Pastor Harold Bare and Laila needed time away. Good things are happening, but distance affords reflection, rest, prayer, and perspective. Not having been to the Northwest of the United States they chose this location. In speaking with Bishop Baker of Virginia they shared their desire to meet and encourage some pastors as they traveled.

“Walking in the Spirit…Together” was the theme for the highly anticipated Thursday night World Missions service. The service kicked off with national workers and missionaries carrying the flags of the world in the Parade of Nations. Special music and inspirational videos were incorporated into the service to generate an appeal for career missionaries.

The Don Moen Company has announced the acquisition of MediaComplete, publisher of MediaShout, the market leader in media presentation software for the Church.

Once again thousands of our Church of God young people will begin the fall semester at secular campuses all across the nation. They will be challenged academically, emotionally, and spiritually. Many of them will fall to temptation and peer pressure. Many others will be strong witnesses for Christ. We must pray for them all.

By Grant McClung

Meet Michael, Miguel, and Mustafa – three men from three different “worlds.” Each one has arrived at his appointed destiny before God’s judgment seat (Matthew 25.32; Romans 14.10; Hebrews 9.27). Each one is rehearsing his personal moment of reckoning.

Urging Christians and Jews to “embrace their common ancestry,” a pro-Israel group organized a march in downtown St. Louis Sunday, during which nearly 1,000 people walked several blocks to the Mississippi River to pray for an hour under the city’s famous Gateway Arch monument.

Several weeks ago, Make-A-Wish Foundation contacted Operation Compassion about fulfilling a wish for Marisa Monbrod whose leukemia was in remission. All Marisa wanted to do was help people whose lives were caught in poverty and despair.

In this week’s issue, TIME’s David Van Biema profiles Rick Warren, the founding pastor of one of the country’s largest churches and the host of the upcoming “civil forum,” which will feature the two presumptive Presidential nominees on August 16. Also in the issue, John McCain and Barack Obama write about their own views of faith, and a new TIME poll shows that 70% of white Evangelical voters support McCain. (p. 37)

By J. Lee Grady

It was not supposed to end like this.

Evangelist Todd Bentley had heralded the Lakeland revival as the greatest Pentecostal outpouring since Azusa Street. From his stage in a gigantic tent in Florida, Bentley preached to thousands, bringing many of them to the stage for prayer.