Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen, who along with wife, Victoria Osteen, will be leading "A Night of Hope" in Las Vegas, Friday night, has said that he avoids speaking on controversial issues because he doesn't want anyone to feel excluded from his messages.

The popular megachurch pastor, whose Houston church is America's largest and attracts 43,000 weekend worshippers, has been criticized by some Christians for appearing indecisive on some social issues, like same-sex marriage.

Although Pastor Osteen has expressed his belief that homosexuality is a sin and that he's in disagreement with gay marriage, he avoids making such topics the focus of his sermons, which reach millions of people around the world. more >>

His arms are stretched toward the sky. There are about two million people staring back at him and he's preaching. He's quoting from Saint Peter: "Repent ye and believe the gospel," he tells crowd.

That's how 11-year-old child preacher Rev. Ezekiel Stoddard often envisions his future – a life wrapped up in preaching the gospel of Jesus. And right now, the young Christian phenom from Capitol Heights, Md., wouldn't have it any other way.

Stoddard, or Minister Ezekiel as his mother respectfully calls him, is the subject of a poignant and compelling episode of a new web series, "PRODIGIES," currently being highlighted on the THNKR YouTube channel. more >>

Hoping to encourage viewers of the upcoming television series, "The Bible," to delve into the Word of God by easily accessing scripture through the latest technology, producers Mark Burnett and his wife, Roma Downey, announced that the Bible App by YouVersion will host the official companion app for the series.

"Our prayer has always been that the dramatization of these stories will drive viewers to go to the Bible itself and drink in the actual text, because it is a book that changes lives," said Downey, who co-executive produced the series with her husband and also plays the role of Jesus' mother, Mary. "We are thrilled to provide millions of people with an easy way to do so with YouVersion."

"The Bible" series premieres on The History Channel beginning on March 3. more >>

Correction appended

Wycliffe Bible Translators CEO and President Bob Creson in a recent letter revealed the true story of teaching the Hdi people of West Africa the word for God's unconditional love, a moment which forever changed the dynamic within the community for the better.

Creson, whose organization opens 75 new translation projects per year, spoke with The Christian Post to discuss the importance of "unconditional love" when translating the Bible, and both the spiritual and practical ways that the Scriptural Word of God can change a community. more >>

Pastor Greg Laurie, perhaps best known for his large-scale evangelistic events called "Harvest Crusades" that originated in Southern California, recently announced that his Riverside-based church's second main campus in the Orange County city of Irvine will need to move to a new location because more space is needed.

Harvest Orange County, which started out as a weekly Bible study that moved to several locations within the county over the years before becoming a church plant in Irvine almost three years ago, now has a congregation of more than 2,000 people. Laurie regularly preaches Sunday services first at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside for the early morning services, and then commutes for a 30-minute or more drive to the Irvine location to then deliver his sermon for the 11:30 a.m. service.

Below is an interview with Laurie conducted by email with The Christian Post in which he discusses the Harvest Orange County church and a search for a new building. more >>

Regis College, a Jesuit-run theology school at the University of Toronto, is surprising some people by offering a course on atheism. But the course is not what people might expect.

"This is an outreach class offered in the middle of the day. We have 125 students in attendance; normally we have half that number," said Dean Gordon Rixon of Regis College to The Christian Post on Wednesday. "There has been such an interest that we have decided to offer a one-day course on a Saturday."

The course was created as a response to Canada becoming more secular, Rixon shared. "This is not a course to villainize but to understand," said the dean of Regis College. "This is more of a reflecting course that allows us to form a Christian response to atheism." more >>