Christian News That Keeps the Church Informed, Inspired, and Connected.

Envy seems to be the underlying acceptable sin in the church today. But it is having dire consequences across the world. It is not just a congregant problem, but a pastoral problem just as much. Through these things you can learn to trust God, who made you and has created the best plan for your life.

Nearly every story or happening in your world is immediately accompanied by two competing narratives, and each of them are rooted in some truth and an absolute prohibition on giving any quarter whatsoever to any portion of the other narrative. This is the vicious cycle that is clearly not working, and my friend, it is not working because it is not intended to work. The unstated goal of the entrenched and opposing narratives is to perpetually fuel the outrage industry.

Your approach is different, because it is not only intended to work, it also has the power to work! Your approach is not to disengage and it is not to perpetuate the chaos. It is to break through the chaos with the approach Jesus modeled by engaging cultural in a way that aims for eternal impact rather than temporary conquest.

On January 18, 2026, Don Lemon, Nekina Levy Armstrong, and a group of raucous protestors interrupted services at the Cities Church in Minneapolis. Ms. Armstrong and two other protestors have already been arrested for their participation in the protest, while a Magistrate judge has rejected charges against Mr. Lemon. Still, the question remains whether Don Lemon, an alleged journalist, should face criminal charges as well.

As a Jesus follower, you might have been for the Hoosiers or you might have been pulling for the Hurricanes (or perhaps, like me, you were for the Illini—another basketball-first school). No matter your rooting preference, this story lends a prescient reminder about our not-so-glittery past. To put it gently, each of us has a history that is less than stellar. Every one of us has sinned and fallen short of God’s magnificent glory (Rom. 3:23).

But that past doesn’t mark or determine your destiny! No matter how bleak your past, you are only one decision of surrender to Jesus away from the promise of being a child of God!

The eyes of the world are on the icy terrain of Greenland this week, as a bevy of newscentered on U.S. President Donald Trump’s push to obtain U.S. control of the giant island nation. As part of the effort, President Trump announced planned tariffs on European countries that do not back his acquisition proposal. President Trump also wrote to Norway Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre that the decision to award someone else the Nobel Peace Prize is causing him to no longer have “an obligation to think only of Peace.” The prize was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, but Machado gave the award to President Trump last week.

Interest rate policy is important. Truthfulness before Congress is important. Limitations on governing power is important.

We refer to the primary mission of Jesus as a “finished work” because there is nothing you or I can do to enhance or diminish the magnitude of it. We have life and the promise of eternity with God not because of anything we have done, but because of the perfection of what Jesus has already done.

Even so, in His abounding and everlasting love and grace, the One true and triune God chose to incorporate you into the earthly stewardship of that finished work. He established the Church—His followers—as the mechanism by which He would be made known.

In other words, He could have chosen any plan or no plan at all, but He chose you as the plan because He wanted you as the plan!

The human heart longs to be free because it was created to be free (Gal. 5:1). You were created to be free, and you are designed to stand in the gap for those who are not (Gal. 5:13, Ps. 82:3).

Protesters interrupted a worship service at the Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, this week. The disruption was livestreamed by Black Lives Matter Minnesota and caused the service to be canceled. The protestors were objecting to the ongoing operations being conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and are believed to have targeted Cities Church because one of its pastors works in a local ICE office. The incident is the latest in an ongoing string of clashes over ICE’s enforcement operations.

Americans should be thankful to live in a place with due process and where competing legal arguments are heard. A byproduct of this system is that the modern-day desire for immediate resolution and vindication cannot be satiated. Knowing this, let’s lead the way in using this interim space to pray for all those involved

No matter your resolution—it could be anything from exercising to eating healthier to getting enough sleep—I invite you to pursue it with the following question always in mind: 

“Are you on mission?”

It is a major birthday year for the United States of America, as the dawn of 2026 brings with it the kickoff of a celebration (complete with newly minted coins) commemorating 250 years since the formal establishment of the nation. The year-long event will crescendo on July 4, 2026 on the 250^th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, but the entire 2026 calendar will be full of commemorations marking both the lead up to and the aftermath of that day.

There is significant unrest in the streets of Iran, and dozens of demonstrators have reportedly been killed in recent days, including during a reported raid on a civilian hospital. Demonstrations in Iran have been frequent in recent years and have often centered on the lack of human rights, especially for women in the country. Numerous world leaders have spoken out in defense of the Iranian people and U.S. President Donald Trump said that if peaceful protestors continue to be attacked, the U.S. will come to their aid.

What if you lived with the same intentionality about compounding joy, generosity, and humility as you do about compounding money — and shaped your daily habits around the return you actually want?

Being a leader means recognizing that you are better when you work and lead from the overflow of life. Working from the overflow of life doesn’t only apply to a leadership scenario. When you work out of an overflow you are a better spouse, a better parent, and generally a better person all around. Practice these steps so that you will up your leadership game wherever you are in life.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were captured by U.S. Delta Forces during an overnight raid of his compound early Saturday. According to U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, the surprise raid was conducted with no loss of American life, but dozens of Venezuelans and Cubans providing security to Maduro were reportedly killed. Maduro was flown through Cuba to New York City, where he appeared in court on Monday and pleaded not guilty to charges of drug trafficking. President Trump said the U.S. will “run Venezuela” temporarily until a “safe, proper and judicious transition” can be accomplished.

You were made for God! This amazing reality does the opposite of dismiss the importance of your understory. To the contrary, it sweeps all of your understory up into the magnificence of His all-encompassing overstory!

Humankind’s pursuit of perfection on the road to paradise has always turned dark. Often this progressive pursuit has relied on questionable science that leads inevitably toward eugenics and planned breeding that culminates “in the lethal tenets of the Nazi regime.” This quest for perfection continues to reverberate throughout the West today.

What if the soundtrack you’ve been repeating lately isn’t telling the full truth — and the first step toward healthier leadership is paying attention to the words you keep saying?

U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at Mar-a-Lago Monday and addressed the media in a joint press conference. Much of the discussion centered on President Trump’s insistence that Hamas and Israel begin implementing Phase Two of the recently agreed-to peace plan. Phase One centered on a ceasefire and hostage releases but Phase Two is slated to include the disarmament of Hamas alongside Israel’s withdraw from Gaza. As has long been the case for the Middle East, these deliberations raise additional considerations, including the posture of both Iran and Syria.

An enemy force doesn’t have to block an important message in order to render it useless. The enemy merely needs to create enough noise in the environment to distract the recipient for a while. In buying time with distraction, the enemy is able to carry out an attack and be gone before the message is acted upon.

Does this hit close to home for you? It does for me.

The U.S. operations against alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers ramped up on Christmas Eve, according to U.S. President Donald Trump, who indicated that for the first time the U.S. strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers moved from offshore targeting of boats to an onshore facility believed to be an “implementation area.”

How about you stop playing the games and go ahead with no New Year’s resolutions this time? It will save some time, energy, and feelings of guilt when you abandon them a few weeks later. However, if you are resolved to make intentional changes to life in the coming year, here are several real-life resolutions that will bring about lasting impact to both you, your family, and the world around you.

Now, Canada is poised to follow Nazi Germany’s disturbing example by killing itself on a road marked with eugenics and alleged human progress. As highlighted in an Atlantic magazine article this past September, the Quebec College of Physicians has raised the idea of extending Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program to cover infants under one year old in cases of “severe deformities.”

As we know, once the barrier of killing the innocents is breached, there is no upper limit on the willingness of experts to end suffering, advance efficiency, and embrace despotism.

Those who are ultimately found to be responsible for any proven fraud should be held to account, regardless of political affiliation.

What about your life and mine? How squeaky clean are our personal and business practices? If held up to the light, would they pass scriptural muster? They should, but human nature is such that they only will if we subject ourselves to the scrutiny of transparency. Matt 10:26-27 reminds us that all which is concealed will be made known and encourages us to proclaim in the daylight what God has instructed in the secret place.

What if the thing weighing on you most right now isn’t complicated at all — it’s just waiting for you to embrace the awkward and deal with it?

One thing is clear and it is consistent with the track record of human history: The human heart is desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9). It is easy to exclaim shock and acknowledge these crimes as horrific—and they are—but the inclination toward an evil like this runs naturally through your human heart and mine. But by the grace of God go you and I.

As a Jesus follower, your posture toward money, wealth, and material possessions is one of the most important factors in your aim for a vibrant walk with Jesus. That statement might seem a little jarring, but God’s Word repeatedly returns to money matters to determine the health of your heart. 

Friend, you have been waiting. You have been longing for the fulfillment of what is promised. Your anticipation has been building. The wait can seem long and the pressure of the building anticipation intense.

But the celebration on the other side of the anticipation will be oh so worth it!

The long-anticipated Savior of the world has come! We celebrate the end of the waiting on Christmas! Death is defeated and the silence is no more! Allow the built-up pressure of your anticipation to burst forth into rejoicing!