A star-studded ensemble of celestial bodies adorns a new worship anthem celebrating the God of creation.

“Count the Stars,” produced by Lifeway Worship, features the electromagnetic “voices” of planets, stars and galaxies. The authentic audio recordings captured and licensed by NASA provide an audio background to the anthem, while telescopic NASA photographs of deep space visually adorn the piece.

Arranged by Kent Hooper and Phillip Keveren, “Count the Stars” reflects the theme of Psalm 8:3-4 in which King David writes, “When I observe your heaven, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is a human being that you remember him, a son of man that you look after him?”

“When I first heard the song, I was blown away by how it opens your imagination to consider how big God is,” said Craig Adams, creative director at Lifeway. “Not long before this, I had been privy to a study where NASA had electromagnetically captured the sounds of celestial bodies. I go to church with some NASA employees who were able to help us get some of those sounds, along with footage from deep space to accompany the song.”

In “Count the Stars,” the sounds of the cosmos are overlaid with human voices declaring praise through the chorus:

When I try to count the stars / I remember just how big you are /Who am I that you would think of me? / I can’t fathom all you’ve done / The beauty and the wonder / Of your faithfulness in everything I see / I’m reminded of the mighty God You are / When I try to count the stars

“When I first read the lyrics, I had the feeling we’ve all experienced when laying on a blanket, looking up at the stars and realizing it’s just so vast. It makes you feel, not insignificant, but small in a way that’s big,” said Keveren, who described the arrangement as “a cosmic stew” made up of digital keyboard samplings, a traditional orchestra, human voices and the sounds of the universe.

From its first line to closing refrain, “Count the Stars” seeks to create a sense of awe, juxtaposed against the humbling knowledge that the Lord would have His eye upon the very humanity He took on through the incarnation. The song’s bridge hints at parallels between the first light of creation and the light of Christ which overcomes the darkness:

“You set the heavens in motion / Speaking the chaos to life / In the blink of a moment, darkness surrendered to light.”

“We know that the rocks and the hills, the streams and the clouds, the planets and galaxies—the entire universe is singing the song of God,” said Adams. “Our hope is that this song would not only stretch people’s minds and hearts, but also their souls as they join in, every day, the great song of creation.”

More information on “Count the Stars” can be found at . {eoa}

The city of Chicago has dismissed both “disorderly conduct and mob action” citations against Pastor Cristian Ionescu of Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church and Pastor Florin Cimpean of Philadelphia Romanian Church for holding a morning and an evening service on May 17, 2020. The pastors were charged for having more than 10 people in their large sanctuaries for worship.

Liberty Counsel represents Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church and Logos Baptist Ministries, and will file a motion for summary judgment to the lower district court in their federal lawsuit against Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. The churches are returning to the district court with the now overwhelming number of decisions from the Supreme Court and other federal courts of appeal striking down discriminatory executive orders against churches and places of worship.

This past Sunday, Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church dedicated its new building which seats 1200 people. Liberty Counsel vice president of legal affairs and chief litigation counsel Horatio G. Mihet spoke during the morning service and Pastor Ionescu presented him with a plaque in appreciation of Liberty Counsel’s defense for the church. Mihet was born and raised in Romania and immigrated to America with his family in 1990.

Mihet spoke at the Sunday morning service in Romanian and at the English service Sunday night. Inscribed on the plaque is the following Scripture verse: “I can testify that by their own free will they have given to the utmost of their ability, yes, even beyond their ability. They begged us earnestly for the privilege of participating in this ministry to the saints. We did not expect that! They gave themselves to the Lord first and then to us, since this is God’s will” (2 Cor. 8:3-5).

The Sunday dedication service was packed with people to participate in this historic day in the new sanctuary. These Romanian churches, like the other churches Liberty Counsel represents around the country against the COVID restrictions, are experiencing revival with many new people coming to the church and being baptized.

Under Gov. Pritzker’s executive orders, churches could have an unlimited number of people for nonreligious activities to feed, shelter and provide social services, which includes unemployment or disability counseling. However, religious gatherings, in the same church with the same people, were limited to 10. These restrictions were removed in May 2020, when Liberty Counsel filed a petition for an injunction pending appeal at the Supreme Court. However, during oral argument last year at the Court of Appeals the governor argued that he should be able to impose his discriminatory orders once again.

Liberty Counsel founder and chairman Mat Staver said, “After 52 Sundays, the city of Chicago has finally dropped these outrageous ‘disorderly conduct and mob action’ charges against Romanian pastors for simply having more than 10 people in their church services. The pastors and the Romanian churches understand communism and they are resolved to continue to fight for religious freedom.” {eoa}

This article originally appeared on .

As you battle for your child’s future and God-given inheritance, you might think to yourself, “I don’t see any change taking place. Does God know what we are going through?”

I can assure you that Jesus, who indeed is interceding at the right hand of God, knows exactly what you are going through. “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Ps. 34:18, ESV). Every child on the spectrum has got what I would call a “crushed spirit.” If you are waiting to see a breakthrough and healing for your child, this God-inspired insight will help you.

A couple in my church desperately wanted to see their child healed of autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Each time they came, I would pray to break the power of the enemy operating at the back of the young girl. The Holy Spirit said, “Ask the parents to engage with their daughter using intelligent conversation.”

So, I did. I encouraged them to try talking with their daughter every night before she slept, for just five or 10 minutes, about things of a more intellectual nature. When I saw the family again, they were excited to share that they had seen a change. They said their daughter was now very vocal, descriptive and able to comprehend things. They were so happy and attributed this miracle to the way they now spoke with their daughter.

Most autistic children have a fear of speaking, particularly to others, lest they be criticized or bullied. Parents, on the other hand, can have an enormous impact in the life of their child when they speak with them, whether it is talking for five, 10 or 15 minutes a day. In those moments, God is in the midst, gently healing and binding up their wounds (see Ps. 147:3). Now when God binds up those wounds, there is not just an outward healing that takes place but also an inward healing. God will break down the internal barriers around autism, OCD and Asperger’s syndrome. Throughout my years of ministry, parents prefer to see an outward change first to know that God has fulfilled His promise, but before your child’s countenance changes, God often will do an internal work. Once that is done, He works on the external, that’s when you will see your child engage more with others.

The mandate of Jesus is very clear; He came to free those who are held captive. This includes those children on the spectrum. These conditions have an oppressive regime that comes from the power of the enemy. Jesus is the ultimate antidote to the enemy’s work; He came to give liberty to those who are oppressed.

To initiate the healing, first and foremost engage with your child slowly in conversation for five to 20 minutes at a time, and you’ll eventually find the spirit once crushed is crushed no longer. Jesus is in the process of healing them. There may be other things bubbling inside of them that can’t yet be seen outwardly.

Try not to look for the external factors but focus on the things God is working on internally. He will gradually heal your child’s confidence, faith, hope and sense of joy. Once the internal things are healed, you will start to see external changes. Their character will become stronger and stronger. When this happens, you will find that your child is actually a very interesting character with much to say.

The God whom we serve is a God of all possibilities. If you keep pursuing His word, pursuing His Spirit and pursuing Him in devotion, you will see Him move mightily in your and your child’s life.

I invite you to join my private Facebook group, Autism Overturned. Post a picture of your child, and I will start to pray for them. When you have joined the group, let me know if you would like a free prayer cloth to place in your child’s pillowcase. Furthermore, check out my Autism Overturned podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network..

Reg Morais is the senior pastor of Living Faith Community Church, launched from Anoint the World Ministries, which he founded 15 years prior. Each week he runs seven services, reaching a global audience through social media platforms. Learn more about him and his ministry at .

God is calling us back to our first love—and He’s calling the prodigals home. In a recent Mornings with the Holy Spirit broadcast, He showed me too many have moved into the fringes of Christianity.

It reminds me of Christ’s words to the Laodicean church: “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of My mouth” (Rev. 3:14-16).

Indeed, a lukewarm spirit is moving through the body of Christ and tempting many to settle for less than deep intimacy with the Lord who loved them enough to die for them. Others are moving into New Age philosophies that put out the fire they once had for God.

I heard the Lord say:

“I’m calling you back to the center because the enemy has tried to force you out of My presence. The enemy has tried to cause you to withdraw from My heart. I am calling you back to the center—out of the fringes and back to the center.

“This is where you will hear My heartbeat, and this is where you will see My face as you seek My face. This is where you will hear My voice and understand My will for your life. And you will see and know and understand that the attacks of the past season were to keep you out of this sweet spot—to keep you out of the next glory. And you will rise up and fight against the enemy that tried to take you out.

“I cannot see you. I am looking for you in My heart, and you’ve strayed. But now it’s time to come back. Now it’s time to come back. Now it’s time to come back. Where are you? I don’t see you in your place, on your post. I don’t see you on your knees in your prayer closet. Where are you? That familiar place where I used to meet you, you’re not there because you strayed to the fringes, and you strayed from My heart because the pressures of this world squeezed you out of My presence, but you’re not out of My life.”

Click here to read the rest of this prophecy, Scripture meditation and prayer. {eoa}

Jennifer LeClaire is an internationally recognized author, conference speaker and recognized prophetic voice. She is the senior leader of several prayer networks like Awakening House of Prayer, Ignite Network, the Awakening Blaze prayer movement. Jennifer formerly served as the first editor of Charisma magazine and has authored more than 25 books, including Mornings with the Holy Spirit, The Making of a Prophet, and The Spiritual Warrior’s Guide to Defeating Jezebel among others. She is a frequent contributor to two of Charisma’s publications, the Prophetic Insight newsletter and her very own column, The Plumb Line, in addition to her frequent contributions to the Elijah List. Jennifer lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and is very active online via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. You can also find much more on her ministry website .

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When the world constantly touts self-promotion and success, time spent with Alfred Regnery of the Regnery publishing family is refreshing.

His quiet, powerful leadership behind the scenes contrasts heavily against the boisterous noise of culture and is best exemplified in his recent book, Unlikely Pilgrim. The book details how his journeys through the old pilgrim routes of the Middle East and Europe are an outward expression of his love for the Lord Jesus Christ.

He says, “This is my third book, but by far my most important, as it best exemplifies the meaning in life and purpose that I have found tracing the steps of our Savior and those who love Him.”

Traveling as a pilgrim from Damascus to Ephesus, to Philippi, Thessaloniki, Nicaea, Rome and more, Regnery shares the joy of the pilgrimage in saying, “Even as I write this, 10 months after returning from Thessaloniki, rarely a day goes by when some piece of the trip does not pop into my mind. It was more than a memorable trip; it was a truly life-changing pilgrimage.”

Before embarking on this pilgrimage, Regnery was formerly a counsel to a Senate committee, a senior Justice Department official, president of Regnery Publishing—founded by his father as the premier conservative publishing company from 1986 to 2003—and the publisher of the American Spectator.

Though on the board of many conservative organizations and charities, it is his book, Unlikely Pilgrim, that best exemplifies his heart for Christ and reveals how the Lord Jesus Christ touched him later in life, changed his priorities and brought him joy.

His litany of accomplishments make it easy for Regnery to say, “Been there, done that,” but his journey from world famous publisher to passionate lover of Christ is a message that takes priority over money, fame and “followers.” Regnery instead prioritizes Jesus’ redemptive power.

“After having led a major publishing company, newspaper and served various conservative and educational causes for decades, these past years following my coming back to Christ through the ministry of Father John McCloskey, my life has taken on a meaning that transcends all that I accomplished before.”

Regnery lives out a good message, especially for those just starting their careers who may buy into the big lie that money and fame will bring satisfaction, when becoming an Unlikely Pilgrim and following in the steps of Jesus is the key to living a most meaningful and fulfilling life. {eoa}

Amir George is the author of Liberating Iraq and directs The World Helpline at .

Prophet James Goll, author and founder of God Encounters Ministries, says every believer can learn how to hear God’s voice, something many Christians long for on a daily basis.

But the host of Charisma Podcast Network’s God Encounters Today says it won’t be a simple act of listening. There are things the believer must do to discern the voice of God, because there is little doubt that He wants to connect with us every day.

The Bible, Goll says, tells us that we need to have our “senses trained to discern good and evil” (Heb. 5:14).

“How would you like to have an emotionless relationship with your wife?” Goll asked Dr. Steve Greene on a recent episode of Greenelines on the Charisma Podcast Network. “How would you like to have a non-emotional relationship with a child, especially a newborn child of yours?

“God is our Father, and He loves us and the Bible says that God just falls all over us with joy,” Goll says. “So I make an appeal that God is an emotive God. God has emotions. And, if God has emotions and we are made in the image and likeness of God, and God the Creator, Jesus Christ, in the new creation, lives in us, then how about some of the emotions—not all—that we actually experience are God’s emotions expressed in and through us.

“In this new book of mine, The Feeler, it’s discovering how sensitivity helps you discern God’s voice. And let’s get more raw or transparent. We are all made to be sensitive creatures, and that’s a blessing.”

You can either acknowledge and work with it, or you can acknowledge it and work against it, Goll believes.

“In today’s culture, we are taught to be so fear oriented. There are real issues and it is complex. So one of the main things is to keep your worship on. You’ve got to keep your worship on or you will end up in worry. We are supposed to walk by faith.

There are three W’s that enable us to walk by faith. Goll says, “You’ve got to keep your worship on, you’ve got to keep the Word as your anchor and you’ve got to remain in God’s ways.”

“You will be an anchored believer by the Word and by worship,” Goll says. “You’ve got to put the Word in you or you’re going to float around like a kite by every wind. Learn to embrace the Word of God so you can attain the promise.”

For more of this interesting interview with prophet James Goll, listen to this entire episode. Subscribe to Greenelines on the Charisma Podcast Network for more inspiring interviews and listen to God Encounters Today for more with James Goll. {eoa}

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I have had a private “prayer language” since I was 18 years old. No one taught me how to pray in tongues. I was raised in a church that didn’t teach about the spiritual gifts mentioned in the New Testament. In fact, the first person I ever heard speaking in tongues was me, at the moment Jesus baptized me in the Holy Spirit.

I don’t think of myself as superior to anyone because I have this gift. Most people have never heard me pray in tongues because I do it in my private devotional time. But because I’ve written about it and preach about it often, some people have questioned it or even accused me of promoting false teaching.

One prominent fundamentalist leader published a book in 2013 in which he claims that the gift of glossolalia was only valid in New Testament times. This same leader (whom I consider a brother in Christ) mocked my experience and accused me of heresy. In his theology, all supernatural manifestations of the Holy Spirit described in the book of Acts stopped after the Bible was compiled.

People will probably argue about speaking in tongues until Jesus comes back. Meanwhile, we have a world to win for Christ. Don’t we need all the spiritual power heaven has offered us?

Paul the apostle, who wrote a huge percentage of the New Testament, didn’t apologize for speaking in tongues. He told the Corinthians: “I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all” (1 Cor. 14:18, NASB 1995). He also emphasized that he prayed in the Spirit privately. The gift of tongues was not a badge Paul wore to prove he was super-spiritual; it was not to be flaunted, showcased, misused or abused. But neither did Paul ignore it or downgrade it.

For Paul, the gift of tongues was a source of inner strength, and I’m sure it was one of the secrets of his success in carrying the gospel to the whole known world. Here are three of the primary reasons we desperately need this gift today:

Praying in the Spirit recharges you. You would probably never go far from your house without your phone charger. Why? You will be disconnected if your battery dies. Praying in the Spirit is God’s provision for the strengthening of your “inner man.” Paul said: “One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself” (1 Cor. 14:4a). The Greek word here for “edifies” means “to restore, rebuild or repair.” How blessed we are that the Holy Spirit gives us a means to regain new strength when we are weary, overwhelmed, depleted or simply in need of special help.

Praying in the Spirit releases God’s wisdom and direction. Paul said that one who speaks in a tongue “speaks mysteries” (1 Cor. 14:2). We don’t know what we are saying, yet God reveals His truth to us as we pray. In Romans 8:26, Paul says when we pray in the spirit, “the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

I can’t count the number of times God has given me inspired solutions to problems while I was praying in tongues. I didn’t know what I was saying, yet thoughts popped into my head that I knew were not my own. Why would you want to lean on your own understanding when we have a means to directly receive God’s thoughts and plans when we pray?

Praying in the Spirit unleashes extra power. On the day of Pentecost, the disciples prayed in tongues, and I am sure they continued praying in that manner. The flames on their heads did not remain visible, but the fire continued to blaze inside them. We should never quench the fire of Pentecost; it should be a perpetual flame that we stoke every day. This is why Paul warned the Corinthians: “Do not forbid to speak in tongues” (1 Cor. 14:39b).

Paul prayed both in tongues and in his native language. He wrote: “What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also” (1 Cor. 14:15). Paul didn’t limit his prayers to one track; his prayers had what we might describe as a one-two punch. His prayers had double impact because of the added spiritual dimension of a heavenly language.

Like Elisha, we receive a double-portion mantle when we are filled with the Holy Ghost. Why be confined to natural limitations when we have been invited to step into a supernatural dimension? Pray in the Spirit often. Stay refilled and charged. Take advantage of every spiritual gift God has given us so the world can see a demonstration of His power. {eoa}

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Liberty Counsel reported last week on the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)’s guidance that employers may face liability if the employer requires employees to receive COVID shots and thereafter suffer adverse reactions or death. Over the weekend, OSHA suspended the requirement for employers to report injuries related to work respecting COVID shots. This suspension of law by OSHA does not change the fact that employers may be held liable under workers compensation laws or under civil personal injury laws.

Until last weekend, the guidance from OSHA stated that employers could be held liable if they mandate employees to take COVID-19 injections as a condition of employment and then they experience adverse reactions. Under a “Frequently Asked Questions” section of OSHA’s website, it stated, “If you require your employees to be vaccinated as a condition of employment (i.e., for work-related reasons), then any adverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine is work-related. The adverse reaction is recordable if it is a new case under 29 CFR 1904.6 and meets one or more of the general recording criteria in 29 CFR 1904.7.”

No doubt receiving pressure from the Biden administration, OSHA suspended the enforcement requirement to record adverse injuries or death from COVID shots until May 2022 in order to push the COVID shots. This politically motivated change by OSHA is unprecedented.

Now the OSHA webpage states: “DOL and OSHA, as well as other federal agencies, are working diligently to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations. OSHA does not wish to have any appearance of discouraging workers from receiving COVID-19 vaccination, and also does not wish to disincentivize employers’ vaccination efforts. As a result, OSHA will not enforce 29 CFR 1904’s recording requirements to require any employers to record worker side effects from COVID-19 vaccination through May 2022. We will reevaluate the agency’s position at that time to determine the best course of action moving forward.”

Despite OSHA’s suspension of recording adverse injuries related to COVID shots to avoid liability, employers should not require employees to receive any COVID shot. If employers require, coerce or provide incentives to receive COVID shots, employers may be legally liable for adverse injuries and deaths. The suspension of the OSHA recording requirement does not affect other legal remedies outside of OSHA.

None of the COVID shots are approved or licensed by the FDA. They come under the emergency use authorization, which means they cannot be forced or required.

On March 27, 2020, the Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary declared that circumstances exist justifying the authorization of emergency use (EUA) of drugs and biological products for COVID-19. That means people must be told the risks and benefits, and they have the right to decline a medication that is not fully licensed. The same section of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act that authorizes the FDA to grant EUA also requires the secretary of Health and Human Services to “ensure that individuals to whom the product is administered are informed … of the option to accept or refuse administration of the product.”

In addition to this federal law, the FDA includes the Nuremberg Code and the Helsinki Declaration on its website, emphasizing the fact that people cannot be forced to take experimental drugs without their full consent. Learn more at

Liberty Counsel founder and chairman Mat Staver said, “Employers that require employees to take a COVID shot may be held liable for adverse injuries and death. The fact that OSHA will not enforce recording requirements does not alter the legal liability of employers who require, coerce or incentivize employees to take COVID shots. OSHA’s suspension of the recording requirement so as not to discourage experimental COVID shots reveals that the Biden administration could care less about the collateral damage being caused by the COVID shots. The people can see this biased agenda. They are not stupid.” {eoa}

This article originally appeared at .

The Lord has said in His Word that we are to come boldly before His throne! The blood of Jesus gives us full access.

Nevertheless, this does not allow us to come in arrogance. We come dressed in the mantle of humility in the royal robes of salvation and righteousness. Arrogance and religion have no place at the throne.

Pride does not exist in God and cannot exist in heaven or at the throne. God wants His body to get clean, get dressed and get ready to dwell in glory, to be granted full access to the throne room. When Joseph was summoned to go before Pharaoh, he washed and put on clean garments. In Zechariah 3, after the angels removed the filthy garments from Joshua the high priest, they put clean clothes on him and a clean turban on his head. Joshua was then given charge of God’s courts and access to the throne.

The throne is the place of authority from where we rule and reign in Christ. It is therefore important that we learn to live from the throne zone and from the heart of God. With God’s heart, mind and authority, we can rule in all situations. We become God’s kingdom representatives. It is time to get rid of our victim mentality and begin to identify with Christ as a ruler—in His power, authority and mandate.

This is our inheritance. It is important to God that we learn to occupy this ascended place!

I believe the re-release of the outpouring at Pentecost, or the second Pentecost some are expecting, does not take place at Pentecost; it will come in the time of the Feast of Tabernacles—the last feast yet to be fulfilled. What began at Pentecost is completed at Tabernacles! However, until then, God is moving toward that day in the power of the Holy Spirit, who is taking us from glory to greater experiences and levels of glory until we are overflowing with the Spirit in fulness. The Lord wants a removal of the walls and a bigger place within us from where He will break out in glory.

“But we all, seeing the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces, as in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18).

As we behold God in His glory, we are being transformed into His image in the same glory! Being pressed in life produces something within us that has tremendous value to God. His intention is to move us progressively and intentionally through the pressing of the wilderness experience to become a lush land watered with the rains of heaven. We then become the city from which the river flows out to the nations.

You are that city, a ruler city constructed in the image of God.

One of the keys to becoming this city is learning to live in the rest of God. We are now approaching another Shmita year beginning on Rosh Hashanah 5782, which falls on Sept. 7 on the Gregorian calendar. The Shmita is a sabbath year that represents a year of rest. Every seventh year, God ordained a time of rest for the land, forgiveness of debts and release of slaves. During this time, Israel was not allowed to work the land. The people therefore had to have the faith to know God would provide for them supernaturally and trust Him for their provision.

Living in rest is a walk of faith. God said if Israel obeyed His commands, they would be a blessed nation—a lender and not a borrower. We want to be a people who are able to bless others, not those who have to borrow and live in debt—a people who live in the blessings of God. The Shmita was therefore a supernatural year, where God was in full control of the destiny of Hs people and of the land.

We are now heading into an appointed, supernatural Shmita year of divine miracles. We are presently being prepared for an extraordinary year of rest and release in which we cease from our labors and from striving and allow God to rise to His place of lordship in our lives. God is coming to take the wheel to direct the course of the ship. We are about to learn how to become glory dwellers, to live in His divine glory. God took me to 1 Kings 5:2-4 to reveal the principle of great productivity in times of rest.

“And Solomon sent word to Hiram, saying, ^‘You know how David my father was unable to build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the wars all around him, until the Lord put his enemies under his feet. But now the Lord my God has given me peace on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor misfortune'” (1 Kings 5:2-4). {eoa}

Read full article here. {eoa}

Faith Marie Baczko is the president of Headstone Ministries International—a ministry that is rich and robust in the purposes and plans of God. She is a prophetic teacher and author, bringing significant revelation to mobilize, equip and strengthen the body of Christ for this momentous hour of history. Faith is an international speaker and has garnered enduring relationships with leaders united in passion for truth and enduring revival. She is also the author of several books; her latest release, now available on Amazon, is called A Rising Called For!

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, churches in each state in America were faced with incredible, heart-wrenching challenges. But no state, perhaps, suffered through the lockdown more than the state of California under liberal Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Charisma News has published stories on Pastor Ché Ahn’s battle with persecution to keep his church, Harvest Rock Church, in Pasadena open to continue to worship God as the Constitution freely allows us. Ahn sued Newsom for banning home Bible studies.

The state of California threatened church officials with fines and jail time, but pastors and churches stood fast through it all until a California district court lifted the ban from indoor worship just recently.

Along with Ahn, many other pastors, including Greg Farrington, the founder of Destiny Christian Church in Rocklin, boldly led the fight against Newsom and were vindicated by the court’s ruling. Farrington says the pandemic journey has helped mold him and his congregation into stronger Christians.

Farrington graciously agreed to share his church’s story on a recent episode of my Strang Report podcast, and you’ll want to download this episode to listen to his incredible journey.

In a season where culture continues its ongoing hostility to Jesus and to the gospel, Farrington says he and his congregation simply needed to stay obedient to God and to trust Him that they would eventually be allowed to meet again. It was a major period of trial and tribulation, but they made it through the fire.

“In a way, it was the most exciting time of my life of pastoring Destiny Church,” Farrington says. “That doesn’t mean it wasn’t challenging. It was exciting. Every week we were believing and trusting at a level maybe we have never believed and trusted in God before. I would never trade the last year for anything in the world, even though we had incredible hardships.

“People were hating on us, there were death threats. But it was a time where we leaned into God like we had never leaned into Him before. I loved that journey.”

Farrington’s congregation, along with Samuel Rodriguez’s New Season Church, were two churches in the Sacramento area that took a bold stand right near the state capitol’s doorstep. After about 11 weeks of the lockdown, Destiny Christian Church decided to open its doors with caution, and the commitment to taking all the precautions it needed to keep the virus from spreading.

“There was a certain level of anxiety and fear because we didn’t know everything,” Farrington says. “We did everything we could to protect people when we first opened the doors. We spread people out in every way you can imagine. We were way cleaner than Costco ever was. Opening the doors for the very first time was a traumatic day. But I can’t tell you what it was like when I stood on the stages after the church doors have been shut for 11 weeks. I just said, ‘Welcome home. Welcome to the house of God. Let’s worship God.’ The place just erupted. It was one of the highlights of my life.”

For more of this compelling interview with Greg Farrington, listen to the entire episode of the Strang Report at this link. Be sure to subscribe to the Strang Report on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast platform for more words that will inspire and challenge you in the power of the Holy Spirit. {eoa}

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