Pastor Wilfredo De Jesús, named to Time magazine’s 2013 list of the 100 most influential people in the world, carries a burden for the poor and disenfranchised. Now he has written a book that explains the biblical case for social activism, In the Gap: What Happens When God’s People Stand Strong.

Recipients of the 2014 Church of God Distinguished Educator of the Year Awards were announced during the Leadership Enrichment Training Conference on July 28 of the Church of God International General Assembly, conducted July 29-August 1, 2014 in Orlando, Florida.

Cody DeWitt sold his family home and was packing up his household for a move to Illinois where he was about to start a new job with Samaritan Ministries International, a nonprofit alternative to medical insurance.

If Jesus Christ taught a class on marketing, what might he say? That is the question explored in Darren Shearer’s new book, “Marketing Like Jesus: 25 Strategies to Change the World,” which is now available for purchase at www.Amazon.com and www.DarrenShearer.com.

What does hope look like?

Describing it is not always the easiest thing. And Jeremy Puckett, a 33-year-old Pittsburgh police officer, can’t always spot it, but he sure knows when it’s missing.

All it takes is one look at a person’s face. Hopelessness, in Puckett’s experience, is nearly impossible to mask.

“You can see it in their eyes,” he said.

Puckett was one of hundreds of counselors at this weekend’s Three Rivers Festival of Hope in Pittsburgh, the city he grew up in. He entered the festival eagerly wondering how God might work in his hometown.

Rev. Julian Robinson was honored on August 15 for 33 years of continuous service at the Church of God International Offices and 50 years for the Church of God. The current director of Business and Records for the denomination, Robinson announced his retirement earlier this year.

The streets of Ferguson, Missouri, have fluctuated between violence, calm and renewed violence following the shooting death of Michael Brown, a black 18-year-old, by Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson police officer, in a confrontation on Saturday, Aug. 9.

In his latest book “Your Story Counts: Sharing the Most Important Story of Your Life,” Dr. John B. Sorensen, president of Evangelism Explosion International (www.evangelismexplosion.org), demonstrates how the power of story is a simple, yet effective approach to telling others about Jesus.

The U.K. nationwide hotel chain Travelodge has removed Bibles from all of its rooms, in a move criticized by the Church of England.