A total of 97 people participated in the 20th summer Church of God missions trip to Poza Rica, Vera Cruz, Mexico. This trip, coordinated by Tony Lane, focuses on the Casa Hogar Alfa y Omega orphanage in Poza Rica.

In a 19 July statement, the South Sudan Council of Churches reflected on recent developments in the country: “The winds of violence and conflict have continued to obscure our road to light and peace, while the international community remains discouraged and frustrated by the absence of peace. It is well known that the church has historically played a key moral and spiritual role in healing and mediation at various points in our history to stop bloodshed and make peace.”

This week, U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo will host the first Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C.

Cleveland, Tenn.–Rob Fultz, a 2001 Lee University alumnus, has been appointed the new campus pastor for Lee University, effective next month.

Jakarta, Indonesia—Empowered21 closed its four-day Asia Regional Congress Friday morning at the Sentul International Convention Center with more than 13,000 delegates from 45 nations in a celebration of praise and worship, as thousands of next generation Spirit-empowered leaders were commissioned to go into their nations with a burning passion to reach the lost and equip the body of Christ.

Syrian, US, and international experts will explain why a pluralistic and inclusive, non-sectarian, democracy providing equal rights for all Syrians is the only acceptable solution for the wounds of Syria’s brutal civil war. Religious freedom is the true antidote to the ideology of Daesh. And it exists now in Syria’s Democratic Self-Administration—the home of the multi-religious, multi-ethnic Syrian Democratic Forces.

Jakarta, Indonesia – For a second day, believers from all over Asia gathered at the Sentul International Convention Center in Jakarta for the Empowered21 Asia Regional Congress. Themed FIRE & GLORY, the four-day event is designed to strengthen and encourage believers as they seek a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” said the Spanish philosopher and writer George Santayana who died in 1952. Educator and author Vernal Lind reminds readers how the lessons of the past inform the future in his newest release, the novel The Future Wears a Strange Face (Redemption Press, August 2018).

All my life I’ve heard people make up excuses for missing church. Long before funny memes were invented for social media, absentee churchgoers joked about attending “Bedside Baptist,” “Church of the Holy Comforter” or “Church of the Inner Springs” to imply that they decided to sleep in on Sunday morning.