A memorial service for longtime National Religious Broadcasters board member Dr. Alex Leonovich is planned for Emmanuel Baptist Church in Manville, N.J., on Saturday. Leonovich, who was the director of Slavic Missionary Service, "went to be with the Lord" on Wednesday after nearly seven decades of missionary, pastoral, and evangelistic work, NRB stated.

"Alex was a giant among the NRB faithful. He never lost sight of his calling and never lost his love for NRB," said NRB President & CEO Dr. Frank Wright.

SMS, an organization dedicated to reaching Slavic people for Christ, stated, "Alex not only preached with his words, but even more so with his actions. Alex would always tell you that he is ready to be with the Lord at any time, and God truly helped Alex to fulfill his ultimate desire: 'When it's time for the Lord to take me home, I want to go with my boots still on!'" more >>

A Christian ministry worker who encourages and equips believers and the local church inside Pakistan to face persecution, said that the recent rioting against a Christian colony in Lahore, in which 150 homes were burnt, was further evidence of increased Islamization in the country.

"The event did not come as a surprise to the residents of the area called Badami Bagh, in which there is a smaller colony called the Joseph Colony where Christians live," Hana, whose real name was not given for her protection, told The Christian Post earlier this week.

Even though Pakistan's National assembly condemned the action, Hana said it will take more than a proclamation by the government to help curb the problem. more >>

A young U.S. missionary has persuaded the Honduran government to allow 2,000 Christians to converge on the Central American country for one week to preach the Gospel, provide medical aid and potentially affect life-long change as part of a One Nation One Day campaign targeting what has become the world's deadliest country.

"We have almost 1,600 people already signed up to come with us to Honduras July 13-21. We have already shipped 10 containers of aid and we're gathering eight more. We have 18 different ministries sponsoring 18 different outreaches in the capital cities on July 20," explained Dominic Russo, the 29-year-old missionary organizing the event through his nonprofit Missions.Me network, which he leads with Jedidiah Thurner and and Gabe Bahlhorn.

"The momentum is enormous. We're going to be broadcast live in Honduras on the government channel. We're going to be on every radio station in Honduras and broadcast hopefully across the world with a couple of different Christian networks. The momentum is unbelievable and the vision is that all of Honduras will be changed and impacted in one day," he added. more >>

Dr. Hannah Gay, the University of Mississippi Medical Center pediatrician whose treatment "functionally cured" a baby girl born with an HIV infection, is a Christian who previously spent years living as a missionary with her husband in Ethiopia.

In the 1980s, Gay worked with her husband as a missionary in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and these days she's cultivating the faith of third and fourth graders through the teaching of Bible passages at her church on Wednesday nights, according to the Washington Post.

The very private Gay, who has four children and a grandson, is a devout Christian who puts her faith first and juggles her family and career in between. "She does not like being in the spotlight," her 24-year-old daughter Ruth Gay Thomas told the Washington Post. more >>

PHILADELPHIA – Christians should not just seek to change the world, but to let the search for justice change them so that justice does not become just a fad, Ken Wytsma urged during his Friday keynote address at The Justice Conference in Philadelphia, Penn.

"A lot of people are wondering if justice is just a fad," said Wytsma, who founded the conference, now in its third year. "There might be some faddish elements to justice," but he is encouraged that today's generation of Christians want a deeper understanding of justice.

Wytsma is also the founder of Kilns College in Bend, Ore., lead pastor at Antioch Church, and has worked with World Relief and Food for the Hungry. more >>

Of the six billion people who are living in the world today, fewer than 20 percent know Jesus Christ as their savior, according to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), which is motivating its member churches to take on the 1% Challenge to increase giving to the Cooperative Program.

Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee, first initiated the SBC's 1% Challenge to its 45,000 member churches two years ago.

Since that time, 15 percent of Southern Baptist churches either have adopted the program, or are seriously considering adopting the 1 percent-of-budget increase in Cooperative Program giving. more >>