As Thursday, May 23 marks the International Day to End Obstetric Fistula, The Christian Post highlights a global faith-based charity which has been working for the past decade to end this painful and embarrassing medical condition that affects 50,000 women in new cases per year, worldwide.

Mercy Ships is a faith-based medical charity that deploys the world's largest private hospital ship, Africa Mercy, to several ports along the coast of West Africa to provide local inhabitants with first-rate medical professionals, top-notch medical and surgical facilities, and sanitary conditions for recovery and healing.

Since 2003, Mercy Ships has performed more than 2,790 successful procedures to correct obstetric fistula, a medical condition which occurs during child birth, when the baby gets lodged in the birth canal. more >>

Egyptian-American Pastor Michael Youssef, president of Leading the Way global radio ministry, will be preaching at a massive three-day event in the world's largest Muslim country, Indonesia, today.

The three-day conference at Jakarta's Istora stadium will include musical performances, talks from local church leaders, as well as sermons delivered by Youssef, who will focus on the topic, "What is the value of your soul?"

Phil Cooke, one of the media producers for Youssef's Indonesia mission, told CP on Thursday that this global outreach project reveals the strong affect media has on global evangelism.  "This evangelistic outreach in Jakarta, Indonesia with Dr. Michael Youssef is a brilliant example of why media matters to the Church today," Cooke, who is also the founder and CEO of Cooke Pictures, told CP via email. more >>

Dick McClain, the president of The Mission Society, will be retiring in March 2014.

Joining the organization in 1986, he became president in 2009 and is currently the longest tenured member of staff.

McClain was born into a missions family in China and was raised in India and Hong Kong before going on to seminary and eventually pastoring young churches. more >>

E3 Partners Ministry Vice President and Middle East expert Tom Doyle revealed on Friday that a partner who had been missing in Syria for eight weeks is alive and well, which is proof that God is moved when His followers pray and fast.

"The believers in Syria, when they heard about this, they just cried ... that believers cared enough about them to be praying every day. Boy! When we pray and fast, the Lord is so moved by that and Ahmed is just evidence of that!" Doyle said.

E3 Partners, formerly the EvangeCube and Global Missions Fellowship, is a missionary collective that is "committed to exceptional stewardship of God's people, opportunities, resources and knowledge to Equip God's people to Evangelize His world by Establishing His church." more >>

After completing the U.S. portion of a 2,400-mile relay from Atlanta to Guatemala City in Guatemala, a Christian-based global leadership development organization plans to hand over the baton to their Guatemalan partners at the Mexican border near Laredo, Texas, on Friday. The purpose of the approximately 120-day journey by foot (and bicycle in parts of Mexico and Central America) is to bring awareness about plans to activate Christians in leadership positions, first in Guatemala and then elsewhere around the world.

"It's a big initiative and we felt like we need to do something very bold that would be consistent and bring attention to such a worthy cause," John Hull, president and CEO of EQUIP Leadership, told The Christian Post by phone call from Laredo on Wednesday.

"The EQUIP World Relay is a journey that represents what leadership is all about – a journey full of extraordinary challenges, hard work, sacrifice and daily-mile markers that ultimately reach a goal that is bigger than oneself, a goal that could never be accomplished alone," he said. more >>

IRVINE, Calif. – More than 4,000 Christians interested in becoming better leaders packed out the Catalyst West conference held at Mariner's Church in Orange County beginning last Wednesday and ending Friday.

"We were praying that for every leader here this would be a bench mark for them or a marker on the road of leadership for them," Catalyst President Brad Lomenick told The Christian Post backstage at the event. He said that he hopes leaders would be able to look back at the conference and say that it was a significant turning point in their lives.

"We pray that with a fearless sense and an aggressive belief that it is going to happen for leaders individually," Lomenick said. "I feel like that it is happening [at Catalyst West]. The unity, the fun, and the energy are here. It's always here [at Catalyst conferences], but we feel like we dialed it up a bit." more >>