CHICAGO (RNS) — Mark Jobe, the new president of Moody Bible Institute, is no stranger to helping old religious institutions find new life.

For decades, he’s helped restart struggling congregations as pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago.

Now he hopes to do the same at Moody.

Last week, Jobe, 54, was announced as Moody’s 10th president. He plans to start in January.

Jobe’s arrival comes at a critical time for the school.

Last January, Moody’s top leaders all stepped down the same day. Moody President J. Paul Nyquist and Chief Operating Officer Steve Mogck both resigned. Provost Junias Venugopal retired.

Their departures came as tensions between faculty and staff swirled. Concerns about theology, the school’s finances and its embrace of diversity lit up the internet.

Moody’s board of directors said there was no wrongdoing, but it cited “widespread concerns over the direction” of the historic Christian school in announcing the departure of the former top leaders.

It was “time for a new season of leadership” at Moody Bible Institute, according to Randy Fairfax, chair of Moody’s board of trustees.

Fairfax called Jobe’s appointment an answer to prayer.

“His clarity of vision, humble nature, passion, and strong track record of ministry growth will bring a palpable energy to the Moody family,” Fairfax…

Country music singer Jo Dee Messina says she’s drawing strength from her Christian faith during her battle with cancer.

“I’m leaning on God,” she told People. “I’m letting Him take charge. It’s what’s best for my soul right now. Every biopsy and every result … it feels like an eternity goes by. I know that God has me. I’m filled with gratitude and joy.”

Messina, who has had six No. 1 songs on the Billboard chart, was taking classes at The King’s University, an evangelical school, when she learned last year she has cancer. She withdrew for the semester.

Messina, 48, has not disclosed what type of cancer she has. 

“After being diagnosed, I was playing at a winery in Missouri and I basically said ‘FYI, this is what’s going on,’” Messina told People. “It doesn’t change the fact that God is good.”

She has two children, ages 9 and 6. 

“Sometimes I need help getting dishes down from the shelf,” she told People. “I let my kids see my weakness as much as I let them see my joy of life.”

She recorded a new single, Reckless Love, following the diagnosis. 

“On certain days, it was hard to breathe, and I was barely able to stand up at the microphone,” she said. 

The song, she said, “tells the news that people need to know, that God provides a love that we will never understand.”

Michael Foust is a freelance…

A caravan of some 4,000 immigrants is headed toward the United States from Honduras and President Trump is threatening to close the southern border if the Mexican government fails to stop them.

According to the Associated Press, the Mexican government deployed additional police to its shared border with Guatemala on Thursday after the Casa del Migrante shelter in Guatemala reported that hundreds of Hondurans had already arrived there.

AP reports that Mexican officials will not let the Hondurans enter as a group and that they will need to have official documentation to enter into Mexico from Guatemala.  

If the Hondurans, who are reportedly fleeing violence and poverty in their country, do not have a passport or visa, Mexico’s ambassador to Guatemala has said that they will be deported. 

Mexican officials have also said that the migrants could also have the option to apply for refugee status, but this would require a 90-day approval process.

As the caravan nears the United States, President Trump has fired off several warnings on Twitter.

The President wrote, “I am watching the Democrat Party led (because they want Open Borders and existing weak laws) assault on our country by Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, whose leaders are doing little to stop this large flow of people, INCLUDING MANY CRIMINALS, from entering Mexico to the…

After releasing pastor Andrew Brunson just days ago, Turkish authorities detained another U.S. missionary.

According to Middle East Concern, missionary David Byle, who has been preaching in Turkey for 18 years, was arrested in Ankara on Saturday by the Anti-Terror Police Department.

Byle was reportedly released Sunday afternoon, soon after he was interrogated. The missionary was then ordered to leave the country within the next 15 days.

“[We] have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support, not only from believers here in Turkey, but from literally all around the world. It means a lot to us and encourages us greatly to know we’re not alone, that we’re a part of such a great family, God’s family,” Byle and his family shared in a message.

The Christian Post reports that Byle has been arrested several times while he has been a missionary in Turkey. 

In 2007, Byle was arrested and held for three days by Turkish authorities for carrying Christian literature, but since the literature did not insult Islam, he was let go.

Byle was arrested for a second time in 2016, this time he was detained for eight days and told that he would be deported.

Byle’s deportation order was soon temporarily blocked in February 2017, because officials could not prove that he was a “director, member or supporter of ‘terrorist organizations’” as they…