Americans should boycott “Fifty Shades of Grey” on Valentine’s Day, say more than 60,000 signatories and a growing coalition of groups that accused NBC Universal of “using a romantic holiday to promote a movie about abuse and degradation.”

Almost 300 local church pastors and leaders from across the Great Lakes Region of the Church of God recently chose the location closest to their local church to gather with their peers for a time of united training and equipping for ministry.

A few years ago, people exploring caves outside Jerusalem came across the find of a lifetime: an ancient burial cave containing the remains of a crucified man. This find is only one in a series of finds that overturns a century-old scholarly consensus.

It’s that time of the year again, when we stand on the precipice of a new year and look forward to what is in store for us in 2015. Last year, I wrote 14 Things the Church Needs to Do in 2014, and many of them are still true for 2015.

There are parts of the globe where the greatest church growth is happening through the Pentecostal movement. One of the most frequently asked questions is: “In a world where the church seems to be declining in many areas, how they are bucking the trend?”

“Lead from my knees,” is the language Church of God General Overseer Mark Williams used on the last night of the recent 21 Day Virtual Prayer meeting, which registered almost 5,000 connections over the course of the three weeks. Williams and his wife Sandra Kay led portions of the call on the last night, January 31. Peggy Scarborough, who serves as prayer coordinator for South Carolina and conducts similar calls for various prayer efforts, noted that the response was, “beyond anything comparable.”

A nearly two-year odyssey that has “taken its toll spiritually, financially” has come to an end for The Episcopal Church’s Diocese of South Carolina. On Tuesday, a South Carolina Circuit Court judge ruled that the diocese can leave the denomination and take with it all its property, including church buildings, symbols and other assets totaling over a half billion dollars, according to the diocese’s website.

Voting is now officially open for the 2015 Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award. The Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award honors books produced by small publishers for outstanding contribution to Christian life. All retailers selling Christian products and all readers of Christian books are invited to vote for the Book of the Year.

Christianity Today and Leadership Journal have announced details about their three events on vocation and calling in 2015. The Redeeming Work events will be in Portland on March 10, Pittsburgh on May 7, and Los Angeles in September.