Pearland, TX "It's great when we can see past our differences to the bigger picture", said Jason Williams, one step-parent to son/step-son Jaxon McGill. Biological father Mike McGill and mother Shaina Edwards, became first time parents seven years ago when Jaxon was born.  They considered marriage, but ultimately things just fell apart around Jaxon's first birthday, and the two separated.  "We were really glad we were never married.  A divorce would have made all this more complicated than it needed to be.  We were able to transition into taking care of Jaxon much easier without having to deal with all of that stuff", Shaina told us. Shortly after separation, Shaina met Jason, and Mike met Sally.  At the time they all committed to raising Jaxon together.  "We all got along so great, and we knew the important thing was letting Jaxon know that he was loved, even if some of our feelings for one another had moved on, Jaxon would be our rock",...

Santa Clarita, CA A debate was held on John McArthur's home turf, The Master's College.  However, the home-field advantage wasn't enough to prepare him for the onslaught of heresy by the challenger and self-professing Christian, Alex Newman.  "The full debate is available on our website.  That's all I really care to comment on for now, other than to say with the information presented today in the debate, I am seriously reconsidering everything I have come to believe theologically," John McArthur briefly commented, following the debate. The debate mostly revolved around the understanding of the Trinity as it pertains to Christ's deity.  John has debated and discussed this many times before, so everyone thought it should be a walk in the park.  The unexpected happened today though.  With every statement of heresy, no matter how brazen or grotesque it was perceived previously, Alex would preface all his statements with, "I'm a Christian, and....

Augusta, ME "I'm against religion, but totally for Jesus," said Gilbert Short, a long time free-thinker and anti-religion proponent.  "Jesus came around to do all kinds of good stuff like give people food, heal them, and He stopped those guys from stoning the girl who committed adultery.  He was basically saying, 'Look guys, can't we all just get along?'.  He just taught people to just live and let live.  Put good in, get good out.  You know, do good and don't worry about the haters.  He was a true free-thinker.  Religion is all about do this and don't do that.  It's a shame He had to die like He did when He did." When probed about where he was getting his information about Jesus, Gilbert told us, "I'm a free-thinker you know so, kind of everywhere.  Just not old books or the closed-minded religious types.  Otherwise basically I've just listened really good to what others have said and thought up things about Him on m...

After months of alcohol-centric partying, bar-hopping, curse-filled/vulgar speech daily, being enamored with the stars in Hollywood who idolize fame and money, and devoting hours each day to the secular music industry that profanes the name of Christ--all with very sporadic church attendance at best since the last major holiday (Christmas)--Alfie Hernandez has faithfully attended his local church once again this Easter Sunday.  Being so moved by the days activities and all the things he saw being shared over social media that day, he decided he too would get in on the festivities sharing on Facebook and Tweeting "#HeIsRisen" and "#EmptyTomb". When asked about his recent spiritual quickening from that day that spilled over into social media, Alfie told us, "I guess I didn't realize how many people said stuff like this on Facebook.  I saw what others were doing and thought...  'Seems legit!'  I'm mostly just on here for the 'lols', a...

Local pastors have joined forces over the last year documenting prayer requests, prayers, and how those prayers were answered.  The results so far have determined what most of us kind of knew all along--prayers work better when tell someone you are doing it. A group of 100 people from each of 20 different churches were selected at random (50 male and 50 female) from each church, somewhere in Nebraska.  Each person was told to pray about at least one different thing specifically, daily.  Half of them were told to never tell a soul regarding that specific prayer, while the other half was told to tell the people they are praying for or to tell someone else that they prayed.  They could tell as few or as many people as they want, but someone had to be told it was happening. Most people, like Jordan Sparks who was in the "Tell-Them group", chose to tell multiple people online for convenience.  She told us, "I loved being able to shout it from the rooftops! ...

Oak Ridge, TN Three members are dead, as well as dozens of other members seriously injured after the call for the morning greeting was given out last Sunday morning at Real Fellowship Church. Lead Pastor Chuck Johnson explained, "It is customary that after two songs when everyone has started to settle in, I instruct the whole church to greet one another.  It just so happened that this last Sunday morning, there was a single new visiting family.  Apparently everyone had taken notice and with probably a bit too much zeal, the entire church rushed towards them to say good hello.  Some of the weaker and slower members were trampled.  It's so very sad." Emergency 911 was called, and many people were taken to the hospital.  Most survived with bumps and bruises, while others are still in recovery or have died.  We interviewed the newly-visiting Schmidt family about what they saw that morning, and Mr. Schmidt told us, "Well, we all felt very welcomed. ...

The (once) popular bookstore "Christian Reads", with over 300 brick-and-mortar locations in 28 states across the United States, is closing shop.  This has come after several years of declining "Premium Blend" Bible sales, which is mostly to blame.  "We were really hoping to make it through the release of the movie-remake of 'The Shack', anticipating a fresh rush of sales on that book, but we have fallen short of that goal.  We can maintain this no longer", CEO Ashley Gregory told us. The cost of Bibles has been going up over the years, as publishers compete on coming up with the fanciest and most elegant designs available.  With such artwork and craftsmanship, however, comes great cost.  In short, it is hard to produce an affordable copy that people want to buy.   Trying to provide Bibles in every translation available besides the standby version such as "The Message", has been difficult to know which ones to choose.  Deviating to f...

Paducah, KY Last morning's 8AM Sunday service at Vibrant Church, pastor Gabriel Lathum approached the pulpit as he has hundreds of times before--prepared to preach.  That morning, however, would turn out to be a little unusual.  Gabriel told us, "Everybody just seemed extra sleepy.  I can't go on until I know everybody is alert and attentive." A typical Sunday-morning message goes for about 45 minutes from around 8:30 until 9:15 in the morning, but this last Sunday Gabriel filled the entire time repeating "Good morning" with a variety of inflections, waiting for the congregation to respond with the vigor needed to give confirmation of their attention.  For Gabriel, this was never achieved.  "Two tries is quite common.  Three tries isn't unheard of, but rare.  Four tries is kind of a thing of lore.  What happened this last Sunday, I don't even know.  I've never heard of it before.  I really had to just hold my ground and push thro...