Coral Ridge Ministries Media

Hundreds of congregants have left a pioneering megachurch in Florida to form their own congregation because they were unhappy with leadership at the church that's seen as a bedrock of the religious right. The action by the unhappy members at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church was the culmination of a feud between loyalists to an evangelical luminary, the Rev. D. James Kennedy, and his replacement as pastor, the Rev. Tullian Tchividjian, a grandson of the Rev. Billy Graham. The new congregation met for its first service last Sunday, and organizers said more than 450 people attended. The people who formed the new congregation had lost ... Read Full Story

The grandson of the Rev. Billy Graham will continue to lead a South Florida megachurch, even though some members have called for his ouster. Tullian Tchividjian (TUH'lee-uhn chuh-VI'-dee-uhn) took over this year as the new pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale founded by the Rev. D. James Kennedy who died in 2007. Some members circulated a letter with a petition urging a meeting to consider firing Tchividjian. But the motion was denied Saturday by a majority vote. Tchividjian's appointment represented a change at Coral Ridge, which under Kennedy's leadership, was seen as fiercely conservative in cultural wars over abortion, homosexuality and ... Read Full Story

Descendants of two of the country's most influential evangelical leaders are feuding over control of a Florida megachurch that is a bedrock of the religious right. Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale was once led by the late D. James Kennedy, who was a strong conservative voice on social issues like homosexuality and abortion. Earlier this year, a grandson of Billy Graham took over and brought a different style of leadership to the institution. Now Kennedy loyalists, including his daughter, say they are unhappy with the leadership of Tullian Tchividjian (TUH'-lee-uhn chuh-VIH'-dee-uhn) and want him removed. Tchividjian says his opponents are a very ... Read Full Story

Here we go again . . . Extreme Evangelical religious right fanatics are now commonly referred to by young Americans as the ‘Hate Churches’. Is there a good reason for this? Dateline Fort Lauderdale, Summer of 2007: Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle makes wild claims that gay men are (to paraphrase) having sex in public and threatening the ‘innocent’ streets of Fort Lauderdale and putting Broward County children at great risk, etc. (Lest we forget the hateful anti-gay Anita Bryant campaigns in the 1970s) The Evangelical ‘Hate Churches’ line up to support Naugle, but the rest of the Broward county commission, Tourist officials and ... Read Full Story

For many years Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and its Coral Ridge Ministries were a pillar of the reactionary far right element of the Christian Right. From advocating the sexual orientation was a choice and marketing the books and videos of discredited ex-gay fraud Michael Johnston , Coral Ridges and "Dr." D. James Kennedy were always in the forefront of gay bashing, disseminating fraudulent information, and pushing for a hate based far right Christian agenda. Like Focus on the Family's James Dobson , Kennedy was in my view a demagogue who encouraged a cult of his own personality and who made a living and garnered ... Read Full Story