Tag Archives: religion

Via press release from Pastor Steven Andrew: The “Christian Nation Government Now Revival” is expanding through 2025 to heal our land with good leaders that follow God and to save America. “This Bible-based revival is producing huge results, including the GOP taking the House and the recent Supreme Court and Federal Court religious freedom victories,” Steven Andrew said. Andrew leads …

From the Justice Department: A former Dublin, Ga., resident is being sought internationally on multiple federal charges alleging he orchestrated a scheme that misdirected more than $30 million donated for Christian ministry in China. Jason Gerald Shenk, 45, is charged in a newly unsealed federal indictment with four counts of Wire Fraud; three counts of International Concealment Money Laundering; 13 …

Champaign’s CBS affiliate reports: One woman is reflecting on a painful past. Now she hopes justice will be served for the Henning Pastor she says sexually abused her for years. Gary Arivett was arrested and is facing three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a family member under the age of 18. He has since been released after posting …

Michigan Live reports: A former Michigan pastor has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection to the shooting death of a transgender woman nearly five years ago, authorities announced. Kelly Stough, 36, of Detroit, was shot to death around 6 a.m. on Dec. 7, 2018, in Detroit. Her body was discovered by a Detroit Police officer. Albert Weathers, then-46, of …

Indianapolis’s Fox affiliate reports: A former Madison County councilman who is accused of raping an underage girl in 2020 is being sought by police after he failed to show up for his appointed court date. According to court records, former councilman Steve Sumner, 55, was set to appear in Madison County court on Thursday. After failing to show, the court …

The Messenger reports: There’s a new, unexpected name at the top of the Christian music charts. Drag queen Flamy Grant’s album Bible Belt Baby, released in October, is suddenly the No. 1 album on the iTunes Christian and Gospel chart. In addition, her song “Good Day” peaked at No. 1 alongside the album for a period. So, what’s going on? …

The Associated Press reports: Compared with the devil, angels carry more credence in America. Angels even get more credence than, well, hell. In fact, about 7 in 10 U.S. adults say they believe in angels, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. American’s belief in angels (69%) is about on par with belief …

High Point, North Carolina’s Fox affiliate reports: A former pastor is accused of sex crimes after an incident at the Piedmont Triad Farmer’s Market in Colfax on Sandy Ridge Road. Ivan Hugh-McDonald Peden, 71, is charged with taking indecent liberties with children, indecent exposure to a person under 16, sexual battery, and secret peeping. The crimes allegedly happened on June …

Tampa’s NBC affiliate reports: A 76-year-old retired pastor is accused of exposing himself to a nine-year-old girl on July 21. According to a Pasco County Sheriff’s Office arrest report, the victim and her family were at a community pool in Wesley Chapel. As the girl was swimming nearby the suspect, Allen Farabee, had exposed his genitals and placed it in …

Atlanta’s NBC affiliate reports: An 83-year-old Marietta man who is a former pastor has been arrested in the cold case murder of an 8-year-old girl in Pennsylvania. Gretchen Harrington was attending Bible summer camp in 1975 in Marple Township when she vanished while walking from her home to one of the camp’s two locations. Skeletal remains were found at a …

Nashville’s NBC affiliate reports: The former executive director of Full Count Ministries is facing child sex crime charges following an investigation by the Hendersonville Police, who said they began investigating 40-year-old Jacob R. Oldham on July 15. In a statement, Full Count Ministries’ Board of Directors said Oldham was terminated Saturday morning after an internal investigation by the board. Oldham …

Harrisburg’s ABC affiliate reports: Shawn Gooden has now pleaded guilty in Virginia to four sexual assault charges involving a child less than 14 years old. Police in Virginia told abc27, the alleged incidents happened in the late 1990s and involved a child who was already in Godden’s life. Years later, he lived in Palmyra and was a Boy Scouts leader, …

Illinois talk radio station WMIX reports: A former youth pastor of a Patoka church pleaded guilty Thursday in Fayette County Court to five of ten felony charges stemming from his involvement in a child pornography ring in Vandalia. Ferrell Kissiar, a former assistant pastor at the Pentecostal Church in Patoka was sentenced to a total of 30 years in prison …

Los Angeles’s CW affiliate reports: A minister and former teacher in Ventura County has been charged with multiple felony counts of child abuse, including accusations that he tried to meet up with a 15-year-old girl for sex. Barry Fike, 67, of Fillmore, was arrested on Monday following an investigation by the Ventura County Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. …

The Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune reports: A 33-year-old Wisconsin Rapids man was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in prison for inappropriately touching a child while he was a counselor at a Christian camp. Remington J. Nystrom pleaded no contest to a charge of second-degree sexual assault of a child on April 12, which was the day he was scheduled to …

The Telegraph reports: Greek police have arrested an Orthodox priest on the island of Rhodes for allegedly molesting a male tourist by “anointing” his genitals with holy oil. The holidaymaker encountered the priest, 49, when he visited a monastery on the island with his girlfriend earlier this week. The priest invited him into a small reception room in the monastery …

Washington DC’s Fox affiliate reports: Police have arrested and charged a pastor in Montgomery County with rape. According to police, this all stems from an incident on September 29th, 2020, at the Iglesia Pentecostal El Fin Viene on the 7500 block of New Hampshire Ave. in Takoma Park. Serving pastor, 39-year-old Erick Odir Vidal-Fuentes was charged with second-degree rape and …

The Wichita Falls Times Record News reports: A Wichita County Jury on Wednesday sentenced a former Wichita Falls postal worker and Sunday School teacher to life in prison for urging a 13-year-old girl to give him a “peep show” and take a shower with him. She said there were about 15 such encounters, including incidents in his vehicle where he …

The Fresno Bee reports: A former youth pastor in Kingsburg was sentenced Tuesday to serve one year in prison for having an inappropriate relationship with a 16-year-old church member. Luke Michael Bese, 30, was convicted in May on one felony charge of arranging a meeting with a minor for lewd or lascivious behavior and a misdemeanor charge of annoying, molesting …

Columbus’s PBS affiliate reports: A Licking County man was given a 25-year prison sentence Tuesday in federal court after he was convicted on charges of child sexual exploitation and soliciting child pornography. According to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, 27-year-old Matthew Reif, of Newark, victimized at least 52 boys between October 2020 and July 2022. He …