This Monday, I stood in front of 600 male inmates at a prison in Izalco, El Salvador. The men were dressed in white T-shirts and white drawstring pants, and many of them sported tattoos on their faces and necks. All the men were members of violent gangs when they were incarcerated. About 20% of them were affiliated with the MS-13 gang—a group known for horrific attacks on women, children and police officers.

On Tuesday, January 21, 2020, the East Central Hispanic Region of the Church of God formally dedicated a new regional office. The property is located at 600 25th Street in Cleveland, across from the Church of God International Offices.

Oasis of Hope Children’s Home, a partner home of Serving Orphans Worldwide recently welcomed 29 girls from Samburu County in Kenya. Among the 29 girls is Naomi, who is 16 years old. She arrived to the campus with her five year old daughter, Nasarian in her arms. Her story, though not uncommon, sheds light on a tough reality that many young girls in Kenya will continue to face if something does not change.

Iron Sharpens Iron (ISI), a nationwide men’s ministry, is celebrating its 20th anniversary with 33 men’s conferences this winter and spring in Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin. More conferences are planned for the fall.

The Church of God Benefits Board, Inc. is sponsoring a free webinar entitled, “Tax Issues Facing Ministers and Churches in 2020.”

Cocoa, FL–The team behind Space Coast CityFest – the large, free, and multicultural music festival scheduled for March 28-29 – has announced the artist lineup for this year’s much-anticipated event.

A key theme is that seemingly small decisions may have profound consequences for people choosing products for themselves and for those around them as well. Everyday items can make healthy people sick and sick people sicker. Because most of the more than 80,000 chemicals in use today haven’t been adequately tested, the items that contain them can produce physical and mental symptoms not generally recognized as toxic reactions.

The following is a portion of a front-page article that ran in the Cleveland (Tenn.) Daily Banner on Sunday, February 2, 2020 following the January 31 announcement regarding the selection of Mark Walker as the next president of Lee University.

In their latest tactic aimed at oppressing people of faith, Chinese authorities have now started banning Christian funerals.

According to a report in Bitter Winter, communist officials have even been arresting family members and halting proceedings mid-service if they deem the ceremony to be too religious in nature. The action is part of China’s wider policy to sinicize the Christian faith and ensure the country’s religious culture is aligned with the political ideals of President Xi Jinping.

“The situation is quite adverse, and some believers don’t even dare to accompany the deceased to the graveyard,” an elder of a government-sanctioned Three-Self church explained to Bitter Winter.

The restrictions are also being enshrined in law. For example, in one city in the province of Henan, an ordinance has been passed that prohibits “visiting groups, choirs, orchestras, and other groups” from performing anywhere other than a church.

“The government prohibits religious funerals, and doesn’t allow church choirs or orchestras to perform during them,” the church elder added. “Pastors can only sneak into believers’ homes for a hurried prayer.”

In another Henan town, a law was passed that prevents ministers from “using religion to intervene in citizens’ weddings and funerals or other activities in their lives.”

There was even an instance of police officers halting the funeral of a local preacher because they deemed that the service was proliferating “religious propaganda.”

The family of one Christian man said they were outraged when government officials instructed that they must hold a secular funeral, even though he was a faithful follower of Jesus for years.

“When my father died, village officials threatened to arrest us if we didn’t conduct a secular funeral. We did not dare to go against them,” the villager explained. “My father had been a believer for several decades. He is persecuted even after death.”

Open Doors USA estimates that there are roughly 100 million Christians currently residing in China. Despite it being one of the harshest environments on earth in which to live as a believer, the underground church continues to explode in numbers.

(Source: FaithWire)