us news
Beloved Anglican pastor killed in crash with daughter mourned across denominations
The Rev. Thomas McKenzie, a beloved Anglican pastor who founded the Church of the Redeemer in Nashville, Tennessee, is being mourned by Christians across denominational lines after he was killed with his daughter Charlie in a tragic rear-end crash with a tractor-trailer Monday morning.
Tennessee Highway Patrol confirmed that the crash happened around 9:50 a.m. Monday, according to WKRN. The wreck occurred just 30 minutes after the 50-year-old pastor announced on social media that he was on his way to New Mexico with his 22-year-old daughter, who was about to begin her senior year at St. John’s College.
“First day of sabbatical. Driving with my kid to New Mexico. Charlie’s senior year at St John’s College, Santa Fe campus. Today’s goal? Shamrock, Texas,” he noted on Facebook.
Authorities say the crash happened on I-40 westbound at mile marker 178. The tractor-trailer driver was reportedly slowing down due to traffic when the pastor’s Nissan Versa rear-ended the tractor-trailer while changing lanes. The driver of the tractor-trailer was not injured.
Rev. McKenzie, who leaves behind his wife and another daughter Sophie McKenzie, revealed on Twitter Sunday Morning how excited he was for his road trip but opined about how much he would miss his church family.
“Today is my last day of work before my sabbatical begins,” he tweeted. “I’m excited about my upcoming travels, but I know I’ll miss my community. I feel sadness and some anxiety as I prepare for this morning’s Eucharists.”
In an email statement to congregants following the founding pastor’s death, Church of the Redeemer Associate Pastor Kenny Benge said the congregation’s sadness was “deep.”
“Thomas was just beginning his well-deserved sabbatical. Thomas’ wife Laura and their daughter Sophie are now home in Nashville,” Benge wrote. “Please keep Laura and Sophie in your prayers as they navigate this agonizing time. I and the staff, as well as the broader leadership of the church, are shocked and deeply saddened, as I’m sure you are as well in hearing this news.”
Russell Moore, the former leader of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission who is now a public theologian with Christianity Today, was a good friend of the late pastor. Moore publicly mourned McKenzie on Twitter as a “great and faithful and kind man.”
“All of us who loved this great and faithful and kind man are grieving. @thomasmckenzie ministered to countless of us of various denominations, and we all respected him,” Moore wrote in one tweet. “Pray for his family and church at this moment of great sadness.”
On Tuesday morning, Moore elaborated on his experience with McKenzie in a series of tweets.
“Several years ago, my friend Randall Goodgame asked @russramsey1 @thomasmckenzie and me to do an episode of @slugsandbugsofficial on ‘An Anglican, a Baptist, and a Presbyterian Walk into a Monkey Bar.’ We sat in kids’ chairs, at a kids’ table, literally coloring with crayons and playing with Play-Doh, while talking about Jesus’ call to childlikeness. We were goofing off, making jokes. But it also happened to be the worst day of my life until that point. I drove there from a horrific meeting and was in great pain,” Moore revealed.
“What I remember about that day is the way father Thomas, @russramsey and @randallgoodgame stood around, laying hands on me and praying for me. And then Thomas told a dry joke that made me laugh. When this Baptist was facing some awful stuff from (some of) my own people, the Anglican and the Presbyterian were brothers to me.”
Moore said the “childlikeness” he experienced that day “had nothing to do with the crayons or the swing set.”
“I’ve thought about that day a lot over [the] last 24 hrs,” Moore stressed. “I keep remembering his gravity and his care. He’s the only man I ever looked up to for his maturity and grace while shooting water pistols at each other. He took time in that moment [to] help me w the strength to go on. I can only imagine the ministry for those in his parish. No wonder there is such grief all around the country by Anglicans, Baptists, Presbyterians, and beyond.”
Congregant Susan Williams confirmed Moore’s assessment of McKenzie’s ministry in a post on Facebook in which she revealed the death of her pastor broke her heart “into a million, zillion pieces.”
“Father Thomas gave me hope, that godly men would rise up, and call corruption what it was, and point us all back to the salvation available through our magnificent, compassionate, gracious God. He called sin, sin, but caused me to wonder at the immeasurable grace of God that reaches out to us in our weakness, enveloping us in forgiveness and mercy,” Williams wrote.
“I pray I will never forget the lesson he taught last Sunday, on the humility that holds the person who aspires to be useful in the Kingdom together. May humility always characterize me, and compassion, and gratefulness for the grace, and mercy, and love of my blessed Redeemer, who paid the highest price to buy my soul back out of slavery to sin.”
us news
British Evangelist Slashed, Imprisoned, Threatened with Death, Keeps Going
LONDON – An ex-Muslim turned Christian evangelist has been beaten, chased by angry mobs, unlawfully jailed and even stabbed, all for the sake of the Gospel.
This is not in Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia. It is officially happening in Christian Britain.
Her name is Hatun Tash, and what has been done to her has even caught the attention of the British media.
Tash grew up in Turkey as a Muslim and became a Christian after moving to England. And being an ex-Muslim speaking out against Islam has made her a target.
She told us she has changed residences more than 50 times in the past four years because she knows Muslims are looking for her in order to kill her. One man has already been sentenced to 24 years in prison for trying.
Because of this ongoing danger, she asked that we interview her from a secret location.
Tash told us her conversion to Christ began when she learned the truth about Islam and Mohammed.
“As I read biography, it was very disturbing to me. So, the man you grew up to love and honor suddenly turns out to be like, yeah, not good, not good. And I decided, I can’t be Muslim.”
Then she learned about a very different God than the one of Islam, telling us, “As you dig into it, you get to meet with a God who is not silent or far or distant from you, but you meet with a God who loves you, who pours out himself on you. And not only that, He just puts himself on the cross and then says, ‘I love you from everlasting to everlasting, Come to me.'”
Tash began sharing this message to Muslims at Speakers Corner, in London’s Hyde Park, where speakers climb atop stepladders and vigorous debates ensue, often between Muslims and Christians.
Her preaching and criticism of Islam has sometimes enraged Muslims, and three years ago a man slashed her face with a knife. He has never been caught.
She however has been arrested unlawfully more than once. The London Police have twice paid her damages for wrongful arrests, including two years ago when she refused to leave the area where she was preaching. Tash was forcibly marched through Hyde Park, followed by Muslims celebrating her arrest. She was placed in a police van, strip-searched, and jailed.
This has not stopped Tash from going to mosques and sharing the Gospel daily.
“I would simply stand in front of the mosques, and I’d say ‘Muhammad is a false prophet. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Tell me, what is your objections?’ Hundreds of Muslims just stop and then they want to talk to you. Sometimes you get harmed, sometimes it gets dangerous. Sometimes you end up in hospitals, sometimes you end up in people’s homes for a cup of tea,” Tash said.
“I don’t care whether people reject me or not. They need to hear the gospel,” she said.
Christian Concern’s Christian Legal Centre has defended Tash. Christian Concern’s Andrea Williams told us, “The truth is that those that have attempted to kill her have been caught on camera. The police know who they are, but they have not been arrested. She is feared by and targeted by Muslim groups because she is fearless for the gospel. She loves Jesus so much that nothing will halt her.”
Tash says she will continue to preach and continue to challenge Islam.
“Things are dangerous. Should I choose to stay silent? Like when people are spending 5,000 Pounds to buy a gun, to shoot you and shoot your loved ones? The Gospel is so glorious, I cannot be silent. And the Lord is the giver of life. So, when it’s my time, He will take me home. But until He gives me breath, we continue to preach.”
Sources:CBN News
us news
‘Christ Laid His Life Down for Me’: Greg Laurie Gives Powerful Gospel Presentation to Jordan Peterson
Christian megachurch leader Greg Laurie recently appeared on psychologist Jordan Peterson’s podcast, where he gave the professor-turned-cultural commentator a powerful presentation of the Gospel.
“When everything’s said and done, what’s more important than the afterlife?” the California-based pastor asked Peterson. “What’s more important than where we spend it? According to the Bible, I believe there’s a literal heaven, a literal hell, and I believe we choose in this life where we will spend the afterlife.”
Laurie added he’s going to spend eternity in heaven “not because I’ve lived a good life — because I failed in many ways — but because Christ laid His life down for me on the cross.”
“Coming back to Abraham, and what a picture, the son was willing to go and be sacrificed by the father,” the pastor continued, referring to the Old Testament story of Genesis 22. “[Isaac] knew what was going on: ‘Hey, Dad, where’s the sacrifice?’ ‘My son, God will provide for Himself a sacrifice.’ But Isaac made that sacrifice, too. The Son Jesus made that sacrifice for us, because He knew there was no other way that we could reach God, no other way we could satisfy the righteous demands of God. So Heaven isn’t for good people, as it’s often said; heaven is for forgiven people.”
The conversation between Peterson and Laurie stemmed from the 71-year-old minister opening up about the death of his son, Christopher, who passed away in 2008 as a result of a tragic car accident.
He described that day in July of 2008 as the “worst” day in his life. Nevertheless, Laurie said he is not without hope — because of his faith in the redemptive work of Jesus.
“I believe I’ll see my son again, because he believed in Jesus,” Laurie explained. “He won’t be in heaven because I’m his dad; he’ll be in heaven because he put his faith in Christ and he had that relationship. He’s a part of my future as well, so that gives me hope. But, also, I realize that God can allow these things in our life. I don’t know why. I can’t explain it. I don’t even try to explain it.”
Peterson, author of the new book, “We Who Wrestle With God: Perceptions of the Divine,” admitted to Laurie he struggles to intellectually reconcile a desire to perfect the earthly world with the knowledge the Christian life is heavily weighted toward considering eternity.
The famed psychologist and podcast host asked, “How do you reconcile, in your own mind, the insistence that part of the Christian moral pattern is to perfect the world and to raise the material up to the heavenly with the notion of the afterlife and immortality?”
Laurie referenced 2 Corinthians 12:2-4, in which the Apostle Paul wrote about experiencing a “third heaven,” as well as the thief on the cross next to Jesus, Who promised the man, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:42-43, NIV).
The pastor explained he has felt closest to God — and His promises of eternity — through life’s trials.
“God made a lot of promises,” said Laurie. “I’ve put those promises to the test, including the worst thing of all, to lose a child. And I’ve seen how God had come through for me. If He hadn’t come through for me after my son died, I would have given up preaching, for sure. Why carry on? But He came through for me.”
Sources:faithwire
us news
Pastor Jack Graham implores Christians to proclaim truth in a shifting culture
For as long as Prestonwood Baptist Church Pastor Jack Graham can remember, he’s loved the Bible — a connection nurtured during his childhood as he sat on his grandfather’s knee, listening to the Scriptures.
“The Bible has always been a part of my life, and I’m very grateful for that,” the 74-year-old pastor told The Christian Post.
“As a child, I revealed in those great stories of adventure in the Old Testament, whether it was David and the giant or Daniel in the lion’s den. Then, ultimately, I realized that the story was all about Jesus. Jesus stepped out of the pages of Scripture and into my life. From the beginning, like Timothy, since my childhood, I’ve had the privilege of knowing and loving the Scriptures.”
That childhood foundation shaped not only Graham’s faith but also his calling as a pastor and teacher. A prolific author, he’s served two terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. His teachings are broadcast through PowerPoint Ministries, reaching audiences nationwide and globally. In October 2022, he launched the “Bible in a Year with Jack Graham” podcast, which quickly gained popularity, surpassing 60 million downloads.
But for Graham, his latest book, The Jesus Book, represents the culmination of his life’s work.
“If I had never written another book, this is the one book that I’m glad I was able to write, because it basically covers the message of my life; certainly the message of the Christian faith, the Word of God, the testimony of Christ,” he said. “It is everything to me. My whole life’s goal is to stand on the truth of God’s Word and to proclaim it and, of course, live it.”
In his book, Graham recounts his formative years — a nod to the enduring influence of his grandfather’s storytelling — and how, decades later, that connection to Scripture came full circle during a visit to Oxford, where he held fragments of the Gospel of Matthew, the oldest manuscript of the New Testament.
“As I held those pieces of papyrus, my mind flashed back to learning to read by reading the Bible,” he said. “For me, it wasn’t ‘Dick and Jane’; it was Moses, Daniel, Joseph and Jesus. The Bible has been such a treasure in my life.”
At its core, The Jesus Book is an invitation for readers to encounter Jesus in Scripture, Graham emphasized, adding that the Bible isn’t just a historical artifact or a set of moral guidelines, but a living breathing testimony of God’s plan for redemption.
“The more you read your Bible, the more you know who Jesus is,” he said. “And the more you know Jesus, the more you love and serve Him.”
Through stories, teachings and practical advice, the pastor said his book aims to demystify Scripture for those who feel intimidated or unsure about how to approach it. The book’s subtitle, “Reading and Understanding the Bible for Yourself,” he said, captures his goal of empowering readers to approach the Bible with confidence.
“The story of the Bible is clear because it has one central theme,” he said. “That theme is redemption, salvation. There’s one central person in the Bible: God, in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. It’s the story of redemption. And that redemption story is a scarlet thread, that runs through the Bible, from Genesis in the Old Testament all the way through to the New Testament. When you understand the basic themes of the Bible and what the Bible is all about, then it’s not that hard to understand.”
“If a person will make the effort and intentionally read God’s Word and hear God’s Word and ask the Holy Spirit to explain it and interpret it to them, they will understand it,” he reiterated.
At a time when biblical literacy is at an all-time low, Graham stressed that the Bible’s relevance is timeless. His ministry emphasizes the transformational power of Scripture, he said, citing studies that show regular Bible engagement drastically reduces destructive behaviors while increasing spiritual growth.
“People assume that [the Bible] is a religious book without relevance, and it is an antique or an ancient book that has no application for their lives,” he said. “They approach the Bible as though they would approach any book of history or book of archeology. But you have to start by recognizing that the Bible is the Word of God, and that because it’s the Word of God, there is a message for you today.”
In The Jesus Book, Graham also addresses common mistakes, such as approaching Scripture haphazardly or misunderstanding its central message.
“Bible study methods are important, and we talk about some of those methods as you look at a passage of Scripture, how to summarize the passage, how to assess its content and context,” Graham said. “There is a chapter on protecting yourself from bad Bible reading. There’s a lot of people who misinterpret the Bible because they don’t understand its central content.”
One of the key topics in The Jesus Book is developing a biblical worldview. At a time when truth often seems relative and cultural values shift rapidly, Graham urges Christians to see the world through the lens of Scripture rather than allowing culture to dictate how they interpret the Bible.
“Jude 3 says we are to earnestly contend for the faith, and that reminds us that with all the worldviews that we hear and see out there, with so many lies in the culture, so many lies we tell ourselves, the only way to overcome this attack on truth is using truth to support our faith and our beliefs,” he said.
“In a world that is filled with unbelief, we should graciously, but yet forcefully, understand our Bible and proclaim this message without apology,” he added. “In the culture today, it’s important that we give reasonable evidence for the faith, and that we proclaim Scripture with confidence and certainty and conviction. And when we do that, the Word of God works, and there’s power in the Scripture to counteract all the works of darkness.”
With over 50 years of ministry service, Graham said he’s convinced that pastors and church leaders play a crucial role in encouraging a love for Scripture.
“When you preach the Bible, it creates an appetite for things of God, for the truth,” he said. “It’s like eating a meal; you have to try it: ‘taste and see that the Lord is good.’ I’ve always believed pastors should give a proclamation of the Scriptures so that people can understand it; explain what the Bible says, but also illustrate it and apply it to people’s lives.”
Through his book, Graham said his prayer is that readers will encounter Christ through the Bible and learn how to encounter the Scriptures as a living, breathing testimony of God’s plan for redemption.
“ Luke 24 reminds us that Jesus is present in Scripture,” he said. “My prayer is that every Christian would encounter Christ in the Bible and experience His living presence in His Word. He is called the Living Word of God. So He has given us His book, the Bible, and it is true and trustworthy.”
The Jesus Book is now available everywhere books are sold.
Sources:Christian Post
-
Travel6 months ago
യാക്കൂസ കരിഷ്മ:ഓല സ്കൂട്ടറിനേക്കാൾ വിലക്കുറവിൽ കുഞ്ഞൻ കാർ; സിറ്റി യാത്രകൾക്ക് ഇനി ഇവൻ മതിയാവും
-
Tech4 months ago
ചിത്രങ്ങൾ എഡിറ്റ് ചെയ്യാം; വാട്സ്ആപ്പിലെ ‘നീല വളയം’ സ്മാർട്ടാകുന്നു, കാര്യമായ മാറ്റങ്ങൾ
-
National9 months ago
നെയ്തേലിപ്പടി ക്രൂസേഡിന് അനുഗ്രഹീത സമാപ്തി
-
Movie8 months ago
Actor Ryan Phillippe ‘Craving’ Relationship With God After Movie About Christian Missionary
-
National9 months ago
300,000-Member Indian Church to Plant 40 More Megachurches
-
Movie11 months ago
Brazilian gospel singer Pedro Henrique dies of heart attack after collapsing on stage
-
Articles5 months ago
8 ways the Kingdom connects us back to the Garden of Eden
-
Hot News8 months ago
3 key evidences of Jesus’ return from the grave