Leaders of the Church of God in the entire Caribbean region converged on the island of Puerto Rico recently for the first Leadership Orientation and Symposium following General Assembly 2014.

I’ve been in church all my life. Along the way, I’ve seen and learned a lot. Almost all the insight I have into church has come by experience.

Observing the backlash in Ferguson, Missouri, and beyond protesting the death of Michael Brown at the hands of police, Mike and Cindy Jacobs of Generals International have challenged Christians to pray for our cities.

In recent decades, Messianic Judaism, a movement of Jewish people who have accepted Yeshua (Jesus) as Messiah and continued to embrace their Jewishness, has been steadily growing—especially in the United States.

In the upcoming January 2015 term, the Pentecostal Theological Seminary will offer a one week intensive about Islamic culture and the Muslim religion taught by Professor Jerry McNabb. The 40 hour course will cover history, theology, culture and how to share faith with Muslim neighbors.

At the beginning of this month, two Pakistani Christians—a husband and his pregnant wife—were beaten for three days, stoned by an angry mob and dragged behind a vehicle. Finally they were thrown into a brick kiln and burned alive. The crime: Shahzad Masih, 28, and Shama Bibi, 25, were falsely accused of desecrating a copy of the Quran.

Like so many others Monday (Nov. 24) night, the congregants at West Side Missionary Baptist Church were glued to televisions as a grand jury decision in the Michael Brown case was announced.

Editor’s note: The preceding is the proclamation that set the precedent for America’s national day of Thanksgiving. During his administration, President Lincoln issued many orders similar to this. For example, on November 28, 1861, he ordered government departments closed for a local day of thanksgiving.

In the wake of Monday night’s announcement of the grand jury decision that Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson would not be indicted for the August 9 shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown Jr. and the subsequent indications of protest, Church of God General Overseer Mark Williams called for a calm, reasoned, and prayerful response.