Culture

Don’t allow gift-giving expectations to put you deeper in debt and rob you of the true joy of the season 

I know what you’re thinking: Here they come. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s; gifts to buy, meals to prepare, decorating, houseguests, parties to attend, church activities, neighborhood events, school productions–and a partridge in a pear tree.

It’s exhausting, isn’t it? Add the fact that the last few years have been financially disappointing for most of us, and it’s no wonder we get a heavy feeling in the pit of our stomachs when the calendar page flips over to November.

Bill Wilson has spent the last 30 years taking Sunday school to inner-city kids

Bill Wilson has been thrown off a building, mugged and shot in the face. But none of that has stopped him from leading sidewalk Sunday school every week in New York’s inner city. 

As he marks 30 years of ministry this year, he says the thing that has kept him going is simply commitment. “It’s like anything else; it’s a decision,” Wilson says. 

Operation Christmas Child of Samaritan’s Purse has partnered with the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, set for release on Dec. 10. Operation Narnia encourages Narnia fans to join the effort to show the love of Christ to millions of children around the world with shoebox gifts. “We’re very excited

In a new television documentary, Sarah Palin takes on a new role as tour guide of the nation’s largest state. Sarah Palin’s Alaska, which premieres on TLC on Sunday, offers a glimpse of life in Alaska as seen through the eyes of one of the state’s most recognizable residents.  The eight-week television event chronicles the

Gordon Fee knows how it feels to be a lone ranger. Regarded as the first Bible scholar of the modern Pentecostal movement, Fee is a maverick. For 40 years he has fought an uphill battle in Pentecostal circles, within a movement that has been traditionally wary of theological endeavors and has placed far stronger emphasis on

Thousands are expected to participate in Wednesday’s National Facebook Fast, an event planned by Texas pastors Kerry and Chris Shook to encourage people to refocus on face-to-face relationships. “You can have 1,000 Facebook friends but not one close friend you can sit down with face-to-face and really share your heart,” said Kerry Shook, who with

As many denominations experience membership declines, the Church of God of Prophecy (COGOP) is reporting growth in the last two years that nearly outpaces the previous eight. The denomination, whose biennial international assembly ended Saturday in Greensboro, N.C., estimates that 10,000 people joined the church each month last year. General Overseer Randall E. Howard said

Veteran healing evangelist Charles Hunter died June 21 at age 89 after several years of declining health. He and his wife, Frances, spent nearly 40 years leading healing crusades worldwide before her death last year at age 93. A memorial service was to be held July 14, the anniversary of his wife’s passing. Ted and Gayle

When Jane Hansen Hoyt joined the staff of Women’s Aglow 30 years ago, there were few women heading large ministries. Today women are leading in business, politics and the church. According to a Barna Group survey, the number of female pastors has doubled in the last decade. Hansen Hoyt believes the ministry, now called Aglow

Imagine children as young as 4 and 5 years old being forced to work 14- to 16-hour days making bricks, cigarettes, rope and textiles, then being forced to beg strangers for food in order to eat. This is the picture of slavery in many Asian and Middle Eastern countries. It seems a pretty harsh and

A former missionary believes God has given him a tool that will transform Africa. Paul Schneider Jr., founder of Aid the Children in Newnan, Ga., says a natural sea mineral concentrate has shown “exciting” results in improving the health of HIV-positive children in Africa. He said that after a three-month double-blind study in Kenya earlier

Ten weeks ago, 24-year-old Brian Seeley wasn’t at all new to the downtown scene in Lakeland, Fla. He’d been there many times before, hanging out with friends, including the city’s homeless.  On May 9, the Southeastern University senior decided to do more than just hang out, he went to live alongside Lakeland’s homeless. The Long