In a bid to capitalize on the resources of churches to help close the stark achievement gap in education among urban learners, Calvary Baptist Church in New York City will host a conference focused on renewing the church through literacy and leadership on Thursday.

The full day conference, billed "Educate: Empower," will feature Bible-based workshops on topics such as leadership and training for ministry, responding to the need for Bible knowledge, professing Christ through your profession and empowering the body of Christ through churches and ministries as well as individuals and families.

Leadership for the workshops will be provided by the New York School of the Bible, New York Divinity School, Literacy3, The Urban Ministry Institute, Child Evangelism Fellowship, Prison Fellowship, Children's Bible Fellowship, Gang Bureau of the Brooklyn DA and New York State Chaplains Task Force. more >>

IRVINE, Calif. – Brad Lomenick, who is the key visionary and president of one of America's most influential leadership movements, said it is time for Christian leaders to take responsibility for equipping the millennial generation to lead successfully.

Lomenick's recently released book, The Catalyst Leader, is about him sharing more than 20 years of leadership, including the last ten years at the helm of the 14-year-old Catalyst movement. The movement has found a community primarily inside a series of successful conferences throughout the year.

"Part of the whole premise of the book is that the next generation is called, but not equipped," Lomenick told The Christian Post recently at Catalyst West held at Mariner's Church in Irvine, Calif. "They are passionate. They want to change the world, but they have not been given tools because in many ways we have skipped a leadership handoff that my generation is responsible for. more >>

Jim Putman, founder and senior pastor of Real Life Ministries in Post Falls, Idaho, shared Tuesday at the 2013 Exponential Conference what he believes can help churches and their leaders to make genuine disciples of Christ, primary of which, he says, is being sensitive to Jesus' example in the Bible instead of being seeker-sensitive.

"They're not being disciplined," said Putman of spiritually immature Christians. "They're being converted and asked to come and watch."

Speaking before an audience of more than 25,000, participating in person and virtually via a live webcast, Putman focused much of his message on Matthew 16:18, in which Jesus tells his disciple Simon after he declares him the messiah: "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." more >>

When a U.S. city has a professional baseball team winning the World Series, there is nothing like it in all of sports. I am sure the same can be said of winning a Super Bowl because I played in one, but we lost to Pittsburgh.

Very few people remember the loser, but always remember the winner. As pastors in America, we play hardball for the King, and we have already played 80 percent of our games, with a short time remaining before the final buzzer. This however doesn't mean we sit back and do nothing, because we can still lose. We have to establish a game plan that calls for victory!

Our competition is against an adversary determined to destroy our Christian foundations, and the soul of America. This victory can only be won by adherence to the playbook and the coach. I can remember several years ago when the Seattle Seahawks were in the Super Bowl against Pittsburgh. There were some poor calls made by the officials and Seattle lost the game. Excuse after poor excuse was used by both fans and coaches. Well, maybe they were right in their assessment, but that doesn't change the results. more >>

Francis Chan bared some of his struggles with doubt and being a model disciple of Jesus Christ Tuesday during the opening session of the 2013 Exponential Conference attended by thousands in Orlando, Fla.

Chan spoke before 5,300 in-person attendees at First Baptist Church of Orlando, the chosen conference venue, and another 20,000 viewing the event live via the Internet. Chan was the second minister to take the stage to address the need for Christian discipleship, or "discipleshift," the theme chosen for this year's Exponential gathering.

However, instead of delving into his prepared remarks on discipleship, a subject he has been on a mission to revive in churches and faith communities since leaving his California church, the evangelical Christian minister confessed that he felt convicted by the message of the previous speaker, Pastor Jim Putman, on the issue of ministers letting the opinion of others sway their messages and define their work. more >>

Iraqi pastor Abdi Ali Hamzah, also known as Pastor Jamal, has finally been released from prison after 21 months and will get the medical attention that he needs following what one ministry leader is calling an unprecedented move.

"It is by God's grace that this has been done," said Dr. Terry Law, founder and president of World Compassion Terry Law Ministries, who had campaigned for the pastor's release. "I don't think there is precedent for a former Muslim, converted to Christianity and proselytizing other Muslims, now convicted of a crime in an Iraqi court, to be released by 'private amnesty.' The odds against it were huge!"

Hamzah was arrested in July 2011 and initially sentenced to five years in Iraqi prison, with authorities trying to portray him as a spy for Iran. World Compassion has argued, however, that the charges were false, and that his capture had more to do with his evangelism – the pastor has helped Dr. Law distribute $100,000-worth of food to people in Iraq, risking his life as he went undercover to refugee villages. more >>