Harvest Christian Fellowship and its Senior Pastor Greg Laurie are not allowing COVID-19 to stop them from hosting the annual Harvest Crusade this year. Instead, they’ve decided to reinvent it. 

Last year, the evangelistic event celebrated its 30th anniversary over three nights where SoCal Harvest hosted 100,000 attendees, according to figures released by the ministry. The crusade was held at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, and featured top Christian music artists and messages from the famed evangelist. Additionally, over 8,677 people made professions of faith throughout the three nights.

This year, however, due to state lockdown orders in response to the coronavirus, people will experience Harvest Crusade in the form of a “cinematic crusade” that will be available to “watch anywhere and on just about any screen you’d like,” Harvest said in its announcement. 

Titled “A Rush of Hope,” the cinematic crusade produced by Laurie and Kingdom Studio was announced via a…

The coronavirus pandemic has affected Americans’ Bible engagement, with the number of U.S. adults who read Scripture declining drastically amid the outbreak, a recent study found. 

According to the State of the Bible 2020 report released by the Barna Group and the American Bible Society, U.S. adults who say they read the Bible daily dropped from 14% to 9% between early 2019 and 2020. 

The study, which looked at 2,010 responses from January and 3,020 responses from June, found that the proportion of Americans who read the Bible daily also fell to fewer than one in 10 (9%), the lowest number on record during the 10 years of the State of the Bible research study.

Additionally, those considered “Scripture engaged” by ABS dropped from 28% to 22.7% between January and June, according to additional data collected by the organization in June, after months of quarantine, church closures, and limited relational activity due to COVID-19.

However, “churched respondents,” or those who have attended a Christian church service within the past six…

Citizens of wealthy countries are the least likely in the world to say belief in God is necessary to have good morals and values, according to a new Pew Research Center study.

The survey, released Monday, asked 38,426 people in 34 countries their beliefs about religion, God and morality. 

Among the findings: Citizens of countries with the highest GDP per person are less likely to agree that “it is necessary to believe in God in order to be moral and have good values.” The United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Sweden and other Western countries were in this group.

Citizens of poorer countries, with lower gross domestic product per person, are more likely to say belief in God is necessary to be moral and have good values. Kenya, Nigeria, Brazil, the Philippines and Indonesia were some of the countries in this group.

Pew said there was a “strong” correlation between GDP and beliefs on the issue. 

“For example, in Kenya, which has the lowest GDP per capita of all 34 nations included in this analysis ($4,509 in 2019) 95% of respondents express the view that belief in God is integral to being moral,” a Pew analysis said. “By contrast, only 9% of respondents in Sweden – which has one of the highest GDP per capita of the nations surveyed ($55,815 in 2019) – say belief in God is necessary to be moral.”

The study’s findings reflected Jesus’ warnings about…

Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden joined Emgage Actions’ virtual summit, “Million Muslim Votes,” on Monday in a demonstration of support for Muslim Americans.

Emgage Action is considered to be the largest Muslim American PAC in the nation. Earlier this year, the organization endorsed Bernie Sanders in the Democratic Primary. In April, after Sanders dropped out of the presidential race, the organization shifted their endorsement toward Biden, Fox News reports.

During the summit, Biden, who is a professing Roman Catholic, expressed his desire to see Islam taught in U.S. schools.

“I wish we taught more in our schools about the Islamic faith. I wish we talked about all the great confessional faiths. It’s one of the great confessional faiths,” Biden said in a video of the summit.

“And what people don’t realize is one of my advocations is theology. We all come from the same root here in terms of our fundamental basic beliefs and I just want to thank you for giving me the opportunity, for being engaged, for committing to action this November,” Biden continued.

While blaming the Trump Administration for “an unconscionable rise in Islamophobia,” the former Vice President asserted that, if elected, he will end President Trump’s Muslim travel ban “on day one” of his presidency.

On Monday, Emgage Action issued a letter signed by Muslim American…

Governor John Bel Edwards of Louisiana called on residents to fast and pray for three day, from July 20 to July 22, to bring an end to COVID-19, as reported by The Christian Post.

The Catholic Democratic governor shared his intention to pray and refrain from lunchtime eating at a press conference last week. Spiritual leaders from around the state asked Edwards to join them as a “spiritual diet and exercise.”

“… [We will be] praying for the people of Louisiana, praying for those who are sick, praying for those who care for those…who are sick, and certainly praying for the families of those who have passed on,” he said.

He also acknowledged that the request was “a little bit unusual” but “very important, anyway,” according to Fox News.

Both Republicans and Democrats have put aside their differences and applauded Edwards.

“Sincere salute to Democrat @LouisianaGov John Bel Edwards who has called for 3 days of prayer and fasting next week for the Covid 19 virus. #gratitude #Respect,” former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican, tweeted.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans also encouraged fasting, stating that “God hears our prayers, and we must cooperate with him in doing our part to make certain that we do not spread the virus.”

COVID-19 has killed over 3,500 people in the Bayou State with a little over 90,000 tested positively….

An American Bible Society report shows that Scripture engagement has fallen during the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the 10^th annual State of the Bible report, Scripture engagement is directly tied to in-person church participation.

“Faith communities have demonstrated incredible resilience, innovation and empathy through the pandemic. But this survey reveals that a big opportunity still remains for Christian organizations to make an impact on Scripture engagement,” said American Bible Society president and CEO, Robert Briggs.

“Despite nearly every individual in the U.S. having access to the Bible, engagement has decreased. That’s been a consistent trend over the past few years, and the trend has accelerated since January 2020throughout the pandemic. The Church must transition from ‘survival’ mode back into ‘discipleship’ mode, and, yes, that’s going to take even more innovation.”

A 2019 report found that about 35 percent of American adults said they never used the Bible outside of a large church service or mass. In January, that number stayed about the same, but by June 2020, that same number dropped to 31 percent.

Respondents said they found it hard to maintain a study with the Bible during the pandemic as stay-at-home orders and other restrictions closed churches across the nation.

Americans who said they use the Bible daily fell to just one in 10, the lowest number on record…

As Iran continues to struggle with the coronavirus pandemic, internal strife and its conflict with Israel, many of its Muslim citizens are turning to Jesus Christ.

According to CBN News, despite the Iranian government issuing a show of force by conducting executions, such as the killing on Monday of Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd who was accused of spying for the CIA and Israeli intelligence, many Muslim Iranians are converting to Christianity, a move that could get themselves killed or arrested as well.

“This is a regime that’s facing a possible rebellion in the near future, regime officials talk about it, so they are executing a lot of people to put fear into the public,” Alireza Nader, an Iranian expert with Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told CBN News.

Nevertheless, many Iranians are fed up with its Islamic government and are turning to Christ by the thousands.

“That’s why we are calling this a pandemic of hope,” said Mike Ansari, director of operations for Mohabat TV, a popular Christian satellite channel in Iran. The outlet has recorded a tenfold increase in online conversions as opposed to this time in 2019.

CBN News notes that since the coronavirus pandemic hit Iran in March, there have been 3,000 conversions to Christianity each month.

“We are registering around 3,000 personal decisions by Iranian Muslims to leave Islam for Christianity during this revival,” Ansari said.

“People…

An online fundraiser for the family of a Texas pastor killed in a roadside accident passed the $250,000 mark Wednesday thanks to donations from friends, acquaintances and even individuals who didn’t know the minister.

John Powell, the pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in New Caney, Texas, was killed Saturday on a highway when he was hit by a semi-truck while helping a stranger who was stranded on the side of the road. He was 38.

Powell was survived by a wife, Katherine, and four young children.

A GoFundMe account set up for the family passed $250,000 Wednesday and stood at $262,000 Thursday morning. More than 2,500 people had donated.

Andrew Walker, a family friend who set up the account, said he was astonished by the outpouring of support. Walker is a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, which Powell attended.

“The global body of Christ is a living portrait of Romans 12:15: ‘Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep,’” Walker tweeted.

To my utter astonishment, a few minutes ago, the Go Fund Me set up to care for the family of John Powell crossed $250K. The global body of Christ is a living portrait of Romans 12:15: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” https://t.co/ziDVXMLl1a

— Andrew T. Walker (@andrewtwalk) July 22, 2020

On the GoFundMe page, Walker said Powell was “a devoted husband and an incredible…

The Trump administration on Wednesday announced an agreement with Pfizer for production and nationwide delivery of 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, assuming it receives approval by the FDA.

The agreement between Pfizer and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Defense also will allow the federal government to acquire an additional 500 million doses.

The announcement was the latest step in Operation Warp Speed, a Trump administration project that has a goal of distributing a vaccine nationwide by January 2020.

The Department of Defense will deliver the vaccine to the U.S., which has a population of 320 million.

President Trump, in remarks at a Wednesday news conference, called it a “historic agreement.”

“This is another crucial step in our effort to develop, manufacture and distribute a vaccine in record-breaking time – really a very small fraction of the time, based on previous schedules. … I want to thank everybody involved,” Trump said. It’s been an incredible process.”

Pfizer and German partner BioNTech said Wednesday they are set to begin the final phase (Phase 3) of clinical trials in late July. A news release said they are set to receive “regulatory approval as early as October 2020” and to “manufacture globally up to 100 million doses by the end of 2020 and potentially more than 1.3 billion doses by the…