Displaying items by tag: North America

Liberty University has 100,000 pupils studying online, with a further 15,000 attending campus in Virginia. It will now allow 5,000 students to return to campus and halls of residence despite the state governor ordering all schools to close until the end of the academic year. An email to students said, ‘All planned international trips have been cancelled, but students should return to campus this week. Liberty University is open and operating normally.’ The majority of lessons will be conducted online, but staff have been instructed to ‘report to work as normal’. According to the university president, on-site pupils have said, ‘Don't send us home to study online; we love it here, we want to stay'. This decision came after President Trump questioned whether public health measures to prevent coronavirus contagion were too strict. Health officials stressed that relaxing them could put more people at risk.

Officials in Donald Trump‘s administration have been briefed on plans to block all asylum seekers and foreigners from entering the USA as a response to the coronavirus epidemic. All persons on the border with Mexico, apart from American citizens, will be turned back. The same policy is set to apply to the border with Canada. The plan could also see all illegal border crossers returned without due process, and asylum seekers will not be held in American immigration facilities. Anyone caught entering the US illegally will be transported to the nearest point of entry without detention by Border Patrol agents.

Two 175 mph tornado storms touched down in Tennessee killing 24 people, sending 150+ to hospital, leaving tens of thousands of families and businesses without power, and collapsing hundreds of structures. Let us pray for the hundreds of families assessing the damage and tragedy, dealing with heartache, and facing a future of hardship. Pray for adequate aid and provisions to be made available for the many displaced people in shelters. The state’s governor has asked the White House for federal assistance. Donald Trump tweeted that the government is standing with Tennessee and monitoring the situation. Ask God to continue to strengthen the scores of people helping families who lost their homes in the storms. Complete strangers have been picking up debris and helping families go through the rubble. See

Revival is happening in Tennessee. People from various denominations, by praying and fasting together, are seeking to ignite the fire of God to transform lives in a thousand churches across the state. ‘Awaken Tennessee’, a prayer and fasting initiative from 26 January to 23 February, is described by Pastor John Butler as ‘a concentrated prayer effort across the state for true revival in our churches that triggers an awakening in local communities, the state and the nation’. The initiative started last year when 400 churches in Nashville came together to pray for every single resident of their city. This was a huge success, so this year organisers invited churches across the state to participate. Award-winning singers / songwriters Terry and Barbi Franklin, using their prayer network, contacted churches to take part in the initiative. Pastors are reporting that their services are exploding with revival services as a result of the Holy Spirit showing up and taking over.

Just as more Americans are becoming religiously unaffiliated, there is another shift happening on the religious spectrum. More people today say they are ‘born again’ than at any point in the past three decades. While significant portions of the country jettison religion, others are increasingly identifying with a more devout expression of the faith. Across segments of Christianity - not just evangelical Protestants - Americans are heeding the scriptural call that ‘you must be born again’ (John 3:7), even when the label has not historically been part of their faith traditions. 60% of black Protestants claimed to be born again in 1988, now it’s 80%. The increase for evangelicals was 68% to 78% during the same time period. Also, across all Christian traditions, including mainline denominations and Roman Catholics, the born-again identity is trending up.

Since 2015 tunnels have run under the border from Mexico to America. Donald Trump has made building a border wall one of his key priorities to tackle illegal immigration and drug trafficking. On 30 January, US officials said that they had discovered the longest smuggling tunnel ever. Stretching for 1,313m, it had a lift, rail track, drainage, air ventilation systems and high voltage electrical cables. The passageway connected an industrial site in Tijuana to the San Diego area in California. Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, one of the largest drug-trafficking organisations in the world, operates in the area. Its founder and long-time leader, Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, is serving life in prison in Alcatraz. Mexico's murder rate rises annually - 2019 was the bloodiest year on record, with 34,582 killings. Much of the violence is linked to criminal gangs who engage in drug trafficking, kidnappings and extortion of local businesses and farmers. See

Democrat managers began their opening arguments on 22 January in an impeachment trial of President Trump, laying out their case as to why they think the President should be removed from office. Onlookers notice that House Democrats could not wait for the courts to decide on witnesses, as they said impeachment was urgent. Many now believe the senators are admitting their case is weak, so they are demanding more witnesses. The latest Politico / Morning Consult poll reveals that 47% are in favour of Trump's removal from office, with 45% opposed. President Trump's lawyers now have three days to make their case that the commander-in-chief did not commit a crime. But first up are Democrat prosecutors who get the same amount of time to prove that he did. The crux of their case is the allegation that Trump withheld military aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate former vice-president Joe Biden, a political rival, and his son Hunter Biden.

Many believe the US killing of Qasem Soleimani (plus four senior commanders and an Iraqi militia leader) risks causing Iraq instability. The USA believed the men were organising radical tactics against it, describing the action as ‘a preemptive defensive strike to prevent attacks yet to come’. In retaliation Iran fired missiles towards two air bases housing US troops and coalition forces. It is believed the strikes deliberately missed areas populated by Americans and multiple administration officials. Also, advance warning was given so that troops could take ‘necessary precautions.’ Iraq's prime minister Adil Abdul Mahdi’s government is already shaken by protest movements and relentless Iranian pressure and interference, plus the threat of a resurgent IS. Its future hinges on what happens next between the United States and Iran. Pray for an end to ballistic missile development. See also

On 7 December Puerto Rico was hit by the worst earthquake to hit the island in 102 years. By 9 December two-thirds of the island was still without power. The earthquake knocked out the main generating facility and damaged other infrastructure. Six months after Hurricane Maria in 2017, many Puerto Ricans still had no electricity: even now, a quarter of the island has no running water. The 6.4 magnitude quake and 6.0 aftershock destroyed 300 homes. A 73-year-old man is the only confirmed death to date. Thousands are still sleeping outside or in their cars, fearful of being indoors during another quake. Governor Wanda Vazquez declared a state of emergency, activating the island's National Guard to help with recovery efforts. Pray for the hospitals, the vulnerable, the elderly, families and businesses among the three million people without power. Pray for the islanders, still recovering from Hurricane Maria (which killed nearly 3,000), and now coping with destruction and further disruption of their lives.

Tornado activity is not rare in the United States at this time of year, but the impacts and width of recent storms are notable, creating more fatalities in one day than from tornadoes in the past three Decembers combined. Pray for those who have lost homes, possessions and loved ones in parts of Louisiana ransacked with 160 mph winds. Please continue to pray for Australians living in areas under a total fire ban amid dangerous record-breaking heat and wild winds. 100 wildfires are still scorching 5.3 million acres and covering Sydney in toxic smog. In Malaysia, by 18 December over 10,000 flood victims had been evacuated and taken to 100 relief centres. Pray for the people with disabilities, the elderly and children affected by an extreme unabated monsoon season with flood waters reaching 2.5m deep. See