Tag: Pastor News

The pastor of a Colorado church caused outrage when he stopped a funeral for a lesbian woman after realizing that a video tribute to her life showed her with her female partner Christina Higley.

Vanessa Collier, 33, died in a shooting incident which police say may have been suicide. She had two daughters, aged seven and 11. Her funeral service was held at the New Hope Ministries church in Lakewood, whose Pastor Ray Chavez – who was not officiating at the service – called a sudden halt to the proceedings after about 15 minutes.

The congregation of several hundred moved across the road to a funeral parlour and concluded the service there.

However, Pastor Chavez has been widely criticised for his actions and protesters gathered outside the church yesterday chanting slogans and carrying banners labelled “Dignity in Death”, “Bury the Dead” and “Love Trumps All”.

Higley wrote on Facebook: “Vanessa’s services were NOT refused because she is a ‘lesbian’. Her services were refused because we would not let New Hope Ministries ‘edit’ her life which was a slideshow of our family photos including our engagement and family photos of her and I with our two children! It never crossed my mind that it would be an issue considering we paid to use their facility ONLY. We brought in our own Pastor to facilitate. I would completely understand if we were asking to be married

(c) Christian today

Nigerian Christians migrating to Spain for a better life were allegedly thrown overboard after a pastor was blamed for the worsening weather conditions.

Two Cameroonian migrants have been arrested by Spanish police following accusations that they threw up to ten Nigerians overboard, according to Sky News.

After hitting bad weather, a Nigerian pastor – one of around 50 sub-Saharan African migrants making the journey in an inflatable boat – began to pray that they would not sink. Some of his fellow Nigerian migrants prayed with him. Some survivors say the Cameroonian men accused the pastor of causing the stormy weather and then pushed him and the others praying overboard.

When the survivors arrived in Spain, they appeared afraid of the two Cameroonians. This aroused the suspicions of officials.

A statement from the Spanish police, shared on The West Australian, says that “the detainees blamed the bad weather on the Nigerians who were praying and used the boards that covered the bottom of the boat to assault and throw overboard the pastor and the other Nigerian passengers.”

The 50 migrants departed from northern Morocco on 3 December in an inflatable boat without a motor. They were hoping to make the nine-mile journey across the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain.

The boat was found adrift off the coast of Almeria, southern Spain, two days later by Spanish coast guard officials. There were 29 survivors, including a three-year-old child. The rest of the passengers who did not survive “perished due to the rough conditions of these types of voyages,” say police.