A singer who boasts the titles of “part-time worship leader, part-time pediatric nurse and full-time father” advanced to the semifinals of NBC’s America’s Got Talent Wednesday night, the same day that the non-profit organization I Am Second released a video interview with the rising star. 

Michael Ketterer’s advancement to the semifinal round means he is now one of the final 21 acts competing for the $1 million prize. His life story – he and his wife have six children, including five adopted through foster care – captured the attention of judge Simon Cowell, who was brought to tears during this week’s performance and gave him a standing ovation. 

Heidi Klum, another judge, also was moved.  

“We just need more men like you,” she said this week. 

Michael and his wife, Ivey, gave their testimony on the video released by I Am Second, which regularly interviews well-known people about their Christian faith.

In the video, the couple reveal how their first daughter – who was biological – was born weighing only three pounds, 10 ounces. Ivey and the baby nearly died. 

“The doctors told us that it would happen again if we ever had another pregnancy, so we just made the choice to not have any more children,” Michael says, “but then at the age of eight years old, my daughter began having dreams, and in her dream these three little…

United States Sgt. 1st Class Ikaika Kang pleaded guilty on Wednesday to trying to help the Islamic State. Kang, 35, who is based in Hawaii, told the judge that he provided secret military information and a drone that would track US troops to undercover federal agents who he believed to be ISIS members.

Kang said, “Your honor, I provided unclassified, classified documents to the Islamic State.”

Kang is expected to receive up to 25 years in prison as a part of his plea deal. 

Assistant Attorney General Demers said at the hearing, “Kang swore to defend the United States as a member of our military but betrayed his country by swearing allegiance to ISIS and attempting to provide material support to the foreign terrorist organization.” 

Demers continued, “With today’s plea, he will be held accountable for his crimes.  I want to thank all of the agents, analysts and prosecutors who are responsible for this case.”  

According to Fox News, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson said, Kang provided large quantities of digital documents including sensitive information on a U.S. military weapons file and various military manuals.

Sorenson stated that at a meeting with undercover agents, Kang swore allegiance to ISIS in Arabic and English and kissed an Islamic State flag.

Fox News reports that Kang began researching Islam in 2014 and according to an affidavit signed by an…

Kofi Danso, a self-style Toronto-based prophet and leader of the multicampus Miracle for All Nations church, allegedly warned a congregant that God showed him she would die if she did not abort their child.

Danso who previously denied that he had an intimate relationship with his former lover and church member, Chris-Ann Bartley, has been proven through DNA testing to be 99.999996 percent the father of Bartley’s now 6-months-old son, The Star reported.

About two weeks ago Ontario Superior Court Justice Fred Myers dismissed a request by Danso to extend a publication ban and sealing order seeking to conceal his identity in a paternity lawsuit because he might suffer damage to his reputation and finances.

In a 13-page decision on Aug. 17, Myers explained why he dismissed Danso’s request.

“Ms. Bartley’s evidence is that when she approached Mr. Danso to tell him that she was pregnant, he asked her to have an abortion. When she declined, she claims that he told her that ‘the Lord showed him if I have the child I would die,'” Myers wrote.

The self-proclaimed prophet who is married to the Rev. JoAnne Danso, and has four daughters with her,…

Two judges in Taos County, New Mexico dismissed child neglect charges against five people who lived in a remote compound in northern New Mexico. Judge Emilio Chavez dismissed the charges against Lucas Allen Morton, Hurjah Wahhaj, and Subhannah Wahhaj after prosecutors failed to ask for a preliminary hearing to present evidence against the trio within the standard window of ten business days. 

Judge Jeff McElroy dismissed charges against Jany Leveille and Siraj Wahhaj but charges remain against the pair in connection with the death of Wahhaj’s three-year-old son.

The case came to prominence earlier in August after concerned neighbors asked authorities to investigate living conditions at the compound, which was a trailer dug into the ground and surrounded by a wall of tires. Authorities discovered eleven children aged 1-15 living with the five adults. They also located the remains of Wahhaj’s son, who they believe died in February.

The group moved into the compound in December. In the weeks leading up to their move, the mother of Wahhaj’s son reported him missing after Wahhaj claimed he was taking the boy to the park and never came back.

The authorities charged the five adults after they discovered the children living in filth and squalor. Taos County Sherriff Jerry Hogrefe said they were “the saddest living conditions and poverty” he had seen during his more than three…

Is it possible to be spirituality healthy but have mental health issues? It’s a question that many are asking and that one pastor at a megachurch has chosen to address.

Brad Hambrick, who serves as pastor of counseling at The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina, wrote in a blog post that the answer to the question is “yes,” but it is important to explain why.

Hambrick, who is also an author and instructor of Biblical Counseling at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, first suggested several measures of what makes a Christian spiritually healthy, such as embracing the Gospel.

He defined the above as: “An individual [who] recognizes their sinful condition and leans fully on the hope of Christ’s death-resurrection to provide freedom from the overwhelming guilt this sober self-awareness would otherwise create.”

Other markers for a healthy Christian include spiritual discipline, personal devotion, devout character, and having a robust theological framework, where an individual “is able to understand and articulate the biblical world-view that undergirds the previous four marks of spiritual health.”

He argued that it is possible to display those characteristics while simultaneously suffering from mental health challenges. 

One of…

Students in an Ohio middle school class were asked to decide which eight persons among a group of 12 would be “most deserving” to escape planet Earth on a spaceship if it were “doomed for destruction.”

The list, according to Cleveland 19 News, included a “homosexual male professional athlete,” a “21-year-old female Muslim international student,” a “Hispanic clergyman who is against homosexuality” and a “racist armed police officer who has been accused of using excessive force.”

The spaceship was leaving Earth to travel to another planet, and “space limitations” prevented everyone from fitting. 

“Your task is to select the Eight (8) passengers who will make the trip,” the assignment atCuyahoga Falls Middle School said. 

Students were to rank the persons as “most deserving” to “least deserving,” and then join together as a group and discuss their list and come to an agreement. 

The math teacher who made the assignment said it was an “ice breaker” designed to spark discussion, according to Cleveland 19 News. The teacher also apologized. 

On the television station’s Facebook page, readers were split on the assignment. 

“I can see how it’s objectionable,” one person wrote. “I can also see the value in pushing people to justify their biases. Maybe this would teach children…

The sexually abusive behavior pastor Bill Hybels is accused of is “reprehensible,” but there is hope for repentance, the chair of Willow Creek Association Australia has said.

Stu Cameron, who is lead minister of Newlife Uniting Church on the Gold Coast, shared his thoughts on the Willow Creek Community Church founder scandal in an op-ed for Eternity News on Friday.

As Cameron explains, WCA Australia oversees the country’s Global Leadership Summit, which is a worldwide movement that Hybels once led.

“We condemn the behavior Bill Hybels has been accused of as reprehensible and contrary to the standards required of any leader. We are sorry that the mishandling of the allegations has caused more pain for the women who bravely came forward. Our heart aches for them,” Cameron wrote.

“We fully support a truly independent and thorough investigation of all allegations, as announced. Our hope is that the findings of the investigation will lead to truth, repentance, justice, healing and reconciliation,” he added, referring to the pledged investigation into Hybels’ conduct, which was…

According to Korea Bizwire, on Sunday in South Korea, 125 women collectively ingested Mifegyne, a medication typically used to induce natural abortions. Thirty others ingested vitamin pills that were indistinguishable to the Mifegyne in an effort to protect the women taking the illegal substance. The women ingested the medicine in protest of the country’s laws banning abortion.

The online media outlet, reports that the protest was held in front of a large bell pavilion called Bosingak Pavilion in Seoul’s Jongno district. 

The 125 protestors were representing the number of women who undergo illegal abortions every hour in South Korea. They stood before the pavilion urging the government to legalize abortion. 

Korea Bizwire reports, the women believed that abortion is not “taboo or sin,” and that the act has been inappropriately attached to single women and promiscuity.

 The protestors reportedly read aloud a statement while protesting which states, “Abortion is the most commonly performed surgery in the world and normal women choose to get abortions for various reasons. Being able to get an abortion is a basic right for women.”

The women termed abortion as a right and asked for the legal right to have abortions and take pills like Mifegyne. 

According to Christian News, in 1953, South Korea deemed abortions illegal, but in 1973, the country passed…