The Church Report/Twitter Challenge

In early May, The Church Report will be unveiling our new website and CR DAILY. This dynamic site and newsletter is really geared toward you, our dedicated readers and supporters. On a daily basis we receive hundreds of email from readers commenting on stories, offering story ideas and giving us their opinions.Today, we are rolling out our first phase our our Church Report community to bring all of our readers together. You can now find us at Twitter and on Facebook. We want to encourage you you to sign up (it's free!) and tell your family and church family as well. We want you to post your comments, story ideas, church happenings and more!We also have a challenge for you. We want to have 500 Facebook and Twitter followers when our new site launches. Each person who signs up will be entered into a drawing for a $500 Wal-Mart/ Sam's Club gift certificate. These new additions to The Church Report family of products are exciting features for our readers. The staff of The Church Report will all be contributing and throughout each day on both Twitter and Facebook and look forward to you joining the discussion!

Reader Mail

On the subject of gay marriage, Pastor Robert Christensen says:

Dear Editor,

With the push for same sex marriage we will be seeing a further destruction in conventional, biblical marriages. You can’t reward sin and expect to see God bless our country or the institution of marriage. God warns us over and over again that to turn our backs on Him, He will forget our children. We are not recognizing the covenant of marriage we have with our Christian spouse and with God, thus He will see that we will follow after our folly and the end is death. Especially the death of our conventional marriages, and His blessing of our Nation. What a travesty and what foolishness on our parts. But it is what we asked for. Shame on us.

Several note from the staff support the Miss America runner-up:

From the Black River Baptist Association:

I teach a Sunday School class in Kennett, MO and the ladies in our class is very proud of Miss CA for standing up for her beliefs. We just wanted to let her know we are praying for her. The reason some people don't like what she said is because they are of this World and we are of God's Kingdom World. God works things out for the good for those who believe. Praise God she has the courage to stand for Jesus.

Carrie,

I am so proud of you for standing up for Jesus,not many would have dome what you did and you will truly be blessed a 100 times over. It took a lot of courage at this time in our world,the way things are. You were so brave.

I am 65 and I think people should have the right to be on each other's insurance,etc.,everyone has rights but you are so right, a marriage is between a man and woman.The Bible and it's word has not changed,people have. I am not married,I have been but that doesn't have anything to do with your issue.

God bless you my dear and I will try to remember you in prayer each and everyday.

I wish more people in the lime light would stand up and state what they believe and not be PC especially on issues of morals such as this. We congratulate Miss California.
Thomas U. Hill and family, friends and co-workers



On Jimmy Carter's message to Baptists:


Former President Jimmy Carter implored fellow Baptists on Saturday to look beyond a range of doctrinal disputes that have split the denomination, and urged them to focus on reconciling under a common cause.Expanding the focus of a Baptist alliance he helped found, Carter said disagreements over issues such as abortion, homosexuality and the role of women in the church, have divided Baptists. Jackie Kampe


He sounds like Rodney King - - can't we all just get along? What a sad commentary on this effort. Noble objective - seriously flawed pathway to achieving it.

Tom fillinger
IgniteUS, Inc.
Columbia SC

Rick Warren, Gay Marriage and a No-Show on ABC

Rick Warren has, once again, stepped in some hot water. Last week, he appeared to have reversed his opinion on prop. 8 in California, the law that voters passed in November that prevents gay marriage. Warren, who did deliver his Easter sermon on FOX News Channel on Saturday evening,cancelled an appearance on ABC Sunday morning. Mike Allen, from the Politico, has some Warren comments here.

What do you think? Answer our poll question on the homepage

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Randy White Continues Battle with ECCU, Ted Haggard Speaks & More

A couple of stories caught our attention this morning as we were preparing the CR DAILY. We have calls out for interviews and some fact-checking and will follow up with our own reports as the information becomes available.

It seems a power struggle is ensuing at the First Baptist Church Ocala in South Florida. It culminated with the termination of 6 pastors the other day. Apparently, the 6 pastors issued an email to other church leaders complaining about the new senior pastor's management style. You can find details here from Ocala.com


Pastor Randy White addressed his church, The Church Without Walls, in Tampa, Fl., on Sunday. He explained his argument with the Evangelical Christian Credit Union, and their foreclosures on his church. According to the local CBS news report, the ECCU is filing foreclosure because he refused "to sign a modification agreement that gave all property, furnishings, and intellectual rights to the credit union." You can find all of the information here.


Ted Haggard, came of out hiding this past weekend to deliver two sermons at a small church in Illinois according to an exclusive from ABC News-Good Morning America. Haggard's sermons were recorded and can be heard here.

Pastor Randy White and Evangelical Christian Credit Union in Battle

I found an interesting article this morning in a Florida newspaper regarding Pastor Randy White and the Evangelical Christian Credit Union. Pastor White makes some strong claims, as does ECCU, with respect to the Credit Union calling in their loan.

The last year for the church has been difficult with the loss of members, the Whites' divorce, the death of child and financial turmoil created by the downturn in the economy.

You can find the entire article here.

Key State by State Ballot Measures

There are many key ballot measures to be decided today, The Church Report will be monitoring some of these critical ballot measures and keep you up to date.


Arizona Proposition 102
Ban on Gay Marriage
This measure would amend the state constitution so that only a union between one man and one woman would be valid or recognized as a marriage in the state. A similar measure was on the ballot in 2006 but failed.



Arkansas Initiative 1:
Ban on Gay Couples Adopting Children
This measure would prohibit unmarried "sexual partner[s]" from adopting children or from serving as foster parents. The measure specifies that the prohibition applies to both opposite-sex as well as same-sex couples.



California Proposition 8:
Ban on Gay Marriage
This measure would amend the state constitution to specify that only marriages between one man and one woman would be recognized as valid in the state. If passed, the measure would trump a May 2008 ruling by the California Supreme Court that legalized same-sex marriage.




Colorado Amendment 48:
Human Life from Moment of Conception
This measure would amend the state constitution to define the term "person" to include "any human being from the moment of fertilization." This definition would be applied to all aspects of the state constitution, including the provisions that ensure that no person has his or her life, liberty, or property taken away without due process of law. Thus, the measure would essentially have the effect of banning abortion.




Michigan Proposition 2:
Allow Stem Cell Research
This measure would amend the state constitution to permit human embryonic stem cell research with certain restrictions. The embryos must have been created for fertility treatment purposes; they must have been otherwise discarded; and they may not be used more than 14 days after cell division has begun.



South Dakota Initiative 11:
Abortion Limits
This measure would prohibit all abortions in the state except in cases where mother's life or health is at risk or in cases of rape or incest for pregnancies of less than 20 weeks. A similar measure that did not include exceptions for rape or the health of the mother was on the ballot in 2006, but was rejected by voters 44 to 56 percent.



Washington Initiative 1000:
Allow Doctor-Assisted Suicide
This measure would allow terminally ill, competent, adult residents of the state to request and self-administer lethal medication prescribed by a physician. The person requesting to end his or her life must be medically predicted to have six months or less to live.




California Proposition 4:
Abortion Limits
This measure would amend the state constitution to require physicians to notify the parents or legal guardian of a pregnant minor at least 48 hours before performing an abortion involving that minor. The measure does not require that parent or guardian's actual consent in order to perform the abortion. Exceptions are provided in the cases of medical emergencies. Also, an adult family may be notified instead if the minor fears abuse from the parent or guardian. Parents may also waive the notification requirement.





Florida Amendment 2:
Ban on Gay Marriage
This measure would amend the state constitution to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. In order to amend the Florida constitution, 60 percent of voters must vote in favor of the amendment.

Church Report Election Survey Results Released

The readers of The Church Report recently took part in the CR Presidential Survey sponsored by America's Christian Credit Union. Thank to all of you who took the time to answer a few questions. We are only seven days from Election Day!

1. Who will earn your vote for the November 4th Presidential Election?
John McCain 86%
Barack Obama 8%
Other 3%


2. Which isse is the most important to you in this election?

Economy 23%
Terrorism 20%
Energy 8%
Health Ins. 4%
Entitlements 4%
Other 23% (abortion, foreign policy,individual right were the most named)

3. How important is the person's voting record that earned your vote?
Very important 89%
Slightly important 9%
Not at all 1%

4. Has each candidate communicated their tax plans in a way that you can understand?

Yes 42%
No 56%

5. Do you think the next administration should continue with the bailout efforts as a means to stabilize the economy?
Yes 19%
No 77%

6. If elected, do you believe Barack Obama will be able to balance the budget and ofer universal healthcare without raising your taxes?

Yes 5%
No 94%

7. If elected, do you feel that John McCain will find ways to reduce Congressional spending and balance the budget by reducing earmarks and pork barrel projects without raising taxes?
Yes 72%
No 27%

8. If a national security crisis were to happen, who do you feel is more more qualified to lead the Country?
John McCain 92%
Barack Obama 7%

9. In the next term, it is possible that up to 3 Supreme Court Justices may be replaced, do you feel that this issue has received enough attention in this election season?

Yes 9%
No 90%


10. Do you feel the media has been biased and given more attention to the Obama campaign?
Yes 91%
No 9%