Month: February 2017

Doug Coe, Spiritual Leader of the Fellowship Foundation, Died Today

Late this afternoon, the family of Doug Coe shared with friends and associates that Doug Coe died today at the age of 88.

Dear friends and associates,
Because of how much you mean to our family, we wanted you to be among the first to be informed that Doug Coe, 88, passed today, Feb 21, 2017 at 4:20pm from complications following a heart attack and stroke. Despite our personal sadness, we have joy in knowing that he is now with Jesus and at peace. All for which he gave his life and tirelessly revealed to so many makes complete sense to him now. He is with family and friends who have gone on before, perhaps saying, “See, I told you…”

Coe was for many years the spiritual leader of the Fellowship Foundation, a non-profit organization that is best known for organizing and hosting the National Prayer Breakfast. Every president since Eisenhower has spoken at the event.

According to Coe’s and his family’s wishes, there will be a small memorial service.

Doug begged us not to make his passing about him, but rather continuously showed us how to make it about Jesus. We realize that our grief is more for us than him, so we will do a small memorial service only to say goodbye. He didn’t want a big affair. His wish was that this family of friends around the world would each gather with one or two in their small group in their own location at their next regularly scheduled time, and continue the prayer from Luke 10:2 that was his life focus.

Everywhere the Lord would allow him to go, Doug would pray to the Lord of the harvest “to raise up laborers, for the harvest is ready, but the laborers are few.” Continuing that prayer would be the highest tribute you could give to Doug, and we know you will be together with us in spirit as we bid him farewell in this earthly life until we are reunited with him one day in heaven for eternity.

Instead of flowers, the family suggests gifts “to the Doug Coe Memorial Fund. Checks may be made out to The International Foundation (memo: Account 501-000) and sent to The International Foundation, PO Box 23813, Washington DC, 20026.”

Doug Coe with me in 2010

I met and interviewed Coe at the 2010 National Prayer Breakfast. The interview was later published in Christianity Today as one of only a handful of interviews Coe granted to writers throughout his career. He was a behind the scenes kind of person who cultivated relationships with world leaders and helped spread the prayer breakfast concept around the globe.

My connection to the Prayer Breakfast came as a consequence of my opposition to the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009. Ugandan members of the prayer breakfast movement had offered the bill much to the eventual consternation of the American members. I was allowed to interview Coe in part to record his opposition to the Ugandan bill in person.

Doug wrote to me after my open heart surgery in 2012 to let me know he prayed for me. I will always remember his personal warmth and genuine desire to make his life about following Jesus.

I feel sure that Doug will rest in peace.

UPDATE:
Christianity Today has a write up about Doug.

A. Larry Ross has been designated to handle any media questions. See also his detailed bio about Doug.

This Just In: CPAC Rescinds Speaking Invitation to Milo Yiannopoulos, Publisher Pulls Book (UPDATED)

You knew this was coming:


After vocal reactions from a wide range of conservatives, CPAC rescinds the invitation.
For background on this matter, see posts from yesterday (here and here).
One wonders what took so long and what tipped the scale toward disinviting Yiannopoulos. Last night at 8:17pm, ACU chairman Matt Schlapp was still defending Milo as a speaker.


This was long after the video interviews had been widely available and distributed via Twitter.
UPDATE: Just in:

In 2011, Evangelicals Protested GOProud at CPAC. Now They Are Silent about Milo Yiannopoulos at CPAC

Ad protesting GOProud at CPAC in 2011
Ad protesting GOProud at CPAC in 2011

In 2011, social conservatives — mostly Christian groups — complained about the presence of GOProud, a gay conservative group, at CPAC. Many socially conservative groups pulled out.
Now, CPAC has scheduled Milo Yiannopoulos to speak. Yiannopoulos is a gay self-styled conservative who has spoken favorably of sex between young teens and adults. Thus far, (since Saturday), no major Christian or socially conservative group has come out against the speech, as far as I can determine.
Individual religious and social conservatives have spoken out. Reagan biographer Paul Kengor said the decision was “appalling.” He added, “If this is your idea of the new conservative movement, count me out.”
In my view, the issue isn’t Yiannopoulos’ sexual orientation. I supported GOProud’s involement at CPAC in 2011 and doubted that Ronald Reagan would have opposed it. My issue is Yiannopoulos’ defense of sexual relationships between teens below the age of consent and adults.  On that basis, CPAC should immediately rescind the invitation to speak.
If social and religious conservatives don’t come out against the planned speech by Yiannopoulos, then it will be one more sign that their voice has been stifled by support for the Trump/Bannon administration.

Pressure Mounts on CPAC to Cancel Milo Yiannopoulos' Speech

The annual conference of the Conservative Political Action Committee is coming up next week. However, controversy has already arrived in the form of Milo Yiannopoulos. His invitation to speak at the conference is not sitting well with critics. The criticism of the invitation became especially hot after two videos surfaced of Yiannopoulos defending young teen-adult sex (as young as 13 as recorded in the interview). I am not going to embed the videos but you can listen for yourself here and here (see also the video embedded at the tweet below and full interview here).
Some have called on other CPAC speakers to boycott the conference.


At least one Christian conservative is calling for conservatives to avoid the conference. Alan Noble, editor of Christ and Pop Culture tweeted:


Perennial CPAC attender, Ronald Reagan biographer and Grove City College colleague Paul Kengor told me the invitation is “appalling. William F. Buckley Jr. is rolling over in his grave.”
Kengor added that the keynote invitation is the “inevitable consequence of the Trump-Bannon attempted takeover of the conservative movement and GOP. Milo is a Bannon-Breitbart creation/superstar. For traditional-values conservatives who boarded the Trump train to defeat Hillary, well, it’s time to pay the piper.”
Kengor has a message for the American Conservative Union:

I beg this question of the American Conservative Union, Matt Schlapp, and its board members who I respect so much: Is Milo even a conservative? I realize it might seem uproariously fun to watch an outrageous, crude, militant homosexual tell leftists to go blank themselves, but is this really the poster-boy you want as the new model for young conservatives? The alt-right loves him. What would Ronald Reagan say about him as the CPAC keynoter? William F. Buckley Jr.? Russell Kirk?

He added, “If this is your idea of the new conservative movement, count me out.”
For his part, Yiannopoulos is claiming he was joking and did not refer to sex with minors. If one listens to the interview posted by the Reagan Battalion, it is hard to square his Facebook post with the interview where he defends young teen-adult sexual relations.

There Have Been Terror Attacks in Sweden — by Donald Trump's Supporters

On Saturday, Donald Trump claimed that something terrible happened in Sweden on Friday night.
[youtube]https://youtu.be/t0tSLV3GGQc[/youtube]
Problem: There was no terror attack in Sweden on Friday night. Social media mocked Trump for conjuring another false story (Last Night in Sweden).
Then today he tweeted that he saw that “news” on a Fox News program in which a guest claimed refugees are behind an increase in crime in Sweden (except that crime there is steady).


Sweden has taken in large numbers of refugees much to the consternation of far right neo-Nazis. In fact, a Swedish neo-Nazi group, the Nordic Resistance Movement has been responsible for carrying out acts of aggression in response to the influx of refugees. They also engaged in a victory rally for Donald Trump after he won the U.S. presidential election. So yes, there has been some acts of violence in Sweden, but at least some of them carried out by those who support our president.