A simulcast featuring well-known Christian leaders and musical artists raised over $150,000 to help churches in financial need.

As Christian Headlines previously reported, Christian organizations PULSE and the AND campaign hosted the “Churches Helping Churches” simulcast on May 15 featuring musical guests Lauren Daigle, Lecrae, TobyMac, For King & Country and more.

Sponsored by RightNow Media, the initiative started “The Churches Helping Churches” challenge in April is assisting small churches who were financially affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

The online effort also established the COVID-19 Relief that awarded $3,000 grants to congregations in need.

In a press release on Monday, The Churches Helping Churches initiative announced that the May 15 simulcast raised $153,187 from 716 donors with 258,000 viewers tuning in.

Furthermore, it was announced that the initiative will shift “from a national campaign to empowering local ministries to support at-risk churches as the ramifications of COVID-19 will be felt for months to come.”

President of the AND Campaign, Justin Giboney, commended the turnout of the simulcast noting that because of viewers’ generous support, countless churches will receive financial assistance.

“When we first thought of this initiative, we could’ve never imagined that this much money could be raised to help so many churches,” Giboney said in…

(RNS) — For more than half of his life, the Rev. Otis Moss III has sought to find ways to merge the cadence of the sermon with the creativity of movies.

In addition to being senior pastor of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ, Moss founded Unashamed Media Group, which he described as “creating small films we hope will be used to teach, to inform, to inspire and shape homiletics in a different way.

“I believe that films preach,” he said. 

On Sunday (May 17), in honor of a young black jogger who was recently killed in Georgia, Moss premiered his latest fusion of faith and film: “The Cross and the Lynching Tree: A Requiem for Ahmaud Arbery.”

The 22-minute sermonic film features Moss preaching in his predominantly black megachurch before stained-glass windows that depict African American and church history. Interspersed between his words are images of a black actor pausing to tie his running shoes, clips of two drastically different movies released a century apart but both titled “The Birth of a Nation,” and footage of persecution and protest.

Moss, 49, is an Auburn Seminary senior fellow known for his commitment to social justice and a minister whose sermons placed him on Baylor University’s list of top 12 preachers in the English-speaking world. He learned film editing as a teenager tasked with cutting “Twilight Zone” episodes so a local Cleveland TV…

NEW DELHI, May 19, 2020 (Morning Star News) – A pastor and seven others putting relief packets together for the poor were assaulted by police who arrested them on a baseless allegation of gathering too many for worship amid the coronavirus lockdown in India, sources said.

Pastor Ramesh Kumar, 32, along with Christians Shri Chand, Rakesh Kumar and Mohit Kumar, were preparing aid packets on April 25 for distribution to the poor in Kakrahia village, near Kotiya, Kaushambi District, Uttar Pradesh state, when police stormed in and detained them and four others helping them, the pastor said.

“Before they detained us, the policemen used vulgar language and beat me, Rajendra and Rakesh with clubs,” Pastor Kumar told Morning Star News. “Rakesh sustained an injury on his hand and developed swelling because of the beating.”

Police accused them of violating the lockdown with a worship meeting, and officers ignored the pastor’s plea to speak with the village head, who could explain that it was not a worship service, he said. India’s prime minister recently called on people to help feed poor families during the coronavirus lockdown, and the pastor told officers they were trying to answer that call.

Police were reportedly acting on a complaint by Aneet Shukla, Manoj Dwivedi and Abhishek Dwivedi. Officers later booked the eight men under the Indian Penal Code Section 269 for “negligent acts…

As Americans share memes on social media with jokes about how much weight they have gained while under “Stay at Home” orders, Christians in many parts of the world face a different reality. Millions now struggle with food insecurity as they are not working during nationwide lockdowns. 

To help Christians grappling with hunger and need, Barnabas Aid is preparing to deploy relief and assistance throughout the developing world. They work through GAFCON, the Global Anglican Future Conference, which is committed to “retain and restore the Bible to the heart of the Anglican Communion.”

Barnabas Aid formed an emergency committee “to monitor the evolving situation as the virus spreads globally and how it impacts our project partners around the world, assessing how to best support them.” They said they are also preparing a committee to specifically handle requests from African nations. As they receive requests and gather information on the needs, they will distribute aid through a network of seminaries, colleges, and universities who “are in a position to help on the ground.”

They will also focus on aid for “Poor and Persecuted Christians.” Barnabas Aid shared the story of a Christian widow living in a central Asian nation who works as a domestic helper along with her three daughters. However, their nation is in lockdown and none of them are able…

Acting on an executive order by President Trump, the Department of Labor issued a new directive and guidance Friday ensuring that religious and faith-based organizations are treated the same as secular organizations when partnering with the federal government. 

The guidance from Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia says religious organizations “are eligible, on the same basis as any other organization” to participate in the Department of Labor programs. The department “must not discriminate for or against an organization on the basis of the organization’s religious character or affiliation.” Otherwise, it could be violating “the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution.” 

“The directive and guidance issued today acknowledge the central role that religion and religious freedom play in civil society,” Scalia said. “The directive and guidance … send a clear message that the Department of Labor will continue to uphold religious liberty for America’s workforce, employees of the Department, and religious organizations.”

The guidance follows a Trump executive order from 2017 promoting religious liberty in several areas, including within the federal agencies.  

A Department of Labor memo says the directive also:

• Ensures “religious liberty protections” for all department employees.
• Ensures religious organizations “are given the opportunity to…

Beloved Christian author and apologist Ravi Zacharias has died at the age of 74.

According to a press release from Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, Zacharias died in his Georgia home on Tuesday morning after a short battle with cancer.

As Christian Headlines previously reported, in March, Zacharias revealed that he had been diagnosed with a rare form of malignant cancer called Sarcoma. The cancer was discovered in the form of a tumor on his sacrum bone during back surgery.

Following his diagnosis, Zacharias began receiving chemotherapy treatments at the renowned M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX, in April.

Unfortunately, while the tumor on his sacrum was responding well to chemo, the cancer had metastasized and worsened in the areas where it had spread, Zacharias’ daughter Sarah Davis shared in a statement last week.

“We have just learned that while the tumor in my dad’s sacrum has been responding to the chemotherapy, the area where the cancer metastasized has actually worsened,” Davis wrote in a statement. “His oncologist informed us that this cancer is very rare in its aggression and that no options for further treatment remain. Medically speaking, they have done all they are able.”

Zacharias then returned to his home in Alpharetta, GA from the cancer treatment center where he spent his last days on Earth.

Zacharias, whose full name is Frederick Antony Ravi Kumar…

Chinese schools are requiring Christian teachers within the nation’s school system to renounce their faith or risk being fired, according to a new report by a religious liberty watchdog. 

Bitter Winter, which monitors religious freedom in the country, said the pressure on Christian teachers intensified after Chinese President Xi Jinping in September 2018 said one goal of education was to raise the next generation of socialists. The speech was reported by state-run media. 

“The state’s control over ideology is becoming stricter and stricter, particularly in the field of education,” a Catholic kindergarten teacher told Bitter Winter. “If teachers hold religious beliefs … this becomes a political problem for the government.”

The teacher told Bitter Winter she has received criticism for her faith in staff meetings. Additionally, the school principal warned her that a “spiritual civilization award” worth several million yuan that was given to the county could be withdrawn if the government learns of her faith. 

“I learned that another county had all of its civilization awards revoked because an inspection team discovered two primary school students singing Christian hymns,” the teacher said. 

Teachers in multiple provinces have reported persecution for their faith. 

Bitter Winter reported:

• A school in Heilongjiang province last June threatened to dismiss a…

“American Idol” contestant Just Sam was named season 18 winner after she performed the Christian song, “You Say,” with singer Lauren Daigle.

Just Sam, whose real name is Samantha Diaz, has been open about her faith throughout the competition, the Christian Post reports.

“Thank you, Jesus,” Diaz, 21, said on the show’s final episode.

“‘You Say’ seriously speaks to my heart and I feel like that’s what brought me to tears at my audition,” Just Sam said in a recorded FaceTime call with Lauren Daigle.

Celebrity judge Katy Perry and Luke Bryan both praised her performance in the show’s final episode.

“The Lord doesn’t give you more than you can handle,” Perry told the singer after her performance of Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger.”  

Brian added, “You are a wonderful, blessed, singer.” 

Diaz shared her testimony earlier in the show’s season, saying she was adopted by her grandmother after her parents abandoned her.

She said she earned money by singing in the subways.

During the “American Idol” series she also asked the judges if she could pray for them.

“Can I pray with you guys. Is that OK?” she said. “I have a prayer I want to do with you guys.”

“So repeat after me,” she told the judges as they all held hands. “Heavenly Father, Lord make my life brand new right here, right now, with my friends and my new…