Fresh Loaf

Controversial pastor Bishop Eddie Long appeared on Bravo’s supremely trashy Real Housewives of Atlanta last night.

Housewife DeShawn, who attends Long’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, asks Long if he is willing to be auctioned off to benefit her charitable foundation.

Long appears non-committal, but nevertheless boasts that an auction for a lunch with him and wife will bring a lot of money.

“I guarantee you, we’ll bring the highest,” Long says.

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Once the word gets out, T.I.’s fans will surely flock to Easter service as if it’s the Second Coming.

A federal magistrate judge ruled today that multi-platinum rapper Clifford “T.I.” Harris will be allowed to attend New Birth Missionary Baptist Church’s Easter service this Sunday, despite his ongoing house arrest status.

Harris, who still faces weapons charges after being arrested on the day of the BET Awards in Atlanta last October, will be allowed to leave his residence from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. to attend the service presided over by New Birth Bishop Eddie Long.

Continue reading this story in Crib Notes.

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The finances of two Atlanta mega-churches are going to be scrutinized by a U.S. senator. Bishop Eddie Long’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and Creflo and Taffi Dollar’s World Changers Church International were among six churches targeted by a ranking Republican senator, Chuck Grassley of Iowa.

In letters faxed to the churches Monday, Grassley, the senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, asked for a wide range of financial information, including the ministers’ compensation, expenses, credit cards, automobiles and other items.

The other four other ministries are in Texas, Missouri and Florida.

The letters were prompted by an investigation by Trinity Foundation, a Dallas, Texas, group that monitors fraud among religious organizations. The group’s leader, Ole Anthony, told CBS News, “What we hope is that this will lead to reform in religious nonprofits.”

Long and other officials of New Birth did not return phone calls. Dollar told CBS that his ministry’s records are an “open book.”

Dollar and Long preach what is called the “prosperity gospel” — parishioners who donate heavily to the church are told to expect financial rewards from God.

Both Long and Dollar claim about 25,000 members at their churches.

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During the debate on the bill, Sen. Nan Orrock (D - Atlanta) said that the legislature was becoming a “regular mill that churns out bills to limit choice.” Sen. Orrock also said that there is an “effort across the country to put barriers in the way” of abortions being performed, and while she wanted to reduce the rate of abortions, she felt that “there is a better way” to do it.

– Andre at Georgia Politics Unfiltered, on state legislation that will require facilities or physicians carrying out abortions to offer patients ultrasound imaging of the fetus

but my real question is who in the world can feel good enough about marta to want to memorialize it on their body?

– James at Metroblogging Atlanta, on the MARTA rail map someone had tattooed on their hip by Liberty Tattoo. The post includes a photo of the tattoo.

So as usual, who better to trick people into giving TBN money, than a master at the game?

– Independent Conservative on Lithonia’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church Bishop Eddie Long’s appearance on TBN’s Spring Praise-a-thon 2007 fundraiser.

Here’s a clip:

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