A former strip club in Clyman, Wis., that was the site of a human trafficking case soon will be a Christian ministry center.

Adoration Abode, a non-profit Christian ministry in Watertown, Wis., that assists those in need, purchased this summer the building of a former strip club known as the Hardware Store and is turning it into a “revival center,” according to the Daily Citizen newspaper. The strip club closed Jan. 1, 2019. The ministry bought the building for $77,000.

“It’s divine intervention,” Gene Schmidt of Adoration Abode told the Daily Citizen. “People in Clyman should know one thing: God’s at work.”

Adoration Adobe is turning the former strip club into a Christian coffeehouse, with a stage for Christian music and space for worship. The building also has apartments that will be used for housing.

It will be ready to open in a few months, according to the Daily Citizen.

“I’m quite shocked I have the building,” Schmidt said. “I never dreamed of actually buying the place.”

This summer, the former owner and two managers of the Hardware Store pled guilty to charges related to a federal sex trafficking indictment. The indictment said the owner and managers ran a prostitution ring out of the strip club.

“The primary purpose of the conspiracy was to generate revenue for the Hardware Store by making the club’s lap dance and champagne…

For Christian rocker John Cooper, the events of the past few days in Kenosha, Wis., have been personal, even scary. 

That’s because Cooper – the frontman for the Grammy-nominated band Skillet – lives in downtown Kenosha with his family, just five or so blocks from the violent protests that have caused an estimated $30 million in damage. The protests started after the police shooting of a black man, Jacob Blake.

Cooper says he’s praying for racial justice, although he’s ready to defend his home.

“I should be out playing concerts, rocking the free world and instead I’m hunkered down, praying for the very people that I might have to hurt that night and that’s something that Americans shouldn’t have to deal with,” Cooper told Fox and Friends Saturday. He said the arrival of the National Guard has led to calmer nights. “I don’t want to hurt anybody. I’m praying for safety. I’m praying for them – praying for their souls. I’m praying for racial justice. I want all those things but you can’t come and threaten people’s family in America.”

Cooper also is pointing his community to Christ. He took part in a diverse prayer meeting of local Christians, asking God for healing, justice and peace.

“We had an amazing prayer meeting – 14 pastors, black, white, red brown, everyone came together because we believe there is one hope, and it’s not a president,” Cooper…

In Southern California’s Orange County, where nearly half a million people are at risk of going hungry each month during the COVID-19 pandemic, Pastor Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church is the largest food resource as the congregation seeks to follow the example of Jesus.

Since the pandemic began in March, the megachurch’s volunteers have distributed more than 2.4 million pounds of food at more than 300 grocery distribution events throughout Orange County, according to The Epoch Times.

“Saddleback has been feeding our community for over 10 years,” Saddleback’s communications minister, Ashley Eure, was quoted as saying. “When COVID hit, we scaled up our distribution to meet the rapidly increasing need. Every Southern California Saddleback campus has contributed to putting on food distributions and caring for the physical and spiritual needs families are facing right now.

“Pastor Rick has said that, as Christians, we are called to step into the places of pain. In a time when the world is scared and hurting, instead of running away from that, we’re going to run towards the pain…

The late actor Chadwick Boseman captivated audiences with his roles in films such as Black Panther, 42 and Marshall, but he never forgot the Christian faith that grounded his career.

Boseman, who died Aug. 28 of colon cancer at the age of 43, grew up in a Christian home and was baptized at Welfare Baptist Church in Anderson, S.C., where he sang in the choir.

A professing Christian, he often referenced Scripture and his faith in public. When honoring Denzell Washington at the 2019 AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony, Boseman paraphrased Ephesians 3:20 and told Washington, “May God bless you exceedingly and abundantly more for what’s in store than He ever has before. God bless you.” Years earlier, Washington had paid for Boseman to participate in a summer acting program in Oxford, England, according to Faithfully Magazine.

Boseman discussed his faith in more detail in 2018 during his commencement speech at Howard University, his alma mater.

“Sometimes you need to feel the pain and sting of defeat to activate the real passion and purpose that God predestined inside of you. God says in Jeremiah, ‘I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future,’” Boseman said, quoting Jeremiah 29:11. “Graduating class, hear me well on this day. … This day when you have reached the hilltop, and…

A “Riots to Revival” movement is gaining momentum in Wisconsin after starting in June at the memorial site of George Floyd.

According to CBN News, last week, Dr. Charles Karuku shared on social media that the revival, started by Dr. Karaku and Pastor Lindsey Karaku of the International Outreach Church in Burnsville, Minnesota, had begun in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

“Let the healing begin!” Karuku posted on Facebook, alongside photos of people praying, worshiping and being baptized.

“MIRACLES IN KENOSHA: A massive move of God. Salvation, healing, racial reconciliation, and awesome baptisms on the streets. Riot to Revival. Glory to God!!! Let the healing begin!”

In one video posted online, Eileen Burglin, a business owner in Kenosha, said she saw one woman receiving healing during the revival. The woman had been watching the event on Facebook Live.

“As baptisms were taking place, there was a little bit of a lull,” she said. “Then another woman came forward. Her name is Debbie.

“And she felt God or something tell her ‘she had better answer and get her butt over here,’ is how she phrased it,” Burglin added. “So she kind of hobbled over here. She wasn’t doing well. And then, she got baptized and worshipped with us. And then 20 minutes ago, she told us, ‘Oh, my back pain is completely gone.”

In a Facebook post, Karuku also asked for missionaries to join them.

“TRAVEL WITH US. We need…

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Elections in the United States, a global pandemic and human rights protests have crowded the news coverage for most of 2020.

But activists and sexual abuse survivors continue to ask that the protection of minors and vulnerable adults in the Catholic Church and elsewhere remain a priority despite losing momentum, as risks of online and domestic abuse grow globally.

“It became pretty clear to us very early on that the attention given to safeguarding and protecting the dignity and safety of children, and vulnerable people in general, moved out of the center of attention for many people and for many institutions,” said the Rev. Hans Zollner, a Vatican official spearheading the fight against sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, in an interview with Religion News Service on Wednesday (Aug. 26).

Zollner heads the Pontifical Gregorian University’s Centre for Child Protection and is a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, created by Pope Francis in 2014.

As the pandemic triggered global lockdowns, forcing citizens to stay at home and avoid crowded events, many young people and vulnerable adults found themselves at a heightened risk of suffering physical and psychological abuse.

The largest nonprofit anti-sexual assault organization in the United States, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, or RAINN,…

Thirty-nine missing and endangered children have been recovered in a major operation to retrieve endangered and missing children in Georgia, called “Operation Not Forgotten.”

Some of the missing children were likely involved in child sex trafficking and a portion of the alleged perpetrators arrested were charged with sex trafficking and parental kidnapping in addition to violating sex offender protocols they were required to fulfill.

According to the Associated Press, many of the children could likely have been abused and suffered medical health conditions. Further, some of the children could have extremely difficult recoveries ahead due to mental illness.

A statement from the U.S. Marshals Service states that the operation lasted 2-weeks and was carried out through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in tandem with other Georgia state and local agencies. There were at least 9 arrests that were included in 26 different warrants.

According to the Statement:

“These missing children were considered to be some of the most at-risk and challenging recovery cases in the area, based on indications of high-risk factors such as victimization of child sex trafficking, child exploitation, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and medical or mental health conditions. Other children were located at the request of law enforcement to ensure their wellbeing. USMS investigators were able to…

Dr. Robert Jeffress, a staunch Trump supporter and pastor of First Baptist Dallas, recently lauded the President for believing in justice and mercy as he surprised Alice Johnson with a full pardon.

Last weekend, Jeffrees told Fox & Friends host Pete Hegseth how he was present in the Oval Office last week when Trump extended the pardon. At Trump’s request, Jeffress then led a prayer where he thanked God “that we have a President like Donald Trump who believes, yes, in law and order and justice, but he also believes in mercy.”

Johnson, who also spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention, previously had a life sentence commuted by Trump in a federal drug case.

“I feel like a person that has everything totally restored … to not have to report to a probation officer. I can travel, I can truly live a free life now,” Johnson told host Martha MacCallum on Friday’s broadcast of “The Story.”

“When it comes to being tough, nobody is tougher than Donald J. Trump, but when the situation calls for kindness, nobody is kinder or [more] gracious than he is,” Jeffress said. “That’s what we want in a leader.”

The Texas-based pastor then criticized an endorsement made to Joe Biden by 350 faith leaders from Faith2020, a multi-faith coalition. The group comprises leaders from all backgrounds of faith including Christians, Jews, Sikhs, Muslims, among others.

In the…