“Bully Pulpit” Author Michael Kruger Asks: “What Is Spiritual Abuse?” // PLUS: American Renewal Project Wants Pastors to Run for Office

Warren Smith interviews Dr. Michael Kruger. They discuss Kruger’s new book Bully Pulpit, providing helpful definitions of the term “spiritual abuse,” and helpful prescriptions for how to prevent it.

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson has a message for the state’s evangelical pastors: Run for office.

Robinson has been sharing this message at church luncheons across North Carolina hosted by the American Renewal Project, a group dedicated to mobilizing evangelical pastors to run for school boards, city councils, county commissions, the state legislature and beyond.

We’ve been reporting on the “He Gets Us” evangelistic campaign. (See stories below.) But HGU is in some ways a throwback to the 70s-era “I Found It” campaign.

On the “regular” MinistryWatch podcast: Celebration Church, Seattle Pacific University, the $100-M “He Gets Us” Campaign. On today’s program, a church does something it doesn’t often do. It apologizes for its past. We’ll share why. We also look more closely at the $100-million evangelistic ad campaign called “He Gets Us.” And we note the passing of an evangelical elder statesman. Steve Douglass, who helped Cru grow into one of the largest ministries in the world, is dead at age 77. We’ll have an appreciation. We begin today with news that Celebration Church’s founders have reopened a defamation lawsuit against their former church.

You can hear the podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and other podcast apps, or you can simply click here.

On The “Extra” Episode: What’s Up At MinistryWatch? Usually, we do interviews on these mid-week episodes, but today an update on what’s going on at MinistryWatch. The main reason I wanted to do this episode was to tell you about our new MinistryWatch 1000 Executive Survey. I also want to let you know where we are financially. To listen, click here.

Calvin University’s board of trustees has allowed a group of faculty members to dissent from a clause in a confession of faith that regards sex outside of heterosexual marriage as sinful, thus enabling them to continue to work at the Christian school while also respecting their convictions.

MinistryWatch’s November list of the largest Christian ministries in the MinistryWatch database. We have included every ministry with revenue of $100-million or greater. That’s approximately 80 ministries. These 80 ministries represent a total of about $24.5-billion in annual revenue.

President emeritus of Cru/Campus Crusade for Christ International Steve Douglass died of complications from cancer Oct. 29 at the age of 77. Douglass spent 53 years on the ministry’s staff, 19 of them as president, after signing on in 1969 shortly after finishing Harvard Business School

Broadmoor Baptist Church recently announced that their former youth pastor participated in an abusive sexual relationship with a minor in the 1980s in a detailed account published on their website. According to the report, the pastor later paid for the victim’s therapy after she signed a non-disclosure agreement.

The digital data we generate every time we visit a website or make an online purchase is bought, analyzed, and sold to generate even more clicks and expenditures. But Gloo mines data to target people for good, connecting hurting souls with churches, counseling centers, and ministries.

Dallas-area evangelical megachurch lead pastor Matt Chandler hinted on social media that he plans to return to the pulpit at The Village Church “soon,” ending a leave of absence instituted by the church’s board in August after he admitted having a social media relationship with a woman who is not his wife.