Prayer News | Where Christians Pray Through the News

Prayer List: Covid-19 Global Menace

Cases of Covid-19, the Wuhan Coronoavirus, have been reported in more than 200 nations and more than 80,000 people have died. – Stats from Wikipedia

Orders to stay at home are preventing normal funeral services for the victims. Some families and friends of the deceased are experiencing deep depression.

Severe economic problems are also on the horizon for the unemployed.

Prayer List

  • Pray for the Holy Spirit to comfort the families and friends of people that have died from Covid-19.
  • Pray for a rapid recovery for those who are sick.
  • Pray for safety for doctors, nurses and family members caring for the sick.
  • Pray for financial needs to be met for people financially struggling after losing a job or receiving fewer work hours.
  • Pray for the spiritual needs of people to also be met.
  • Pray for opportunities to share God’s love and hope to people that are depressed from these circumstances.

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Assemblies of God News

  • AG Churches Suffer Damage from Hurricane Hanna
    Eight AG churches have reported damages experienced as a result of Hurricane Hanna, with roof and water damage being the most common.
    - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 4:54pm -
  • Adding Bluegrass Pastures
    Longtime University of Arkansas Chi Alpha pioneer Ronnie Hoover adds Kentucky to his portfolio.
    - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 2:00pm -
  • The Family Recovery Process
    Unique Teen Challenge program allows spouses, with their children, to remain together while leaving addiction behind.
    - 3 days ago 6 Aug 20, 3:00pm -
  • This Week in AG History -- Aug. 11, 1923
    A swarm of locust turns out to be a blessing, not a curse, for the native people and missionaries in this historic article.
    - 3 days ago 6 Aug 20, 12:00pm -
  • Shrinking Town, Growing Church
    Despite an aging population, small-town congregation invests in ministering to children.
    - 4 days ago 5 Aug 20, 6:00am -

Baptist Press

    Bible Gateway

    • Former US President Jimmy Carter Edits New NRSV Simple Faith Bible
      Nobel Peace Prize winner, former President Jimmy Carter is the editor of the new NRSV Simple Faith Bible: Following Jesus into a Life of Peace, Compassion, and Wholeness (Zondervan, 2020). According to the publisher, Carter’s relentless desire for peace, compassion, and wholeness permeate the notes of this Bible. His decades-long Sunday School teaching ministry, public […]The post Former US President Jimmy Carter Edits New NRSV Simple Faith Bible appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
      - 3 days ago 6 Aug 20, 3:05pm -
    • How to Live the Bible — Our Work, God’s Work
      This is the one-hundred-sixteenth lesson in author and pastor Mel Lawrenz’ How to Live the Bible series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here. What is work? Some people […]The post How to Live the Bible — Our Work, God’s Work appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
      - 3 days ago 6 Aug 20, 2:51pm -
    • God’s Good Plans for You: An Interview with Megan Fate Marshman
      What does it mean when the Bible says God’s plan for your life is to give you a hope and a future? Can you know his plan? Can you trust it? What is active dependence on God? What is God’s definition of good? Bible Gateway interviewed Megan Fate Marshman (@meganfate and @meganfate) about her book, […]The post God’s Good Plans for You: An Interview with Megan Fate Marshman appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
      - 5 days ago 4 Aug 20, 7:14am -
    • Nearly 2 Billion Bible Passages Spread Worldwide in 4 Years
      Almost two billion portions of the Bible were distributed worldwide between 2015–2019, according to the latest figures by United Bible Societies. The world population is 7.8 billion. [Read the Bible in multiple languages on Bible Gateway] One in eight of 1.8 billion Scriptures distributed last year was a Bible. Annual distribution of complete Bibles has […]The post Nearly 2 Billion Bible Passages Spread Worldwide in 4 Years appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
      - 6 days ago 3 Aug 20, 5:35pm -
    • Bible News Roundup – Week of August 2, 2020
      Read this week’s Bible Gateway Weekly Brief newsletter ⇨ Bible Gateway Weekly Brief ⇨ Newsletter signup ▼ Support Bible Gateway—Find the Resources You Need At: ⇨ FaithGateway Store ⇨ Christianbook.com Order Resources in Bulk At: ⇨ ChurchSource ▼ Former US President Jimmy Carter Edits New NRSV Simple Faith Bible ⇨ Bible Gateway Blog ⇨ Read […]The post Bible News Roundup – Week of August 2, 2020 appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
      - 7 days ago 2 Aug 20, 9:50am -

    Christian Headlines

    Christian Newswire

    • Cardinal Dolan's Call for Political Unity Not Possible says Randall Terry
      NEWS PROVIDED BYRandall TerryAug. 7, 2020MEMPHIS, Tenn., Aug. 7, 2020 /Christian Newswire/ -- President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden took shots at each other's faith on Thursday, staring with Trump telling Fox News' Geraldo Rivera that Biden is "against the Bible" and "against God."Today as a guest on Fox News Archbishop of New York Cardinal Dolan called for unity.   Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, states, "While most Americans Source: CCN
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 9:42pm -
    • Maine Governor Cannot Assign Churches Second-Class Status
      NEWS PROVIDED BYLiberty CounselAug. 7, 2020 BANGOR, Maine, Aug. 7, 2020 /Christian Newswire/ -- Liberty Counsel filed the reply brief to the First Circuit Court of Appeals regarding Calvary Chapel of Bangor's appeal in the lawsuit against Governor Janet Mills' unconstitutional orders against churches. Under the governor's challenged orders when the complaint was filed, no religious gatherings were permitted, including parking lot services. Under the orders, the church can hold secular Source: Liberty Counsel
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 8:11pm -
    • WCC Calls for End to Violence in South Sudan
      NEWS PROVIDED BYWorld Council of Churches Aug. 7, 2020GENEVE, Aug. 7, 2020 /Christian Newswire/ -- Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, World Council of Churches (WCC) interim general secretary, joined the South Sudan Council of Churches and the All Africa Conference of Churches in condemning recent violent killings of innocent people in South Sudan, and called to an end to brutality in the country.Photo: Hymie Sokupha/WCCExpressing profound sorrow and offering condolences and prayers for the f Source: World Council of Churches
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 8:04pm -
    • From Lockdown to Locker Room: Best-Selling Author Josh McDowell Calls Church to Address 'Natural Climate of Challenges' Facing Gen Z This Fall
      PLANO, Texas -- As the COVID-19 pandemic shows signs of slowing down and then accelerating againlike a perilous roller coaster ride--an apologist, who has worked with and researched young people in the church for nearly 55 years, is sounding the alarm about the impact of isolation on Generation Zespecially as they go back to school.Renown author Josh McDowell, who has compiled more than 1,000 hours of research on young people, urges church leaders to prepare for increasing mental health an Source: I AM PR
      - 3 days ago 6 Aug 20, 5:04pm -
    • After Approving Social Justice Messages, Will the NCAA Allow Christian Messages on Uniforms?
      NEWS PROVIDED BY4 WINDS USAAug. 6, 2020MADISON, Wisc., Aug. 6, 2020 /Christian Newswire/ -- 4 WINDS USA President Steve McConkey contacted NCAA officials in Indianapolis to ask them if they will allow Christian messages on uniforms now that they passed a rule allowing social justice messages. McConkey stands up worldwide for Christian athletes. Athletes will now be able to wear patches for "commemorative and memorial purposes as well as to support social justice issues."The ath Source: 4 WINDS USA
      - 3 days ago 6 Aug 20, 3:05pm -

    Christian Post

    Christian Research Network

    Christian Sentinel

    • Come Together Right Now Over Trump? by Jackie Alnor, The Christian Sentinel
      Pastor Jack looks like the odd man out in Paula’s White House Faith Initiative. He has a different view of Bible prophecy than the core of the group. He preaches the soon rapture of the ChurchThe post Come Together Right Now Over Trump? by Jackie Alnor, The Christian Sentinel appeared first on The Christian Sentinel.
      - 7 days ago 2 Aug 20, 6:51pm -
    • Excerpt from the Berean Call, originally published, October 1991
      How negligent it would be not to warn the sheep of poisoned pastures and false shepherds who promote lies in the name of truth.The post Excerpt from the Berean Call, originally published, October 1991 appeared first on The Christian Sentinel.
      - 10 days ago 30 Jul 20, 3:52pm -
    • Wrestling with Alligators, Prophets and Theologians — A review of the biography of the founder of The New Apostolic Reformation – by Jackie Alnor
      The only place in Scripture where we see anyone sitting on seven mountains is in the 17th chapter of Revelation – the Mother of Harlots: a prophetic peek into the future of what Wagner’s group, the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), is evolving into when it unites with its fellow false religionists. The post Wrestling with Alligators, Prophets and Theologians — A review of the biography of the founder of The New Apostolic Reformation – by Jackie Alnor appeared first on The Christian Sentinel.
      - 14 days ago 27 Jul 20, 3:44am -
    • Parable: When the Cow Said Meow
      Once upon a time there was a creative cow that said, “Meow!” The farmer’s cat was confused. What could this mean? So the cat looked…The post Parable: When the Cow Said Meow appeared first on The Christian Sentinel.
      - 19 days ago 22 Jul 20, 2:47am -
    • RULES OF ENGAGEMENT IN APOLOGETICS-101
      We need to sound the alarm – but at the same time not to fall for the devil’s snare in casting aside all ethics and common decency. The Church should not act like the WWA.The post RULES OF ENGAGEMENT IN APOLOGETICS-101 appeared first on The Christian Sentinel.
      - 19 days ago 21 Jul 20, 8:58pm -

    Christian Today

    • How I Explained Beirut’s Explosion to My Kids
      As Christian parents, our children must know we will keep them safe. But that does not mean keeping them comfortable.Our family was sitting down to dinner when the walls rumbled.Assuming it was just an unusual surge of electricity preceding one of Lebanon’s frequent power outages, we readied to say our prayers.And then came the boom, and the whole house shook.“An earthquake?” I wondered, as we rushed our four children, ages 7 to 13, outside to presumed safety. But there we found neighbors, anxiously skimming through Twitter on their balconies, shouting out the news.Beirut had just suffered one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in human history.My nerves for my family’s security settled when I learned it was not an earthquake. But then the political nerves took over.Was it an assassination? An Israeli strike?Reporting for Christianity Today from Cairo during the Arab Spring, our family had become somewhat accustomed to instability. But that was my realm: attending demonstrations, visiting attacked churches. Yet there was always a sense that life carried on, like the ever-calm waters flowing in the nearby Nile River, where we would often board a felucca boat and float in peace.Our year in Lebanon has been much different.Within two weeks of our arrival, Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire at the border. Tensions rose quickly after a drone crash-landed in the Shiite Muslim suburbs of Beirut.Within two months of arrival, we were greeted with another popular uprising. By some counts, a quarter of Lebanon’s 4 million citizens poured into the streets to demand a change in their political class.Within half a year of arrival, the currency collapsed. We can escape the rampant inflation better than most, due to foreign income. But like the rest of Lebanese, we couldn’t get dollars into the country.And when you ...Continue reading...
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    • White Fragility: Sin, Redemption and the Gospel
      An insufficient doctrine of sin and redemption cannot hope to resolve systemic injustice. Though published in 2018, Robin DiAngelo’s #1 New York Times bestseller, White Fragility, has returned to the top of the bestseller list in the wake of the recent racial tensions and protests in America. In her book, DiAngelo unpacks the phenomenon of “white fragility,” the inability or unwillingness of white people to talk about race, and argues that it “is not weakness per se… [but] a powerful means of white racial control.” The book’s provocative thesis has prompted its share of critical reviews (p. 2). The book has been critiqued for its circular logic, its lack of empirical grounding, its problematic epistemological assumptions, its “dehumanizing condescension,” and its opportunistic nod to the trillion-dollar (white) wellness and self-help industry.What has surprisingly been lacking from the growing cottage industry of White Fragility reviews is a theological critique of this flawed but culturally important work.While it may seem unfair to subject a book by a diversity consultant to a theological critique, there are two reasons a review of this nature is overdue. First, this book has not only graced the NYT bestseller list, it has also appeared on numerous “recommended reading” lists posted by evangelical pastors and leaders. While Christians should read widely to engage culture, they should also think critically and theologically about what they read. Second, its topic—racism and white people’s reluctance to reckon with it—raises unavoidable theological questions. We simply can’t talk about racism without talking about sin and evil—concepts completely absent from DiAngelo’s book. And we can’t talk about white ...Continue reading...
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    • White Fragility: Behind the Worldview
      Unraveling the contemporary critical theory behind White Fragility is key to deciphering its meaning. In our 2019 Gospel Coalition article “The Incompatibility of Critical Theory and Christianity,” Dr. Pat Sawyer and I recommended that Christians read White Fragility because it was —and is —the most popular example of a book rooted in contemporary critical theory, an ideology which is fundamentally incompatible with Christianity.In this essay, I won’t address the text of White Fragility itself. Many different authors [1] [2] [3] from all over the political and religious spectrum, myself included, have explained in detail why the book’s central thesis and supporting claims are false, contradictory, and harmful. Instead, I want to focus on the overarching framework on which it is based. I worry that many Christians, because they are unfamiliar with contemporary critical theory, are misunderstanding DiAngelo’s book. Worse still, Christians may be unconsciously absorbing elements of its worldview without realizing it.A helpful analogy might be to a Christian reading a Mormon book on parenting. While there may indeed be selected insights that he can appreciate, a Christian who is unfamiliar with Mormonism is likely to misinterpret Mormon references to “grace” or “the fatherhood of God” or “the eternal importance of family.” In the same way, Christians who come away from White Fragility thinking that DiAngelo is merely calling us to “be humble when talking about race” don’t fully understand what she’s saying. Putting White Fragility in the context of DiAngelo’s other writing will help us interpret her accurately.Interlocking systems of oppressionDiAngelo’s book Is Everyone Really Equal? most clearly explains her ideology, ...Continue reading...
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    • Public Theology Isn’t Just for Academics
      Our faith comes to life when we share our stories.After the police shooting of Michael Brown in October of 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, Cornel West and other clergy organized an interfaith service to protest Brown’s murder. Yet young protestors in attendance rejected what they interpreted as theological platitudes offered from the stage, wrote Leah Gunning Francis. Allegedly, a seminarian asked the platform speakers to change their chant from “Show us what democracy looks like” to “Show us what theology looks like”—in effect, asking the ministers to publicly weave the structure of their faith into their activism. Don’t tell us, write about it, or preach it. Show us your theology.This chant could apply to the many situations of oppression and abuse the church is witness to today. From the recent deaths of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery to the ever-growing #MeToo movement, socially situated abuse and trauma continue to stump evangelical religious leaders reaching for a theological response. Many evangelical Christians are ill-equipped to respond to racism, abuse, and trauma with much more than time-worn words. And a recent Barna study showed that most pastors feel only “somewhat” equipped to help congregants with any kind of significant trauma.Can we show each other, or even simply articulate to each other, what our theology looks like? Our shared stories—of trauma or otherwise—and what we do with them, can offer our listeners a path back to God.In June 2019, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission released the Caring Well Report, detailing decades of sexual abuse within the SBC. I wrote the report’s introduction, which described my story of abuse by my youth minister ...Continue reading...
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    • The Gospel Has Never Been Colorblind
      With eyes wide open to the colorfulness of distinction, we can see the full beauty of humanity.It is often suggested (usually by white brothers and sisters in Christ) that the good news of Jesus Christ drives the Christian to no longer "see color". The stated rationale for this comes from a certain interpretation of Galatians 3:28: We are all one in Christ! Apparently, union with Christ destroys distinctions to the point that those distinctions disappear. If that were the case, the virtue of a Gospel-shaped community would be conformity rather than true unity. Such conformity wrongly sidesteps a robust reckoning with the violent history of race in America.The Scriptures give us a different understanding of how to address ethnic conciliation: active peacemaking. Malcolm X said that progress is found in healing the knife wound of racism in the backs of Black people. The issue is that while some refuse to pull the knife out, many deny the knife even exists. You must “see color” for true ethnic conciliation and racial healing to happen. To insist on colorblindness ignores the beauty of God's creation and shields one's eyes from the historic subjugation and demeaning of His image-bearers. As a Black man, to see me means to understand that I navigate the world in a different way from my non-Black brothers, sisters and neighbors. Due to the racialization of American society, I must navigate differently to survive. If you are blind to my Blackness, you are blind to me.Our ethic as Christians is guided not by self-interest and the normalization of our own blinders, but by sympathy and empathy. We must “feel with” one another, as well as “feel in” one another. We place our trust in a Savior who did not pluck us out of our own fallenness in a fallen world, but assumed our ...Continue reading...
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    Faith on Film (Video Podcast)

    Forum 18 News Service

    • UZBEKISTAN: Synagogue demolition threat now removed?
      Tashkent's Jewish community is expecting on 10 August to receive a written court decision confirming that the building company aiming to destroy the Synagogue has withdrawn its suit. "Only then will it become clearer what will happen," a community member told Forum 18. Separately, officials including a Deputy Justice Minister have indicated that existing violations of human rights are likely to remain in a new Religion Law.
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    • UZBEKISTAN: "They want to destroy our Synagogue"
      Despite having legal proof that since 1973 Tashkent's Jewish community bought and remains the owner of its Synagogue, a building firm is preparing to demolish it and is claiming "compensation" from the Jewish community. It remains unclear how the city Hokimat (Administration) could allocate the land to the private company. The next hearing in the case brought by the building firm is due on 5 August.
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    • KAZAKHSTAN: Two churches' buildings ordered confiscated in Nur-Sultan
      Nur-Sultan city administration ordered the confiscation of Grace Presbyterian Church, and of Agape Pentecostal Church's half-finished place of worship on the same site. Grace Church – which bought its building in 2001 - is challenging the order in court. "From 2002 we have dreamed of having our own building, and we just started building it," says Agape Church Pastor Igor Tsay. "And then this. It was unexpected – a shock."
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    • UZBEKISTAN: Agents provocateurs, arrests, torture, criminal cases
      In three known cases so far in Tashkent in 2020, Muslims who discussed their faith with others are being prosecuted for alleged terrorism-related offences. In all three cases, the men were tortured and agent provocateurs used to bring false charges. Separately, a surgeon in Karakalpakstan who asked about coronavirus cases and then had religious texts confiscated has been put under house arrest.
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    • RUSSIA: 15 months in deportation centre so far
      18 months after officials secretly stripped Yevgeny Kim of Russian citizenship (his only citizenship) and 15 months after he completed his jail term for exercising freedom of religion or belief, the now-stateless 45-year-old Muslim remains in the foreigners' detention centre in Khabarovsk. Uzbekistan – where he was born – refuses to accept him. In June, he asked for identity documents enabling him to leave Russia voluntarily for Turkey.
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    Get Religion

    • QAnon in pews: Two online conversations with evangelicals concerned about the surge
      Way too many churches have never been all that effective, when it comes to helping the faithful deal with the challenges of daily life in the modern world — especially those linked to technology and mass media.Back when I was teaching at Denver Seminary, in the early 1990s, we were struggling to help future pastors and church leaders cope with cable television all of those TV screens in the typical family home.Frankly, many people couldn’t grasp how this was linked to pastoral ministry and preaching. I kept asking: How do your people spend their time? Spend their money? Make their decisions? These questions are at the heart of discipleship and they point to the powerful role that mass media play in modern life.Now there is the Internet. Those TVs still exist, but they are surrounded by dozens of other screens that serve as doors into cyberspace.It appears that we may have a topic that has some — repeat “some” — church leaders concerned about all of those screens. They are beginning to hear from pastors who are concerned, scared even, about the rising presence of QAnon dogma in their pews. Many saw the important essay in The Atlantic that ran with this headline: “The Prophecies of Q — American conspiracy theories are entering a dangerous new phase.”In an “On Religion” column about QAnon, I stressed that church leaders need to wake up and realize the role that mainstream and alternative news sources are playing in dividing their people — period.The bottom line: Many newsrooms are producing slanted, advocacy journalism that millions of consumers consider a kind of “fake news.” This is pushing readers away from mainstream news and deep into online niches packed with folks pushing QAnon and other conspiracy theories. Thus, I wrote: The question, as pandemic-weary Americans stagger into the 2020 elections, is how many believers in this voting bloc have allowed their anger about "fake news" to push them toward fringe conspiracy theories about the future of their nation. Some of these theories involve billionaire Bill Gates and global coronavirus vaccine projects, the Antichrist's plans for 5G towers, Democrats in pedophile rings or all those mysterious "QAnon" messages. "Q" is an anonymous scribe whose disciples think is a retired U.S. intelligence leader or maybe even President Donald Trump. The bitter online arguments sound like this: Are these conspiracies mere "fake news" or is an increasingly politicized American press — especially on politics and religion — hiding dangerous truths behind its own brand of "fake news"? "A reflexive disregard of what are legitimate news sources can feed a penchant for conspiracy theories," said Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College.A few lines later, Stetzer added:
      - 12 days ago 28 Jul 20, 6:00pm -
    • What is a priest worth? Latest Ted McCarrick news says it depends on the lawsuit
      There’s a book out there asking: “What is a Girl Worth?” Written by former gymnast Rachael Denhollander, it asks who is going to tell little girls that the abuse done to them years ago was monstrously wrong and that it actually matters that their perpetrators are punished.There also needs to be a book asking “what is a priest worth?”For two years now, we’ve been looking at the news reporting about the sex scandal that surrounded the now-former Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and how “everyone” knew he was dallying with seminarians and sharing beds with them at his New Jersey beach cottage back in the 1980s.After the news about McCarrick broke on June 20, 2018, it took the MSM a month to get all the major details together — and still they missed a few. This New York Times piece says the sexual activity that McCarrick carried on with his protégé Robert Ciolek stayed above the waist. The paper hinted in the next paragraph that another seminarian or young priest involved with McCarrick had endured far worse sexual abuse, but unless you knew how to read between the lines, you missed it.But the late Richard Sipe, a Benedictine priest-turned-psychotherapist, had posted on his web site 10 years beforehand accounts of very R-rated sexual activity McCarrick foisted on his underlings. Many journalists read it, but we didn’t know how to prove it. At the time, the church attitude I picked up was that nothing happened at that cottage and that the seminarians and young priests involved should get over it.The thought that some could be scarred sexually for life never occurred to anyone. Who could they talk about this with? Who’d believe them? Because of what had been done to them, they were abandoned to mull over some very dirty thoughts while at the same time berating themselves for not fighting back.Finally, last week, a bunch of media, including a consortium of New Jersey newspapers, reported a juicy lawsuit against McCarrick that threatens to expose some of the nastier details. Written by Newark Star-Ledger reporter Ted Sherman on the NJ.com site, the story was worth the wait. He is known only as “Doe 14.” Raised in a devout Catholic family, he attended St. Francis Xavier in Newark and Essex Catholic in East Orange in the Archdiocese of Newark, participating in church and youth activities. And by the time he was a teenager, his lawyers say he was being groomed for a role in what they called a “sex ring” involving then-Bishop Theodore McCarrick, the 90-year-old now defrocked and disgraced former cardinal who was cast out of the ministry last year over decades-old sexual abuse allegations.
      - 12 days ago 28 Jul 20, 1:00pm -
    • RNS finds trans clergy struggle for support, after leaving liberal seminaries (#WhyIsThat)
      Back in my Colorado days, I spent lots of time covering the Iliff School of Theology, a United Methodist seminary that was and is known as a hub for liberal Christian theology. A student — in the late 1980s — estimated that the student body was close to 50% gay and lesbian.The problem, of course, was that there weren’t enough “urban” churches in Denver to handle all the students who needed to work part-time, serve in parish residency programs or be placed in their first pastoral positions (if they wanted to say in that regional conference). I once heard a feminist lesbian student, near tears, describing her attempts to preach to a small-town congregation out on the high plains of eastern Colorado. Some people even believed in hell.What I realized was that this was not a story with two sides — liberal clergy vs. old-school locals. It was a story with, at least, three sides — liberal clergy, conservative laity and seminary/denominational officials caught in the middle. The liberal powers that be, you see, wanted to help the graduates, but they couldn’t afford to run off legions of ordinary church members. They had to be careful, for reasons linked to institutional survival.I thought of those stand-offs while reading the recent Religion News Service feature — I am not sure that it is a “news” story — that ran with this headline: “As seminaries welcome openly transgender students, church lags behind.” Here is the overture: When Austen Hartke arrived at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, he knew it was the only Lutheran seminary that didn't participate in his denomination's LGBTQ+ welcoming program. But as his awareness grew that he was transgender, so did his conviction that Luther was the right place for him. Hartke, who had come out as bisexual years before applying to seminary, had specifically picked the school, he said in a recent interview, so he would learn to navigate his identity and ministry while being exposed to “the Midwestern attitudes I lived with every day.” Still, said Hartke, who today runs the Transmission Ministry Collective , a community that supports transgender and other nonbinary Christians, “I didn’t come out as trans until I was holding my diploma, because I didn’t know what would happen.”
      - 13 days ago 27 Jul 20, 5:00pm -
    • Plug-In: 90-plus finalists were named for 2020 religion news awards. Why one stands out
      The Religion News Association named nearly 100 finalists in 22 categories last week for its 2020 Awards for Religion Reporting Excellence.Among the familiar names on the list: Religion Unplugged’s own Meagan Clark, Paul Glader and Elizabeth Vandenboom. And yes, I was honored to be included for my work with The Christian Chronicle.But one finalist’s name stood out: Heidi Hall.Hall, a former religion and education editor for The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville, was nominated posthumously. She died Sept. 25 last year from metastatic colorectal cancer. She was 49.Her deeply personal final story was published the day after her passing.“It's the story of her life — of losing everything when she left the (Jehovah’s) Witnesses — and finding a new family of her own,” RNS editor-in-chief Bob Smietana noted at the time.“Final edits were done by her hospice bed,” Smietana said after the RNA finalists were named. “I hope she is smiling somewhere.”The winners will be announced this fall.
      - 13 days ago 27 Jul 20, 1:00pm -
    • Joe Biden, Democrats face tough religious issues in public life that will not go away
      It didn't matter where Pete Buttigieg traveled in Iowa and the early Democratic Party primaries -- voters kept asking similar questions.Yes, they asked about his status as the first openly gay major-party candidate to hit the top tier of a presidential race. But they also wanted to know how his faith journey into the Episcopal Church affected his life and his take on politics."Those who are on my side of the aisle, those who view themselves as more progressive, are sometimes allergic to talking about faith in a way that I'm afraid has made it feel as if God really did have one political party," said Buttigieg, addressing a webinar for clergy and laypeople in his denomination's House of Deputies."It was very important to me to assert otherwise, but also to talk about the political implications of the commandments to concern ourselves with the well-being of the most marginalized and the most vulnerable and the idea that salvation has to do with standing with and for those who are cast out in society. … That energy carried the campaign, in ways that I never would have guessed."But highly motivated religious believers are, of course, often divided by conflicts about doctrine that then spill over into politics.Buttigieg waded into one such controversy during the campaign when candidate Beto O'Rourke said congregations and religious institutions that reject same-sex marriage should lose their tax-exempt status.“If we want to talk about anti-discrimination law for a school or an organization, absolutely. They should not be able to discriminate," said Buttigieg, on CNN's State of the Union broadcast. "But going after the tax exemption of churches, Islamic centers or other religious facilities in this country, I think that's just going to deepen the divisions we are already experiencing."Other Democrats face similar hot-button issues. Former vice president Joe Biden, during his fight over the "soul of the nation" with President Donald Trump, is sure to hear questions about his Catholic faith and his evolving beliefs on moral and political issues.Biden backed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993 and the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. His views changed, while serving with President Barack Obama.A key moment came in 2016, when Biden performed a same-sex marriage rite.
      - 14 days ago 26 Jul 20, 6:04pm -

    ID the Future (Podcast)

    • A Doctor Examines How the Body Meets Its Need for Oxygen
      On this episode of ID the Future from the vault, Ray Bohlin interviews physician Howard Glicksman about hemoglobin and the body’s need to have enough of it to transport sufficient oxygen to the tissues. Finely-tuned and exquisitely engineered, this system gave our ancestors enough oxygen to not only stay alive but thrive in the face of hostile challenges. Dr. Glicksman is author of an extended series of posts at Evolution News & Science Today, “The Designed Body.”
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 12:31pm -
    • Michael Behe Answers Your Questions
      This episode of ID the Future features Darwin Devolves author Michael Behe. The Lehigh University biologist and Discovery Institute Senior Fellow sat down to answer some of the most common questions put to him about evolution and intelligent design, and here we collect his answers to three of those questions: (1) What are some new examples of irreducibly complex systems? (2) What are some objections to ID from well-known critics? And (3) Why aren’t you convinced by theistic evolution arguments?
      - 4 days ago 5 Aug 20, 8:16pm -
    • Fine Tuning in a Nutshell: No Problem
      On this episode of ID the Future, Andrew McDiarmid interviews Robert Alston, Ph.D electrical engineer working at Picatinny Arsenal and co-author of the new book Evolution and Intelligent Design in a Nutshell. The two discuss the origin of the Nutshell book and the origin and fine tuning of the universe. Though cosmic fine tuning is often referred to as “the fine tuning problem,” Alston says it’s really no problem at all — not unless you’re trying to shoehorn it into the box of philosophical materialism.
      - 6 days ago 3 Aug 20, 8:46pm -
    • A Doctor Examines Some Intricate Control Systems Sustaining Your Life Right Now
      On this episode of ID the Future from the vault, Ray Bohlin interviews Physician Howard Glicksman about a common cause of death, cardio-pulmonary arrest, using the subject as a doorway to explore some intricate, interdependent control systems that sustains life. Dr. Glicksman is a medical doctor and author of an extended series of posts at Evolution News & Science Today, “The Designed Body.”
      - 9 days ago 31 Jul 20, 9:56pm -
    • John Lennox Talks AI, SciFi, Transhumanism and the Image of God
      On this episode of ID the Future, host Robert Marks continues his conversation with Oxford University mathematician John Lennox about Lennox’s new book 2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity. Lennox reviews mythology and science fiction writing stretching from the ancient poet Hesiod to the novelist Dan Brown and MIT physicist Max Tegmark. He says that artificial intelligence (AI) predictions down through the ages are all heavily dependent on theological and philosophical presuppositions. He and Marks also discuss AI’s cousin, transhumanism, its surprising history, and its potentially very dark future, including the risk of what C.S. Lewis called “the abolition of man.”
      - 11 days ago 29 Jul 20, 7:46pm -

    International Missions Board

    • Virtual VBS still provides opportunity to give to missions
      During a summer where few events have been held as they have in the past, churches have gotten creative in the ways they’ve held Vacation Bible School. LifeWay, producer of the Concrete and Cranes themed material, offer ideas on their website for churches which include neighborhood VBS held outside, alternative times or event schedules, and VBS at home. Each year, IMB partners with LifeWay VBS to tell stories of God’s work around the world and encourage children, families and their churches to give to missions. This summer’s missions focus is how God is at work in Italy through the Worthy...The post Virtual VBS still provides opportunity to give to missions appeared first on International Mission Board.
      - 5 days ago 4 Aug 20, 12:00pm -
    • Persian refugee pastors grow in faithful teaching and partnership
      How can a persecuted believer trust again after being betrayed by those closest to him? How can a person rightly understand suffering when his culture is awash in prosperity gospel teaching? How can a pastor carry the weight of leading when he doesn’t know how to study Scripture? These are challenges that Christian workers Mary and Andrew Flint* face every day as they seek to encourage growth among Persian refugee churches. Recently as they reflected on the first half of 2020, they realized that amid the noise of a global pandemic, God has been quietly answering their prayers for unity,...The post Persian refugee pastors grow in faithful teaching and partnership appeared first on International Mission Board.
      - 6 days ago 3 Aug 20, 11:04am -
    • Paul Chitwood expresses thanks for continued generosity toward gospel advance
      The post Paul Chitwood expresses thanks for continued generosity toward gospel advance appeared first on International Mission Board.
      - 12 days ago 28 Jul 20, 12:00pm -
    • IMB missionaries help churches reach nations while in U.S.
      The sun was blazing and the 102° heat was taking its toll on IMB missionary Mark Chambers*. He had driven four hours across a rugged, desolate landscape for this ministry opportunity and now he and pastor Michael Carter were lost. They asked for directions from an African man sitting outside of his home and a conversation began that soon turned to spiritual matters. A short while later, the man had heard the gospel and professed faith in Jesus Christ. Stories of God reaching the nations are always exciting for Southern Baptists to hear from the mission field. However, this particular...The post IMB missionaries help churches reach nations while in U.S. appeared first on International Mission Board.
      - 13 days ago 27 Jul 20, 12:43pm -
    • Celebrating Global Highlights
      Editor’s note: This is the second post in a 12-part series that highlights information found in IMB’s Annual Statistical Report. The report is based on 2019 research data. A full copy of the report is available at imb.org/asr. It’s halfway through 2020, and we’d like to take a look back at the extraordinary ways the Lord moved in 2019. Last year, 89,325 people committed their lives to Christ, and 47,929 were baptized. Growth also came in the form of leadership development—90,532 people received leadership training. These men and women who received training are furthering the gospel and growing their communities...The post Celebrating Global Highlights appeared first on International Mission Board.
      - 17 days ago 23 Jul 20, 12:00pm -

    Julie Roys

    • Liberty University Places Jerry Falwell Jr. on Indefinite Leave of Absence
      Liberty University has placed Jerry Falwell, Jr., on indefinite leave of absence from his roles as president and chancellor of the university, effective immediately.Liberty gave no reason for Falwell’s departure in a one-sentence announcement Friday afternoon. But it came just days after Falwell posted a racy picture of himself and a woman with their pants unzipped and shirts hiked up. Also posted was a video of Falwell and his friends and family members at what appeared to be a Trailer Park Boys themed party on a yacht.  
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 10:44pm -
    • To cope with pandemic, Americans choose TV over Bible
      When it comes to coping with the stress and uncertainty of a pandemic, most Americans are turning not to God, but to TV. That’s just one of the findings of a Pew Research Center survey released Friday (Aug. 7) on how the novel coronavirus pandemic has impacted the worship habits of Americans.The survey also found that an overwhelming majority of Americans think churches should be following the same same social distancing rules as businesses to slow the spread of coronavirus. 
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 5:36pm -
    • L.A. threatens John MacArthur & Grace Community Church With Fines, Arrest
      The city of Los Angeles has issued John MacArthur and Grace Community Church a cease-and-desist letter, threatening a $1,000 fine or arrest for continuing to hold in-person church services in defiance of state orders aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19.MacArthur and Grace Community Church have secured attorneys Jenna Ellis and Charles LiMandri of the Thomas More Society as legal counsel.“Pastor MacArthur and Grace Community church are not disobeying the Constitution; it is California’s Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti that are defying their constitutional obligation to protect religious freedom and church assembly,” Ellis said in a statement. 
      - 3 days ago 7 Aug 20, 1:09am -
    • Students Subjected to Hazing at Camp Run by Harvest Bible Chapel
      Students attending a camp run by the Chicago-area megachurch, Harvest Bible Chapel, were subjected to hazing that included humiliating “punishments” and something called the “Icy Hot Challenge,” according to a recent statement by the church.The hazing reportedly occurred from July 14-24 at Camp Harvest, a 650-acre, year-round camp in Newaygo, Michigan.The church said that in some cases, students were urged by a Harvest student pastor to participate in a dare called the “Icy Hot Challenge.”The statement did not describe the challenge. 
      - 3 days ago 6 Aug 20, 4:55pm -
    • Billy Graham statue to replace that of white supremacist in US Capitol
      A life-sized statue of the Rev. Billy Graham will be installed in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall collection sometime next year, replacing a statue of a white supremacist that both the state of North Carolina and the U.S. House want removed.The Statuary Hall collection consists of 100 statues of prominent people — two from each state. Graham, a North Carolina native who was born on a dairy farm in Charlotte, will take the place of Charles Aycock (1859-1912), a former governor. 
      - 5 days ago 4 Aug 20, 6:50pm -

    Life News

    • Mexico Rejects Legalizing Abortions Up to Birth
      Recently, Mexico’s Supreme Court refused a sweeping Roe v. Wade kind of ruling on abortion. This ruling was in response to another by a lower court judge which ordered the state legislature of Vera Cruz to amend its penal code and allow abortion in the first twelve weeks of pregnancy. In a 4-1 decision, the […]
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 10:52pm -
    • Chris Cuomo Makes Fun of Christians: You Stupidly Think We Want to “Kill All the Babies”
      After President Trump claimed Joe Biden was “against God” during a speech to his supporters yesterday, the media pounced. Over and over again journalists on the big three networks and cable news insisted Biden was a “devout Catholic.” This is the same media who feigned righteous anger at Trump standing in front of a church, yet […]
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 10:43pm -
    • Democrat Says Trump Hates Women Because He Opposes Killing Babies in Abortion
      Sen. Tammy Duckworth slammed President Donald Trump as anti-woman Friday because of his actions to protect unborn babies and mothers from abortion. In a column at Elle magazine, Duckworth, a pro-abortion Democrat from Illinois and a top contender for Joe Biden’s vice presidential running mate, urged Americans to vote against Trump in November. By opposing […]
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 10:26pm -
    • 30% Fewer People With Down Syndrome Born in UK as More Babies Killed in Abortions
      Warnings have been issued indicating that the number of children aborted for having Down’s syndrome is expected to soar due to the rollout of a new pre-natal testing programme from the Department of Health and Social Care. Michael Robinson, SPUC Director of Communications said: “This programme which is designed to weed out and kill unborn […]
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 8:53pm -
    • “You Guys Changed Our Mind.” Couple Rejects Abortion After Talk With Sidewalk Counselor
      A couple have rejected abortion and chosen life for their child, after speaking with a pro-life advocate outside a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic. Michael Robinson, SPUC Director of Communications said: “Heartwarming stories such as these prove just how vital a pro-life presence outside abortion clinics is. This couple were empowered by pro-life advocates which enabled […]
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 8:47pm -

    Mennonite Central Committee

    • MCC responds to explosion in Beirut, Lebanon
      Caption: The city of Beirut, Lebanon, is shown here in this panoramic view before the explosion Credit: dasMaddin, iStock.Mennonite Central Committee is responding to the explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, that caused extensive damage throughout the capital city on Aug. 4. 
      - 3 days ago 7 Aug 20, 4:00am -
    • Congress responds to annexation
      July 2020 marked the start of when the Israeli government could move to formally annex parts of the West Bank, with the support of the Trump administration.
      - 4 days ago 6 Aug 20, 4:00am -
    • Giving back through Summer Service
      Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)’s Immigration Program in South Florida has walked alongside Dmarcos Ramos since he was 15 years old, the earliest age he could apply for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status.
      - 7 days ago 3 Aug 20, 4:00am -
    • “Chicks-for-Congo” in the 1960s
      From 1961-1963, Larry Landis from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, served with MCC’s Pax program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo).
      - 11 days ago 30 Jul 20, 4:00am -
    • Sharing resources to keep communities safe in Appalachia
      When Kristin Overstreet completed an application in May for free hand sanitizer and cloth face masks through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), she couldn’t imagine that 550 gallons of sanitizer and 270,000 masks would show up several weeks later.
      - 13 days ago 28 Jul 20, 4:00am -

    MinistryWatch

    • Falwell On “Indefinite Leave of Absence” From Liberty University
      The Executive Committee of Liberty University’s Board of Trustees, acting on behalf of the full Board, met today and requested that Jerry Falwell, Jr. take an indefinite leave of absence from his roles as President and Chancellor of Liberty University, to which he has agreed, effective immediately. The board’s action is a response to Falwell […]
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 10:20pm -
    • Weekly Review Christian Groups Respond To Hurricanes, MinistryWatch Podcast Expands, New Additions to ECFA, MinistryWatch Databases
      Christian Groups Respond To Hurricanes, MinistryWatch Podcast Expands, New Additions to ECFA, MinistryWatch Databases
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 1:26pm -
    • Ep. 27: Race, Remembrance, and Responding To COVID
      On today’s program, the US Capitol and the state of North Carolina came up with an elegant solution to the confederate monument controversy when they replaced the statue of a white supremacist with the statue of Billy Graham.  Also on today’s program:  have you ever signed your name to a petition for a cause you […]
      - 3 days ago 7 Aug 20, 3:14am -
    • COVID-19 Death of ‘Well-loved’ Texas Pastor Shows Coronavirus Spread to Rural Areas
      A small United Methodist church in Texas is “absolutely heartbroken” after losing its pastor to COVID-19 as the pandemic spreads to rural areas of the country previously spared by the virus, according to its district superintendent.
      - 3 days ago 6 Aug 20, 8:33pm -
    • Street-level Generosity
      In 1997, Earthlink went public, and employees with stock options saw their net worth explode. One of those employees was Tom Hsieh.  Overnight, he became a multi-millionaire.Tom and his wife, Bree, opted to live in Pomona, Calif.—at the time, the second poorest city in Los Angeles County—and focus on investing in the people and community around them.
      - 3 days ago 6 Aug 20, 1:39pm -

    Religion News Service

    • Kansas pastor Adam Carter asks for help to #FindMarilane after his wife goes missing en route to Alabama
      (RNS) — A Kansas pastor is asking for help to find his wife, who reportedly went missing while traveling to seek help for her mental health.The post Kansas pastor Adam Carter asks for help to #FindMarilane after his wife goes missing en route to Alabama appeared first on Religion News Service.
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 9:17pm -
    • Jerry Falwell Jr. taking indefinite leave of absence from Liberty University amid calls to step down
      (RNS) — Jerry Falwell Jr. is taking an ‘indefinite leave of absence’ from his role at Liberty University.The post Jerry Falwell Jr. taking indefinite leave of absence from Liberty University amid calls to step down appeared first on Religion News Service.
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 9:05pm -
    • As Massachusetts bans female genital cutting, survivors and activists celebrate
      (RNS) — After seven years of advocacy by survivors and activists in the state, Massachusetts is now one of 39 states in the U.S. that has criminalized female genital mutilation and cutting.The post As Massachusetts bans female genital cutting, survivors and activists celebrate appeared first on Religion News Service.
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 8:51pm -
    • Kashmir's lockdown at one year: A region's alienation turns to betrayal
      (RNS) — Kashmir's loss of autonomy has now taken on a larger figurative dimension: It is also about betrayal of trust, political disempowerment and a deep sense of humiliation.The post Kashmir's lockdown at one year: A region's alienation turns to betrayal appeared first on Religion News Service.
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 8:46pm -
    • Photos of the Week
      (RNS) — This week’s photo gallery includes the groundbreaking of a controversial Hindu temple in India, reeling from the explosion in Beirut, and more.The post Photos of the Week appeared first on Religion News Service.
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 5:47pm -

    Trinity Foundation

    • Televangelist Morris Cerullo Dead at 88
      After preaching for 70 years, faith healer and televangelist Morris Cerullo has died at 88 years of age from pneumonia. In the months before he died, Cerullo’s final project, a […]
      - 27 days ago 13 Jul 20, 1:25pm -
    • Warning Signs When Reviewing Church or Ministry Financial Statements
        Before donating to a particular organization, stop and consider a few warning signs first. Trinity Foundation has spent several decades examining financial statements of religious organizations. There are common […]
      - 36 days ago 4 Jul 20, 10:49am -
    • When the Church Parsonage Looks Like a Mansion
      Televangelist Kenneth Copeland lives northwest of Fort Worth, Texas, near the shore of Eagle Mountain Lake in a “church parsonage” that can easily be described as a mansion or palace. […]
      - 72 days ago 29 May 20, 2:15pm -
    • Jim Bakker Recovers From Stroke, His Comeback Dreams on Hold
                      Jim Bakker in his heyday (1980’s)              Jim Bakker on the Jim Bakker Show (from YouTube) Televangelist […]
      - 86 days ago 15 May 20, 3:19pm -
    • Coontz Tax Evasion Conviction Upheld, FINALLY
        Televangelist Todd Coontz Loses Appeal in Tax Evasion Case Televangelist Todd Coontz, a prosperity preacher and protégé of Mike Murdock, is one step closer to beginning a five-year prison […]
      - 97 days ago 4 May 20, 9:52am -

    United Methodist News Service

    Women of Faith

    • Women of Faith Interview with Jeremy Camp
      Jeremy Camp...  Throughout his 17-year career, Capitol CMG artist Jeremy Camp has established himself with landmark accolades including: Holds title for most #1s among solo artists on the Christian Airplay chartBillboard’s #2 artist of the Decade in 201040 #1 radio hits across all formats4 RIAA certified gold albums and 1 gold single1 Grammy nomination, 3 American Music Award nominations & 4 ASCAP Songwriter of the Year AwardsJeremy has also authored an autobiography, I Still Believe (2013, Tyndale) and toured the world, sharing his music in more than 36 countries, and his organization, Speaking Louder Ministries, has allowed him to travel to Brazil, Guatemala, Ukraine, Japan and Kyrgyzstan.Now his story is being told in a movie for the ages!One love can change your life. One life can change the world. From the creators of I Can Only Imagine comes an inspiring true story of faith, hope, and love. I STILL BELIEVE is based on the real-life story of chart-topping singer Jeremy Camp. Starring KJ Apa, Britt Robertson, Shania Twain, and Gary Sinise, I STILL BELIEVE is a powerful reminder that in the midst of life’s storms, true hope can be found in Christ. Learn more at https://istillbelievemovie.com. Women of Faith is a global ministry, specializing in the use of all forms of media & technology, as a conduit to connect people to people and exponentially grow friends and community globally and to create disciples 24/7, 365 days per year.  This allows Women of Faith to reach more people and to have more impact in growing God’s Kingdom.  Women of Faith is also committed to carrying the legacy of wisdom, story and authenticity, by providing various media, initiatives, resources, events, courses, studies, partnerships and programs.  These are utilized in delivering spiritual strength, life leadership, real relationships and to encourage and equip women to experience a deeper relationship with Jesus. Women of Faith's Foundational Voice is Alita Reynolds. 
      - 25 Mar 20, 5:01am -
    • Experience I STILL BELIEVE in Theaters This Weekend!
      Experience I STILL BELIEVE in Theaters This Weekend! Love. Young love, the love of a parent, the love for a sibling, the love of God. I STILL BELIEVE is a true love story you are sure to love.This new movie from the creators of I Can Only Imagine opens in theaters THIS Friday, March 13. Telling the real-life story of Melissa and Jeremy Camp, I STILL BELIEVE is already touching hearts.CLICK HERE to take a minute to watch this video to hear what some of your favorite Christian artists (including for King & Country, Michael W. Smith, Rebecca St. James, and Mark Hall) are saying about this powerful film.The musicians on the video aren’t the only ones singing the movie’s praises.Lauren Daigle says:“I STILL BELIEVE was stunning to say the least. The story captivated so many sentiments. I saw this film with my grandmother, my dad and my aunt, so that’s three generations and we all had tears falling down our face. We were all moved equally. This movie isn’t a matter of age. This movie is a matter of heart. If you have a heart, you’ll be able to feel something in this film that’s real.”Dannah Gresh from True Girl Conferences adds:“I STILL BELIEVE is the kind of love story that’s been missing in our theaters. It’s refreshingly honest and gritty and showcases a love that maintains innocence but does not lack passion. You’ll leave with a desire to both experience and express the right kind of love. … Salty and full of light.”Author Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle says:“I STILL BELIEVE will take your breath away. Your heart will soar as you are drawn into a most-incredible love story. Feel every emotion—cry, cheer, fret, jump for joy, and praise God as your soul is deeply touched by faith, hope, and love. Miracles still happen—don’t miss this movie!”And Women of Faith’s own Alita Reynolds declares:“I STILL BELIEVE is a movie for everyone and a love story for the ages. Prepare to laugh, cheer, cry, and renew your hope.”Be sure to let us know what YOU think after you see I STILL BELIEVE in theaters this weekend. Chances are: you’ll LOVE it!One love can change your life. One life can change the world. From the creators of I Can Only Imagine comes an inspiring true story of faith, hope, and love. I STILL BELIEVE is based on the real-life story of chart-topping singer Jeremy Camp. Starring KJ Apa, Britt Robertson, Shania Twain, and Gary Sinise, I STILL BELIEVE is a powerful reminder that in the midst of life’s storms, true hope can be found in Christ. Learn more at https://istillbelievemovie.com. Women of Faith is a global ministry, specializing in the use of all forms of media & technology, as a conduit to connect people to people and exponentially grow friends and community globally and to create disciples 24/7, 365 days per year.  This allows Women of Faith to reach more people and to have more impact in growing God’s Kingdom.  Women of Faith is also committed to carrying the legacy of wisdom, story and authenticity, by providing various media, initiatives, resources, events, courses, studies, partnerships and programs.  These are utilized in delivering spiritual strength, life leadership, real relationships and to encourage and equip women to experience a deeper relationship with Jesus. Women of Faith's Foundational Voice is Alita Reynolds. 
      - 12 Mar 20, 5:01am -
    • JONAH: More Than a Whale of a Tale
      Who doesn’t know Jonah?  While at first glance we think of it as the tale of a whale, it’s really a story of God’s heart toward the nations.  God uses this timeless story to challenge us to His most important commitment – reaching the nations with the news of His love and forgiveness.  Even if they are our archenemies, He wants us to go there and tell them of the wonderful grace of Jesus…greater than all our sin.Jesus Himself summed up the story of Jonah as He left this earth.  It’s recorded in the last two verses of Matthew 28: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.”  He had a plan for Jonah, and that same plan is for us.From Women of Faith Devotional Bible.  Copyright © 2003 (Thomas Nelson, Inc.)  Used by permission.   Women of Faith is a global ministry, specializing in the use of all forms of media & technology, as a conduit to connect people to people and exponentially grow friends and community globally and to create disciples 24/7, 365 days per year.  This allows Women of Faith to reach more people and to have more impact in growing God’s Kingdom.  Women of Faith is also committed to carrying the legacy of wisdom, story and authenticity, by providing various media, initiatives, resources, events, courses, studies, partnerships and programs.  These are utilized in delivering spiritual strength, life leadership, real relationships and to encourage and equip women to experience a deeper relationship with Jesus. Women of Faith's Foundational Voice is Alita Reynolds. 
      - 10 Feb 20, 6:00am -
    • LOOKING THROUGH THE LENS OF ANGER
      Looking through the Lens of Anger"In your anger do not sin’: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” (Ephesians 4:26–27)Anger is a God-given emotion, yet many believe anger is always negative, always a sin. We stuff it, hide it, avoid it, and deny it. Hidden anger only fuels the fire inside. These Keys for Living will help you identify the four sources of anger and learn how to apply the quick answer to anger. You will also find biblical solutions for resolving past anger and practical tools to identify triggers, handle angry people, and act rather than react in volatile situations.Anger is appropriate at certain times.Anger must be resolved, or it becomes sinful.Anger can be curtailed.Anger, if not stopped, can be used by Satan.Anger, if prolonged, gives ground to Satan.“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.”(Ephesians 4:29–30)Anger can lead to unwholesome talk.Anger can grieve the Holy Spirit.Anger can be totally cancelled.Anger becomes sin when it results in bitterness.Anger must be eradicated before it turns to rage.Anger must be let go before it leads to fighting.Anger must be overcome before it leads to slander.Anger must be mastered before it becomes malicious.Anger can be conquered through kindness and compassion.Anger can be fought and defeated through forgiveness.“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”(Ephesians 4:31–32)Facing the Internal FireIs your commute plagued by road rage?Do you battle difficult people every time you step into the grocery store?How often have you sat alone after an argument, regretting your harsh words?Do you try to control your emotions and find yourself at the mercy of unpredictable anger?Anger can make you feel like a powder keg, vulnerable to even the smallest spark. When you lose control, the flames can be explosive, singeing your relationships, charring your work and burning your health. In truth, anger is a positive emotion, designed by God as a warning signal to alert you to a problem. But if left unchecked, anger grows into deep destructive bitterness.God can help you uncover the source of your anger whether injustice, hurt, fear or frustration. He is ready and able to heal your heart and help you control your anger before it controls you!To learn more about working through anger, check out our resources on ANGERAND... you are able to check out all of our resources here: RESOURCES   Women of Faith is a global ministry, providing digital media, resources and events to encourage and equip women to experience a deeper relationship with Jesus.  Initiatives and programs allow women to be reached with the Word of God. Various media and events are utilized in delivering the message.  Women of Faith's Foundational Voice is Alita Reynolds.
      - 6 Feb 20, 5:21pm -
    • ARE YOU READY TO BE EQUIPPED TO FULLY TELL YOUR STORY...
      ARE YOU READY TO BE EQUIPPED TO FULLY TELL YOUR STORY...WITH IMPACT?ALL FOR GOD'S GLORY!Did you know your personal faith story is able to be used powerfully by God?Your story is the most powerful story you will ever tell.Let's Tell Your Story...We thank you for your interest in either sharing your story or in participating in the Story Workshop.  Many of you have shared how you desire to share your story and you have no idea where to begin.  Then there are those of you who have a story and are afraid to share it because of past hurts. With our available resources and the Story Workshop, we are able to walk with you step by step, in crafting your story and in overcoming any fear or shame with your story or in sharing it with others.  We are a community and we are able to walk arm in arm, each step of the way, so in the end you are encouraged and equipped and are able to share your story with confidence and to achieve impact. All for God’s glory!   We are to live out the Great Commission together. We feel so strongly about living out our purpose of building God’s kingdom, that this course was birthed from both this commandment and also our passion to bring others to Christ. We call this movement the Each One. Reach One. Movement. STORY WORKSHOP ONLINE COURSEAs Women of Faith, we want to equip you to share your faith and fulfill the words of Christ to “make disciples of all the nations.”The Story Workshop Equips You To Deliver Your StoryLearn how to put your testimony together in a compelling way by participating in the Story Workshop!Learn How To Share Your Story In A Compelling Way...This workshop will empower you to do this without fear or embarrassment and will enable you to be on the lookout for opportunities to Be the Light for Jesus.Be equipped to deliver your story.  After completing this workshop, you will be equipped to share your story in a way to bring others to Christ. Your story is the most powerful story you will ever tell... Allow us to help you tell yours!  Learn to structure and deliver your story of how God has worked in your life.  And deliver it with confidence.  Be confident in sharing your story... to anyone.  Who needs to hear your story?  People have a deep desire to relate to others. Did you know your personal faith story can be used powerfully by God.  We use personal stories to encourage women to experience a deeper relationship with Jesus, and to plant the seed.  Starting with yours.God uses unusual situations and difficult circumstances to fulfill His purposes.  One of those purposes is to bring glory to Him—for you to tell your story so others can share your experience and find hope in Jesus for themselves.What lessons has God taught you through trying times?What event in your past has had the greatest impact on you?What made Jesus the most important person in your life?The answers to these questions will prepare and further equip you to share the Good News of Jesus. Christ.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. 1 Peter 3:15NOW IS THE TIME TO TELL YOUR STORYWhere ever we are at in our journey, We experience life together.  It’s time. Time for Sisters in Christ to lock arms and support one another.Together we are friends.Together we are stronger.Together we rise up.Together we are Women of Faith. https://www.womenoffaith.com/the-story-workshop    Women of Faith is a global ministry, providing digital media, resources and events to encourage and equip women to experience a deeper relationship with Jesus.  Initiatives and programs allow women to be reached with the Word of God. Various media and events are utilized in delivering the message.  Women of Faith's Foundational Voice is Alita Reynolds.
      - 29 Jan 20, 4:00pm -

    The World And Everything In It (Podcast)

    • Legal Docket, Episode 2: Age discrimination
      Hosts Mary Reichard and Jenny Rough explore oral argument and the eventual ruling in Babb v. Wilkie, an age discrimination case the Supreme Court decided in April 2020.For the next eight weeks you'll be hearing Legal Docket on The World and Everything in It on Saturdays. Episode 2 is available this week.We also release Legal Docket as a stand-alone series, and we publish new episodes each Tuesday. So if you want to listen sooner or help others find this program, you can subscribe by searching for Legal Docket on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you listen.
      - 1 day ago 8 Aug 20, 7:15am -
    • 8.7.20 Culture Friday, Like Dandelion Dust, and Ask the Editor
      On Culture Friday, professor George Yancey talks about the reality and limits of systemic racism and the principle of mutual accountability for racial reconciliation; Megan Basham reviews the Christian film, Like Dandelion Dust; and on Ask the Editor, Marvin Olasky answers questions about his Jewish, atheist background. Plus: piloting two world records, and the Friday morning news.Support The World and Everything in It today at wng.org/donate.Additional support comes from The Bible Speaks Today, the best-selling commentary series now within a single study Bible. Learn to apply the Bible for everyday life.Also from Maranatha Baptist University. Flexible, biblical, engaging online options, from high school to graduate school.And Samaritan Ministries. Samaritan members care for one another by praying, encouraging and sharing health care costs—all without the use of insurance.
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 7:15am -
    • 8.6.20 Big city crime, telemedicine, and WORLD Watch
      Anna Johansen reports on how the uptick in violent crime is affecting parts of Chicago and other large U.S. cities; Katie Gaultney talks to patients and doctors about how the increasing use of telemedicine is changing the healthcare industry; and Myrna Brown spends some time with the team behind WORLD Watch. Plus: commentary from Cal Thomas, a marathon swearing-in ceremony, and the Thursday morning news.Support The World and Everything in It today at wng.org/donate.Additional support comes from The Bible Speaks Today, the best-selling commentary series now within a single study Bible. Learn to apply the Bible for everyday life.Also from Maranatha Baptist University. Flexible, biblical, engaging online options, from high school to graduate school.And Samaritan Ministries. Samaritan members care for one another by praying, encouraging and sharing health care costs—all without the use of insurance.
      - 3 days ago 6 Aug 20, 7:15am -
    • 8.5.20 Washington Wednesday, World Tour, and a sculptor’s life
      On Washington Wednesday, Mindy Belz explains why international aid groups are worried about the effect of new U.S. sanctions against Syria; on World Tour, Africa correspondent Onize Ohikere reports on international news; and Sarah Schweinsberg meets a sculptor in Idaho who spends his days bringing clay to life. Plus: commentary from Joel Belz, laundered money, and the Wednesday morning news.Support The World and Everything in It today at wng.org/donate.Additional support comes from The Bible Speaks Today, the best-selling commentary series now within a single study Bible. Learn to apply the Bible for everyday life.Also from Maranatha Baptist University. Flexible, biblical, engaging online options, from high school to graduate school.And Samaritan Ministries. Samaritan members care for one another by praying, encouraging and sharing health care costs—all without the use of insurance.
      - 4 days ago 5 Aug 20, 7:15am -
    • 8.4.20 Cash shortages, regulating Big Tech, and Classic Book of the Month
      Anna Johansen reports on what’s causing nationwide cash shortages; Jason Thacker explains why lawmakers think Big Tech has gotten too big; and Emily Whitten recommends two reading resources for families in Classic Book of the Month. Plus: commentary from Andrée Seu Peterson, Mickey Mouse tax refunds, and the Tuesday morning news.Support The World and Everything in It today at wng.org/donate.Additional support comes from The Bible Speaks Today, the best-selling commentary series now within a single study Bible. Learn to apply the Bible for everyday life.Also from Maranatha Baptist University. Flexible, biblical, engaging online options, from high school to graduate school.And Samaritan Ministries. Samaritan members care for one another by praying, encouraging and sharing health care costs—all without the use of insurance.
      - 5 days ago 4 Aug 20, 7:15am -

    World Magazine

    • newTrump orders economic relief
      President Donald Trump on Saturday took executive action to extend extra unemployment benefits, defer payroll taxes, pause student loan payments, and protect renters from eviction. He signed four executive orders enacting key provisions of a Republican economic stimulus plan the day after the White House and congressional Democrats failed to reach a deal. “This is not a perfect answer,” White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said on Friday. “But it is all that we can do and all the president can do within the confines of his executive power.”What are the details? The executive orders defer the withholding and payment of payroll taxes from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31 for employees who make $4,000 or less every two weeks. The White House said it is exploring the elimination of the tax obligation for people who qualify, but the order does not guarantee those taxes will never come due. Trump also extended additional unemployment benefits that expired on July 31. The benefits will pay $400 a week going forward, down from the previous $600.Dig deeper: Read Harvest Prude’s report in The Stew about the stumbling blocks in negotiations on a new stimulus bill.Image: Category: White HouseArticle Title: Trump orders economic reliefKeywords: PoliticsCoronavirusWhite HouseEconomyCongressEmploymentAuthor: Lynde Langdon
      - 20 hours ago 8 Aug 20, 9:28pm -
    • Falwell to take indefinite leave of absence
      After drawing criticism over numerous public statements and scandals, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. apologized this week for posting a racy photo on Instagram. On Friday, the executive committee of the university’s Board of Trustees announced it had requested Falwell take an indefinite leave of absence from his positions as president and chancellor effective immediately, and Falwell agreed. The image, which he later deleted, showed him with his arm around his wife’s pregnant assistant, both of them with their midsections exposed and their pants partially unzipped. Falwell said they were posing just for fun but admitted he should not have posted it.Hasn’t Falwell been in the news a lot lately? Last year, the son of the school’s late founder, the Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr., settled a lawsuit with a pool attendant he and his wife were friends with over the ownership of a hostel in Miami Beach, Fla. At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, experts and Liberty faculty members and students criticized Falwell and the school’s administration for continuing to have classes on campus—though no cases were reported there through the end of the school year. In May, he tweeted an image of a mask with a racially offensive photo, causing some faculty members and students to leave Liberty over concerns about racial insensitivity at the school.Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read a report on Falwell’s battle with Liberty’s student newspaper over administrative censorship.Image: Category: EducationArticle Title: Falwell to take indefinite leave of absenceKeywords: EducationHigher EducationPoliticsScandalsChristianityReligionAuthor: Kyle Ziemnick
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 10:48pm -
    • Court lifts ruling, allows abortion restrictions
      Starting on Aug. 28, the state of Arkansas can enforce four laws to protect unborn babies that a federal judge blocked in 2017. On Friday, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a lower court’s injunction, citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court case. The high court’s ruling in June Medical Services v. Russo struck down a Louisiana abortion law. In a concurring opinion in that case, Chief Justice John Roberts said state legislatures should have wide discretion for setting their states’ policy.What do the Arkansas laws do? They protect babies from a procedure called dilatation and evacuation, or dismemberment abortion, which the state calls barbaric. They also require abortionists to notify police when a girl younger than 17 gets an abortion, an increase from the previous cutoff of 14. And the new guidelines protect babies from sex-selective abortions and ensure the remains of aborted babies are handled with respect.Dig deeper: Read Leah Hickman’s article about the Mexican Supreme Court’s recent decision about abortion.Image: Category: Pro-LifeArticle Title: Court lifts ruling, allows abortion restrictionsKeywords: AbortionCourtsLifeFamilyAuthor: Seth Johnson
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 10:19pm -
    • New York schools cleared to reopen in-person
      The one-time U.S. coronavirus hot spot is ready to have students back in the classroom. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday said the state’s public schools can reopen if COVID-19 numbers stay low. In New York City, the nation’s largest school district is planning a hybrid model for September, with 1.1 million students rotating between in-person and at-home instruction each week. The city will require social distancing in the halls, masks, and nightly disinfecting of school buildings. Students will stay in one classroom and eat lunch at their desks while teachers rotate.Will the plan change again? City officials still need to get the teachers union on board, submit the plan for state health department approval, and hold at least five parent informational meetings. Classes will go back online if infection rates in the city rise above 3 percent.Dig deeper: Read Laura Edghill’s report in Schooled on plans for reopening public schools nationwide.Image: Category: Public SchoolsArticle Title: New York schools cleared to reopen in-personKeywords: EducationCoronavirusHealthNew YorkPublic SchoolsAuthor: Esther Eaton
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 9:50pm -
    • Monsoon weather hammers India
      A plane skidded off a runway upon landing in southern India on Friday and split into two pieces, killing 16 people and injuring 123 others. Monsoon-like conditions contributed to the crash, and forecasters predicted more heavy rain for the region. The coronavirus pandemic has grounded regular commercial flights in the country, but this one was repatriating Indian citizens who were stranded outside the country during the pandemic, authorities said.Has the weather caused other problems? A mudslide in the same region killed at least 15 people and buried 20 homes. More than 50 residents remained missing after the disaster wiped out a bridge and brought down power lines. So far this year, severe weather has displaced about 9.6 million people across South Asia and killed more than 550 people in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.Dig deeper: Read Onize Ohikere’s report in World Tour about the recent outbreak of violence at the India-Pakistan border.Image: Category: DisastersArticle Title: Monsoon weather hammers IndiaKeywords: InternationalIndiaDisasterWeatherTravelCoronavirusAuthor: Seth Johnson
      - 2 days ago 7 Aug 20, 9:14pm -