Posts by Warren Cole Smith
Southern Baptists Put On A Show, But Emerge Remarkably Unified

(ANALYSIS) It’s worth pausing to note a couple of “behind the headlines” moments from the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. If you think there is deep division in the Southern Baptist Convention, you have to ignore a lot of hard data that suggest a strong consensus — on abuse reform, on women pastors, and on cleaning up decades of financial profligacy.

Read More
Bob Jones Chairman John Lewis Resigns After Pressure From Students and Donors

The chairman of the Bob Jones University board of trustees has resigned following pressure from the school’s students, alumni and donors. The decision is a surprise to many BJU watchers, since Lewis appeared to have had the upper hand in a conflict with BJU President Steve Pettit.

Read More
The Winner’s Chapel and The King’s College

(ANALYSIS) David Oyedepo founded a church in Nigeria in 1981 that has come to be called The Winner’s Chapel. It is now in about 150 countries and claims 6 million members. Meanwhile, it looks like the closure of The King’s College in New York City is all but inevitable, and that will be a huge loss for the city, and for American evangelicalism.

Read More
The King’s College In New York City Notifies Parents Of $2.6 Million Shortfall

In an email to parents on Feb. 6, The King’s College announced it was experiencing a “funding shortfall of approximately $2.6 million for the spring semester, due primarily to the timing of pending income.”

Read More
Does ‘He Gets Us’ Get It? And Reflecting On YouVersion’s Record Day

(ANALYSIS) Now, missiologists — the people who study missionary efforts and their effectiveness — are weighing in on the He Gets Us campaign, and they’re finding flaws, or at least gaps, in the Jesus the campaign is pushing.

Read More
An Interview With Pastor Rick Warren

Rick Warren’s 2002 book “The Purpose Driven Life” has sold more than 50-million copies, making it one of the best-selling books of all time. But his work as a pastor and author are just the beginning.  Warren Cole Smith had this conversation with Rick Warren at his office in southern California.

Read More
Sagamore Institute Study Attempts To Quantify The Cost of Bible Translation

Bible translation organizations in the United States receive more than $500 million in donations per year. So how many Bibles actually get translated? And how much does a Bible translation cost? Remarkably, the answer to that question is — nobody really knows.

Read More
Following RZIM’s Money, And What’s Going On At American Bible Society?

(ANALYSIS) With Lighten Group and RZIM shut down, important questions remain unanswered. First, how much money went from RZIM to Lighten Group? How was that money spent? How much remains? Meanwhile, American Bible Society has been plagued with turmoil for years. The organization has had five presidents in the past 10 years.

Read More
Christian Pro-Life Ministries Have Been Caring For Women And Babies For Generations

(OPINION) The idea that pro-lifers don’t care for babies after they are born has been a convenient slander hurled against pro-life Christians. But more than 2,500 pro-life pregnancy resource centers are committed to helping women make life-giving choices, and they often support these women for years after their babies are born.

Read More
A New Way To Translate The Bible — Using Non-Christian Translators

The Bible translation industry takes in about $500 million per year in donations. With all that money, it produces about 15 completed Bible translations each year. But Strategic Resource Group has embarked on an experiment to see if a secular company — a translation service provider — can translate the Bible faster and cheaper.

Read More
Investigations Continue Into Televangelist Perry Stone's Alleged Sexual Misconduct

Allegations of sexual misconduct began surfacing against televangelist Perry Stone last year. But a few months later, Stone was back in the pulpit. Now, new accusations have been made public, and — according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press — the FBI has been questioning people in connection with Stone’s behavior.

Read More
Excerpt From 'Faith-Based Fraud' On One Of The Largest Ponzi Schemes In History

(EXCERPT) “Faith-Based Fraud,” by Warren Cole Smith, is a new book on financial and other scandals in the church. Almost a chapter centers around Bernard Madoff, who confessed to one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history.

Read More
Kanakuk Financial Statements Reveal 'Suspicious' Pattern of Self-Dealing

Kanakuk Ministries is one of the largest Christian camps in the United States. An analysis of new financial statements reveals that founder Joe White and his wife Debbie-Jo were paid $2.6 million by Kanakuk from 2014-2017.

Read More
International Fellowship Of Christians And Jews Taps Evangelicals For Support

Many evangelical Christians are giving money to International Fellowship of Christians and Jews despite the fact that the fellowship does not promote the Gospel and pays its leaders large salaries. Do they know what organization they’re giving to?

Read More
Pro-Life Ministries Frustrated With Supreme Court Decision

On June 29, the Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law regulating abortion clinics, reasserting a commitment to abortion rights over fierce opposition from dissenting conservative justices in the first big abortion case of the Trump era.

Read More
'AKA Jane Roe' documentary misrepresents her work, pro-life activists say

The FX program airing Friday says Norma McCorvey, the “Jane Roe” in the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the U.S., made a “deathbed confession” that she was not pro-life and that pro-life organizations paid her nearly $500,000 during the decades she spoke out for the pro-life cause. However, the film doesn’t make it clear that many of these payments were fees for speaking engagements, and those who knew her insist her conversion to Christianity and repentance of pro-choice activism was genuine.

Read More