Kingston, Jamaica — A three-day consultation took place involving representatives of six different “believers baptism” church traditions to share their understandings and practices of baptism and to explore how their thinking has changed in light of the emerging theological convergence on baptism and growing ecumenical encounter over the past 50 years. This was the first time such a gathering has taken place, and thus represents a historic moment in the life of these traditions.

Franklin, TN–Is it possible to have fun and encourage Biblical literacy at the same time? Tennessee parents Jeremy and Jennica Reis believe so and created a set of trading cards, Josiah Cards, as an alternative to fantasy trading cards. Josiah Cards teach kids about the people of the Bible using scripture. They have launched a Kickstarter campaign in order to raise the funding necessary to print, package and distribute the Josiah Cards which will come in trading packs of 1-30 or 1-60 numbered cards.

January 13, 2015 – Church of God leaders, including all five members of the Executive Committee, gathered in the World Missions board room for the formal announcement of an intentional focus on Church of God missionaries.

Google “Millennials” and more than 9 million results immediately appear. They’re a hot topic, being scrutinized from every angle.

Legendary gospel singer Andraé Crouch passed away on Saturday night after decades of glorifying Christ and leading the masses into His presence through his gospel music.
A memorial service is planned at West Angeles Church of God, with a four-hour celebration of his life set for Wednesday. He died from complications due to pneumonia and congestive heart failure.

Faithful Servant LLC’s newest Newsletter, The Christian Transportation Investor, reached its third year of tracking by MarketWatch’s Hulbert Financial Digest as 2014 closed. Its model portfolios earned top-five ranking for both its one-year and three-year performance on the Hulbert Interactive website. Its one-year gain of 52.0% earned 3rd place among the 190 newsletters tracked at least one year, and its three-year annualized return of 32.2% placed it 5th against the 167 newsletters that age or more. The Wilshire 5000 Stock Index gain Hulbert Interactive cites as a performance benchmark for the market as a whole was 12.7% and 20.3% respectively for the one and three-year periods.

Last Friday night, hundreds participated in the first night of the 21-day Virtual Prayer Meeting sponsored by Church of God prayer ministries.

The idea that turned the nation’s largest Christian retail chain into a giving engine to support widows and orphans now expands to movies. Family Christian Stores’ new sister company, Family Christian Entertainment (FCE), announces the Atlanta shoot, starting Jan. 26, of 90 MINUTES IN HEAVEN, the 2004 New York Times best-selling book (7 million-plus sold) about Pastor Don Piper’s near-death experience. Kate Bosworth (SUPERMAN RETURNS) and Hayden Christensen (STAR WARS, JUMPER) star. Michael Polish (TWIN FALLS IDAHO, BIG SUR) directs.

Last Sunday morning YWAM Ships Kona reported that their vessel, the Hawaii Aloha was badly damaged in a storm in the Hawaiian Islands, resulting in the loss of 24-year-old crewman Aaron Bremner.