Friday night the crowd nearly doubled from Thursday. It’s awesome to see these dynamics. I preached about the power of the blood of Jesus and many thousands responded. Afterward, as usual, we broke the curses, burned witchcraft juju and prayed for the sick—what a package!

“This [suffering] will be your opportunity to bear witness” (Luke 21:13, ESV).

The Chaplains Commission has been on the forefront in the Church of God regarding ethnic and gender diversity for many years. The norm is for vocational chaplains to serve on staffs in organizations that are ethnically diverse. Therefore, the Commission actively searches for ministers of all ethnic groups to represent the Church of God with a formal endorsement as a Chaplain. Additionally, there is a high demand for female Chaplains to serve in many institutions.

May We Pray for You? The Guideposts OurPrayer Ministry announces its 22nd annual Thanksgiving Day of Prayer, scheduled for Monday, November 25.

Leadership Journal, a publication of Christianity Today, announced last week several new expansions of the award-winning resource for pastors and church leaders. The changes include an important shift from a quarterly to a monthly issue, a new, improved iPad app to access issue content, and more web exclusive content than ever, including videos, cartoons, and infographics, at www.LeadershipJournal.net

The Privacy For All Students (PFAS) coalition recently announced they have submitted over 620,000 signatures to elections officials to qualify a statewide referendum allowing voters to reject the co-ed bathroom law (AB 1266) that was enacted by the Legislature and signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown. The coalition needs 504,760 valid voter signatures to qualify the referendum. Once validated by elections officials, the law will be suspended until voters decide whether to approve or reject it.

Church of God World Missions Director Tim Hill recently shared the miraculous year of generosity toward missions in the Church of God. He delivered his comments at a recent gathering of state administrative bishops at the Church of God International Offices and also in the latest edition of Save Our World (SOW) magazine.

Unless you experienced some significant event—like birth or marriage—on Nov. 2, it’s very likely the day passed as just another day of the year. However, on that date 96 years ago, Jews around the world had cause for celebration and breathed a collective sigh of relief following decades of political and diplomatic activism—and centuries of prayer—to reestablish a Jewish homeland in the land of Israel.

It has been said that one of our great purposes in life is to give birth to ourselves. We have to find the purpose for which God created us and allow Him to give birth to it. Along the way, we must be very careful about what we allow to define us.