A Christian economic professor has argued that the problem of poverty is based less on a lack of material goods and more about "broken relationships."

Dr. Brian Fikkert, founder and executive director of the Chalmers Center for Economic Development at Covenant College, told those gathered at a Christian leadership conference held in Raleigh, N.C.: "I would like to submit to you this morning that poverty is fundamentally rooted in broken relationships.

"And once you define poverty as being rooted in broken relationships, it orients everything you do. It changes everything in your approach to working with the poor. " more >>

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 >>

Noted televangelist Pat Robertson has claimed that a prayer he made recently on the air was answered for one of his viewers.

A couple weeks ago on an episode of the long-running program "The 700 Club," the founder and chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network prayed that a given member of his viewing audience would receive a much needed million dollars.

On the Monday episode for "The 700 Club," Robertson spoke of the million-dollar prayer succeeding, as someone identified only as "a businessman" apparently got a check for that amount. 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 >>

Members of a Jewish advocacy organization founded in 1906 have written a response to an editorial by The New York Times supporting a bill that would provide FEMA aid to houses of worship.

Bobby Lapin, chairman of the American Jewish Committee's legal committee, and Marc D. Stern, general counsel for the AJC, wrote a column published Wednesday regarding the matter.

"Disaster relief is an expression of social solidarity with victims, not a sophisticated method of transferring responsibility for sustaining religious institutions from the collection plate to the tax collector, the core point of separating church and state," wrote Lapin and Stern. more >>

This upcoming weekend will mark the beginning of the second annual Fun in the Son festival, a week-long open air festival in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, organized by American evangelist Andrew Palau in collaboration with the Haiti Broilers, a local poultry company.

Palau and his ministry team will spend March 9-16 in the central public park of Haiti's capital city, known as the Champs de Mars, to hold free medical clinics, action sports demos, and children's programs, among other events.

The week of festivities will culminate with a free open-air music festival, available to all Haitians wishing to attend. more >>