The Praying Church Handbook, Volume II is now available as a resource for churches and their prayer ministry teams. This is the second of four planned volumes. Volume I was released last year and featured the contributions of Dr. Raymond Culpepper, Dr. French Arrington, Dr. James Beaty and others, with a special section that extracted prayer moments at the first twenty Church of God General Assemblies. Throughout both volumes are short prayer stories, vignettes into the personal lives of men and women in our history.

World Congress of Families managing director Larry Jacobs today called on the international pro-life and pro-family network to pray for peace in Ukraine. “We are concerned about the crisis in Ukraine and pray for world leaders to come together to promote peace and resolve the conflict,” Jacobs said. “We echo Pope Francis’s prayer, ‘that all parts of the country work to overcome misunderstandings and to build together the future of the nation.’ We have many Christian friends and pro-family leaders of all faiths in all regions of Ukraine. We pray for their safety and their important work to promote authentic human rights, encourage the natural family, and protect human life from conception to natural death.”

Bill Gothard, an Illinois-based advocate for home schooling and conservative dress who warned against rock music and debt, has resigned from the ministry he founded after allegations of sexually harassing women who worked at his ministry and failing to report child abuse cases.

Perhaps best known as the evangelist for the Brownsville Revival in Pensacola, Fla., Evangelist and Pastor Steve Hill went home to be with the Lord on Sunday.

United States Congressman Chuck Fleishmann recently visited the Church of God Chaplains Commission to acknowledge the ministry support the Church of God provides to Veterans and military personnel through Church of God Chaplains.

Twenty-five Protestant families have had their water and electricity supplies disconnected and have effectively been put under house arrest in Mexico because of their refusal to participate in Traditionalist Catholic religious ceremonies.

Atheists are challenging plans to include a 17-foot, cross-shaped beam that became a famous symbol of Ground Zero after 9/11 in a display at the national memorial museum that is scheduled to open this spring.

Some Evangelical activists are preparing a provocatively titled conference ostensibly gathering about “empowering the Palestinian church.”

Church of God General Overseer Dr. Mark Williams has called for prayer on behalf of the people of Ukraine amid continued unrest in the European country. He joins Dr. Tim Hill, director of Church of God World Missions, who has also issued a call for prayer through Church of God World Missions.