Born without eyes and a mental disability that left his head misshapen, a little boy named Sifle was instantly thought to be a curse to his family and community. In India, children born with such deformities and diseases rarely stand a chance of living a full and happy life—if they survive at all. Many, such as Sifle, are neglected or abandoned as parents try to escape the embarrassment and financial burden of caring for a child with special needs.

I can’t remember very much of my early childhood. There are faded glimpses of memories, a picture of playing near a stream in the back of the house trying to catch tadpoles, playing football in the field across the street, falling asleep in the barber’s chair, stubbornly refusing to eat peas because my hypersensitive sense of smell repulsed at their pungent odor.

“If you want to know what the Lord is up to, simply look at who He is raising up,” said James O. Davis, co-founder of the Billion Soul Network, at the Netherlands Leadership Roundtable, in Amsterdam. In the last 10 years, Davis has hosted similar roundtables and summits in every world region, with more than 10,000 leaders attending such gatherings.

As 600,000 football fans across the world pour into Brazil this week to join the three million local fans attending the FIFA World Cup, the Bible Society of Brazil and its partners will begin a massive program of outreach and Scripture distribution.

Steven Kim doesn’t just talk about the fight against human trafficking—he lives out the consequences of it, having spent four years in prison for helping North Korean refugees get to South Korea through Vietnam.

The celebration of the Holy Spirit around the world, coordinated and promoted by Empowered21, spanned a full week with thousands of believers marking the date that the Holy Spirit descended upon believers in the upper room.

“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14)

“I’m so slammed at the office this week.  I’m going to be working late every night to get things done!”

The pope has not always been a friend of the charismatic movement. On June 1, he remarked that, years ago when the Catholic Spirit-filled movement began, he “did not have much love for charismatics.”