Jacksonville
First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Florida, has called for all its members to sign a statement repudiating both gay marriage and gender transition. The church has approximately 8,000 members, each of whom has been given until March 19 to sign or forfeited membership. Rev. Heath Lambert is pastor of the church. He said in a video message, “I want to talk to you about the sexual revolution taking place in our culture and … how we’re going to take a stand for God and his word ….”
Phoenix
The Super Bowl will be played in Phoenix this year and people watching will see ads about Jesus. It is part of the international evangelistic media campaign known as “He Gets Us.” World wide, the ads on social media have been downloaded more than a billion times. The campaign also includes traditional media, such as the iconic electronic billboard in Times Square in New York City.
Denver
Yet again, Colorado baker Jack Phillips has lost at the federal appeals level. He refused to make a cake to celebrate a customer’s gender transition. The state Civil Rights Commission declared him in violation of anti-discrimination statues. He sued in federal court. Several years ago, a previous case involving Phillips and a gay wedding went all the way to the U S Supreme Court, handing Phillips (and religious conservatives) a legal victory.
Washington
The National Prayer Breakfast is under new management, a new foundation led by former senator Mark Prior of Arkansas. The annual event began during the Eisenhower administration and every President since then has spoken in a non-political, non-partisan way. But COVID disrupted the schedule, and Trump broke the rules; so now the new foundation, controlled by elected representatives and senators, will take over. The event is this week, and 1500 are expected to participate in the multiple day occasion.
Atlanta
Influential mega-church pastor Andy Stanley is at the center of a Twitter storm. Clips of a 2022 sermon surfaced and drew attention from both gay and straight people. In the sermon, Stanley seems to affirm the participation of gay Jesus-loving people in church life.
