Four-time world heavyweight champion boxer, Evander Holyfield, has opened up about how his faith in Jesus Christ helped him overcome a number of struggles over the course of his life.

Still the only man to have won the undisputed championship in two weight classes, Holyfield eventually garnered the nickname “The Real Deal.” But things haven’t always been plain sailing for the athlete.

Despite his tremendous athletic success, Holyfield has experienced financial ruin and even doping allegations. But though his career has been storied, his faith, he says, has remained an anchor through it all.

“Without Jesus, I wouldn’t be who I am,” he told ChristianHeadlines. “[My Grandmother and mother] always reminded me, ‘you’ve got to ask Jesus to help you.’”

Acknowledging that he experienced a whole host of “setbacks,” — including having fights given to his white opponents when he was the clear winner — Holyfield insisted that his faith was the comfort and the foundation on which he built the rest of his career.

“I could have had an attitude,” he said of the early defeats. “But I learned that God had a hand in it.. he knew.”

SOURCE: Faithwire, Will Maule

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Anyone who attended one church in Northwest Washington, D.C., on certain dates in February and March is being told to self-quarantine for 14 days because of possible exposure to the coronavirus, D.C.’s mayor said Monday morning.

Additionally, Mayor Muriel Bowser said she is considering declaring a state of emergency and will decide later Monday. The city secured a lease for a potential quarantine facility in the event that it is needed, she said.

A rector at Christ Church Georgetown tested positive for coronavirus, District officials announced this weekend.

The church confirmed later Monday that 550 parishioners who went to a service on March 1 were “in voluntary self-quarantine” through March 9. It wasn’t immediately clear how many others were observing a quarantine.

If you are one of hundreds of people who attended Christ Church Georgetown on O Street NW on Feb. 24 or between Feb. 28 and March 3, D.C. public health officials say you should self-quarantine for 14 days from the last time you visited the church. Also, you are recommended to call your health care provider immediately.

Bowser and health department officials said the recommendation was based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention standards.

Two positive cases of coronavirus in D.C. were announced Saturday.

The church rector and an international visitor to D.C. each tested positive for the novel coronavirus, church and city officials confirmed over the weekend. Both are men in their 50s.

The church rector appears to have not traveled outside the United States, Bowser said.

“At this point, he appears to have no history of international travel and no close contacts with a confirmed case,” she said.

The rector returned from a conference in Louisville Feb. 22 and participated in church services Feb. 23, the church said. He started to feel sick the next day.

He felt better on Feb. 29 and participated in a church retreat and church services the next day.

On Tuesday, the rector went to a doctor and was diagnosed with the flu. On Thursday, he was diagnosed with pneumonia and admitted to a hospital, the church said. He was diagnosed with coronavirus on Saturday. He and his family were set to be quarantined for 14 days.

Officials are working to trace his path before he was diagnosed. They declined to say on Monday whether the rector gave out communion.

Christ Church, an Episcopal congregation founded in 1817, canceled all activities until further notice, Rev. Crystal Hardin said.

“Of course we are concerned, which is why we closed the doors to the church. We are taking all precautions that are offered to us, all that we have read about on the CDC website, and we will continue to monitor the situation,” Rev. Crystal Hardin said.

Source: NBC Washington

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The Coronavirus is a major concern to millions of people worldwide but apparently, to some on Twitter, a prayer to God from Vice President Pence about the deadly virus is also a concern. Recently, Pence opened up an administration task force meeting with a prayer and the photo went semi-viral as many on Twitter had quite a few unkind words to say about it. Clearly, in today’s divisive and toxic culture, not even a simple prayer is off-limits to criticism, especially when it comes from Vice President Pence, a man who takes his Christian faith very seriously.

Thomas Chatterton Williams, a writer for New York Magazine and Harper’s Magazine tweeted about the photo and it took off like wildfire. He tweeted the following: “Mike Pence and his coronavirus emergency team praying for a solution. We are so screwed.” A tweet by Playboy White House Correspondent Brian Karem chimed in with this: “Clear that @vp and @realdonaldtrump are in over their heads. POTUS is literally praying for a miracle to make coronavirus go away.” Thousands of others followed with snarky tweets of their own.

As Christians, we know that prayer is an act of surrender. We pray because we realize that we don’t have answers to all of life’s questions and we need God’s guidance. Mike Pence is clearly praying to God for wisdom regarding how the government should combat the coronavirus and that should not be controversial. In May 2018, I spoke to the vice president about how this White House is constantly on its knees in prayer. “There’s prayer going on on a regular basis in this White House,” Pence told me. “It’s one of the most meaningful things to me, whether it’s public meetings or not.”

It should come as no surprise that past administrations relied on prayer frequently during a crisis. Take, for example, President Bill Clinton. In the mid-1990s, as America was preparing to invade Haiti, Clinton’s speechwriter wrote a line, that said, “no president makes decisions like this one without deep thought.” But Clinton said something was missing. He added the word prayer so it read, “thoughts and prayers.”

SOURCE: CBN News

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Officials in France are taking drastic steps to curb the coronavirus outbreak that is disrupting businesses, tourism and even churches there.

France reported 1,126 cases on Sunday, making it the second hardest-hit country in Europe after Italy. Retired medics and medical students are being recruited to help deal with growing numbers of infections.

French Foreign Minister Olivier Veran announced Sunday they are taking stringent measures to try to limit the further spread of the virus.

Veran said, “Our priority is to do everything to slow the circulation of the virus across the country. It is the only way to protect those vulnerable and to mitigate the epidemic on a national scale. As of today, all gatherings of more than 1,000 people are now banned.”

Tourism is already suffering, and the new rules will put a damper on other businesses and even churches.

There are only a handful of Protestant churches in the entire country of France that can boast more than 1,000 members. CBN News visited one of them. It doesn’t look much like a church because non-Catholic churches have not been granted permits to build their own sanctuaries in over 100 years. So the congregation of the Paris Christian Center meets in a renovated parking garage. But that hasn’t stopped them from growing to several thousand members…

SOURCE: CBN News

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WASHINGTON – In the face of increasing public health concerns over the spread of coronavirus, some Christians are responding with Bible verses like 2 Timothy 1:7 to calm the growing panic.

It reads, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.“

But many houses of worship also have practical solutions, like adjusting communion practices or live streaming sermons, to limit the potential of COVID-19 from spreading through communities of faith.

DC officials are urging hundreds of parishioners who attend Christ Church Georgetown to self-quarantine after its lead preacher tested positive for coronavirus.

The church had already suspended services and activities as a precaution. The preacher, the Rev. Timothy Cole, remains hospitalized in stable condition in a Washington-area hospital while his wife and two kids are in self-quarantine.

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The Holy See is also taking preventive measures. In an extraordinary move, Pope Francis delivered mass via video Monday morning. The live stream was intended to show solidarity with people who are suffering from the virus.

The Vatican made a similar move Sunday to discourage typically large crowds from gathering in St. Peter’s Square. The pope did, however, briefly pop his head out of the iconic window to wave to the sparse crowd.

Fear is also gripping neighboring France, which now trails Italy with the second most coronavirus cases in Europe.

On Sunday, the government announced it will ban gatherings that exceed 1,000 people.

The new precautionary rule could shut down Paris Christian Center, which welcomed fifteen new converts at its weekend service.

“Many churches have decided to close their service,” Dorothée Rajiah, senior pastor of Paris Christian Center, told CBN News contributing correspondent Chuck Holton. “If the government asks us to shut down our service, we are ready to stream from our website and from YouTube.”

In Greenwood Village, Colorado, parishioners at St. Peter Lutheran Church ditched the traditional handshake in favor of elbow and fist bumps during the Passing of the Peace. 

The church took extra measures for communion, too.

“We’re trying to be careful to make sure our communion servers have their hands well clean and that people know how to be careful and thoughtful when they receive the bread and the wine,” said Dave Risendal, pastor of St. Peter Lutheran.

Last week in Bethlehem, the Church of the Nativity—the site where many Christians believe Jesus was born—shut its doors as a precaution.

And after shuttering Islam’s holiest site, Saudi Arabia temporarily re-opened the Grand Mosque in Mecca for Muslim pilgrims Saturday.

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