his leadership. They may not have media megaphones, but their demands for accountability cannot be held off forever.”
Basham urged evangelical leaders to “get serious about tracing the secular Left influences in any number of evangelical institutions.” 
“When we have leftwing billionaires like atheist George Soros or Buddhist Pierre Omidyar funding evangelical projects, (especially given their direct opposition to biblical ethics on issues like the sanctity of life and gender, sexuality, and marriage), we should ask why,” she said. 
“When church leadership does not know who is behind an organization, they should not agree to sign their public statements or participate in their coalitions. Also, the time for politely ignoring what is going on has come to an end,” Basham added. “It is time to follow the model of J. Gresham Machen in the 1920s and begin to directly call out compromise, capitulation, and infiltration. As he has stated, liberalism is an altogether different religion than Christianity.”

Shepherds for Sale

Daily Wire Reporter Megan Basham’s New Book, ‘Shepherds For Sale,’ Climbs Bestseller List After Release

Books

Leftism

Southern Baptists

In an attempt to mock House Speaker Mike Johnson’s effort to keep his family free of the ubiquitous pornography, Left-wing media outlets mocked Johnson — a devout Evangelical Christian — after a clip from 2022 revealed that he and his teenage son both used <a href="https://www.covenanteyes.com/">Covenant Eyes</a>, an app that monitors pornography, making themselves accountable to each other to keep away from the content.
“Speaker of the House Mike Johnson admitted that he and his son monitored each other’s porn intake in a resurfaced clip from 2022,” Rolling Stone wrote.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson admitted that he and his son monitored each other’s porn intake in a resurfaced clip from 2022 <a href="https://t.co/THNyCkttcw">https://t.co/THNyCkttcw</a>
&mdash; Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) <a href="https://twitter.com/RollingStone/status/1721274337188040981?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
House Speaker Mike Johnson and son use anti-porn app to monitor each other&#39;s web history<a href="https://t.co/73eiN5bf8C">https://t.co/73eiN5bf8C</a>
&mdash; PinkNews (@PinkNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/PinkNews/status/1721508714669068789?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Reaction to leftist criticism of Johnson came swiftly:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Our relentlessly depraved journalists have discovered Mike Johnson’s dark secret: he (gasp!) tries to avoid porn <a href="https://t.co/R7wld0PtkF">https://t.co/R7wld0PtkF</a>
&mdash; Joel Berry (@JoelWBerry) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoelWBerry/status/1721340215363559769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
https://twitter.com/ellencarmichael/status/1721293341273268696
https://twitter.com/KristanHawkins/status/1721537367771603066
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
While you are giving it this very deceptive and misleading spin, I might as well promote the real website here so that people can see for themselves what Covenant Eyes website is all about…<a href="https://t.co/XN6zOSX1ad">https://t.co/XN6zOSX1ad</a>
&mdash; Obianuju Ekeocha (@obianuju) <a href="https://twitter.com/obianuju/status/1721336501735231549?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Here’s what Johnson actually said at Cypress Baptist Church in Benton, Louisiana, while he was on a panel called &#8220;War on Technology”:
<blockquote>
We probably could have called this more appropriately, “War on the Darkness of Technology,” because there are some good thing of technology, of course. You know, the Bible apps we all love; we broadcast our services on our social media, and there’s some very positive things, but there’s also &#8230;  some really dark things.
So Covenant Eyes is the software that we’ve been using a long time in our household. I first learned about it, I think, a Promise Keepers event in the early 2000s. I think it was developed in about the year 2000. But it’s the largest accountability software that there is, and there’s some paperwork out there on the table that I think everybody may have picked up on the way in; if not, go get it. It’s a subscription based — we don’t make any money on this — I’m telling you, we use it. I’m endorsing it because I’m a user; it’s about $15 a month, $16 a month, something like that.
You get up to 10 devices, and what it is, it’s accountability software so men in a church, you know men’s Bible study groups will do it, that’s how it was presented at Promise Keepers, but they also mention, “Hey, when your kids become teenagers, especially if you have boys, dads,- they’re talking to the guys at this event — you might want to think about doing this with your sons, and so we’ve been doing that.
And so what it does, real simply, is it has an algorithm and software — it’s way above my head how it works — but it scans, you obviously opt into it  — but it scans all the activity on your phone or your devices, laptop, what have you. We do all of it, and then it sends a report to your accountability partner. So my accountability partner right now is Jack, my son. And he’s 17. And so he and I get a report of all the things that are on our phones or all of our devises once a week. If anything objectionable comes up, your accountability partner gets an immediate notice.
I’m proud to tell you my son has got a clean slate. But we get a report and it says, “Hey, no activity of concern.” And it’s really, really sensitive; it’ll pick up almost anything; it looks for keywords, search terms and also images, and it will send your accountability partner a blurred picture of the image. And so on occasion I get one — I was just looking at the one from this week I got on Jack and it said, “This is the only one that may be questionable,” and it says blurred image of two women talking in a live stream and I zoom in and I have to unblur it and it’s two middle age teachers &#8230; 
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
COMPROMISE ALERT: Speaker Mike Johnson uses software Covenant Eyes (learned about at a Promise Keepers retreat) that scans all his electronic devices &amp; gives a weekly report an &quot;accountability partner&quot; his 17 yr old son (so basically don&#39;t watch porn or your son/dad will know😬) <a href="https://t.co/SSWpB9IIDB">pic.twitter.com/SSWpB9IIDB</a>
&mdash; Receipt Maven (@receiptmaven) <a href="https://twitter.com/receiptmaven/status/1719402267537789152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Mike Johnson

Leftist Media Mocks Devout Christian Mike Johnson For Using Anti-Porn App Along With Son

Pornography

Former White House Press Secretary and current MSNBC host Jen Psaki slammed new House Speaker Mike Johnson for his evangelical Christianity, saying his political ideology should “scare us.”
Speaking to Fox News, Johnson had said, “I am a Bible-believing Christian. Someone asked me today in the media; they said, ‘It’s curious; people are curious. What does Mike Johnson think about any issue under the sun?’ I said, ‘Well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it.’ That’s my worldview.”
In his first speech as House Speaker, Johnson stated:
<blockquote>
I believe that scripture, the Bible, is very clear that God is the one that raises up those in authority. He raised up each of you. All of us. And I believe that God has allowed and ordained each and every one of us to be here at this specific moment. This is my belief. I believe that each one of us has a huge responsibility today to use the gifts God has given us to serve the extraordinary people of this great nation, and they deserve it.
</blockquote>
“You heard that right,” Psaki <a href="https://grabien.com/story.php?id=445737&amp;utm_source=cliplist&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=cliplist20231030&amp;utm_content=story445737" target="_blank" rel="noopener">quavered</a> on MSNBC. “The Bible doesn’t just inform his worldview, it is his worldview. In fact, during his first speech in his new job, Johnson suggested that his election as speaker was an act of God. Talk about a bit of a humblebrag there. So what exactly has God apparently called on Mike Johnson to do? Well, his views on policy are essentially what you’d expect from a religious fundamentalist. They’re more divisive than they are divine.
“But it’s not just his political ideology that should scare us,” Psaki <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/inside-with-jen-psaki/gops-new-house-speaker-mike-johnson-trump-wolf-suit-rcna122551" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> on the MSNBC website. “Johnson is basically a Christian fundamentalist. He believes that America is a Christian nation, and that those values should be reflected in our interpretation of the Constitution.”
“His ideas of what America should be are completely out of line with what America actually is,” she insisted.
Johnson’s Christian faith was <a href="https://www.nola.com/news/politics/mike-johnsons-politics-are-defined-by-his-christian-faith/article_8e533446-74ee-11ee-ab51-a3876f070acc.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forged</a> at the age of 12, in September 1984. He was the oldest child of firefighter James “Pat” Johnson, who went into a warehouse to cap a leak. An explosion left Pat Johnson with burns over 80% of his body and he was given a 10% chance to live. His recovery after six operations and numerous infections inspired his son, who recalled in 2015, &#8220;I saw an actual miracle of my father surviving when they said that he shouldn&#8217;t. It made me a person of very deep faith.&#8221;
“His personal commitment to Jesus Christ is at the core of who he is and the foundation of the work he does,” Gene Mills, the president of Louisiana Family Forum, the state’s top faith-based conservative group, stated of Johnson.

Psaki

‘Humblebrag’: Jen Psaki Mocks Mike Johnson’s Christian Faith

Jen Psaki

Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats, president and CEO of The Family Leader, has voiced strong concerns about former President Donald Trump being the 2024 GOP presidential nominee.
Vander Plaats, who has achieved enormous influence in Iowa, has expressed his desire not only for the eventual nominee to act in a dignified way, but also his worries about how to win over younger generations who will be voting for decades to come.
“The problem people of Faith have with @realDonaldTrump isn’t Church attendance. Has everything to do with the ‘fruits of the Spirit.’ For example, F bombs and mocking people with disabilities. You can be a statesman while being a bold leader,” he <a href="https://twitter.com/bobvanderplaats/status/1688349126402908160" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> on Sunday.
On Saturday, Vander Plaats also voiced concerns over Trump <a href="https://www.steptoe.com/en/news-publications/president-trump-signs-cares-act-into-law.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signing the CARES Act into law</a> in March 2020, which included $400 million in funding for new COVID-related election measures. His concerns came after fellow Iowa evangelical and prominent podcast host Steve Deace <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveDeaceShow/status/1687799222773350400">wrote,</a>“There it is. Trump funded the very ballot harvesting scheme Democrats used to steal the last election,” in relation to the CARES Act. Vander Plaats <a href="https://twitter.com/bobvanderplaats/status/1687802457982693377" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a> on Saturday, “This, and more, is why @realDonaldTrump supporters are looking for another candidate. The facts aren’t lining up with the repetitive rhetoric. This is the #swamp.”
In another tweet, Vander Plaats reiterated his concern for the future, <a href="https://twitter.com/bobvanderplaats/status/1687810689484636160" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writing</a>, “We not only want to win the next election, but also win the next generation.”
Vander Plaats simply <a href="https://twitter.com/bobvanderplaats/status/1687816149059203072" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>, “Agree” as he quoted GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s September 2022 <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/09/12/republicans-victimhood-mythology-elections-00055908" target="_blank" rel="noopener">column</a> in POLITICO in which Ramaswamy quoted from his upcoming book “Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence” with this statement criticizing Trump: “While Donald Trump promised to lead the nation to recommit itself to the pursuit of greatness, what he delivered was just another tale of grievance, a persecution complex that swallowed much of the #GOP Party whole.”
“I think what’s happening now with the latest indictment, I think those who are for Trump are going to be more emboldened and more cemented in for their support for Trump, but those who are looking for an alternative to Trump, I think they’re looking more than ever for an alternative to Trump,” Vander Plaats <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/video/6332323064112" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Fox News’ Neil Cavuto last week in the wake of the latest indictment against Trump. “So I do believe the president has a self-inflicted ceiling, and I think others are looking for who else it could be so we could turn the page to that next generational leader.”
Vander Plaats praised Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott, and Ramaswamy, saying, “Iowans are kicking the tires of a lot of these candidates right now. It’s August 2; when we get to November 2 and December 2, you’re really gonna see where the coalescing is gonna take place.”
With regard to current polls, Vander Plaats <a href="https://twitter.com/bobvanderplaats" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pointed out</a> on August 2, “I like to remind people that if those current poll numbers are right, then in 2008, you would&#8217;ve had Giuliani, in 2012 you would&#8217;ve had Rick Perry, and in 2016, you would&#8217;ve had Jeb Bush or Scott Walker.”
On August 1, Vander Plaats <a href="https://twitter.com/bobvanderplaats/status/1686498008408653829" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a>, “While all these polls show @realDonaldTrump the clear front runner, I see no evidence on the ground to support. My early hunch is he gets beat in #IowaCaucus All narrative regarding him is the same: 1) He did good. 2) Can’t win. 3) Time to move on. 4) Need to win.”

Vander Plaats

‘Need To Win’: Powerful Iowa Evangelical Leader Expresses His Doubts About Trump

Bob Vander Plaats

Iowa

Harry Reeder, a veteran <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/evangelical" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pastor</a> at Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/alabama" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alabama</a>, was unexpectedly killed in a car accident on Thursday morning at 75 years old.
Reeder served as a pastor at Christ Covenant Church from 1983 to 1999, after which he accepted a call to become senior minister at Briarwood Presbyterian Church, the influential congregation from which the Presbyterian Church in America launched in 1973.
The minister was pronounced dead on the scene after his vehicle <a href="https://www.al.com/news/2023/05/rev-harry-reeder-briarwood-senior-pastor-killed-in-shelby-county-crash.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">collided</a> with a dump truck that had stopped to make a turn. He is survived by his wife, Cindy, as well as three children and several grandchildren.
“Our Lord has called Pastor Reeder home through a car accident,” Bruce Stallings, executive pastor at Briarwood Presbyterian Church, said in a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BriarwoodPCA/posts/pfbid0A99g5Fbp9kYP9fda2MnyMJBCVG8EYxcDNoZJ7AAoUhvVVfca5Q4S7PLGA3PiqbLXl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> posted on social media. “But we do not grieve without hope because we know our pastor is with his Savior and has been received by grace with ‘Well done My good and faithful servant.’”
The Presbyterian Church in America is a conservative evangelical denomination, not to be confused with the theologically liberal Presbyterian Church USA, from which the former communion split half a century ago. Reeder is broadly seen as a successor to the generation of southern ministers who led the departure from the PCUSA and the formation of the PCA.
Reeder was educated at Covenant College, Westminster Theological Seminary, and Reformed Theological Seminary. He had planned to lead a tour of Israel with Westminster students scheduled to depart next week.
Presbyterian ministers, as well as leaders in other evangelical denominations, poured out prayers for the Reeder family and fondly remembered the pastor&#8217;s life and ministry.
&#8220;Harry was a force of nature with a gregarious personality matched to theological conviction and pastoral courage. He was a man of simple piety matched to great concern about the role of the Christian in a rapidly changing culture,&#8221; Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote in an <a href="https://wng.org/opinions/taken-so-suddenly-missed-so-greatly-but-safe-with-jesus-1684496417" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> for WORLD. &#8220;To know Harry Reeder was to know his infectious love for Christ and his passion to see the church reach out through evangelism and simultaneously influence the culture.&#8221;
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Alabama Republican State Senator Dan Roberts, a ruling elder at Briarwood Presbyterian Church, also offered a tribute in the article.
&#8220;I would characterize Harry as the ultimate pastor-teacher whose love for the church of the Lord Jesus Christ was obvious to all who spent time with him,&#8221; he recounted. &#8220;He loved to be a part of the presbytery and to spend time with other pastors at general assembly. Harry was committed to the regulative order of corporate worship. Harry loved the church as much as any pastor I’ve ever had the privilege to be around. He pastored Briarwood Presbyterian Church and was honored to serve this body of believers. He will be greatly missed by all those he impacted for the Kingdom.&#8221;
Reeder passed away one day before Tim Keller, another veteran PCA minister who served for decades at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tim-keller-longtime-christian-pastor-and-author-succumbs-to-cancer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">succumbed</a> to a prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer at 72 years old. American Christians noted that both men, beyond their zeal for the gospel and their labors in preaching and teaching, consistently served at their churches for decades and remained faithful to their families.

Pastor Harry Reeder

Harry Reeder, Veteran Presbyterian Minister, Killed In Car Wreck

Presbyterians Mourn As Longtime Pastor Killed In Car Wreck

Pastor

Religion

Saddleback Church, the multi-site <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/christianity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">megachurch</a> founded by Rick Warren, ordained a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/woke" target="_blank" rel="noopener">woman</a> to serve as a “campus pastor” even as the congregation is expected to appeal a recent decision from the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/southern-baptists" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Southern Baptist Convention</a> to disfellowship the entity over similar moves.
Officials on the denomination’s Executive Committee voted earlier this year to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/southern-baptists-disfellowship-saddleback-church-over-female-pastor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remove</a> Saddleback, one of the largest churches in the United States, because of its decision to ordain several women as pastors over the past two years. Warren, who maintains a founding pastor role at the California congregation, announced Andy Wood as his successor to serve as senior pastor last year and appointed his wife, Stacie Wood, to serve as a teaching pastor, generating controversy days later at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Anaheim.
Saddleback Church Lake Forest, one of more than a dozen Saddleback branch campuses, announced last week that Katie Edwards had been appointed as the body’s new campus pastor. Images <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CsAFXy3PGaj/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> by the church showed Andy and Stacie Wood praying over Edwards on stage.
The move comes weeks before Southern Baptists are scheduled to convene in New Orleans for the next annual meeting of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, where Saddleback Church will likely contest the disfellowship decision from the Executive Committee.
Warren has defended his position on female pastors, which he adopted three years ago, in a recent <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2023/march-web-only/rick-warren-russell-moore-saddleback-church-women-preaching.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with Russell Moore, the editor-in-chief of Christianity Today and the former president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. Warren also claimed in a floor <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBsT1zFmC3E" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speech</a> at last year’s annual meeting that there exists a distinction between the “gift” and the “office” of pastor.
Churches in the Southern Baptist Convention, an association of autonomous congregations which jointly fund seminaries, missionary efforts, and publications, must adhere to the Baptist Faith and Message doctrinal <a href="https://bfm.sbc.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>, which affirms that “while both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”
Mike Law, a pastor at Arlington Baptist Church, plans to introduce an <a href="https://sbcamendment.org/home-2/frequently-asked-questions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">amendment</a> to the denomination’s constitution at the upcoming meeting in New Orleans to clarify that the Southern Baptist Convention will “only deem a church to be in friendly cooperation” if the congregation does not “affirm, appoint, or employ a woman as a pastor of any kind.” Law and other ministers have <a href="https://sbcamendment.org/home-2/why-now/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">documented</a> cases of several hundred female pastors who currently hold positions in Southern Baptist churches.
Law said in remarks to The Daily Wire that the most recent move from Saddleback Church to ordain a female pastor “shows the continued need for our convention to be clear and committed to our doctrine,” adding that “we can begin to meet this need by taking the first step of adopting the proposed constitutional amendment this June.”
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Controversy over the appointment of female pastors at Southern Baptist churches occurs as the denomination sees the largest single-year membership <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sbc-sees-largest-one-year-membership-decline-in-a-century-churches-leave-due-to-liberal-drift" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decline</a> in at least a century. Beyond the lockdown mandates, which accelerated broader trends toward diminished church attendance in the United States, several ministers have identified the female pastor phenomenon as evidence of the denomination’s theologically liberal drift. Bart Barber, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and other leaders have faced criticism for neglecting to rebuke the dozens of churches which have installed female pastors.
Warren himself was one of several prominent evangelical ministers to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-the-federal-government-used-evangelical-leaders-to-spread-covid-propaganda-to-churches" target="_blank" rel="noopener">endorse</a> wearing face masks as a fulfillment of Jesus’ command to “love your neighbor as yourself.” He also affirmed Francis Collins, the former director of the National Institutes of Health who declared himself an “ally” of the LGBTQ movement and supported human fetal tissue research, as a committed Christian and a “man you can trust.”

Rick Warren

Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church Ordains Woman To ‘Campus Pastor’ Role Amid Southern Baptist Female Minister Controversy

Rick Warren’s Church Appoints Woman To ‘Campus Pastor’ Role Amid Southern Baptist Female Minister Controversy

Feminism

Wokeness

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