Ministries
INHERITANCE Media, a non-profit ministry that focuses on connecting Asian American Christians together as a community, is hosting INFUSE Conference on Saturday, September 13, to create a space in which Asian American Christians can interact with one another about the struggles and issues of the Asian American church.READ MORE
US
In 2012, five plaintiffs from Koreatown filed a lawsuit against the L.A. City Council because they believed that the council members unfairly divided the Koreatown community into two different council districts rather than keeping Koreatown in one council district, creating a disadvantage to their voting power. The L.A. City Redistricting Commission, which drew the new districts of the city, has been accused of gerrymandering, or deliberately manipulating boundaries to favor a specific interest group.READ MORE
World
The World Council of Churches (WCC) sent a team to northern Iraq last week and said in a press release that the “group came back deeply affected by the depth, intensity, and suddenness of the violence that has left thousands dead and hundreds of thousands more uprooted from their homes and communities.” The WCC, in response, called for the 345 churches that are members of the WCC to respond and take action by seeking help from relief aid organizations.READ MORE
World
A small private plane crashed at sea near Jamaica on Friday after having lost contact with ground controllers during a flight from Rochester, New York, to Naples, Florida. Although early reports said that there were three passengers on the plane, there have only been two identities that were confirmed, including Larry and Jane Glazer. Larry Glazer was working as a real estate developer in Rochester.READ MORE
World
On Thursday, al Qaeda’s chief Ayman al-Zawahiri announced in a video that he would “raise the flag of jihad” in India and start a branch of the al Qaeda militant group in the subcontinent. Zawahiri said that the purpose for the expansion is “to wage jihad against its enemies, to liberate its land, to restore its sovereignty, and to revive its Caliphate,” and to “rescue” those who are undergoing “injustice, oppression, persecution, and suffering,” in India and surrounding areas such as Myanmar and Bangladesh.READ MORE
Church
United Breakthrough Ministries (UBM), a relatively young church that will be celebrating its fourth anniversary next March, sent a young mission team to the Middle East through a mission organization called InterCP this past summer, amid the widely known Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip. The mission team of 12, which visited Palestine, Jordan, and Israel, consisted entirely of youth members from the ages of 10 to 17, and was led by one 24-year-old staff, Andrew Yang, who also serves as their youth pastor at UBM. READ MORE
Mission
God’s Image, a praise and worship team consisting of kindergarten to college-aged Korean Americans, participated in performances on August 16th at Oriental Mission Church (OMC) in Los Angeles, and on the 23rd at the La Mirada Performing Arts Center. Through these two performances, they were able to raise $7,000, and donated the full amount to Good Neighbors USA, a non-profit organization that, among many projects the organization participates in, builds clean water wells in various countries. The donation will go directly to building two new water wells in Chad.READ MORE
US
Dr. Rick Sacra, 51, who had been serving Ebola patients in Liberia through the mission organization SIM, recently contracted Ebola, and is heading to the Nebraska Medical Center, located in Omaha, for treatment. His expected arrival is Friday morning, and will be treated in the medical center’s Biocontainment Patient Care Unit.READ MORE
World
CNN released a video from the Islamic State on Friday showing that young children are being recruited at schools to join the Islamic State’s jihad camps, in which they learn at a very young age how to treat ‘infidels’ and are ordered to watch the violent punishments that these ‘infidels’ would receive. Among several clips that the video compiled together was an interview with Mohammed, who was part of the jihad camp for a month when he was only 13. His name has been changed out safety concerns.READ MORE
US
Orange County Public Schools in Florida announced that they will no longer have sports chaplains—who are now called ‘life coaches’—and Bibles in their schools. The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) “pressured” the schools to ban chaplains from praying before and after football games.READ MORE
Mission
Passersby near the South Bay Community Church in Torrance, California, would have heard loud noises on Thursday from hundreds of young people worshipping at Unleashed 2014, a multi-ethnic youth outreach event which invited various church youth groups and high school Christian clubs in the South Bay area. The event, from the start of planning six months ago, until the day of the event, was entirely led by high school students.READ MORE
World
The Islamic State released another video showing the beheading of Steven Sotloff, a U.S. freelance journalist, to a monitoring service called SITE. Similar to the footage from the video in which the militants killed journalist James Foley just weeks ago, Sotloff is shown wearing an orange jumpsuit, while the militant is wearing an all-black suit, with his face covered with a black mask. The video was shot in a similar desert setting.READ MORE
US
Three Americans who are currently being detained in North Korea—Kenneth Bae, Jeffrey Fowle, and Todd Miller—were brought to a Pyongyang hotel on Monday to interview with CNN and the Associated Press. The interviews were monitored by North Korean officials, and according to a CNN report, the interview was unexpected and the process leading up to the interviews were “bizarre.”READ MORE
World
David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the UK, announced that the UK will be taking new measures to counter suspects of being involved with the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. British intelligence believes about 500 British people have traveled overseas to fight alongside ISIS.READ MORE
US
U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups released his final decision on Wednesday striking down portions of Utah’s laws that criminalize polygamous cohabitation. The plaintiff, Kody Brown, has four partners named Robyn, Janelle, Christine, and Meri, and all of them are members of the Apostolic United Brethren Church. They claimed that the Utah ban on their polygamous cohabitation restricted them from their freedom of religion.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
