Cleveland, TN–From a church in rural Kentucky to an annual concert audience of 800,000, the Crabb Family has managed to break through musical genre barriers to reach people from all walks of life with the message of the gospel. From the beginning of their musical ministry nearly 10 years ago, they had no way of knowing just what was in store.

By Ed Thomas, OneNewsNow.com

A church that was denied reimbursement through a Detroit city program for its building renovations because of a legal challenge by atheists, has appeared before a judge asking for summary judgment in the case filed by the atheists against the city.

St. John’s Episcopal Church, the church denied the reimbursement, was allowed entrance by the court as an intervenor in the case in December, becoming a defendant. Church legal counsel Dale Schowengerdt of Alliance Defense Fund says St. John’s made $180,000 in renovations to its exterior after contracting for 50 percent reimbursement through a Detroit Development Authority program designed to help enhance the appearance of city buildings and lots ahead of the 2006 Super Bowl. Nine of the 91 properties which were eligible participants were churches or church-owned properties.

Schowengerdt explains that “because of that, a group called American Atheists sued to have this plan declared unconstitutional.” After American Atheists v. City of Detroit was filed, the city withheld reimbursement funds to St. John’s and other church participants.

Schowengerdt and the church are out to prove the discrimination against religious organizations contradicts the Establishment Clause found in the First Amendment to the Constitution.

“The counterpart to that is the free exercise clause,” he explains, “and the [U.S.] Supreme Court has held numerous times that if you exclude religious organizations, [if] you exclude churches from a neutral program, that [is] evidence [of] hostility to religion, not neutrality.”

The ADF attorney says the atheist group’s argument is based on a “cramped interpretation” of the First Amendment. He states that reimbursement promised to a church for non-religious purposes is no more an establishment of religion than the reimbursement promised to non-religious groups.

(Source: OneNewsNow.com)

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A site visit team from the Division of Education and Church of God World Missions recently traveled to the Philippines for an evaluation visit to the Church of God Theological College in Cauayan, Isabela Province, Northern Luzon.

By Silvina Gonzalez

I just returned from a medical missions trip where I participated in a World Missions Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and toured through the countryside of Uruguay providing medical care. Two doctors from Atlanta visited us: Dr. Melissa Quiros and Dr. Annie Lin.

By Allie Martin, OneNewsNow.com A Texas pastor who was sued after exercising church discipline has been handed a victory by that state’s supreme court. The lawsuit was brought by a church member who refused to repent following a divorce and remarriage.

The Pentecostal Church of God (PCG) concluded its General Convention on a high note with an attitude of unity. Dr. Charles G. Scott of Carthage, who had been serving as General Secretary, was elected to the highest position in the denomination, General Bishop. Reverend Wayman C. Ming, Jr., former pastor of Joplin Family Worship Center and the denomination’s Bishop for Southern Missouri, was elected as General Secretary, which is the second highest-position in the PCG.

In what Christian observers are calling a victory for free speech, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the atheist Freedom from Religion Foundation did not have a legal standing to challenge the use of taxpayer money to advertise and promote President George W. Bush’s endorsement of faith-based initiatives.