Weekend Plug-in 🔌

Editor’s note: Every Friday, “Weekend Plug-in” features analysis, fact checking and top headlines from the world of faith. Subscribe now to get this newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. Got feedback or ideas? Email Bobby Ross Jr. at therossnews@gmail.com.

(ANALYSIS) Welcome to Nashville, Liam Adams.

Enjoy the journalistic whiplash.

Adams, The Tennessean’s new religion writer, has received quite an introduction to the Godbeat in Music City.

Upon starting his new job last week, Adams immediately found himself covering two days of high-profile meetings by the Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committee.

He’s back at it this week, reporting on the committee again delaying “action on a third-party investigation into the committee’s handling of sexual abuse claims.”

“So I’m going to take a guess that this isn’t normally what happens in the Southern Baptist Convention, right?” Adams joked on Twitter. “Asking for a friend who just so happens to be in his second week reporting the news on all of this.”

Elsewhere, Religion News Service’s Yonat Shimron and Bob Smietana report that the “presidents of all six Southern Baptist seminaries have issued statements or tweets expressing their dismay at the Executive Committee’s unwillingness to act at the convention’s direction.”

And according to Baptist News Global’s Mark Wingfield, new details have emerged about the committee’s handling of the investigation, “as outrage mounts among other Southern Baptist leaders.”

Read additional coverage by The Associated Press’ Holly Meyer (Adams’ predecessor at The Tennessean) and Christianity Today’s Kate Shellnutt.

For more context, see our past Plug-ins — here, here and here — focused on the Southern Baptist controversy.

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. Some say COVID-19 vaccine is the 'mark of the beast.' Is there a connection to the Bible?: This is not a new question (I addressed it in a story back in January), but it’s a lingering one.

Scott Gleeson and Asha C. Gilbert of USA Today offer helpful insight from academic, theological and medical sources.

2. Gary Chapman doesn’t know he’s famous: Christianity Today’s Kara Bettis profiles the best-selling author of “The Five Love Languages.”

Spoiler alert: Oprah Winfrey makes a cameo appearance up high.

3. Bingo is back — with bouncers: “The pandemic forced many churches to close for more than a year. Now pastors have reopened their doors for services — and are also seeing pent-up demand for in-person bingo,” explains this front-page feature by the Wall Street Journal’s Kevin Armstrong.

You read that right. Bingo.

“In some spots, security guards and good Samaritans struggle to keep peace at the door,” the Journal notes.

BONUS: These days, it’s harder to read Peggy Fletcher Stack’s superb religion reporting for the Salt Lake Tribune because it’s hidden behind a paywall. That’s great for funding journalism (and I support the approach), but it’s bad for readers outside Salt Lake City who can’t afford to pay for every newspaper in the country.

Still, if you have access to a local library database, you might check out Stack’s in-depth coverage asking, “Is the LDS Church losing its identity?” Also an interesting read: “If porn isn’t an addiction, how can Latter-day Saints kick the habit?” by Stack’s colleague Kaitlyn Bancroft.

More Top Reads

• Advocating for Haitians, faith groups pressure Biden to end Trump-era measure (by Jack Jenkins, Religion News Service)

• Life after proclaiming a Trump re-election as divinely ordained (by Sam Kestenbaum, New York Times)

• Where Billy Graham is remembered (by Daniel Silliman, Christianity Today)

• Director of new HBO docuseries on weight loss church wants to help people ‘get out’ (by Liam Adams, Tennessean)

• From luxury stays to ‘champing’ in the sanctuary, churches adopt pandemic-era Airbnb models (by Kathryn Post, RNS)

• Troll farms reached 140 million Americans a month on Facebook before 2020 election, internal report shows (by Karen Hao, MIT Technology Review)

• The Marines reluctantly let a Sikh officer wear a turban. He says it’s not enough (by Dave Philipps, New York Times)

• On the pro-life front lines in Texas (by Leah Savas, World)

• Amid pandemic and personal struggles, Max Lucado finds peace in divine purpose (by Emily McFarlan Miller, RNS)

• ‘The Jesus Music’: Erwin brothers document Christian music from hippies through contemporary praise (by Greg Garrison, Birmingham News)

• Here's why Gen Z may be least religious in U.S. history, according to 5 young Arizonans (by BrieAnna J. Frank, Arizona Republic)

• 'I have religious PTSD': Women tell stories of fleeing organized religion after abuse (by Deena Yellin, NorthJersey.com)

Inside The Godbeat: Behind The Bylines

I first became familiar with Laurie Goodstein, the longtime religion writer for the New York Times, nearly two decades ago. I was serving as religion editor for The Oklahoman, and Goodstein called to chat about an Oklahoma story she was following. I remember how kind she was.

This week, the Religion News Association announced that Goodstein, now a deputy international editor at the Times, will receive the 2021 William A. Reed Lifetime Achievement Award.

“I've been in awe of the lifetime achievement award winners,” Goodstein said on Twitter. “Now I'm stunned and delighted to be one.”

Charging Station: In Case You Missed It

Here is where you can catch up on recent news and opinions from Religion Unplugged.

 • Trustbridge helps Americans donate directly to ministries around the world (by Steve Rabey)

• How Christian faith fueled boxer Manny Pacquiao's rise from poverty to presidential candidate in the Philippines (by Leocciano Callao)

• A photo exhibit by New York Catholics honors heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic (by Graham McNally)

• Ultra-Orthodox Jews proclaim ‘Trump 2024’ in the midst of a religious celebration (by Dr. Michael Brown)

• International criminal court to investigate the Taliban and ISIS branch in Afghanistan (by Ewelina U. Ochab)

• Patron saint of the internet? Millennial’s relic touring New York is one miracle short (by Wes Parnell)

• Brian Laundrie’s social media shows interest in death, violence and demons (by Sofia Kioko)

• What role do religion leaders and journalists play in climate change response? (by Ira Rifkin)

• In Kazakhstan, Christians and Muslims punished for practicing religion (by Felix Corley)

• Netflix horror series ‘Midnight Mass’ warns Christians to be careful who they worship (by Jillian Cheney)

• Will American Jews abandon the Democratic Party? (by Dr. Michael Brown)

• Prayer monument to break ground in 2022, hopeful about Brits' interest in spirituality (by Sofia Kioko)

The Final Plug

Shameless plug time: I moderated a panel discussion on the post-pandemic church at Harding University in Searcy, Ark., this week.

While at the Christian university, about 50 miles northeast of Little Rock, my colleague Audrey Jackson and I covered the dedication of a memorial for Botham Shem Jean, a 2016 graduate shot to death by an off-duty Dallas police officer three years ago.

That’s it for this week’s Plug-in.

Happy Friday, everyone! Enjoy the weekend.

Bobby Ross Jr. is a columnist for Religion Unplugged and editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 15 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.