Displaying items by tag: Praise

Erdie Carter, senior pastor at Glasgow Baptist Church, said Evelyn faithfully attended church until the pandemic. Then she began watching the church’s services on a local TV broadcast with her husband, 93-year-old Bernice. During their 67-year marriage Evelyn had faithfully prayed for Bernice to receive Christ as his saviour. Members of the church visited their home to bring food as part of the church’s pandemic community outreach program. A few weeks ago, when Erdie visited them, Bernice said he was ready to make a decision for Christ. Erdie asked him if he would like to be baptised, and he said yes! Carter said seeing the transformation in Bernice deeply affected him and his congregation. ‘Pastors say it’s never too late - but seeing Bernice at 93 have a spiritual realisation and publicly profess his faith in Christ, was a joy,’ Erdie said.

Aisha was born to a strict Islamic family. Her father abused her verbally and religion gave her no peace. She felt constantly condemned by Islam and was desperate to be loved. She became pregnant at 17 and knew her father would kill her for dishonouring her family. Fearing for her life, she had an abortion, a shame she carried for many years. In Islam, ‘her sins were unforgivable,’ and she was ‘hated by Allah’. Suffering from depression, she cried out to Allah for mercy and heard an audible voice say ‘Jesus’. After hearing from heaven, Aisha turned her prayers to Jesus, asking him to reveal himself to her. ‘The first time I felt any peace was when I prayed to Jesus’, she explains. That one supernatural experience gave her an insatiable hunger for truth. Aisha finally discovered that Jesus is full of mercy and compassion for women, a stark contrast to Islam.

When the Russians seized Berdyansk, four days into the war, Anya and her eleven foster-children were forced to stay in a bunker below their house for 42 days. ‘It was hard and dangerous, but every day we woke up and thanked God that we were still alive and still able to worship Him’. Anya said. They were rescued by Orphan's Promise. It was scary to leave. At the last checkpoint they were on a bus that came under fire when the Russians began firing on Ukrainian troops. Everyone on the bus fell to the floor, the children cried and shouted, but they all miraculously survived. Now the Russians have closed Berdyansk, not allowing anyone out or humanitarian aid in. The family expect to get visas for Switzerland to wait out the war.

In 2010, when T C Stallings landed a very small role as an extra in the film Secretariat, he knew he wanted to make acting his career. The 44-year-old Christian explained that he was always interested in acting but didn’t think he could do it. He said his priority is to use his work as a vehicle to share his faith. ‘I try to use all my gifts and talents for Him. Acting gives me an opportunity to reflect all the glory toward Him.’ Today Stallings is known for starring in faith-based films. ‘What makes it easy for me to share my faith is like, “What would God want me to do?” I care more about what He thinks than anybody else. I don’t control the outcomes; I let the Holy Spirit lead.’

In Creteil, a communist, socialist, and conservative suburb of Paris, a song of reconciliation and unity is rising - and a message that is attracting people from diverse backgrounds. ‘I don't have to build a church; I have to build a place where people will be loved. Not trying to make them look like me, just love them, introduce them to God, and they will be changed by the Holy Spirit’, says French pastor Ivan Carluer, founder of Martin Luther King Church. He drew his inspiration from the civil rights leader's message of unconditional love. Carluer also had a dream to create a space where blacks, whites, and people of other racial backgrounds could come together and reflect the diversity of Paris. Carluer's dream is now a reality. ``We have 20% all black, 10% all white, 10% Asian, and 60% cannot be defined,’ he laughs. ‘Jesus' colour!’ MLK is now one of the country's largest evangelical churches, and Ivan is a rising figure in France's Protestant movement.

Antioch churches are planted in the most deprived 20% of parishes. They are called Antioch because the New Testament church in Antioch was planted accidentally and immediately crossed cultural boundaries, reaching a big, diverse city with the Good News. Their leadership team was also diverse. They fasted, they prayed, they were guided by the Spirit, and they sent people out to plant other churches and supported them when they went. Today Antioch churches usually meet in community centres, libraries, coffee shops, restaurants, and homes. People in Manchester can attend church at the Mosely Arms pub in Bolton for an informal alternative to traditional weekly worship. ‘We just want local people who are often completely off church to encounter Jesus. We want the church to grow with those people, and for local leadership to be grown,'' says Rev Ben Woodfield, the vicar of New Life Church.

Melanie Washington put her arms around the young man who killed her son and hugged him. She said, ‘It’s more important to love and forgive than to hold on to the pain and the hurt.  I found myself putting my arm around him. I didn’t feel a murderer that killed my son. I felt my son.’ Today Melanie Washington lives in Long Beach, California and is helping troubled youth make it out of a destructive culture. She herself came out of a childhood that she said was ‘pure hell’ To read her story click more.

Some of the best golfers in the world are striving for more than a trophy or prize money. In each Professional Golf Association tournament are players whose Christian faith is being communicated to fans and co-competitors. A growing number of competitors are using the rising popularity of golf to share their faith with others. They are becoming more interested in speaking out about their faith  during post-event interviews. On 11th April the winner of the US Masters tournament, Scottie Scheffler, said ‘The reason why I play golf is I'm trying to glorify God’ (See) Scheffler has spoken often about the impact his faith has on his life. He is a regular at a Bible study held by professional golfers on tour, while it's understood he chose his caddie because he too was a committed Christian.

Khalia says, ‘After fleeing Iraq’s war, I had concerns about my Islamic faith. With violence, war, and bloodshed everywhere, I rejected the Quran teachings. In a search for truth, I began attending a local Jordanian church and was intrigued by the love I felt there and the teachings about Jesus. I started going over the weekly sermons with members from a Ministry Team. They helped me better understand the Bible. Slowly, my heart began opening to the truth. At an Easter Sunday celebration, I came to personal faith in Christ. Today, I am an active church member and regularly serve with the children’s ministry outreach team. Jesus has given me new life. No matter the cost, I will serve the Lord.’

At the beginning of the year, you prayed for continued freedom to share biblical beliefs with others in Finland when Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen was accused of ‘hate speech’ for publicly voicing her deeply-held beliefs on marriage and human sexuality and Bishop Juhana faced charges for publishing a Christian pamphlet she wrote. The Päivi was facing up to six years in prison for tweeting a Bible verse describing homosexuality as shameful and shared her thoughts on marriage and sexual ethics during a radio debate and in a pamphlet. On 30 March a Finnish district court cleared them both of all hate speech charges over their beliefs on sexuality, arguing that ‘it is not for the district court to interpret biblical concepts’.