If you are in crisis, please call 800-273-8255 or visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org. You are not alone.

J’den Cox has won wrestling matches at the highest levels, including a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games—but he believes the battles he wrestles with himself often usher in the greatest victories.

Cox, 24, is a three-time NCAA Division 1 wrestling champion, and an Olympic bronze medalist who also won four state titles while in high school, amassing only three losses in that time frame.

He also won gold medals at the 2018 and 2019 World Championships, and a bronze medal at the 2017 World Championships. These are just a few of his accolades.

Still, it is Cox’s internal matches that have truly ushered in his most transformative victories.

In his freshman year at the University of Missouri, he found himself struggling to the point where he wondered if he should just throw the towel in all together—and not on a wrestling match, but on his very life.

Listen to Cox reveal his incredible faith journey:

The climax came one day when Cox was in the midst of battling the demons from his past; he found himself on the edge of a highway, considering ending it all. A chance phone call from his coaches at that very moment helped save his life.

Years later, he’s better and has no problem opening up about his past struggles.

“For a long time, I was ashamed to talk about it because people struggle to show empathy for things they can’t see and understand,” Cox said of his past emotional struggles. “I was afraid to ask for help, and I think that’s something I try to preach now.”

Cox began to go to therapy and changed his mindset, as he worked on bettering his mental health—all while not missing a step on the wrestling mat.

SOURCE: Charisma News

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Concerned Women for America (CWA) rallied at the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday, March 4, to advocate for the rights of women and the unborn.

Pro-life advocates gathered for the “Protect Women—Protect Life” event in support of June Medical Services v. Russo, a law in Louisiana that requires abortionists to have admitting privileges at hospitals in case a woman has a medical emergency during an abortion. The law has drawn criticism from those in the abortion industry and pro-abortion advocates.

“We cannot say all life is important and ignore the threat posed to women by an abortion procedure,” says Sancha Smith, a member of CWA of Louisiana. “I do not understand how the pro-choice lobby can claim to stand for women’s health while working for this bill to be overturned.”

CWA posted on Facebook during the rally, saying:

“We are currently at the steps of the @TheSupremeCourtoftheUnitedStates. We need to listen to women—not abortion providers. Abortion doctors are asking for a special exemption from the standard that applies to doctors at ambulatory surgical centers. Women deserve better than that.”

SOURCE: Charisma News

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Global Media Outreach—the leader in online evangelism—is on pace to top 2 billion gospel presentations worldwide by June 2020.

Founded in 2004, the internet ministry pioneer has touched lives in every country on earth, presenting the Gospel an average of 350,000 times a day and seeing 223 million decisions for Christ to date.

“In the early days of the worldwide web, these questions came to me, ‘What if we could put God’s Word on the internet?’” said Global Media Outreach Founder and Chairman Walt Wilson, who was on Apple’s MacIntosh development team. “What if we could meet people at their point of need? What if we could bring them to Calvary’s cross and then disciple them?’ Clearly, as we surpass 2 billion people hearing the Gospel, the answer is, with God making it possible, this is what can happen!”

Global Media Outreach employs emerging technology created for business to reach people through social media; email; online advertisements; voice technology and a proprietary, secure messaging system. As individuals respond to the Gospel online, they receive support to grow in their faith and are connected to the Christian community.

SOURCE: Charisma News

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We all encounter the storms of life;  difficulties, problems and crisis situations.  Who do you go to during those storms of life?  How do you respond in the bad times?  These are important questions and reveal a lot about our relationship with and walk with God.  One of the main stories we use in our Orality Training is the story of Jesus Calming the Storm, recorded in Mark Chapter 4.  During that storm, the disciples went to Jesus and asked, “Rabbi / Master,  don’t you care that we are about to die?”  There are many people today asking similar questions, i.e. “Does God care about us and the troubles we face?”  Well, the good news is that He not only cares, but has the ability to intervene and change our lives and circumstances.

Every Negative has a Positive

It is often in the most difficult times and in the darkest places that God intervenes in the most amazing ways.  One of my mentors use to emphasize that every negative has a positive.  Furthermore, the more negative the negative, the more positive the positive.  It is a phenomenal way to live our lives with that perspective.  A friend of mine use to have a saying, “When it’s good, it’s good, and when it’s bad, it’s good” because God is involved in our lives all the time.  A life of victory is seeing God in all circumstances, and giving thanks in all things.

Character Building Experiences

It’s one thing to know these truths factually and biblically.  However, when we experience those tragedies, crisis or dark times, God often does a deeper work in building real character in our lives. The storms of life are a time to reflect and meditate on the character of God.  Years ago I heard a Bible teachers on the radio talk about these topics in the context of the purpose of suffering.  He said that difficulties, suffering and hard times can be used to 1. Focus our faith, 2.  Fashion our character, and, 3.  Fit us for service.

Growth Happens in the Valleys, not the Mountain Tops

A professional counselor friend uses a picture of a mountain scene to illustrate a lesson about our walk with the Lord.  He points to the picture and asks, “Where do you see the growth, on the mountain top, or in the valley?”  It’s obvious that the growth takes place in the valley, not on the mountain.

SOURCE: Assist News

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It’s tragic and perverse enough that drag queens reading to toddlers is now a national and international craze. But a new video takes thing even further, as a scantily-clad drag queen dances suggestively in front of a little girl seated in a chair. Even worse, the adults in the room seem delighted with this act of public child abuse. Yet it is this identical scenario that helped motivate me to take a stand back in 2004.

Prior to 2004, gay activism was not a major focus of my ministry. Not in preaching. Or teaching. Or writing.

Check out every one of my books written prior to that year, and you will find a few references to homosexual activism scattered between them. Add all those references up together, and I doubt it would even amount to a full page.

Or listen to the thousands of messages I preached prior to that year, dating all the way to back to 1973. LGB activism (there was very little “T” activism back then) was hardly on my radar.

But things changed in 2004.

While I was speaking in England in the spring of that year, some of my ministry colleagues were invited to share the gospel in the midst of a gay pride event in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Our ministry relocated there in the late summer of 2003.)

They were shocked by what they encountered. It was as if the world was turned upside down.

Lesbian cops held hands as they walked through the park, which was located right in the heart of the city. And if you were wearing a Jesus T-shirt or carrying a Bible, you were asked to leave.

We’re not talking about being asked to leave for intimidating the pride participants. We’re not talking about several people surrounding an individual and harassing that person. We’re not even talking about allegations of rudeness.

Simply sharing the Gospel was forbidden. Or carrying a Bible. Or wearing a gospel-based T-shirt.

But there was something even more disturbing.

SOURCE: Charisma News

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Two pastors of one of the nation’s largest churches are being quarantined by local health authorities at home after being exposed to the new coronavirus at a leadership training conference in Germany.

Craig Groeschel, senior pastor of Oklahoma-based Life.Church, which claims nearly 90,000 attenders at its 34 campuses spread over 10 states, was a featured speaker at Willow Creek Deutschland Leitungskongress 2020, which took place Feb. 27-29 in Karlsruhe, in southwest Germany. He attended the meeting with Bobby Gruenewald, another of the church’s leaders.

The conference, which had about 7,400 attenders, was cut short after one presenter became ill with COVID-19, according to organizers. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the new coronavirus. As of Wednesday (March 4), more than 87,000 cases of the illness had been reported globally, according to the World Health Organization.

Groeschel and Gruenewald learned of their need to be quarantined while traveling back to the U.S. The two went into quarantine for 14 days after returning to their homes in the Oklahoma City suburbs, where they have had no direct contact with church members or their families.

Neither has shown any symptoms of COVID-19.

“Pastor Craig and I are at home and healthy,” Gruenewald, innovation leader for Life.Church, told Religion News Service in a statement. “While en route home from Germany, we were made aware of the situation at the conference. We immediately notified health authorities and have followed every recommendation. Out of an abundance of caution, we have been isolated in our homes the entire time, even limited from interaction with our families. We have no symptoms, and someone is checking on us regularly.”

The church said it already has protocols in place to keep attendees healthy during flu season and is evaluating whether additional precautions are necessary, though Groeschel and Gruenewald themselves seemed determined to downplay their situation: The terms “coronavirus” and “COVID-19” were notably absent from the pastors’ statements.

Gruenewald said he and Groeschel remain in good spirits despite their isolation. “We’re making the most of this time to focus on ministry work and even doing some extra situps and pushups.”

Groeschel, whose book Fight made the New York Times’ bestseller list in 2013, serves as “champion” for the Global Leadership Summit, hosted each summer by Willow Creek Community Church, the influential Chicago-area megachurch. He became the public face of the training conference after the retirement of Bill Hybels, Willow Creek’s founder.

According to a statement from the German conference organizers, anyone who had direct contact with the ill speaker has been quarantined. The speaker is “already on the mend,” said the statement. However, a couple who had contact with the speaker before the conference has tested positive for the virus.

“The significant point is the German Leadership Summit was prematurely ended as a precaution and currently it is proving to be the right decision,” said Tom De Vries, president and CEO of the Global Leadership Network, which organizes the summer event held at Willow Creek and other similar events in other countries.

“While disappointing, the participants at the Summit were appreciative of the time we experienced together, the protective steps taken to ensure the safety of the more than 7,400 people attending live in Karlsruhe, and were prayerful for those affected by contact with the speaker as well as the speaker himself.”

Scott Thumma, professor of the sociology of religion at Hartford Seminary, said megachurches like Life.Church are well prepared to deal with the absence of their pastor from worship.

Since the church has more than one site, the preacher often appears by video during services. And if he wanted, Groeschel could preach from quarantine, said Thumma, who studies megachurches.

Life.Church and similar megachurches also have extensive small group networks, where congregation members meet during the week, he noted. If there were a health crisis, they could keep doing church without the large group gatherings.

Many megachurches already stream their services online and have online giving and ways to share prayer requests online, said Thumma. And unlike liturgical churches, where congregants need to be present to partake of sacraments such as Communion, megachurch congregations can still worship without being in a church building.

So they could deal with health concerns and still do church.

“They could worship online for a month and not miss a beat,” he said.

Megachurches also have sophisticated security and safety practices and could easily take steps to reduce the risks of spreading the coronavirus, he said.

Because Life.Church’s congregation is split into many smaller campuses—rather than one large auditorium—there’s likely less risk of a virus spreading to large numbers of people.

A megachurch in South Korea is suspected of contributing to the spread of the virus in that country. Government officials have linked a number of cases in South Korea to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, according to The Wall Street Journal.

SOURCE: Religion News Service

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In what may seem like a miracle to some people living in Australia, the NSW Rural Fire Service located in New South Wales reported on Monday that there are no active brush fires in the area for the first time in 240 days. 

The fire service, which is the world’s largest volunteer fire service with more than 74,000 members, posted a photo to Twitter showing a hillside covered with what appears to be barren trees with fog hanging over them.

For the first time since early July 2019, there is currently no active bush or grass fires in #NSW. That’s more than 240 days of fire activity for the state. #nswfires #nswrfs pic.twitter.com/NpjF3lAHKa

— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) March 2, 2020

“For the first time since early July 2019, there is currently no active brush or grass fires in #NSW. That’s more than 240 days of fire activity for the state,” the organization wrote. 

The fires in Australia started in early July 2019 and have burned much of the country. New South Wales was hit hard by the inferno and the fire service said almost 2,500 homes were destroyed.

At least 25 people were killed in fires across the country, according to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Last month, government officials announced that the fires were contained for the first time in several months, but a few were still burning. 

Rob Rogers, the deputy commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service, called the development “great news” after a “truly devastating season for both firefighters and residents who suffered through so much.”

But experts warn the current reprieve may be short-lived. 

“There’s still potential for a significant fire season” to begin as soon as in five months, Simon Heemstra, a fire behavior specialist with the Rural Fire Service, told The Sydney Morning Herald.

Heemstra said the brushfires blackened more than 13.5 million acres, but also generated “an enormous amount of data” for researchers.

The researchers will study the information, using it to help improve warning maps, text alerts, and phone apps in order to better warn the public and ultimately save lives. 

The newspaper reported multiple government agencies are working to overhaul the Australian Fire Danger Ratings System that was first developed in the 1960s within the next few years. The updated system will improve the prediction of a fire’s spread and intensity. 

“That will help us in the future to better warn and prepare communities and better position fire-fighting assets,” Dr. Heemstra said, adding the new programs may be able to update fire warnings hourly.

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