Tullian Tchividjian, a grandson of Billy Graham has been nominated to succeed the late D. James Kennedy as pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. A pastoral search committee recommended Tchividjian, pastor of nearby New City Church, as Coral Ridge’s next senior pastor.
Tchividjian, the son of Gigi Graham, the evangelist’s eldest daughter, indicated willingness to consider the position as long as he can bring his current church members with him, merging the two congregations. Coral Ridge gave Tchividjian 30 days to consider the invitation, and if an agreement between the churches can be reached, he will preach at the church and then be voted on by the congregation.
Oral Roberts University names president. More than a year after Richard Roberts resigned as president of Oral Roberts University amid allegations of lavish spending, the Christian university in Tulsa has hired a new president. Mark Rutland, president of Southeastern University, a Christian liberal arts college in Lakeland, Fla., since 1999, will take the helm of ORU July 1. Rutland will become the third president in ORU’s 46-year history—after namesake Oral Roberts and son Richard Roberts—and the first not associated with the Roberts family. Rutland, who holds a doctorate from the California Graduate School of Theology, has written 13 books and hosts a daily 30-minute radio program called Herald of Joy. In his 10 years at Southeastern, the university has undergone more than $50 million in renovations, and enrollment has more than tripled, topping 3,000, ORU officials said.
Religion seen as Britain’s most divisive issue. A government-sponsored opinion poll in Britain has found that religion has displaced race as the most divisive issue facing the nation. The survey, conducted by the Ipsos MORI research organization for the government’s Equalities and Human Rights Commission, says 60 percent of respondents believe religious intolerance has become a bigger headache than racial tensions among Britons. That figure climbs to 66 percent among Muslims who took part in the poll.
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Panel approves British ‘No God’ bus ads. Rejecting protests by Christian groups, Britain’s advertising watchdog agency has given the go-ahead to a campaign to plaster atheist signs on hundreds of buses and other vehicles across the country. The Advertising Standards Authority ruled that the campaign, which uses the “no God” slogan, was unlikely to mislead or “cause serious or widespread offense.” The ASA is a powerful regulator set up as a self-governing agency for the nation’s advertising industry, with the authority to take its cases to the government’s Office of Fair Trading. As such, its decisions are rarely, if ever, challenged. The British Humanist Association sponsored the $100,000 ad campaign, with signs that say: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” The ads will be placed on some 200 buses in London and on 600 other vehicles in England, Scotland and Wales.
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