Died: Sandra Crouch, Gospel Artist Who Broke with Church to Get Ordained

Died: Sandra Crouch, Gospel Artist Who Broke with Church to Get Ordained

She won a Grammy for “We Sing Praises,” collaborated with her brother Andraé on “Jesus Is the Answer,” and worked with everyone from Billy Graham to Michael Jackson.

Sandra Crouch, the twin sister and collaborator of gospel music legend Andraé Crouch, died earlier this month after an illness, her publicist said.

Crouch, 81, who died on March 17, will be honored with a musical tribute and funeral at New Christ Memorial Church in San Fernando, California, set for April 16–17, according to an announcement.

She died in a California hospital after having complications from treatment for a noncancerous lesion in her brain.

Though her brother’s name is more widely known, Crouch was influential in both ministry and music—within and beyond the gospel genre.

She cowrote “Jesus Is the Answer” with her brother—a 1970s hit on both Black gospel and white gospel radio stations. In the 1980s, she composed, produced, and sang the lead on “We Sing Praises,” for which she won a Grammy in 1984 for best soul gospel performance by a female, helping keep Light Records out of bankruptcy.

The label has continued to feature many other gospel acts, including The Winans, Walter Hawkins and the Hawkins Family, and Commissioned, as noted by jazz and folk singer-songwriter Dara Starr Tucker in a social media post paying tribute to Sandra Crouch.

If you grew up with gospel music in the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, then this label itself is iconic for you,” said Tucker, who added that Crouch also played tambourine on hits of the Jackson 5. “For those reasons and so many more Sandra Crouch was a hugely influential figure in the world of gospel music.”

At the time of her death, Crouch was senior pastor of New Christ Memorial, after her twin brother took the controversial step in 1998 of ordaining her as copastor of the Pentecostal church started …

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The Steep Price of Pilate’s Fame

The Steep Price of Pilate’s Fame

Billions know the Roman governor’s name. But he didn’t know the very son of God standing before him.

I am in the apparently small category of men unconcerned with the Roman Empire. I could probably describe key events in the reigns of three to five of its rulers, but not much more. And when it comes to recalling this kind of detail, I suspect I’m not alone. All but a handful of these ancient leaders have vanished from the public imagination. They struggled, fought, murdered, and schemed their way to supremacy only to be forgotten.

The same is true of American presidents, despite their greater proximity. I know the exceptionally good and bad, but others who held the highest office in the land do not register. Such are the vicissitudes of history. In our vanity, we humans want to etch our names in the record—only for the next generation to arrive well stocked with erasers.

But Pontius Pilate, the first-century governor of the Roman province of Judea, did succeed in being memorable. At Easter, unruly young boys will bound into churches decked in homemade Roman military garb playing the role of Pilate. He’s a central character in the dramatic reenactments of every Holy Week.

He is mentioned in the Nicene Creed, a central confession of our faith. The name Pontius Pilate has been recited countless times, Sunday after Sunday over the last millennia and half since that creed’s ratification, giving him one of the most recognizable names in the world. The creed refers to his role in the death of Jesus with characteristic brevity: “he was crucified under Pontius Pilate.” The words have been said by billions, but who was this provincial governor, and what does he have to teach us about the perils of significance?

Pilate was from the upper crust of Roman society. He’d been …

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After Terrorists Kill 130, Russian Evangelicals Resist Revenge

After Terrorists Kill 130, Russian Evangelicals Resist Revenge

As Moscow and Kyiv trade insinuations over concert hall killing claimed by ISIS affiliate, Christian leaders focus on compassion and forgiveness instead of blame.

Russian evangelicals used Sunday sermons to condemn a terrorist attack that killed more than 130 people at a Moscow concert hall.

As Russia’s Baptist union prayed for “God’s mercy and protection,” its Pentecostal union conveyed its “bitterness and sorrow.” Vitaly Vlasenko, general secretary of the Russian Evangelical Alliance, called it a “painful shock” that could unleash “unbridled revenge” against terrorism.

But many in Russia are wondering: Who are the terrorists?

The attack on Friday that killed at least 137 people at the 6,200-seat Crocus City Hall was claimed by the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan’s Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), which seeks an Islamic caliphate in Central Asia. Its statement emphasized it was targeting Christians and came in the “natural framework” of its war against the enemies of Islam.

Earlier this month, the US embassy in Moscow had issued a warning to avoid large gatherings. American officials stated they shared their intelligence with Russia. On March 7, Russia said it thwarted an attack on a synagogue, and a few days prior, security services killed six ISIS-K terrorists during a shootout in the nation’s Muslim Caucasus region.

The group was also linked to the 2017 St. Petersburg metro bombing that killed 15.

ISIS-K was formed by extremists seeking a more violent path than the Pakistani Taliban in 2015, the same year Russia formally intervened in Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad. A Sunni group, ISIS and its affiliates oppose Assad’s Alawite faith as heretical and considers Shiite Muslims as apostate.

In January, ISIS-K killed 95 Iranians in Kerman at a memorial service for Qasem Soleimani, leader of the …

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Anti-Christian Attacks Surge as Hindu Nationalism Grows

Anti-Christian Attacks Surge as Hindu Nationalism Grows

Battling accusations of forced conversions, the church faces escalating threats, false arrests, and assaults on their institutions, reports the Evangelical Fellowship of India.

The number of violent anti-Christian incidents in India jumped to 601 in 2023 compared to 413 the previous year, according to a new report from the Evangelical Fellowship of India’s Religious Liberty Commission (EFI-RLC).

“Despite constitutional protections and India’s long-standing tradition of religious diversity, the rise of divisive rhetoric and inflammatory language, often condoned or inadequately addressed by official channels, has emboldened sections of society to perpetrate acts of violence and discrimination against religious minorities, particularly Christians and Muslims,” said Vijayesh Lal, general secretary of EFI.

India is home to about 28 million Christians, or about two percent of the country’s population of 1.4 billion. The majority of attacks on Christians were categorized as threats and harassment (201) followed by 146 instances of false accusations and subsequent arrests.

EFI-RLC’s report highlights several troubling trends, including regional hotspots, primarily concentrated in the northern part of the culture, where violence against Christians is particularly severe. Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state and a significant political battleground, recorded the highest number of incidents at 275. The state also leads in arrests of pastors and believers, often on allegations of forced conversions, despite lacking substantial evidence.

Chhattisgarh, a state in central India, is another hotbed of targeted violence against tribal Christians. It witnessed 132 incidents of coordinated attacks in addition to several Ghar Wapsi (“returning home” programs of reconversion to Hinduism or ancestral faith) and ostracism incidents that are not recorded.

Haryana, a landlocked …

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The Myth Behind the Meaning of Paul’s Words on Women and Childbearing

The Myth Behind the Meaning of Paul’s Words on Women and Childbearing

Sandra Glahn studies the record of an Ephesian goddess to aid our reading of a challenging passage.

As a female New Testament scholar, I simply do not have the luxury of avoiding 1 Timothy 2:11–15, where Paul, after stating that women should “learn in quietness and full submission,” claims they “will be saved through childbearing.” The “saved through childbearing” verse has been quoted to me by more strangers and (possibly) well-meaning acquaintances than any other, but one particular time stands out.

I don’t remember what context could have possibly made his statement appropriate, but one day about ten years ago, a young man said in a conversation about my teaching, “Well, you are saved through childbearing.” In this instance, I was in a position of authority over him, and I could tell that his “joke” sought to return me to my rightful place.

“Then I guess I am not saved,” I quipped back, knowing that his interpretation of this verse depended on my literal procreation. I also knew, unlike him, that my body was giving many signs that I might never bear a child. (As a side note, by God’s grace, I eventually did become somebody’s mother.)

My story provides a minute glimpse into the horrendous ways that women have been hurt by the misuse of 1 Timothy 2:11–15, and in the introduction to her recent book Nobody’s Mother: Artemis of the Ephesians in Antiquity and the New Testament, Sandra L. Glahn gives a heartbreaking picture of her experiences with infant loss as well as encounters with this text in cultures where it stands supreme in determining how women might participate in the church. She, like I, internalized messages about womanhood and how the worth of women is measured. There must be many arrows in our quivers, they …

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