Some 25 years ago I changed my life.

A visit inside a church opened my eyes to the destructive life I was living, financed by welfare checks generously provided by American taxpayers.

I got off welfare, went to work, got politically active and became a Republican. I didn't become a Republican because of what the party looked like. I became a Republican because of what the party stood for. more >>

Evangelical left leader Jim Wallis and Republican Congressman Frank Wolf (Va.) discussed how politics can serve the common good at a Thursday panel at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. While the panel was called, "Competing Visions of the Common Good: Rethinking Help for the Poor," Wallis and Wolf talked more about where they found common ground than where their visions were in competition.

"Politics is destroying the common good," Wallis said.

Wallis, president and founder of Sojourners, wrote a recent book about the common good, called On God's Side: What Religion Forgets and Politics Hasn't Learned About Serving the Common Good. more >>

An interdenominational missions organization is looking for nominations of unsung heroes, those who are tackling the issues of poverty, sex trafficking, HIV/AIDS, the need for clean water, homelessness and other needs in today's society, for its second bi-annual Epoch Awards to be held later this year.

"We want to uncover every rock of people doing incredible work around the world, but with little to no recognition," said Jeff Shinabarger, founder of Plywood People and event organizer. "Everybody knows somebody giving their lives for others that could really use funding to continue their effort. We want to honor those people that no one knows about and give them a platform to keep doing good."

Epoch (pronounced "Epic") Awards was birthed out of the heart of Tim Abare, COO of Adventures in Missions, located north of Atlanta in Gainesville, in January of 2011. Organizers say anyone can nominate an unsung hero who is actively serving others and whose bravery is rather unknown by going online to http://epochawards.com/nominations/nominate/. The nominations close next Thursday (May 30). more >>

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 >>

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 >>

At a recent interfaith prayer breakfast in Jacksonville, Fla., Bishop T.D. Jakes, lead pastor of The Potter's House in Dallas, Texas, encouraged religious and city leaders to acknowledge their "daunting job" of helping at-risk youth by uniting on a private, public, and spiritual front to improve graduation rates and decrease crime and unemployment rates in the city.

Jakes served as the keynote speaker at Mayor Alvin Brown's annual Interfaith Breakfast on Monday. along with speakers from Faith Temple Assembly of God, Evangel Temple, Alachua-Central African Methodist Episcopal Church, Celebration Church, and Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church.

"We need to fight the good fight of faith," Jakes told those in attendance, as reported by The Florida-Times Union. more >>