When churches split from the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada in 2009 to form the Anglican Church of North America, the denomination’s church leaders hoped for a fresh start. Though they had broken with their mainline Protestant church bodies because of their conservative views on LGBTQ+ clergy, same-sex marriage and women’s ordination, ACNA also aspired to be a more nimble, less hierarchical church, free of the infighting that came with too much oversight.| The Roys Report
A priest of the Anglican Church of Sudan who stayed in El-Fasher, the besieged capital of North Darfur, to serve Christians remaining there is now homeless after paramilitary violence forced him out of his church. The Rev. Daramali Abudigin, 44, kept his St. Mathew Episcopal church open, even as bombs, stray bullets and hunger killed members of his flock. Recently, he found himself assisting 130 to 150 families from different Christian denominations in the city after all other clerics fled th...| The Roys Report
(Analysis) Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk’s assassination has exposed a politically polarized response in the U.S. population, including among some church officials. Kirk’s alleged killer has alternately been accused of being right-wing, left-wing, or part of a foreign conspiracy. Panic World podcast host and former BuzzFeed editor Ryan Broderick identified Kirk’s assailant as an “accelerationist,” a new form of nihilism that seeks to “push politics and political violenc...| The Roys Report
Voddie Baucham, Jr., a Baptist preacher and educator who sometimes courted controversy but had a devoted coterie of friends and followers, died Thursday following an unspecified medical emergency. He was 56 years old and was widely known for his staunch Reformation-based theology and for rejecting “social justice ideology” and so-called “woke” teachings across Christian denominations. The Florida-based Founders Ministries, which had recently announced Baucham’s appointment as presid...| The Roys Report
Emir Caner’s tenure as Truett McConnell University (TMU) president ended today. when trustees announced his firing from the Southern Baptist school in Cleveland, Georgia. The dismissal comes five months after The Roys Report (TRR) first reported that for years, Caner ignored allegations of grooming and sexual abuse by Bradley Reynolds, the school’s academic vice president. The woman alleging the abuse was TMU graduate and former soccer coach Hayle Swinson. Caner was suspended by trustees ...| The Roys Report
An independent team of ministers and experts on abuse today released a report, recommending that International House of Prayer Kansas City (IHOPKC) founder Mike Bickle be permanently disqualified from ministry. The 29-page report was prepared by a Pastoral Recommendation Team (PRT) tasked with reviewing the findings of an investigation into sexual abuse and coverup allegations against Bickle and IHOPKC, a 24/7 prayer ministry. That investigation, which was commissioned by the Messianic minist...| The Roys Report
Jonathan Wiggins, the controversial lead pastor of a Colorado megachurch, abruptly resigned last week over “moral failure and personal shortcomings,” according to a report in northern Colorado business journal BizWest. “Following recent accusations, we, the trustees, have accepted Pastor Jonathan’s resignation effective immediately,” the newspaper quoted Britton Cottrell, a board member at Rez Church in Loveland, as saying during Sunday worship. “We, along with our advisers, first...| The Roys Report
An Idaho pastor faces a slew of charges for alleged possession and distribution of child sex abuse material, which a local judge called “horrific.” Matthew Masiewicz, the senior pastor at Sovereign Grace Fellowship in Nampa, Idaho, was arraigned Wednesday at the Canyon County Magistrate Court, according to court records. Masiewicz, 53, faces 13 charges: Six counts of knowingly distributing child sexually exploitative material, six counts of willfully possessing or accessing child sexually...| The Roys Report
On Wednesday, Sept. 10, Iraqi Christian Ashur Sarnaya was traveling late to his apartment in Lyon, France. While in his wheelchair, he started a livestream on TikTok, sharing his faith in Arabic. When he reached his apartment building, an unknown perpetrator stabbed him in the neck. Sarnaya, 45, later died from cardiac arrest. Sarnaya and his sister fled Iraq in 2014 after the Islamic State group threatened Sarnaya for his Christian beliefs. He and his sister settled in Lyon, France.| The Roys Report
Christian author Christopher Yuan has regained movement in his arms and legs after a fall earlier this week left him paralyzed. Yuan, who wrote “Holy Sexuality and the Gospel,” was recovering in “good spirits” after he got out of surgery, his mother, Angela Yuan, posted on X. Yuan, 55, was injured on Monday morning following an accident on an inversion table. While on a Teeter inversion table with a heavy swing, he fell upside down, and the “heavy machine” fell on his chest, she s...| The Roys Report
A South Carolina church secretary has been charged with misusing more than $10,000 of the church’s money. Her arrest follows just months after the church, a 156-year-old community landmark, was destroyed by fire. Jennifer Dixon-Hooks managed finances at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Darlington, South Carolina, according to WBTW-TV Ch 13 in Myrtle Beach. On Tuesday, Hooks was arrested and charged with breach of trust greater than $10,000, the Darlington County Sheriff’s Office said in a...| The Roys Report
U.S. adults don’t think God changes. Their beliefs about the divine have basically stayed the same, as well. The latest State of Theology study from Lifeway Research and Ligonier Ministries finds significant stability across a wide range of theological beliefs. Societal changes following the COVID-19 pandemic led to several theological shifts in the 2022 State of Theology, but many reverted to previous pre-pandemic norms in 2025. “While many aspects of American society can accurately b...| The Roys Report
About 20 men identified as Muslim adherents again prevented the congregation of the Indonesian Bethel Church (GBI) in Gerendeng Pulo, Karawaci District, Tangerang City, Indonesia, from holding a Sunday morning service. Footage of the incident, which occurred on Sept. 21, shows a crowd of Muslim residents engaging in dialogue with the congregation under police supervision. The footage is on social media. This is not the first such occurrence. On Sunday, Sept.| The Roys Report
Liberty University, a power center for evangelical Christianity and one of the country’s largest educational institutions, claims it adheres to the highest ethical standards. But while students were forced to follow the school’s honor code called “The Liberty Way,” leaders at the top flagrantly violated it, says 1996 graduate and former admissions counselor Rachel Beck. Beck, who’s going by her maiden name, says she was sexually harassed in the late 1990s by two top administrators.| The Roys Report
Theologian and author Christopher Yuan, known for writing about his journey from being an agnostic gay man to following Christ, is paralyzed from the neck down following a fall Monday from a medical device. Yuan, 55, was admitted to a hospital’s trauma center Monday morning following a severe injury, his mother, Angela Yuan, posted on X. While she did not clarify where the fall occurred, the author’s account says he is based in San Diego, California.| The Roys Report
Ruth Abah, 28, no longer walks to her local church, St. Paul’s, which now lies in ashes. Instead, the mother of two locks her doors and prays with her children, fearful the next attack could come at any moment. On Aug. 11, suspected Fulani herdsmen stormed the compound of the Catholic church in the village of Aye-Twar, in central Nigeria, setting the church, rectory and parish offices ablaze along with vehicles and other property. Earlier raids had already forced the parish’s 26 outstatio...| The Roys Report
In Trinidad, Colo., 200 miles south of Denver, Clay Mason leads a 12-member ministerial alliance. But his move from Texas to Trinidad, a city of 8,200 bisected by Interstate 25 and the Purgatoire River, was not about ministry. He and his wife, Mary, arrived in their RV eight and a half years ago to pursue nontraditional cancer treatments, which Clay believes cured him. They initially felt unwelcome at a local church in their denomination, the Churches of Christ..| The Roys Report
Six members of La Luz del Mundo including several top clergy were recently indicted for sexually grooming minors and women for decades.| The Roys Report
The pinnacle of a more than four-hour massive tribute to slain activist Charlie Kirk came when his wife revealed she forgave his killer. Erika Kirk’s remarks, said while speaking before a crowd estimated at 200,000 that filled both State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, and an adjacent arena Sunday afternoon, brought down the house. “My husband Charlie, he wanted to save young men just like the one who took his life,” she said, weeping as she remembered when her husband was shot dead ...| The Roys Report
In an escalation of its already tight grip on religious freedom, China introduced a sweeping set of regulations that strictly control how clergy of officially recognized religions can operate online. The new rules – released by the State Administration for Religious Affairs on Sept, 15 – are a continuation of Beijing’s long-term campaign to control religious practices in an effort to reshape faith so it aligns with the Chinese Communist Party. The 18-article document, titled “Code of ...| The Roys Report
Mehran Shamloui, a Christian convert, has been denied a retrial for his case by the Iranian Supreme Court. Shamloui was arrested in 2024 and sentenced to 10 years and 8 months in prison in March 2025 for participating in a house church. The charges against him included “propaganda activities contrary to Islamic law,” and “membership in groups opposing the state.” He was released from jail after he posted bail in late 2024.| The Roys Report
Two Romanian men have filed lawsuits accusing a former pastor at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, of sexually abusing and trafficking children at a shelter he operated in Bucharest for nearly a decade. The lawsuits also name Harvest and its prominent pastor Greg Laurie for alleged negligence in failing to prevent the abuse. The complaints filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in California by Marian Barbu, 33, and Mihai-Constantin Petcu, 40, allege that Paul Havsgaard, a ...| The Roys Report
Erika Kirk, widow of assassinated conservative Christian activist Charlie Kirk, will be the new CEO and board chair of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), the group revealed. Charlie Kirk, 31, was shot and killed Sept. 10 during a public appearance on the campus of Utah Valley University in Provo, Utah. A 22-year-old suspect, Tyler Robinson, is facing a litany of charges in Utah, including aggravated murder, a death penalty offense. He was also charged this week with felony discharge of a firearm caus...| The Roys Report
Huston-Tillotson University, a Christian school in Austin, Texas, marked its 150th anniversary with an announcement that it received a $150 million gift — the largest-ever single donation to a private historically Black college or university (HBCU) — from a Texas foundation. Ross Moody, a trustee of the Texas-based Moody Foundation, made the surprise announcement during the university’s fall convocation on Thursday (Sept. 18), providing a watershed moment for the school founded in 1875.| The Roys Report
Liberty University, the evangelical powerhouse founded by Jerry Falwell Sr., has long touted its mission of “Training Champions for Christ.” But a deep dive into its latest IRS Form 990 filing for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, reveals a different kind of championship: one in executive compensation. Its top officers and insiders are pocketing salaries rivaling those of Fortune 500 CEOs, while the institution operates as a tax-exempt nonprofit. The filing, obtained via ProPublica’...| The Roys Report
For two decades, Michael Tait survivors Jason Jones and Randall Crawford hid their alleged rapes by Tait from the world. Now, they are on the warpath. After telling media their stories of grooming and sexual assault at the hands of the former Newsboys frontman, they have launched a platform called Coalition Reloaded. The ambitious music and ministry initiative calls out sexual and church abuse in an effort to change Christian music from the inside out.| The Roys Report
The Southern Baptist Convention will go its own way on immigration policy, the denomination’s top public policy official said Wednesday (Sept. 17), breaking ties with a coalition of other evangelical Christian bodies focused on the issue. “We feel we need to take a more independent posture on our immigration-related work,” Miles Mullin, acting president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the SBC’s policy arm, told the agency’s trustees in announcing it had severed ties ...| The Roys Report
AI-generated versions of conservative Christian activist Charlie Kirk are popping up online after his killing—as well as in church services.| The Roys Report
The lead pastor at a North Texas megachurch has resigned after confessing to “sexual sin and moral failure.” John McKinzie, lead pastor at Hope Fellowship Church in Collin County, Texas, stepped down Monday, church leaders announced in an email to congregants. Hope Fellowship, with an estimated weekly attendance of 8,000 to 9,000, operates four campuses in Frisco, McKinney, and Prosper, Texas. The email described how leaders were blindsided by McKinzie’s confession on Sunday.| The Roys Report
As millions worldwide mourned the Sept. 10 murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) issued a statement lamenting his death and praising his message. While saying he believes Kirk’s assassination was “demonic,” the Rev. Dwight McKissic, a prominent Black pastor in the SBC, claims the statement’s omission of Kirk’s demeaning comments about persons of color was glaring and wrong. “We need to lament his death,” McKissic, senior pastor of th...| The Roys Report
A California pastor has been arrested for viewing child sex abuse material for more than 10 years, church officials said. Jeffrey Williams Zabel, the pastor of worship and service production at Arbor Road Church (ARC) in Long Beach, was arrested on Sept. 9, Long Beach police told The Roys Report(TRR) in a statement. Zabel also served as a part-time music and choir teacher at Lakewood Christian Schools (LCS), which is affiliated with the church.| The Roys Report
Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk, has been charged with aggravated murder, which, if convicted of, means he could face the death penalty. In a 10-page probable cause document, Utah prosecutors levied a total of seven charges against Robinson. Along with the murder charge, others were felony discharge of a firearm, two counts of obstruction of justice, two counts of witness tampering, and committing a violent crime when children are present.| The Roys Report
As he sat behind a microphone for nearly two hours in the White House complex on Monday (Sept. 15), Vice President JD Vance’s face hung with visible emotion. As the guest host of Charlie Kirk’s podcast, he talked with a series of White House officials as they told stories about Kirk, the conservative activist who was killed by an assassin’s bullet last week while speaking at a college in Utah. But as the vice president began to draw the episode to a close, the tone shifted from mournful...| The Roys Report
On Aug. 27, over a thousand attendees lifted their voices in worship at Washington, D.C.,’s Kennedy Center as part of a red-carpet premiere of a new documentary, “The Revival Generation: Gen Z Turning to Jesus.” As the notes of the last song faded, Abigail Robertson, granddaughter of famed televangelist Pat Robertson and producer of the film, took the stage to praise God for the Christian revivals taking place around the globe. “May this be the first of many events like this at the Ke...| The Roys Report
Eight leaders of a Georgia-based church have been indicted for swindling more than $30 million from multiple banks and an untold number of U.S. veterans. The widespread fraud scheme was operated for decades by leaders of the House of Prayer Christian Churches of America (HOPCC), the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia in a press release. The leaders allegedly targeted members of the U.S. military for indoctrination and then “exercised extreme control” to gain mon...| The Roys Report
(Analysis) “America remains today substantially what it has always been, namely a Christian country. That observation can sound aggressively partisan or intolerant, since some extremists believe that Americans are a Christian people who require a Christian government, with all that implies about religious exercises in schools and public displays. I make no such assertion, since I believe that religion flourishes best when it is kept farthest away from any form of government intervention, ev...| The Roys Report
A Dallas megachurch pastor will be taking a temporary leave of absence following a recent medical diagnosis. Friendship-West Baptist Church in north Texas announced on Sunday that Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III is scheduled to undergo surgery and will spend the coming weeks focused on recovery. Dr. Haynes has served as the senior pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas for 40 years, growing from 100 members in 1983 to over 13,000, according to the church.| The Roys Report
Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old Utah man charged with assassinating conservative Christian activist Charlie Kirk, appears to have confessed online to the crime, The Washington Post reported. “Hey guys, I have bad news for you all,” read a message on Robinson’s account on Discord, an online platform. “It was me at UVU yesterday. im sorry for all of this.” The Post reported that the image was sent on Thursday night, shortly before Robinson was apprehended.| The Roys Report
Two months after the Trump administration officially dismantled the United States Agency for International Development, the federal agency that delivered foreign assistance to developing countries, humanitarian organizations are reorganizing as they reel from the effects. World Vision, an international evangelical humanitarian organization, counted on the U.S. government for one-third of its funding. As a result of USAID cuts, as the agency’s remaining operations were absorbed under th...| The Roys Report
The assassination of Charlie Kirk marks a watershed moment, challenging the Church to embody love, prayer, and peacemaking, writes Lance Ford| The Roys Report
2 days after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, his widow Erika delivered a stirring message “You have no idea what you just unleashed,” she said.| The Roys Report
Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin was raised Mormon and Republican, but he registered to vote as “unaffiliated” with any party, the New York Post reported. And he shot the conservative activist minutes after Kirk had complimented the Mormon church and its adherents. The man accused of killing Kirk, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, “went to our church when he was younger,” Kristin Schwierman, one of Robinson’s neighbors in St. George, Utah, told the Post. “I just know that (Tyler) carri...| The Roys Report
Financial instability, high unemployment and poverty in South Africa have led some women to choose prostitution as a means of supporting their children. As South Africa commemorated its 69th National Women’s Day this past Aug. 9 and the government moves to decriminalize prostitution, Religion Unplugged interviewed Christian ministries that preach to women involved in prostitution to explore the church’s role in restoring their dignity. Madri Bruwer, a counselor at Straatwerk (street work...| The Roys Report
A week before he was shot and killed while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University, Charlie Kirk, the head of Turning Point USA, posted to his more than 5 million followers on X, “No civilization has ever collapsed because it prays too much.” “But a civilization that abandons God will deteriorate and ultimately collapse from the inside out, or because it loses the will to repel a malicious, external force,” Kirk tweeted.| The Roys Report
The alleged assassin of conservative Christian activist Charlie Kirk has been arrested, President Donald J. Trump said Friday morning. Law enforcement sources told the New York Post that Tyler Robinson, 22, a Utah resident, is in custody. Kirk, 31, was shot and killed during a Sept. 10 public appearance at Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem, Utah. He had just begun speaking to several thousand students gathered in an outdoor courtyard when a gunman atop a building 200 yards away opened fire.| The Roys Report
Chet Snyder of Fairfield, Illinois, a pastor and volleyball coach, is facing multiple charges related to alleged sexual assault of minors.| The Roys Report
REPORTING THE TRUTH. RESTORING THE CHURCH.| The Roys Report
Accolades, remembrances, and prayers poured in from evangelical Christian leaders and U.S. political leaders in the hours following the Sept. 10 assassination of Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old activist who founded Turning Point USA. Kirk, a father of two young children, was shot during an appearance at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. He died at a local hospital not long after the incident. As of midday Thursday, no suspect had been arrested, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation releas...| The Roys Report
A prominent Florida Assemblies of God (AG) pastor, who allegedly has left a stream of unreported child sex abuse cases in his wake, has finally been charged by police. Mark Vega, the senior pastor at Ignite Life Center church in Gainesville, “intentionally endeavored” to hide multiple reports of child abuse, according to a sworn complaint filed with the Gainesville police department. Under Florida law, anyone who suspects child abuse is required to report this to authorities.| The Roys Report
On Tuesday morning, an attack by militants shattered the Congolese Christian community in North Kivu province, leaving 71 civilians dead.| The Roys Report
Seminary of the Southwest has abruptly dismissed its ninth dean and president, Dr. Scott Bader-Saye, after finding he was engaged in a relationship with someone he supervised. Bader-Saye, a long-standing professor of ethics at the seminary in Austin, Texas, was elected as dean in July 2024 and installed this January. Bader-Saye joined the faculty of Seminary of the Southwest as the Helen and Everett H. Jones Chair in Christian Ethics and Moral Theology in 2009 and served as academic dean from...| The Roys Report
From membrs being banned to staff firings to alleged deceptive changes in bylaws, John Lindell & James River Church are driving faithful away| The Roys Report
Conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk, 31, was shot and killed today during an outdoor appearance at Utah Valley University (UVU) in Provo, Utah. The founder of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) and a supporter of President Donald J. Trump, Kirk apparently died from a gunshot wound at Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem, a town adjacent to the school. “The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” President Trump wrote on TruthSocial. “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in ...| The Roys Report
2 years after a Dallas Presbyterian megachurch pastor unexpectedly died of cardiac arrest, his church has hired Thomas Daniel to replace him.| The Roys Report
The question of who qualifies as an evangelical and how many evangelicals exist worldwide continues to puzzle scholars, church leaders and mission researchers alike. That was the central theme of a Sept. 2 webinar hosted by the World Evangelical Alliance and released publicly Sept. 5, featuring two leading voices in global religious demography. Dr. Gina A. Zurlo, editor of the World Christian Database and a lecturer at Harvard Divinity School, and Jason Mandryk, longtime editor of Operatio...| The Roys Report
In the report, made public this wk, task force members said they found a pattern of bias against Christians during the Biden administration.| The Roys Report
An 88-year-old Virginia pastor was sentenced Monday to eight years in prison for child sex crimes, after a judge greatly reduced it from 55 years. According to Richmond County Circuit Court records, a plea deal allowed the pastor, who had previously faced 31 charges, to receive the shorter sentence. Albert “Ben” Wharton, pastor of Victory Baptist Church in Warsaw, Virginia, from 1976-2002, pleaded guilty to eight of the counts against him, court records showed.| The Roys Report
A 63-year-old Russian Pentecostal pastor received a four-year sentence for preaching against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an Oslo-based news service focused on human rights and religious freedom reported. On Sept. 3, the Balashikha City court sentenced Pastor Nikolay Romanyuk to four years imprisonment in a labor camp—followed by a three-year ban on administering any website—for an anti-war sermon he preached in 2022, Forum 18 reported. Prosecutors accused the pastor of urging his aud...| The Roys Report
For the first time in decades, Gen Z and Millennials are attending church more frequently than older adults, Barna and Gloo reported Sept. 3 from its latest State of the Church research. But despite the rise, the average Christian still only attends church 1.6 times per month, or twice every five weeks, researchers said. “We were able to analyze our data in a fresh way to show what many pastors feel — that even really regular churchgoers do not attend that often.| The Roys Report
In a speech on religious liberty given at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., on Monday, President Donald Trump vowed his administration would combat “anti-Christian bias,” spurring cheers from the crowd at an event that was almost entirely focused on Christianity. “There is a tremendous anti-Christian bias,” said Trump at a public hearing of the White House Religious Liberty Commission, created by executive order in May. “We don’t hear about it.| The Roys Report
It seems like a great redemption story: A pastor who stole thousands of dollars not from one—but two churches—spent years in restoration and restitution, then made a new start. This was the case when Jeff Countryman went public about a saga that led him from pastoring churches to practicing repentance. Five years ago, he returned to full-time ministry, and for the last three years served as campus pastor of the Land O’ Lakes location for the Tampa-area Grace Family Church.| The Roys Report
The First Presbyterian Church of Charlotte, North Carolina has dismissed its senior pastor after an investigation showed a five-year history of committing adultery, then trying to cover it up. The Christian Post reported that Pendleton Barnes Peery, a sixth-generation Presbyterian minister, was recently dismissed as senior pastor for breaking his marriage and ordination vows. According to WCCB-TV, an independent Charlotte station, Peery admitted to breaking his marriage vows in a letter to...| The Roys Report
Even before a program to compensate survivors of sex abuse in the Church of England is ready to receive applicants, a poorly addressed message exposed the email addresses of all 194 people who registered for regular updates. The problem originated with Kennedys Law LLC, the third-party administrator of the program known as the Church of England Redress Scheme. Kennedy’s quickly acknowledged its culpability and has pledged to prevent any similar errors from occurring.| The Roys Report
On July 13, 2024, Emeka Eze went out for his routine evening evangelism around Jakande market in Lagos, Nigeria. He had purchased a new public address system the previous day and wanted to do a test run. On his way back home, he noticed some people under the Jakande Bridge and decided he would preach to them. After his sermon, one man repented and accepted Jesus Christ as his savior. The next day, while prepping for Sunday service, Eze said he received an instruction from God that changed his...| The Roys Report
An Ohio pastor and former county commissioner candidate was charged this week with public indecency for engaging in a “sex act” with a woman in the back seat of an SUV. Aaron Williams, Jr., 56, pastor of Maddox Memorial Church of God and community leader in Mansfield, Ohio, pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge in Mansfield Municipal Court on Thursday, court records show. Mansfield, pop. 47,534, is located in hilly north-central Ohio about halfway between Columbus and Cleveland.| The Roys Report
During the “Bible and American Renewal” breakout session at this week’s National Conservatism Conference, Josh Hammer stood out as the lone Jewish person on the panel of otherwise conservative Christian activists: a pastor, the editor of an online Christian magazine and a self-described Christian nationalist. Yet, it was Hammer who told an audience member that “America was founded as a Christian country.” “I’ll be the first to say that,” Hammer added.| The Roys Report
Sept. 1 marks a historic victory for child sexual assault survivors in Texas and Missouri. “Trey’s Law” has officially gone into effect, banning the misuse of nondisclosure agreements in civil settlement agreements pertaining to sexual assault claims. In Texas, this legislation releases survivors from existing NDAs that restrict them from telling their stories, unless a court specifically orders otherwise. Missouri’s House version of Trey’s Law (HB-737) also went into effect last Th...| The Roys Report
Toms River Mayor Daniel Rodrick on Aug. 27 unexpectedly dropped his plan to seize Christ Episcopal Church’s land for a public park. His announcement came during the New Jersey town’s council meeting’s public comment time when a speaker asked him to stop the seizure. He responded that a poll he commissioned showed that “it’s pretty clear that the public does not support the eminent domain. We thought the church would be a willing seller and we’re not moving forward with the eminent...| The Roys Report
Disgraced former megachurch pastor Robert Morris waived his right to a preliminary hearing at a court appearance Thursday morning regarding accusations he sexually abused a 12-year-old girl over four decades ago. Flanked by attorneys and wife Debbie, Morris appeared before Judge Cindy Pickerell at the Osage County District Court in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. Morris confirmed he understood the implications of waiving the hearing. Preliminary hearings are where a judge decides if there’s sufficient ...| The Roys Report
A pastor and social media influencer in Fort Worth, Texas, was arrested Sunday on a sexual assault charge. Alonzo Diego Fuller, 39, was arrested by Fort Worth police on a second-degree felony charge of sexual assault that, according to The Dallas Morning News, allegedly occurred in June. On Monday, Fuller was released from the Tarrant County jail on a $40,000 surety bond, according to jail records. But Fuller, founding pastor of Journey Fort Worth Church, said he “categorically denies” th...| The Roys Report
Days after challenging Pastor Doug Wilson to a public debate, Peter Bell, producer and host of the podcast “Sons of Patriarchy,” made a social media confession that has forced a reckoning within the community he helped build around exposing abuse in patriarchal churches. Bell, whose podcast investigates Wilson’s Moscow, Idaho-based church movement, said in a since-deleted Aug. 23 Facebook post that he struggled with pornography addiction for nearly two decades, was fired from multiple j...| The Roys Report
Three former employees of the late John MacArthur’s megachurch have filed a lawsuit, claiming they were forced to work on an asbestos-laden construction site in a rush job to build a new school. Then, when the workers complained to Grace Community Church (GCC) and refused to drop the matter, GCC fired them, they say. When asbestos turned up in the tile flooring, supervisors from Grace Community Church (GCC) lied to the workers, they say, claiming a lab test found no asbestos.| The Roys Report
The son-in-law of televangelist Mark Barclay was convicted on Friday of sexually assaulting a girl for about six years. James Randolph, a former church leader at Living Word Church in Midland, Michigan, now potentially faces life in prison. Living Word Church was founded by Barclay, whose TV ministry reaches millions of viewers each week. Following two and a half hours of deliberations, Randolph was found guilty of all six counts he faced.| The Roys Report
When Newsboys owner Wes Campbell resigned from the Gospel Music Association board in July, he insisted he had “no idea” about the devastating behaviors by frontman Michael Tait. But many have called those claims into question. And Campbell’s Grammy-nominated band is on life support due to The Roys Report’s (TRR) investigation into Tait’s sexual misconduct, drug use, and alleged cover up by Newsboys’ management. Over the past few months, the band has lost its Canadian tour, multipl...| The Roys Report
Two former Liberty University Title IX officials have sued the evangelical school, alleging racial discrimination, retaliation, and systemic failures at the heart of its compliance operations. The latest lawsuit, filed August 12, comes from Erika Woolfolk, a Liberty graduate and long-time employee who says she was the only black woman in the office from 2018 until her firing in June 2024. Her 39-page complaint, filed in federal district court, accuses the school and then-senior vice president...| The Roys Report
The church doors would remain open, David Crosby decided after the levees failed New Orleans in Hurricane Katrina. Someone from the Midwest sent a huge generator to First Baptist Church of New Orleans, Crosby’s pastorate at the time, enabling the church to reopen as soon as the law allowed. Near constant news coverage flashed scenes of bodies floating atop floodwaters, hungry babies crying, families handling the dead bodies of their loved ones with whatever dignity the chaos allowed.| The Roys Report
When Nick Spencer heard about the shooting that took place last week at a Catholic church in Minneapolis, he, like millions of Americans, was heartbroken. But as the chief operations officer of the security firm Strategos International, he also prepared for what he knew would come next. “Unfortunately, once an event occurs, there’s a huge inquiry that happens,” he said. “People want to know about resources: ‘What can we do to not be the next victim in this situation?’” It’s a ...| The Roys Report
Luke’s House, a free clinic in New Orleans, grew out of a need sparked in the Rev. Callie Winn Crawford’s heart after Hurricane Katrina closed most avenues to health care. It was an inspiration from St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Lincoln, Nebraska, which sent mission teams to New Orleans for 16 consecutive years. St. Mark’s started a free clinic for the uninsured called “Clinic with a Heart.” Luke’s House is named for St.| The Roys Report
In a chilling new tactic, alleged Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels disguised themselves as church officials and choristers before launching a recent fatal attack on Mayi Moya village in Beni Territory, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The rebels killed three civilians and kidnapped eight. The attackers reportedly began their Aug. 13 mission in Ngite village earlier in the morning, where they raided a church, stole clerical robes and choir garments, and posed as members of a religi...| The Roys Report
Marcos Hernandez says he has spent most of his life running. Mostly trying to get away from God. “I’ve been running from him — running with the devil,” says Hernandez, a resident of Wayside Cross, a Christian recovery center and shelter in the Chicago suburbs. These days, Hernandez, who says he is four years sober, is running for a different reason. If all goes to plan, he and seven other Wayside Cross residents will toe the line at the Fox Valley half-marathon in St.| The Roys Report
When an impoverished neighborhood’s biggest obstacle is its murder rate, no amount of food donations and micro-loans will alleviate suffering. Sociologist Kurt Ver Beek knows this firsthand. That’s why, when the struggling Honduran neighborhood of Nueva Suyapa was overrun by a murderous teen gang in the mid-aughts, the Honduras-based organization Ver Beek co-founded, La Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa (in English, the Association for a More Just Society), made radical moves ou...| The Roys Report
Could artificial intelligence or short TV episodes help young adults engage more with the Bible? American Bible Society has issued first-time grants to four Christian higher education institutions to encourage innovation in getting young adults more interested in Scripture. At Los Angeles Pacific University, the recipient of a $15,000 grant, scholars will be researching the effects of a “Bible Engagement Assistant” that builds on “Spark,” an AI course assistant that the online univers...| The Roys Report
Jesus commanded his followers to love their neighbors as themselves, but residents living near The Masters University (TMU) 33 miles north of Los Angeles say they aren’t feeling the love. The resulting acrimony resulted in 13 residents asking the city of Santa Clarita, California, to block TMU’s request to approve a $65 million tax-exempt bond allowing the university to expand in Placerita Canyon. They succeeded. “Masters College is a Christian organization,” said Placerita Canyon res...| The Roys Report
After two decades of U.S.-backed governance, the dramatic fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban terrorist organization in 2021 shocked the world. The Taliban’s takeover took just hours, but its impact on Afghan women and the country’s small minority communities is incalculable. Saturday, Aug. 30, marks the fourth anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan — the end of a brief window in which Afghans experienced unprecedented levels of rights and freedoms. Today, Afghanistan is m...| The Roys Report
It’s ChurchToo porn: A middle-aged man in front of a mirror taking a selfie of his naked butt while wearing a black sweatshirt emblazoned with the name of a major Canadian Christian ministry. “Jane Doe,” 60, a former volunteer for Battle for Canada, a revival ministry founded by Kelowna pastor Art Lucier, says the man with his pants down is Lucier himself. The selfie photo, which the volunteer says Lucier sent her in 2022, appears set in a mocha polyvinyl-paneled bathroom of a private r...| The Roys Report
A Memphis pastor who was once pardoned by Tennessee’s governor was arrested this week in connection with a half-million-dollar theft. DeAndre Brown and his wife, Vinessa, were indicted on Tuesday for 12 counts of felony theft, according to Tennessee’s Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury. The Comptroller’s Office said that the Browns misappropriated at least $600,000 in funds through Lifeline to Success, a nonprofit that provides re-entry services for former convicts.| The Roys Report
Johnnie Moore, the face of the embattled Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the new nonprofit commissioned to distribute food aid in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, has long said he believes Christians are called to do great things for God and to help the world become a better place. So when the U.S. State Department asked him earlier this year to work on a new relief effort for Gaza, according to Moore, the public relations guru and onetime faith adviser to President Donald Trump jumped at the ...| The Roys Report
The FBI today arrested the leaders of Joshua Media Ministries International (JMMI) in a series of raids across several states for allegedly using psychological and physical abuse to coerce victims into soliciting millions. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, JMMI leaders, David Taylor and Michelle Brannon, ran a forced labor organization and a multi-million-dollar money laundering conspiracy. The department called the arrests a “nationwide takedown” of a human trafficking scheme ...| The Roys Report
The Rev. Hunt Priest, the founder of a society dedicated to helping clergy integrate the use of psychedelic drugs into pastoral care, has been deposed from the ministry of the Episcopal Church by Bishop Frank Logue of Georgia. An August 5 accord announcing the action concludes a 13-month Title IV process resulting from a complaint filed by the Rev. Joe Welker, a Presbyterian pastor who worked with Priest at Ligare, a nonprofit agency that aims to educate faith communities about the largely...| The Roys Report
Hundreds of prisoners in Pakistani jails and prisons have been incarcerated for violating blasphemy laws against the Islamic prophet Mohammad. Those charged belong to minority religions, such as Hinduism and Christianity. According to Christian Daily International, these prisoners face cruel treatment and discrimination within the judicial system. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) reported that Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are second in severity only to Iran. Th...| The Roys Report
A former teacher and youth pastor in west Texas has been charged with assaulting a child, according to court records. Jeremy Scott Maxfield, a former teacher and coach at Lubbock High School in Lubbock, Texas, was arrested last Wednesday. Victims have accused Maxfield, 41, of assaulting them while at the west Texas school or at an unspecified church in Amherst. Maxfield was initially charged with three counts of sexual assault of a child and one count of improper relationship between an educa...| The Roys Report
A Minnesota law that banned certain Christian colleges from a program that enrolls high-schoolers in tuition-free college credit courses is unconstitutional, a federal judge has ruled. Minnesota violated the religious freedom of certain schools when it amended its 40-year-old Post Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) program in 2023 to exclude schools that require students to sign a statement of faith, U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel ruled late Aug. 23rd. Additionally, Brasel threw out a nond...| The Roys Report
In the besieged city of El-Fasher in southwestern Sudan, the Rev. Daramali Abudigin is staying on, even as random bombs, stray bullets and hunger kill members of his flock. The 44-year-old priest has kept St. Mathew, of the Anglican Church of Sudan, open to all Christians, after increased fighting has forced other pastors and priests to flee. Here, people live one day at a time, and if stray bombs and bullets do not kill them, hunger does not spare them, especially children.| The Roys Report
John MacArthur’s son, who was disgraced by his involvement in a fraudulent investment scheme, took the stage Saturday to give a surprise eulogy at his father’s funeral. That eulogy was then scrubbed from the official video of MacArthur’s funeral posted online by MacArthur’s broadcast ministry, Grace to You (GTY). John MacArthur, founder of GTY and Grace Community Church (GCC) in Sun Valley, California, died on July 14 at the age of 86. Only one of MacArthur’s two sons, Matt MacArthu...| The Roys Report
As Josh Clemons, the executive director of OneRace, an anti-racist Christian organization, kicked off its racial reconciliation conference last week, he compared efforts to clean the church from the sin of racism to an ancient Japanese art practice, kintsugi. The centuries-old method consists of mending broken pottery by welding pieces with liquid gold. Once repaired, the new ceramics are embellished by shining golden cracks, proudly displaying what were once flaws. Similarly, congregations t...| The Roys Report
The Newsboys are known for “roaring like a lion,” but the final leg of their tour this year ended with little more than a whimper. Scheduled to appear at Jærgårds-ROCK festival in Klepp, Norway on August 24, the festival quietly posted the Newsboys cancelation on Instagram. Stating that the band “didn’t come with their plane and it was not possible to find other options to bring equipment, crew and band members,” the festival offered customers discounted tickets and refunds.| The Roys Report
Amnesty International recently called for the convictions of 11 Christians convicted in Libya to be overturned, citing “grossly unfair” trials. The human rights organization said the trials of the nine Libyan men, a Libyan woman, and a Pakistani man were “marred by egregious violations of due process and international human rights standards.” The 11 believers, who were charged with “insulting religious sanctities and rituals using the internet,” “calling for the establishment of...| The Roys Report
21Wilberforce and the Baptist World Alliance are joining other Christian groups in calling for the release of seven church leaders in Eritrea who have been detained without trial more than 20 years. The #Voices4Justice campaign is urging Eritrean government officials to release seven arbitrarily detained Christian leaders—Haile Naizge, Kuflu Gebremeskel, Million Gebreselassie, Futsum Gebrenegus, Tekleab Menghisteab, Gebremedhin Gebregiorgis and Kidane Weldou. “21Wilberforce appeals t...| The Roys Report
Editor’s Note: Today is the United Nations-sponsored International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief. Over the next few days, we will be running articles to highlight the plight of Christians in countries where religious oppression is most pronounced. (Opinion) While killings often command international attention, many of the most chilling tactics used to suppress religious freedom unfold quietly—through arrests, detentions, and abductions. In a...| The Roys Report