Rightmyer was ordained by the Atlanta presbytery in 1972. He served faithfully for more than 40 years as a renewal leader. From 1995 to 2004 he served as the Chief Administrative Officer of Presbyterians for Renewal. Since leaving that position Rightmyer served as the interim pastor of Westlake Hills church in Austin and then as... Continue Reading

The moves between branches continue with the PC(USA) once again transferring more churches than it closes. And in the Church of Scotland there has been a slower, but noticeable, departure. The other interesting movement is churches moving from the Reformed Church of America to the Presbyterian Church in America. Last Spring one of the flagship... Continue Reading

Noble compounds his error by arbitrarily rewriting what’s left of the commandments to make them palatable for nonbelievers, even though he’s told us that they’re legally irrelevant. Noble presents his version by starting with the original biblical commandment, then wiping them off the screen and replacing them with his own version. God’s commands appeared on Noble’s big screen for... Continue Reading

For these reasons I am strongly considering formally asking that my name be removed from the rolls of the Presbytery of Western North Carolina’s list of commissioned ruling elders. As such I understand that I would also be giving up my privilege of serving God as moderator of the session of Oakwood, and administering the... Continue Reading

Stetzer’s comment inspired #the15, a growing number of people using a highway marker with the number 15 as their Twitter profile picture to show anger against a denominational elite they say maintains power by ridicule, marginalization and attacks on anyone who questions its authority. J.D. Hall, a Southern Baptist pastor in Montana who contributes to... Continue Reading

But the Catholic Church is not very good at reaching out warmly and helping people feel they belong, and it is doing a much worse job at “preaching to the converted.” When large chunks of Mass-going traditional Catholics don’t believe in basic doctrines of the Church, something is going very wrong at the most basic... Continue Reading

Coates and others say the black church — which he defines as a movement committed to freedom, not just a group of African-American worshippers — is being challenged by a number of factors, including young people who are not drawn to their pews and pro-gay activists who are pushing for more welcoming attitudes in their sanctuaries.... Continue Reading

“The more passionate a person is to see the church grow and the more their sympathies rest with the sinners we are trying to reach, the more open they become to the danger of compromise. Leaders and churches can become ‘sinner driven’.”   A deep and abiding passion to see our churches grow is a... Continue Reading

“We might even be able to agree that the church must identify and keep her metaphorical Big Mac but what ought to strike us is that nowhere in the author’s list of possible candidates are those which ought to be obvious to us: the pure preaching of the gospel, the pure administration of the sacraments,... Continue Reading

In the days following the statement, nearly 12,000 people resigned their membership in the Lutheran Church in Finland, according to Finland’s YLE news. A website making it easy for people to resign online continues to track daily totals. Comments on the website seem to suggest the majority of resignations are in response to Mäkinen’s statements.... Continue Reading