Stefanie Schartel

Four days, six hours and counting...

The countdown is on the official website and on the profiles of Facebook users everywhere. Beginning Aug. 3, Jesus Culture will take stage at Allstate Arena in Chicago to mobilize a new generation for Christ and to pray for thousands of hearts to be set aflame.

Jesus Culture believes God will use the three-day event, Jesus Culture Awakening 2011, to fulfill a vision of raising healing revivalists. Founder Banning Liebscher shares the desire of the worship team. “The Lord's given us a mandate to raise up emerging leaders who will be in every part of society—media, education, politics, business—to find them now and to walk with them for the next 30 years.”

John R. W. Stott, author and influential leader of evangelism, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 90.

Born in London in 1921, Stott was raised in All Souls Church and later began his ministry there after being ordained in 1945. Early on he began teaching of salvation and his tone for evangelism flourished.

He began his work as an author in the late 1940s. Over the years he had written and published more than 40 books. Perhaps his best known work Basic Christianity has been translated into more than 60 languages.

Stott's leadership and influence permeated throughout England, into America and across the globe as he visited Third World countries. His travels helped him discover the incredible growth of the Christian church in the non-Western world. Moreover, he saw a lack of maturity. In an effort to raise the standards of biblical preaching, Stott founded the Langham Partnership International and John Stott Ministries in the United States in 1974.

In order to place an Arkansas city of about 3,500 on the map, God used a revival.

Although a revival was scheduled for Feb. 6, those of First Assembly of God in Paris, Ark., craved revival at the turn of the new year. For the last several years, a time of prayer and fasting kicks off the new year for the church. But as 2011 rolled around, Senior Pastor Ken Maness says a unique intensity developed and he knew God was about to do something big.

“The Lord just began to move. People were just getting healed. We were just having tremendous services; people getting saved,” Maness explains.

While preparing the kids for another school year, you may add joining in united prayer to your to-do list.

In the months leading up to the 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Assemblies of God and the Awakening American Alliance are working to make their Cry Out America prayer initiative a top priority.

The partnering groups believe that just as America was “shaken to its foundation” 10 years ago, the country needs to be shook again—this time with a Christ Awakening.

With a recessed economy, a dissolving church attendance and lack of absolute truth, united prayer seems to be the preferred means to battle America's critical spiritual condition.

John Maempa, director of the Office of Prayer and Spiritual Care says: “Desperate times call for desperate measures. We must seek God as never before for the moral and spiritual well-being of our nation. Pray that a powerful move of the Holy Spirit will transform our churches to become transformational in the culture.”

As she throws a spin on Joshua 24:15, web-evangelist Ty Adams declares in a video blog, “But as for me and my house, we shall party!”

Christian nightclubs are springing up all across the country, many in some of America's largest cities. God is placing desires on the hearts of His people—desires to transform the lives of the unsaved through yet another transformation, that of a traditional club. The alcohol, smoke and racy lyrics are eliminated from the scene of these new clubs.

Ex-offender Nicholas Taylor answered a call from the Lord as he opened Chrisitan's Delight, a Christian-friendly nightclub in Forest Park, Ohio, on Friday. 

Copyright Kevin Long

Despite the recent lawsuit claiming the event violates the separation of church and state, Gov. Rick Perry leaves his Day of Prayer and Fasting on the calendar for Aug. 6. Is Perry's prayer movement starting a trend at the local government level?

 Perry isn't the only one with a vision. In June Linda Thompson, mayor of Harrisburg, Penn., shared her vision to pray and fast with a local ABC affiliate.

 “Things that are above and beyond my control; I need God,” Thompson told ABC. “I depend on Him for guidance. Spiritual guidance. That’s why it’s really no struggle for me to join this fast and prayer.”

One London church leader is trying to persuade fellow clergy that today's worship services are excessively long.

How long would you estimate your attention span to be? Ten minutes? A half hour? Ninety minutes?  It is safe to say that the length of one's attention span would ultimately depend on the topic or issue at hand. What if the topic was your Creator—the Lover of your soul? 

The Bishop of Lichfield, Rev. Jonathan Gledhill submitted in his London diocese recently that “clergy should aim to keep the time of worship to no more than 50 minutes.” He believes worship has become too complicated, leading to confused and excluded churchgoers.

The fate of television is getting ready to change, and it's starting with web-based evangelist and author Ty Adams. Reality television will soon offer a solution to troubled relationships and broken marriages, as Adams produces the three-part DVD production, The Real Housewives of the Bible.

Adams became frustrated after learning of the current divorce rate, realizing the upsetting ratio of available men to single women and seeing how society negatively portrays relationships.

“There is a place for reality television, if it's reality,” says Adams. “TV and multimedia has certainly a place in society, but we should be able to use those airwaves to be able to capture God's voice. I think in fact God was the first television and movie producer—He captivated His audience through stories. He created images in the minds of those who listened to Him. So God loves reality TV—as long as there's a solution provided that stands with the word of God.”

Teaching operations at the nation's oldest Assemblies of God college have been halted, and hearts are heavy.

Bethany University, founded in 1919, will be closing its doors this fall. The closure comes after a deal fell through between private investors seeking to purchase the university and the owner, the Assemblies of God Northern California and Nevada District.

 The announcement was made June 13. As the institution begins its shut down, Rev. James Braddy, chairman of Bethany's board of trustees, calls for prayer. “This will not be a quick or easy task. Your prayers are desperately needed as we face this very difficult time of transition."