Water Missions International, a nonprofit Christian engineering organization, is launching its second annual Water Sunday project, which seeks to connect hundreds of churches across America to help with a global safe water program that will help impoverished communities worldwide.

During their campaign last year, Water Missions raised over $100,000 dollars and received the help of more than 30 churches nationwide, who pooled together efforts and resources to help raise money and promote the important cause. The group is calling on participating churches to set aside one Sunday in March 2013 to come together and once again hold a fundraiser for the safe water projects, which involve developing treatment systems.

"Many resources are available to make sure a church is fully equipped for a Water Sunday program that is transformational its congregation. It's a user-friendly mission that presents a tangible opportunity for a church to get involved with meeting the most basic human need – safe water," Kevin Herr, the Church Engagement Coordinator at Water Missions, shared with The Christian Post. more >>

A church in Kentucky that was founded in a bar will soon be celebrating its first anniversary of operation.

Gospel Light Baptist Church of Hazard, headed by Pastor Chris Fugate, will observe a "charter service" in honor of the milestone this coming Sunday. Formerly, Gospel Light's facility had been TJ's Hillbilly Palace Bar until a year ago, when the new church was planted by Clays Mill Road Baptist Church of Lexington.

Pastor Fugate, an active state trooper, has overseen the church since its inception and has been noted as an evangelist who oversaw a policemen's prayer group. more >>

CHICAGO – It doesn't sound right: someone claiming to be both a follower of Jesus Christ while still identifying himself as a Hindu or Sikh. But some respected missiologists are defending the new communities in India called Yeshu Satsang as biblical.

Formed as a direct response to broken relationships that Hindus or Sikhs in India who convert to Christianity often must endure, members of Yeshu Satsangs seek to follow the Bible while still retaining their cultural identity as Hindu or Sikh, and thus retaining harmonious relationships with their family members and community. The communities are also a pushback against Western ways of worshipping Jesus that is seen as "other" and foreign to the community. A Yeshu Satsang can loosely be defined as a gathering of Jesus followers whose members are socially still identified as Hindus or Sikhs.

"Even though [they have] rejected the word and practices of church, they have retained a theological identity of church while seeking to retain their Hindu and Sikh socio-religious identity," explained Darren Duerksen, director and assistant professor of Intercultural Studies at Fresno Pacific University, at the recent North American Mission Leaders Conference in Chicago. more >>

Right after finishing his round of "thank you for coming" at the end of the North American Mission Leaders Conference, hosted by Missio Nexus, Steve Moore, the group's president, sat down with The Christian Post's Michelle Vu for an interview over lunch before his flight back to Atlanta, Ga. Moore talked about the greatest development thus far in his mission career, tips on how to connect with the younger generation, why his father and him did not become full-time missionaries, and some of the biggest misconceptions about missions. Here are excerpts from the interview:

CP: One of my favorite things at this conference was the choir last night, which got people dancing and clapping. Is that a local church choir or African choir?

Moore: It is a Nigerian congregation. I don't have the specifics behind it, but we have an office here in Chicago and they are the ones that put together all the different local music groups, including that one. All I know is that it was a Nigerian congregation. Most African congregations have an identity that is based on the senior pastor, but most of them have people from multiple countries that are part of it, but we'll just say it's a Nigerian choir. more >>

CHICAGO – Christian author and college professor Miriam Adeney gave a sort of "state of missions" speech during the North American Mission Leaders Conference Friday in which she said the church in many parts of the world continues to flourish where the Gospel is proclaimed with regularity.

"What's new in missions? The church of Jesus Christ," said Adeney, answering her own question before more than 500 mission organization leaders attending the three-day conference at Chicago Marriott O'Hare.

"Who could have imagined the church in China as it is today? In China, the church is bigger than the communist party," she said. more >>

CHICAGO – Several hundred Christian mission leaders began a three-day conference Thursday with a focus on "adjusting missionary method's to today's realities."

The North American Mission Leaders Conference at Chicago Marriott O'Hare coincides with the 100-year mark since the publishing of the seminal book Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or Ours? written by Rolan Allen, a former British missionary to China.

Those attending the conference were asked to ponder the words of Allen as a way to "recalibrate" (this year's theme) and improve their work in missions. They were also encouraged by opening session speaker Paul Nyquist, who is the president of the Moody Bible Institute, to move past any opposition they may face in their work. more >>