Sex is everywhere. It's used to sell movies, clothing and food, and can even lead to divorce. According to the husband-and-wife duo leading Crossover Bible Fellowship, if more people viewed sex from God's perspective, they might have fewer regrets and maybe even happier marriages.

But the Sex and The Gospel conference taking place April 5-6 at the nondenominational church in Houston, Texas, isn't just for married couples or adults. Pastor Blake Wilson told The Christian Post that his message on Biblical sexuality was actually inspired years ago by a group of teens at a retreat.

"As my wife and I began to speak on sex, the kids really responded...and so from there we started getting more and more invitations to speak on sex. The next thing you know, it kind of developed into a series. I became a youth pastor and we started putting more and more teachings together on it because kids were basically saying, 'Here's what we're facing and dealing with every day. These are the realities we're dealing with in middle school and high school, and we never knew God had anything to say about these issues," he said. more >>

"I believe God [is] pulling us ahead into greater and greater affirmation and acceptance of our gay brothers and sisters and pastors and friends and neighbors and coworkers," former megachurch pastor and best-selling author Rob Bell explained just days after surprising the evangelical Christian community with his expressed support for same-sex marriage.

The former Mars Hill Bible Church founder and controversial Love Wins author told Odyssey Networks in an interview published Wednesday that many people are "realizing that God makes some of us one way and some of us another, and it can be a beautiful thing."

The video interview, titled "Why Rob Bell Supports Gay Marriage," comes just days after the Michigan church founder visited San Francisco's Grace Cathedral (the Episcopal Cathedral of the Diocese of California) in a promotional book tour to discuss his purpose for writing What We Talk About When We Talk About God, his views on evangelical Christianity and future projects he has lined up. more >>

In an open letter that has hit home with online readers and been shared thousands of times, Ann Voskamp, best-selling author of One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are and a mother of four sons, writes how the attitudes surrounding the Steubenville rape case go beyond sports and alcohol and are present even in churches.

Voskamp writes in a letter addressed to her eldest son on her A Holy Experience blog how the Steubenville, Ohio, rape case makes it necessary to have "a conversation with sons about hard things and asking you to do holy things." The blog, titled "After Steubenville: 25 Things Our Sons need to know about Manhood," has resonated with many readers, including spoken word artist Jefferson Bethke, who called the letter "heartwrenching but beautiful" and "powerful."

On Sunday, a judge found Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond, both high school football players, guilty of raping an intoxicated 16-year-old with much of the evidence in the case coming from texts messages and cell phone pictures, including one showing the victim naked, shared by Steubenville High School students who essentially documented the crime. more >>

Pope Francis I has presented himself since his first appearance at the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square as a simple and humble man committed to the poor, leading observers to speculate that the Latin American leader from Argentina could invigorate faith communities beyond the 1.2 billion Catholics who look to him as pope.

The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, which has more than 40,000 member churches, is among those who believe Pope Francis, formerly Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires, has the capacity to not only "attract young Latinos who want to do good in the name of Jesus" but also stir up U.S. evangelicals to pursue a deeper commitment to the poor.

"There is something that evangelicals can learn from our Catholic brothers and sisters. We get the vertical right … I think we lack at the horizontal, where the Catholic Church gets it right and we lack," Rodriguez told CP, noting differing Catholic and Protestant views on the doctrines of salvation and justification in his explanation of the "vertical." more >>

Former megachurch pastor and best-selling author Rob Bell has come out in support of same-sex marriage, saying during a recent stop on his book tour that he is "for marriage. I am for fidelity. I am for love, whether it's a man and woman, a woman and a woman, a man and a man."

The former pastor and founder of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Mich., made the comment during a guest appearance this past Sunday at The Forum at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco to discuss his new book, What We Talk About When We Talk About God.

Grace Cathedral is the Episcopal Cathedral of the Diocese of California and describes itself as "an iconic house of prayer for all" and is home to an "inclusive congregation." The congregation's dean, the Very Rev. Dr. Jane Shaw, moderated The Forum discussion before a live audience. more >>

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) congratulated Pope Francis for being elected the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church and said it hopes to continue positive dialogue together.

The Rev. Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe, secretary general of WEA, which represents more than 600 million evangelical Christians, extended his "warmest congratulations" to the newly elected Pope and affirmed his prayers for the new leader, who will head the Catholic Church "at a time filled with great challenges but also a time of great possibilities...," in a statement released Thursday.

"We look forward to building on some of the good work we have done together in the past, such as the collaboration for the document Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World: Recommendations for Conduct," said Tunnicliffe. more >>