Growing up as a young kid with a big imagination in the Midwest, my appetite for movies was anything but healthy. From a very young age, I would read and write reviews, pore over daily box-office results and beg my parents or older brothers to take me to the latest movie—any movie. Thankfully, I had parents who cared about what my siblings and I watched. It was a common practice in the Kayser household to read a review from Movieguide and do legitimate research on the media we were consuming.

We are living in difficult times. The moral default of many ministers has resulted in a leadership credibility crisis. The public exposure and media circus that ensues when a leader fails damages the hearts of precious, tender believers.

Opponents of a law forcing boys and girls in California’s public schools to share school bathrooms, showers and locker rooms have reached the 95 percent validity rate needed to achieve a random sampling for a full signature count.

Each January, it is estimated that as many as one million American Christians may be participating in the forgotten discipline of fasting. The early church fasted, we are told, two days
a week. Church of God congregations are encouraged to join that growing army in this initiative of fasting and prayer for a revival of God’s presence and work in your own life and church.

The goal of this revival in you is for God’s glory to be revealed to a watching world that needs to know Him. When large numbers or high percentages of people are transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ, spiritual awakening is the result.

PRAY – A prayer guide is available from the Church of God Prayer Ministries office. The guide can be downloaded for daily or weekly distribution. It is designed to enrich devotional life and wake up hearts for evangelism. This guide has been adapted from materials produced by well-known author, Claude King. It contains tips for fasting and daily devotions written by Doug
Small, Coordinator for Prayer Ministries in the Church of God, and Claude King, best-selling author and prayer leader.

FAST – Fasting may be a new discipline for you. If so, do some research or ask someone about fasting. That may include denying yourself food, or it could include a fast from television or media for a season. Fasting heightens your hunger for God and your focus on Him, but it also provides you with additional time to pray.

Learn more at www.praycog.org/fastingforhisfavor. Download the 21-Day Guide, printable weekly bulletin inserts, guidelines for fasting, and sign-up to receive the daily devotion via
email.

For The New Year, Neil H. Brandt of The Messiah Network promotes God and country through “Your Perfect Prayer To God” and a “Born To America” video. Neil is asking all followers to lawfully meet at their City Hall and share The Prayer with their community on Perfect Prayer Day, Wednesday February 12th at 1:00 PM all time zones.

I remember a scene from our family story during our early days of missionary service. As a young family in our first term, my wife and I were determined that we would involve our two-year old toddler in family Bible reading and prayer every night before bedtime. “Little Man” was my designated nickname for him, used most everywhere we went. Seeking to involve him in family worship one evening, I sent him with the commission, “Little Man, bring Daddy the Bible.”

Oklahoma City, OK–The New York-based Satanic Temple prematurely released design plans for a Satanist monument it hopes to place on the Oklahoma state Capitol grounds.

Christian Women Lifestyle xPress Online Magazine (“CWLxPress”), one of the world’s only online Christian publications targeted expressly to women with a testimony tell, announced today that its Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Deanetta Thompson, will expand the ministry by conducting interviews with other media outlets.

January 7, 2014–The 75th Church of God International General Assembly will take place on July 29 – August 1, 2014 and will be held in Orlando, Florida at the Orange County Convention Center. Registration for the event and accommodations is now open on the Church of God website, www.churchofgod.org.