Posts in North America
Christian Music Artists And Child Sponsorship Ministries

Go to a contemporary Christian music concert and often you’ll be greeted by materials about a child sponsorship ministry or other charitable group the band asks you to support. But do concertgoers know that, behind the scenes, money is being exchanged between the charity and musical artists?

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Abilene Christian University Reaffirms Stance On LGBTQ Relationships

Despite an alumni-led petition drive urging a more progressive stance on LGBTQ+ issues, Abilene Christian University reaffirmed its existing policy. But for students at ACU, the debate over traditional vs. affirming views on same-sex relationships is not purely theological. It’s personal.

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An Oral History Of ‘Palestinian Chicken’ Of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Fame

The most Jewish episode of “Curb” — and one of its most beloved — retold here by the people who made it. “Palestinian Chicken,” the third episode of the Larry David comedy’s eighth season, seemed anything but dated when it aired on July 24, 2011, and today, you can’t assemble a list of the show’s greatest episodes without it.

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The Pour Over: Putting A Christian Perspective On The News

The Pour Over — a faith-based newsletter that reaches as many 550,000 unique subscribers — has surpassed all those prevoius efforts. It began in 2018 with a handful of readers and continues to grow, although founder Jason Woodruff doesn’t consider a greater audience the mark of success. Instead, it’s helping readers gain balance in a world that batters them with strident political reporting that can leave audiences off balance.

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A Modern-Day Mystic: The Priest Behind Homeboy Industries

The founder of the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation and prison reentry program in the world is a mystic, a Jesuit priest who does not believe that God has a plan for your life. Having buried 260 young men and women, Father Greg Boyle rejects the idea that it is God’s plan that anyone should die of a gang member’s bullet.

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Palestinian Restaurant Faced Abuse, So Its Owners Hosted Shabbat For 1,300 Guests

A (mostly) orderly crowd of hundreds descended on the New York eatery to celebrate Shabbat, show Jewish support for the restaurant’s anti-occupation politics, and affirm that — at least in Brooklyn — coexistence between Jews and Muslims is a reality, not a pipe dream.

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‘Underground’ Ballet Promotes Equality and Justice With A Dose Of Faith

“Underground,” the Kansas City ballet that tells the story of slaves escaping to freedom through the Underground Railroad, is “not a story of Black versus white, but good versus evil.” The show, which first premiered in 2008 at the Störling Dance Theater, is a beautiful ballet with a strong mission — something this shared sentiment can attest to.

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Super Bowl LVIII: Inside Sin City’s Christian Quarterback Battle

This year’s Super Bowl matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers may be contested at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas — known as Sin City — but it will feature two very pious quarterbacks when Patrick Mahomes faces off against Brock Purdy. Both are practicing Christians unafraid to talk about their faith.  

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Panthers Coach Prevailed Over His ‘Secret Life’ Thanks To Christianity

Dave Canales is ready to start his journey as head coach of the Carolina Panthers nearly two years after co-authoring a book with his wife Lizzy about working through problems with infidelity, addiction to pornography and binge drinking. Canales credits his wife’s support and Christianity for helping him improve his life.

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Insurance Cancellations Wreak Financial Challenges For Churches

Late last year, Christ Covenant learned Church Mutual had dropped its insurance coverage. “The reason we were given was we’re not worth the risk anymore,” elder Jake Pfaff said. Though Christ Covenant’s story is a common one among churches in and beyond the coastal regions, the insurance maelstrom has hit Texas and Louisiana hard.

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Churches Face Fines For Providing Warming Shelters During Winter Months

Last week, much of the U.S. experienced dangerously cold temperatures. In these conditions, what happens to the unhoused? Many churches were stepping up to provide overnight warming shelters for those experiencing homelessness in their cities.

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How Covering Pope John Paul II’s 1999 Visit To St. Louis Changed My Journalism Career

(ESSAY) For veteran religion writer Bobby Ross Jr., an unexpected assignment to cover Pope John Paul’s 1999 visit to St. Louis planted a seed. Twenty-five years later, Ross reflects on that experience as the spark that launched the most important phase of his journalism career.

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Cru President Steve Sellers Announces Plans To Step Down

Cru, the $811 million international ministry formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ International, announced Monday that President Steve Sellers will step down in July. Sellers explained the move in a video posted Monday night, saying that God had led him to his post and is now leading him to leave it.

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Rise Of The ‘Nones’: What Do America's Nonreligious Really Believe?

A new report on “nones” — one of the largest ever conducted on this fast-growing demographic — attempts to drill down into what these Americans believe, their feelings towards organized religion and politics. The decades-long rise of the “nones” has been one of the most talked about phenomena in the United States.

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Is It Time To Scrap The Term ‘Evangelical’?

(OPINION) When it comes to the term “evangelical,” it is not so much that it is a potentially ambiguous term (like “Christian”) as it is a misleading term — a term that has become cultural and political more than spiritual.

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Distributing Buddha’s Congee Thousands Of Miles From Home

Every year in mid-January, Livia Gao arrives at Mahayana Buddhist Temple in New York’s Chinatown at dawn to prepare 2,000 batches of congee, a soupy rice mixture, for the community. This special service is more commonly known as the “Laba Festival” by Mahayana Chinese Buddhists and celebrated by immigrants around the world.

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Communities Across The US Recall MLK’s Dream With Prayers and Service

Tributes to the life and legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. took place on Monday across the country and included a mix of politics, faith and community service. This year’s observance — the 38th since its was made a federal holiday in 1986 — commemorated the Baptist preacher and Civil Rights Movement icon's importance to American history.

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