Faith News Network

Dr. Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Connection (PDC), a comprehensive bundled suite of personal growth tools, resources and experiences, launches this week with the release of the premier issue of the “Purpose Driven Connection” quarterly magazine. Included inside each issue is a small group discussion guide with a DVD offering Warren’s teaching on spiritual growth, and is the first of a dozen multimedia resources to be introduced in 2009 designed to provide personal spiritual development and support.

Sri Lanka’s Parliament is expected to pass the country’s first anti-conversion law next month. The proposed legislation, titled “Bill for Prohibition of Forcible Conversions,” was presented a second time to members of Parliament in January. It is expected to easily pass when it is presented for a vote in February.

For decades he was a fixture on the Billy Graham Crusade stage and on televisions in living rooms around the country. Now, George Beverly Shea, the award-winning baritone who is often described as “America’s Beloved Gospel Singer,” has reached a new milestone in his storied life – the century mark.

Pastors across the U.S. and around the globe are affirming The Preacher’s Pledge- -a declaration of the centrality of the Bible in preaching and sermon preparation. More than 5,000 preachers have now taken The Pledge, with many more affirming it every day.

By Tim Burdashaw, Operation Compassion

On January 26th, 2009 one of the worst ice storms in recent history blasted the central part of the country. Ice, as thick as two inches, provided a blanket over power lines, trees and roadways making travel nearly impossible from northeast Arkansas to the Northeast. Kentucky, Ohio and extreme northern Tennessee received the nastiest of the weather. Utility companies expect power to be out in these areas for up to two weeks.