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) Good morning, Weekend Plug-in readers!

Welcome to the best roundup of religion news on the internet. Please click lots of links and urge your friends to subscribe.

Among the week’s late-developing headlines: Influential pastor Tim Keller, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2020, has been placed on hospice care, as Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana reports.

On a happier note, “The Chosen” — the popular TV show about Jesus and his disciples — seems to be influencing baby names, as the Deseret News’ Mya Jaradat explains.

Our big story this week concerns doctrinal battles by the Southern Baptists, not all of them in the South, and the United Methodists, who are not so united these days.

What To Know: The Big Story

Back in the saddle?: Last year, the Southern Baptist Convention kicked out Saddleback Church, founded by Rick Warren, for appointing women as pastors.

Now Saddleback is appealing that decision, asking messengers to the SBC’s annual meeting in New Orleans next month to reverse it.

“The appeal extends the standoff between the nation’s largest Protestant denomination and one of its largest, most successful churches,” The Associated Press’ Peter Smith writes.

Read related coverage by Christianity Today’s Kate Shellnutt, Religion News Service’s Adelle M. Banks, The Tennessean’s Liam Adams and the Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner.

Affiliation and disaffiliation: Don’t be surprised if those terms end up as the Methodists’ words of the year.

Amid the denomination’s growing schism, check out this news in Oklahoma, via The Oklahoman’s Carla Hinton:

Two brothers were ordained as elders in a new Methodist denomination while the retired United Methodist minister who raised them sat watching in the pews recently in the Oklahoma City metro area.

The family's new reality of dual denominational affiliations reflected just how much the landscape of Methodism is changing across Oklahoma.

Elsewhere, 67 Arkansas congregations got permission to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church.

In all, more than 100 churches in that state have left over "issues related to human sexuality," according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Frank Lockwood.

Rural vs. suburban: “Most churches leaving the United Methodist Church amid a splintering are in rural areas and the membership overwhelmingly supports disaffiliation. So what happens at a suburban church?”

That’s the question tackled by Adams — The Tennessean’s religion writer — noting that “the debate over whether to leave can be more intense among suburban UMC churches.”

Georgia on my mind: Finally, Religion News Service’s Emily McFarlan Miller provides an update from a court ruling down South:

The North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church can’t just press “pause” on disaffiliations from the denomination by churches in its area, according to a ruling Tuesday (May 16) by a Georgia judge.

Cobb County Superior Court Judge J. Stephen Schuster ruled from the bench that the North Georgia Conference “has an affirmative duty” to assist any church wishing to disaffiliate with holding a vote or taking any other steps necessary to do so, according to a report by United Methodist News.

The conference also has the right to make sure those steps are followed in accordance with the denomination’s governing Book of Discipline, the judge said.

Who’s in the Southern Baptist Convention? Who’s out of the United Methodist Church?

Stay tuned.

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. Saving the farm: Heartland clergy are training to prevent agricultural workers’ suicides.

That’s the compelling story by The Associated Press’ Giovanna Dell’Orto, reporting from Minnesota, with exceptional videos and photos — as always — by Jessie Wardarski.

2. Growth of Eastern Orthodoxy: In the U.S., the ancient faith is drawing converts with no ties to its historic lands.

That’s the peg of a newsy report by the Wall Street Journal’s Francis X. Rocca with strong photos by Alyssa Pointer.

3. ‘The Secrets of Hillsong’: What are the biggest revelations by the new docuseries?

Disgraced hipster pastor Carl Lentz makes a number of them in “his first big interview since his firing in 2020,” according to the Washington Post’s Ashley Fetters Maloy.

See related coverage by the Los Angeles Times’ Meredith Blake.

More Top Reads

The faithful see both crisis and opportunity as churches close across the country, as NPR’s Scott Neuman details. … What is Christian nationalism, anyway? Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana talks to experts. … Pittsburgh’s Jewish community is monitoring hate speech amid the Tree of Life massacre suspect’s trial, The Associated Press’ Peter Smith reports. … Why is the surgeon general worried about declining church attendance? The Deseret News’ Kelsey Dallas has the answer. … A lawsuit by a former professor who showed images of the Prophet Muhammad in class is raising new questions about religious discrimination law, the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Liz Navratil writes. … And an End Times pastor in Kenya told followers to starve to meet Jesus. The New York Times’ Andrew Higgins explores why so many did it.

Inside The Godbeat

Rob Vaughn describes himself as an endangered species.

He’s an evangelical who works in the news media.

In a piece for Current, the longtime TV news anchor explains why he has faith in fact-based reporting and believes conservative Christian parents should encourage their kids to go into journalism.

Full disclosure: I’m one of the sources Vaughn quotes. Thank you, Rob!

Charging Station: ICYMI

Here is where you can catch up on recent news and opinions from ReligionUnplugged.com.

Laura Esposito offers a new take on protests in Israel.

Plus, Latter-day Saints whistleblower David Nielsen gave his first public interview on national TV, as Paul Glader reports.

And Melinda Huspen, Mandie-Beth Chau and Joshua Story share the inside story of The King’s College’s death spiral of 2023.

The Final Plug

To anyone visiting a Virginia church, Dennis and Cindi Cesone’s friendliness and welcoming smiles are evident immediately.

The fact both were born deaf is not.

For years, the couple have worked to bridge the cultural gap between hearing and deaf Christians, as I write at The Christian Chronicle.

Happy Friday, everyone! Enjoy the weekend.

Bobby Ross Jr. writes the Weekend Plug-in column for ReligionUnplugged.com and serves as 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 18 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.