US
Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to have been diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, died early on Wednesday morning at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, located in Dallas. Duncan was a Liberian man who had traveled to the United States. He went to the Dallas hospital on September 20, as soon as he arrived in the U.S., but was simply given antibiotics and sent home as the doctors did not perceive that he had concocted the Ebola virus.READ MORE
World
As the Syrian Kurdish town, Kobani, had almost fallen into possession of the Islamic State, the Obama administration has been pressed for a more active involvement in the fight against the Islamic State. Kobani, which is located on the border of Syria and Turkey, had been under siege by the Islamic State for three weeks, causing the deaths of hundreds and the escape of 200,000 to other nations, mostly to Turkey.READ MORE
Society
Drivers of shuttles that transport Facebook employees from their residences in locations such as San Francisco and Palo Alto are seeking to unionize against their employer, Loop Transportation, on the basis of low wages and long hours. Loop Transportation is currently under contract with Facebook. The drivers are seeking to be represented by the Teamsters union, and an official from the union wrote a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, to help in the effort.READ MORE
US
President Obama announced on Monday that the U.S. is “working on protocols to do additional passenger screening, both at the source and here in the United States,” in his own words. “Here in the United States, at least, the chances of an outbreak—of an epidemic here—are extraordinarily low,” he added. The President will be meeting with health and security officials to discuss possible protocols, according to Fox News.READ MORE
Society
Three neuroscientists have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of “an inner GPS that makes it possible to know where we are and find our way,” according to Ole Kiehn, a Nobel committee member. John O’Keefe, a British-American professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College in London, made the first discovery of the positioning system, in 1971. READ MORE
Ministries
In the midst of a surge of racial unrest, with recent events such as the Ferguson shooting, the Institute for the Study of Asian American Christianity (ISAAC) realized that race and ethnicity is increasingly becoming an urgent issue to discuss within the church context. Hence, in their upcoming Sixth Symposium, ISAAC will be featuring a bilateral symposium, ‘A Christian Vision of Belonging: Race & Gender,’ with speakers from both Asian American and African American churches and ministries.READ MORE
US
As the November 11 inter-ethnic prayer movement, A Line in the Sand, is fast approaching, the Korean church has been actively preparing for the event in prayer. After the first preparatory prayer meeting took place in mid-July, the Korean church has been meeting regionally un South Bay, San Diego, and in Orange County to prepare for the November 11 event. For the Los Angeles meeting, Korean church leaders met on October 1st, with David Andrade and Lillian Ong, two of the organizers of A Line in the Sand.READ MORE
Church
Korea Campus Crusade for Christ (KCCC), a para-church ministry that focuses on sharing the gospel and making disciples in university campuses, has been holding annual revival conferences for Korean American high school and college students for the past 11 years, and will be holding another conference this December, called Higher Calling 2014.READ MORE
Church
Many believe that young people in the church today have too many choices, and that that this leads to their lack of commitment to one church. They seek after big-name pastors, great welcoming teams, or passionate worship bands, disgruntled church leaders might say. During a time in which commitment to a church may seem challenging, some churches have been implementing church membership programs instill a culture of church commitment. Church Everyday, likewise, has been starting something new to stir a spirit of unity and familyhood within their English congregation.READ MORE
World
Rick Sacra, the third American missionary who had contracted Ebola while doing aid work in West Africa, has now fully recovered from the virus and has returned to his Massachusetts home. “I am so grateful,” said Sacra. “Just so incredibly grateful to have gotten through this illness! Many were praying for me, even people I did not know personally."READ MORE
US
The percentage of American adults who have never married is a “record high,” according to a Pew Research Center study released Wednesday. Pew found that in contrast to 1960, during which one-in-ten adults ages 25 and older have never married, in 2012, one-in-five adults in that age range have reported that they have never married.READ MORE
Church
The Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) voted unanimously on Tuesday to “withdraw fellowship” from New Heart Community Church in La Mirada, California, because its senior pastor, Pastor Danny Cortez, has recently announced that he believes “same-sex marriage can be blessed by God.” “We will accept the LGBT community even though they may be in a relationship,” wrote Cortez, whose letter was featured in a blog.READ MORE
World
An Algerian jihadist group called Jund al-Khilafah released a video on Wednesday of the beheading of a French hostage, after France had refused to back out of U.S.-led airstrikes against the Islamic State. The video showed Herve Gourdel, 55, kneeling in front of four masked soldiers. He was given a brief moment to tell his family that he loves them before he was beheaded.READ MORE
US
The United States, along with its foreign partners, launched its airstrikes in Syria against the Islamic State on Monday. “This is the punch in the nose to the bully that we talked about on the playground,” former Delta Force officer James Reese told CNN. “ISIS is the bully, and we just punched him in the nose.” According to U.S. military officials, the purpose of the airstrikes is to hinder and break down the Islamic State’s ability to command, control, resupply, and train.READ MORE
US
A growing population of Americans seem to look more favorably upon an interrelationship between religion and politics, according to findings from a recent Pew Research Center study released on Monday. In the study, which was conducted by telephone among 2,002 adults over the age of 18 in the United States, across all 50 states, 72% of the participants believed that religion is losing influence, which is the highest percentage Pew Research has seen since 2001. READ MORE
The Sunday Assembly, also known as the “Atheist Church”, based in the United Kingdom is scheduled to have its first global assembly. The “church” is also known to have a branch and ...
World May 06, 2014 02:34 AM EDTThe leaders of the DPRK have been making very strong statements regarding human rights. A representative from the North Korean government has stated in a speech that the U.S. is a ‘living ...
World May 08, 2014 03:08 AM EDT
