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October 2, 2025

This edition is sponsored by Church Growth Engine

Today’s Briefing

Lone Star State face-off: In Texas, incumbent senator John Cornyn, facing his toughest electoral challenge yet from scandal-laden attorney general Ken Paxton, wonders whether character still matters in politics.

With suicide rates on the rise, South Korean officials and local Christians hope third spaces can help combat the loneliness epidemic.

A Christian doctor weighs in on the Trump administration’s recent recommendations around Tylenol use during pregnancy.

CT talks to boundary-pushing Christian musician John Van Deusen, whose dissonant and beautiful new worship album contains noisy jams, Weezer-style power pop, and familiar praise refrains.

This week on The Bulletin: Pete Hegseth’s address to military leadership, the federal government shutdown, and killings in Nigeria.

Behind the Story

From national political correspondent Harvest Prude: During my week reporting on the contentious Senate GOP primary in Texas, I spent several evenings devouring Mr. Texas, a satirical political novel by Lawrence Wright. Loaned to me by CT’s editor in chief Marvin Olasky, it’s an irreverent tale of a failed rancher who, by dint of a single heroic act, wins election to the Texas Legislature. Wright’s biting wit leaves no sacred cows. The book has a colorful cast: mercenary lobbyists, cartoonishly one-dimensional religious conservatives, and a larger-than-life speaker are all skewered in turn.

While I would hesitate to recommend the novel across the board due to its mature themes and language, I found that reading Mr. Texas lent a touch of glamour to the otherwise long days of pestering sources for interviews, imbibing much more coffee than normal, and schlepping to the Texas Capitol. Wright pulls you in with his strong sense of time and place, which is one lesson I tried to incorporate in my own reporting here. We’re telling a story that pairs sugar with medicine.

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In Other News

In a landmark ruling for religious freedom, the Indian state of Uttarakhand has acquitted the first pastor charged under its anti-conversion law.
At least 30 worshipers in Ethiopia died this week when part of a church under construction collapsed.
Three sheep have become famous for their “lamb-scaping” of a city church graveyard.

Today in Christian History

October 3, 1226: Francis of Assisi, preacher and mystic who created monastic communities for men and women devoted to poverty and serving the poor, dies (see issue 42: Francis of Assisi).

A Quiet Life Sets Up a Loud Testimony

Twenty-one years ago, before social media, an American Airlines pilot went viral for his evangelism strategy. He had just returned from a mission trip with his church to Costa Rica.…

Survey: Evangelicals Contradict Their Own Convictions

When American evangelicals affirm the Trinity but don’t see the Spirit as a personal being, when they consider Jesus as the sole source of righteousness but insist that people are…

The Secret Prayers of Gamblers

When I walk into an Appalachian casino on a Friday evening, every sense in my body dilates with the onslaught of stimulation. Outside the casino, it was cool, with dusk…

To Black Worship Leaders, Gospel vs. Contemporary Worship Is a False Dichotomy

Since its first album in 2019, Maverick City Music has been both praised and censured for its fusion of contemporary worship music and gospel. The group took off with songs…

in the magazine

The Christian story shows us that grace often comes from where we least expect. In this issue, we look at the corners of God’s kingdom and chronicle in often-overlooked people, places, and things the possibility of God’s redemptive work. We introduce the Compassion Awards, which report on seven nonprofits doing good work in their communities. We look at the spirituality underneath gambling, the ways contemporary Christian music was instrumental in one historian’s conversion, and the steady witness of what may be Wendell Berry’s last novel. All these pieces remind us that there is no person or place too small for God’s gracious and cataclysmic reversal.

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