There is a secret inside many churches. According to researchers Scott Thumma and Warren Bird, most churches – mega-sized and small, black and white – are actually run by 20 percent of the congregation. The other 80 percent, they say, tend to act like spectators: they are minimally involved and attend infrequently or not at…

By ERIN ALBANESE Religion News Service GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The old Lorilee Craker would have picked up a couple of $16 children’s shirts without a second thought, ordered a $20 pizza without checking what’s in the fridge, and sent out her bills a few days late. The Amish-makeover Lorilee peruses garage sales and finds…

American culture is circling the drain faster and faster, but most of us are too caught up in the frenetic pace of our lives to notice the dramatic changes that have sent our country spinning out of control, says New York Times best-selling author Dr. David Jeremiah. “We live in a ’cynical age of situational…

The campus minister at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, is tired of “fake religion,” he says. Recently, Johnny Moore, 28, halted a song service at the late Jerry Falwell’s Thomas Road Baptist Church. “OK, OK, wait just a second,” said Moore. “Do you mean these words? This is the church. It’s not just songs. It’s asking myself, am…

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