| | Bill revoking Disney World's special tax status heads to DeSantis | | Curated for you byCP Editors | | Good afternoon! It's Friday, April 22, and today's headlines include Florida moving one step closer to revoking Disney World's special tax status, a watchdog's report noting a disturbing uptick in full-frontal male nudity in television and streaming content, and new research on discipleship beliefs among pastors and congregants. | | Florida lawmakers have approved a bill to end Disney's special tax district that allows the company to govern the land for its Disney World theme park. On Thursday, the Florida House passed the bill 70-38, a day after the Senate approved it in a 23-16 party-line vote, with all but one Republican voting in favor of it and all Democrats opposed. The bill is now headed to the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to sign it into law. Walt Disney Co. has warned Florida that it is looking at other states to relocate to in response. | | The move to strip Disney of its self-governing privileges came in the wake of the company's criticism of Florida's Parental Rights in Education bill that prevents school officials from talking about sexual orientation and gender identity with students in kindergarten through third grade. Disney joined LGBT activists in derisively referring to the measure as the "Don’t Say Gay" bill after LGBT employees and advocates complained that the company didn't do enough to push back on the legislation. Elected officials in Florida have condemned Disney’s activism against the bill, which includes airing an ad contending that supporters of the legislation want to "tear our families apart." Meanwhile, elected officials in other states have attempted to convince Disney to abandon Florida in favor of building a new theme park in their state. Continue reading. | | P.S. Will you stand with us? Here's how you can help: Support us with a paid subscription to CP Magazine, Follow us on social media (Facebook, YouTube, Telegram, GETTR), and Subscribe to and Share our newsletters with your family and friends. We're only getting started—stay tuned, stay involved, and stand firm in truth with us. |
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| No jail time for ex-teacher who had relationship with female student | | Tara Drooker, a former teacher at Richmond Christian School in Chesterfield, Va., was convicted of having a sexual relationship with a female student but will not serve jail time thanks to a plea agreement that suspended four consecutive 12-month terms for her crime. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that, in 2017, Drooker began a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old-student while working as a teacher and volleyball coach. Drooker, who was 25 at the time, continued the relationship after the student became an adult. Continue reading. | | Study reveals differences between pastors, Christians on discipleship | | New research from Barna shows that, while a majority of pastors believe that every disciple of Jesus Christ is mandated in Scripture to "go and make disciples" as part of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19–20, most Christians believe this mandate only applies to some disciples. The study, which was conducted in partnership with Mission India, highlights the gap between the way pastors and their congregants view missionary work. Researchers discovered that while 85% of pastors believe all Christians should make disciples in the world, just 53% of practicing Christians reported knowledge of the Great Commission, with 51% believing missions is a calling for some, while one-quarter said it is not a mandate for all. The researchers noted that leaders and churchgoers need to explore why this gap exists, writing, "Pastors could lean in to better understand and shape how congregants interpret missions. Does their participation mean donating money, praying, educating, evangelizing, relocating or something else?" Continue reading. |
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| Ask Chuck: Help with a family moocher | | In this op-ed, Crown Financial Ministries CEO Chuck Bentley offers advice to a reader who is struggling with an adult relative who is working full-time and living with them but not pitching in with bills and chores. "Inflation is negatively impacting many families. Add in the experience with Covid and the Ukraine situation, and it is easy to see why more and more families are struggling with stress," Bentley writes, noting that these delicate situations require that spouses discuss and unify their expectations for other adult relatives in the home before praying, fasting, and ultimately presenting a workable financial plan and list of chores expectations that shows what is expected of these longer-term guests. Continue reading. | | If you can recommend a hamburger, you can do this with Jesus. | | Despite the term "preaching" often being utilized in negative ways, sharing the Gospel is an activity that all believers are capable of and should be engaged in, writes Greg Laurie. "Let’s remove the words preach and evangelism for a moment and put a different word on the table: recommendation. We make recommendations all the time, from restaurants to the best products to buy. And when another person recommends something to us, it carries weight," he explains. Continue reading. |
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| Putin demands handover of Jerusalem church | | Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a letter to the Israeli government requesting that it transfer control of The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity to Russian custody. The historic church is located in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City and was once controlled by Tsarist Russia. Such a move would be considered controversial in light of other nations enacting sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine. Sources indicate Israel is "handling the matter," but did not further elaborate on the situation. Continue reading. | | Anglican archbishop in Canada resigns over sexual misconduct | | Mark MacDonald, Canada’s first national indigenous Anglican archbishop, resigned from his post over "acknowledged sexual misconduct," the church announced Wednesday. The Anglican Church of Canada provided few details about the misconduct. MacDonald, who assumed the post of bishop in 2007, was promoted to archbishop in 2019. Rev. Linda Nicholls, archbishop and primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, penned an open letter acknowledging the resignation, writing, "The sense of betrayal is deep and profound when leaders fail to live up to the standards we expect and the boundaries we set. Our hearts hold compassion for human frailty and space for repentance while we also ache with the pain that such betrayal causes first to the complainant; then to so many others and to the life of our Church." Continue reading. |
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| Viola Davis talks answered prayers in Netflix special | | During an upcoming Netflix show titled "Oprah + Viola: A Netflix Special Event," Academy Award-winning actress Viola Davis says she got on her knees and prayed for God to bring the right man into her life. "I went and I got on my knees, and I did. I said I want a big black man from the South who's probably been married before, has kids—because I don't want any pressure in that department," Davis explained to host Oprah. Davis said she listed specific qualities she wanted this man to embody, including "[s]omeone who has maybe been an actor who understands the artistic community. Someone who goes to church and loves God." Three weeks later, Davis met Julius Tennon, an ex-football player who had been married, raised his children on his own, and was an actor. After Tennon invited Davis to church, the actress says, "I thought to myself, 'Whoa.'" The two married in 2003 and in recent years have teamed up to create inspirational content as part of JuVee Productions. Continue reading. | | Media watchdog highlights disturbing trend of full-frontal male nudity | | Nonpartisan media watchdog group the Parents Television and Media Council says the practice of portraying male genitalia in movies, television, and via streaming content is on the rise, highlighting the example of HBO's "Euphoria," which included fully nude images of more than 30 high-school-aged-boys in the first couple of episodes. The group's report noted that "Euphoria" showed an adult male "putting a condom on his erect penis as he prepares to engage in anal sex with a teenager," a high school teenager "offering to perform oral sex on an adult male" and over 80 uses of the "F-word" and other obscenities." The group found nearly two dozen instances of male nudity in the show's second season, slightly outpacing the 19 examples of female nudity that were found. PTC has cautioned that the show "frequently" depicts teen and adult characters engaged in sex—including statutory rape—and "normalizes pornography" even as industry reports suggest "Euphoria" is the youngest-skewing drama series on HBO’s digital platform. Continue reading. | | | | Also of Interest... | | GLAAD CEO calls for more LGBT stories in children's programming‘Family’ branded streaming service Disney Plus now features explicit content Netflix cartoon 'grooms children for sexual abuse,' watchdog alleges | | | | | | Thank you for spending part of your day with us. We look forward to seeing you again on Monday! -- CP Editors |
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