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The Doorpost · Issue 55 · Monday, June 23, 2026
The Standards Are There for a Reason
“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.” (1 Corinthians 6:18)
Father, today’s three stories come from different places but each of them touches on the question of what the Church believes and what it is willing to defend. The USMNT advanced in the World Cup, and Christian Pulisic posted a photo of his team praying together on the field, a public act of faith at the world’s biggest sporting event. In California, Heartbeat International goes to trial on Tuesday in the first case of its kind, with the state seeking to silence a pro-life organization for telling women they have options after taking an abortion pill. And in Fort Worth, a pastor charged with sexual assault and child grooming remains in his pulpit, leading his church via video after a judge barred him from being on the premises. Lord, give the Church the clarity to celebrate what is good, the courage to defend what is right, and the wisdom to recognize that the standards You established for leadership are not bureaucratic details but acts of mercy. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Today’s issue covers Christian Pulisic’s post-match prayer photo as the USMNT advances in the World Cup, Heartbeat International’s historic First Amendment trial beginning Tuesday in California, and the ongoing situation at Journey Fort Worth Church, where a pastor facing serious criminal charges continues to lead remotely. Go well.
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Top Stories
Three Headlines to Watch
1) Pulisic Posts Prayer Photo After World Cup Win: The USMNT Is Advancing and Its Christians Are Not Quiet About It
After the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team defeated Australia 2-0 on Friday to advance to the knockout round of the 2026 World Cup, star player Christian Pulisic posted a photo to Instagram showing members of the team gathered in prayer together on the field. Pulisic, who sat out the match with a calf injury, captioned the post: “Grateful to be a part of this group. Onto the next round all together,” with a U.S. flag emoji and praying hands. Teammate Mark McKenzie, who led the team in a group prayer following the tournament’s opening win over Paraguay, commented on the post with a reference to Ecclesiastes 4:9–12, the passage about two being better than one. Following a separate World Cup match against Curaçao, Germany’s national team and their opponents gathered together on the field after the final whistle. German midfielder Felix Nmecha explained afterward that the two teams prayed together because both sides have players who are Christians and consider each other brothers.
Pulisic returned to full training with the team on Monday ahead of the group stage finale against Turkey. The USMNT has already clinched the top spot in Group D, winning two matches for the first time since 1930, and is now preparing for the knockout rounds. Pulisic has been a visible voice for faith throughout his career, including a nine-part docuseries in which he shares Bible verses and describes a men’s Bible study he leads with teammates that he calls “Bible Time.” The U.S. is hosting the World Cup this summer, and the biggest soccer tournament on earth has an American Christian in the middle of it who is not keeping his faith off the field. Read the full story at The Christian Post →
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Doorpost Reflection
Two national soccer teams stopped on the field after a World Cup match, opponents from two different countries, and prayed together because they share a Lord. Felix Nmecha said it plainly: during the game, they were opponents. After the whistle, they were brothers. That is not a press conference statement. It is a theological conviction lived out in front of a stadium full of people and millions more watching at home. Pulisic did the same thing on Instagram, no commentary required, just a photo of men on their knees and a verse reference in the comments from his teammate.
Pray for Christian Pulisic and the members of the USMNT who are using this platform faithfully. Pray for Nmecha and the German players whose witness crossed national lines after that match. And pray that the conversations these moments open in living rooms, bars, and stadiums across the country this summer would point people to the Jesus these men say they belong to.
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Scripture: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow.” — Ecclesiastes 4:9–10
2) California Is Taking a Pro-Life Pregnancy Network to Trial for Telling Women They Have Options. It Begins Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Heartbeat International goes to trial in California Superior Court in what is believed to be the first case of its kind in the United States. California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued Heartbeat International and RealOptions Obria Medical Clinics in September 2023, seeking nearly $20 million in penalties and asking the court to prohibit them from sharing information about Abortion Pill Reversal, a protocol using progesterone to counteract the effects of mifepristone when a woman changes her mind after beginning a chemical abortion. Heartbeat’s Abortion Pill Rescue Network operates a 24/7 helpline and a network of over 1,300 medical professionals, clinics, and hospitals, and has connected more than 8,000 women with care since 2012. The state’s complaint describes the organizations’ promotion of Abortion Pill Reversal as false and misleading. Heartbeat disputes this characterization and says the protocol has been documented to help women continue pregnancies they no longer wish to end.
Danielle White, general counsel for Heartbeat International, said this is the first case of its kind to reach trial, and that a ruling in California’s favor would give attorneys general across the country a roadmap to penalize any nonprofit that provides women with information the state disagrees with. Thomas More Society is representing Heartbeat and RealOptions. Peter Breen, their lead attorney, has stated the attorney general has no evidence of harm and no legal basis for this case, only a political agenda to silence pro-life voices. The trial is expected to last several days. This case is not peripheral. If the state of California can fine a pro-life organization $20 million for telling a woman she has options after taking an abortion pill, the implications extend well beyond California. Read the full story at Pregnancy Help News →
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Doorpost Reflection
The state of California is asking a court to fine a Christian organization $20 million for operating a helpline that connects women with doctors when they change their minds about an abortion. The pro-abortion movement has spent decades insisting it is committed to women’s choice. This lawsuit is the clearest possible evidence of what that commitment actually means: choice is acceptable when a woman chooses abortion. When she chooses otherwise, the organizations that helped her must be silenced and penalized. The unborn child saved through that reversal protocol has no standing in this courtroom. The woman who made the call and changed her mind has no voice in California’s complaint. The state’s position is that neither of them should have had the option.
Pray for Danielle White, Peter Breen, and the Thomas More Society legal team as the trial begins Tuesday. Pray for the women who have used the Abortion Pill Rescue Network and whose stories the state of California is working to bury. And pray that the court would uphold what the First Amendment already says: the government cannot silence a viewpoint simply because it dislikes the message.
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Scripture: “Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.” — Proverbs 24:11
3) A Fort Worth Pastor Charged With Sexual Assault and Child Grooming Is Still Leading His Church. The Pastoral Epistles Exist for Exactly This Reason.
Diego Fuller, 40, founding pastor of Journey Fort Worth Church, is currently charged with sexual assault and child grooming. He was first arrested on August 31, 2025, on a second-degree felony charge of sexual assault and was later indicted in March 2026 on the additional grooming charge. He has denied all allegations. Despite the charges, Fuller continued leading his church in person until May 5, when he was arrested again for allegedly violating his bond conditions by having contact with minors during a church service. A Haltom City police officer testified he saw Fuller hug and hold at least two children and kiss one child on the head. A judge reinstated his bond at $75,000 and ordered him to lead services only through video call going forward. He remains the lead pastor of the church. Fuller has denied the original charges publicly from the pulpit, displaying his own mugshot during a sermon and calling the allegations false.
The church’s Board of Elders initially released a statement expressing support for Fuller, saying he categorically denied the accusations and that the church welcomed a thorough investigation. A status conference is scheduled for July 9. The case is ongoing. No trial date has been set. It is important to note that Fuller has not been convicted of any crime. The criminal justice system will determine guilt or innocence. What is at issue for the Church is not the verdict but the question of who should be leading a congregation while facing these allegations, and what the Scripture says about the qualifications for that role. Read the full story at KERA News →
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Doorpost Reflection
The Pastoral Epistles do not exist to make church leadership more complicated. They exist to protect both congregations and leaders. Paul’s instructions in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 set a clear standard: an overseer must be above reproach. Not sinless, but above reproach. That phrase means that the life of the leader should not be a source of credible scandal that undermines the Church’s witness and puts people at risk. The standard is not punitive. It is protective, and it protects everyone involved, including the leader himself.
Scripture is uniquely specific about sexual sin. In 1 Corinthians 6:18, Paul does not say resist sexual immorality or face it or manage it carefully. He says flee. That word is deliberate. Sexual sin has a particular pull, and God’s instruction to those who struggle with it is to remove themselves from situations where they cannot run. Placing someone who is facing serious charges of sexual misconduct into a position of ongoing pastoral leadership is not an act of grace toward that person. It potentially corners them in the very environment from which Scripture says they should flee, while also leaving a congregation in a situation that the Church’s own scriptures say should not exist. The church elders at Journey Fort Worth have a responsibility to the people in their care. That responsibility does not pause while the court process runs its course.
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Scripture: “Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach.” — 1 Timothy 3:2
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Daily Scripture
Verse of the Day
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“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.”
1 Corinthians 6:18
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Paul’s instruction in 1 Corinthians 6:18 is one of the most direct commands in the New Testament. He does not offer a strategy for managing sexual temptation. He does not suggest careful boundaries or accountability structures as a first line of defense. He says flee. The word he uses is the same one used to describe Joseph running out of Potiphar’s house, leaving his cloak behind rather than staying another second in a situation that had become dangerous. The point is urgency and distance, not engagement. This is the one category of sin where Scripture’s primary counsel is removal from the situation, not confrontation of it.
That instruction is relevant to today’s stories in different ways. Christian Pulisic and his teammates are living in front of millions of people during the biggest sporting event in the world, and they are choosing to kneel together and point to Christ. Heartbeat International is fighting for the right to tell women who want to flee an abortion decision that there is somewhere to go. And the situation in Fort Worth raises the plainest possible question: does the structure of church leadership protect people from situations where fleeing is no longer possible, or does it create them? The Pastoral Epistles are not administrative documents. They are the Church’s instruction manual for protecting the flock and the shepherd alike.
Father, we give thanks for the witness of Christian Pulisic and his teammates, that the world’s biggest soccer stage has men on it who are not ashamed to kneel. We pray for the Heartbeat International trial beginning Tuesday, for Danielle White and the Thomas More Society legal team, and for the women whose second chance at choice is on the line in that courtroom. We pray for the congregation of Journey Fort Worth Church, for the elders who are responsible for their care, and for wisdom in the days ahead. And we pray for every church leader who is reading this today, that You would give them the courage to hold the standards You have set, not as a burden, but as a gift to the people they serve. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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