By Susan Boyle | Sony/Integrity Music

Susan Boyle’s life radically changed when she auditioned for the TV show Britain’s Got Talent. She went from the choir in her hometown of Blackburn, Scotland, to the world stage with her humble tryout. She grabbed not only everyone’s attention but also their hearts. Now Boyle, with her unmistakable voice, offers her debut album, I Dreamed a Dream.

The 12 tracks showcase her versatile vocal range and style. Fans will enjoy hearing again the rousing title track and audition song, as well as “Wild Horses.” However, Boyle is at her best on classic hymns “How Great Thou Art” and “Amazing Grace.” And just in time for Christmas, she delivers a beautiful rendition of “Silent Night.”

Fans moved by Boyle’s musical journey will enjoy this debut project and hope I Dreamed a Dream is only her first step in a long, successful career.

Click here to purchase this CD.

By NewSong | His Honor Music

Give Yourself Away, the 16th recording from Grammy-nominated NewSong, signals a new era of music and ministry for the legendary group. After 28 years together, the November release is NewSong’s debut on its new imprint, His Honor Music. The project represents a series of firsts for the band, including an innovative marketing campaign in keeping with the album’s theme.

“We’ve had fantastic label partners in the past,” said NewSong founding member Eddie Carswell, “but this gives us even more flexibility to do things on occasion that are a little more radical.” Testing that statement, every Give Yourself Away CD sold will contain an extra copy of the album for giveaway. The campaign, Carswell hopes, will facilitate an act of ministry, enabling twice as many people to be impacted by the music.

Give Yourself Away finds NewSong partnering for the first time with one of Christian music’s most acclaimed and noted producers, Charlie Peacock, for 10 tracks that showcase the band’s modern pop sensibilities and tight harmonies. Longtime fans will be pleased to hear the soulful lead vocals of Russ Lee in the mix again, as the album marks his official return to the group following a successful solo career.

Carswell, Lee and Peacock are among the project’s key songwriters, but such writers as Matthew West and Sanctus Real’s Matt Hammitt also contribute to Give Yourself Away. The album’s debut single, “That’s What Mercy Is,” was penned by Carswell and West.

In recent years NewSong has carved a noteworthy niche in the touring market, with the group’s annual Winter Jam Tour Spectacular growing to become one of the largest tours in all the music industry. This year’s tour saw more than 60,000 decisions made for Christ. Hosted by NewSong, 2010’s Winter Jam Tour Spectacular will hit more than 40 cities, kicking off Jan. 8 in Chattanooga, Tenn.

When asked about the secret of his band’s longevity, Carswell said: “I attribute that to God having His hand on us and helping us in spite of ourselves. We’ve tried to be faithful to our mission—to tell people about our relationship with Christ—since the beginning. Even though we love the music, the ministry part of what we do is the main thing.”

Click here to purchase this CD.

Pure Flix Entertainment | Starring David A.R. White, Eric Roberts, Andrea Logan White, Lonnie Colon, Jessica Magnuson | $

Mix Groundhog Day with the Left Behind series and you might end up with In the Blink of an Eye. The 85-minute end-times drama stars David A.R. White as a detective plunged into a recurring nightmare when his wife and friends disappear during a dream vacation. Unraveling links with the crime underworld, the cop is also forced to investigate his personal beliefs and recognize that earthly paradise is only temporary.

The film was shot in March on a 120-foot yacht in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez and saw White wearing several hats. As well as taking the lead role, he helped write and produce the movie, which also features his wife, Andrea Logan White.

In the Blink of an Eye also reunited White with Eric Roberts (L.A. Confidential, The Dark Knight), with whom he appeared in 2000’s well-received Christian drama Mercy Streets. “He has told me that he really likes doing films that he knows his daughter can watch,” White said of Roberts’ recurring involvement in Christian films.

Like Roberts, White enjoyed mainstream acting success before faith-based movies, spending four years in the cast of Burt Reynolds’ TV series Evening Shade. In recent years the one-time Moody Bible Institute student who quit school to pursue a career in Hollywood has devoted himself full-time to Christian filmmaking, helping found Pure Flix.

“We make these films primarily to encourage the church, first and foremost, and for them to use as outreach tools,” White said. But In the Blink of an Eye “will have some crossover appeal for the suspense and the action.”

Click here to purchase this DVD.

MTI Home Video | Starring Lea Thompson, Andrew Airlie, Laura Mennell | $

The Christmas Clause tells the story of Sophie Kelly (Lea Thompson: Back to the Future, TV’s Caroline in the City), a top-rated lawyer with three kids and a husband (Andrew Airlie: Fantastic Four) who take up all of her time.

After she expresses her wish for a different life to a shopping mall Santa, Sophie discovers the grass is not always greener as a single, successful lawyer with her own firm and that she must race against time to find the true meaning of family and love before Christmas.

Click here to purchase this DVD.

Pure Flix Entertainment | Starring Janine Turner, Mike Norris, Amanda Alch | $

Birdie O’Connor dreams that her dad, Danny, will play the PGA tour again. His choice of caddy, his 12-year-old daughter, stuns the golfing world. But when he starts to win with his young coach’s help, people take notice. Just when it looks like Danny will get a chance to play the PGA, Birdie is diagnosed with a life-threatening disease.

Her dad must find the courage and determination to carry on and fulfill his daughter’s dying wish. Birdie and Bogey is a story of hope, strength and faith, and the eternal bond between a father and daughter.

Click here to purchase this DVD.

As Thanksgiving approaches once again, I am reminded of so many people who are learning to be thankful despite their suffering. However, I want to encourage them to go one better—I believe we can even learn to be thankful for suffering.

It is a common response to question God’s goodness when we endure hardships—whether physical limitations, illness, job loss, the death of a loved one, you name it.

When I hear the question, “Where is God?,” I am reminded of something I’ve learned through the years. God doesn’t say, “Into each life a little rain must fall,” and then turn a fire hose on the earth to see who gets the wettest. On the contrary, he screens the trials that come at us, always erecting invisible fences around the enemy’s fury and bringing ultimate good out of wickedness.

“How does he pull it off?,” I wonder. I realize that we are a world of finite humans trying to comprehend an infinite God. What is clear is that God permits lots of things he doesn’t approve of. That fact doesn’t sit well with us, but think of the alternative. Imagine a God who insisted on a hands-off policy toward the evil barreling our way. The world would be much, much worse than it is. Evil would be uncontrolled. But thank God he curbs it.

Please know I’m no expert. There are days I wake up and think, “I can’t do this. I have no resources for this. I can’t face another day dealing with total paralysis.” But that’s when I plead, “Lord, you do have the resources I lack. I can’t do this, but you can.” And he does.

The truly handicapped among us are those who start their mornings on automatic cruise control, without needing God. But he gives strength to all who cry to him for help. So, who are the weak and needy? Who are those who need this help? A brief pause in the dark shadows of recent events always allows the point to come home. It’s you and me.

These can be scary times in which we live. Never have the lines between the forces of darkness and light, of good and evil, seemed so clear. Never has the world, battered and bruised as it is, seemed so vulnerable, so fragile, so unsafe. In the years since Sept. 11, 2001, and through the last two years of our shaky economy, something has become clear to me. It was something I sensed was just ahead, something that began to appear on the horizon and that grew with each day, with each hug shared, with each word of encouragement spoken.

I’d been given eyes to see . . . an adventure.

In the long shadow cast by my wheelchair—the 43 years of my paralysis—I’ve been granted the privilege of living at such a time. No greater shadow has ever been cast in earth’s history. Today, after September 11 and the economic meltdown, humanity seems to have taken an on-ramp to an ever-broadening highway. It is a chance, a mandate, to remember the world’s most vulnerable—the disabled—while power brokers shift the planet’s levers and gears. It is an opportunity—indeed, a gift—to witness the unfolding plan of a gracious God who draws near to the weak, stays close to the afflicted, and always seems bigger to those who need him most. It is an even larger, greater on-ramp to adventure.

And my wheelchair is taking me there.

God’s “no” answer to my physical healing more than 40 years ago was a “yes” to a deeper healing—a better one.

His answer bound me to other believers and taught me so much about myself. It has purged sin from my life, it has strengthened my commitment to Him, forced me to depend on His grace. His wiser, deeper answer has stretched my hope, refined my faith, and helped me to know Him better.

So, I thank Him, not despite His answer, but for it. For the wiser choice, the better answer, the harder yet richer path. I thank Him for showing me that there are more important things in life than walking.

Joni Eareckson Tada, is the founder and CEO of Joni and
Friends, an international advocacy organization for people with
disabilities. A diving accident in 1967 left her a quadriplegic in a  wheelchair. After two years of rehabilitation, she emerged with new skills and
a fresh determination to help others in similar situations.

Thousands of Christians from across the U.S. have been
flocking to Kansas City, Mo., where a Bible college class at the International
House of Prayer (IHOP) has sparked nightly revival services.

More than 1,600 people have
been packing into IHOP’s ministry school auditorium to pray, worship and
experience what many are describing as spiritual renewal.

(Photo: Scott Townsley, courtesy of the IHOP–KC Missions Base)

At services held last
weekend, participants shared testimonies of healing from chronic back pain and
migraines, deliverance from shame and self-hatred, and experiencing God’s love
for the first time. Similar testimonies have been sent from around the world,
where the services are being viewed via live Web stream.

Wesley Hall, provost of IHOP’s Bible school, said several people have been saved and 80 people baptized since
Nov. 11, when students in his 9 a.m. class started breaking into small groups
and praying for one another.  

“Some were lying on the floor, others were weeping, and some
were laughing,” said Hall, who led the class with Allen Hood, president of the ministry school. “So I asked the Lord for a release of Pentecost, and it just
snowballed. Other teachers brought their classes in, and the Holy Spirit moved
for 15 hours, with reports of physical healings and deliverance.”

Almost 2,000 people from the Kansas City area heard about
the “awakening” and came to the campus to participate. Since then the meetings,
held nightly from 6 p.m. until midnight, have been drawing capacity crowds to
the ministry school’s sanctuary.

College students are also gathering across the country to
watch the services online. Testimonies have poured in from such schools as
Georgia Tech, Wheaton College, Asbury College and the University of California-Berkeley, where students
reportedly are experiencing great joy, deep peace, and emotional
and physical healing.

“We will continue
these nightly meetings as the Holy Spirit leads us,” IHOP founder Mike Bickle
co-wrote in a letter with prayer leader Lou Engle, founder of TheCall, which
has offices in Kansas City. “We earnestly pray that this
awakening will continue, as our nation is in desperate need of another great
awakening in this hour.”

Hall said the younger generation is very broken and looking for
authenticity. “It’s the students who used to make fun of the manifestations who
are now being hit with the power of God,” he said. “Those students don’t want
to fake anything or create a culture. Rather, they want to experience God.”

And while Hall said he is grateful for the renewal, he and
Hood are praying for more. He said most of the people being touched
by the meetings are Christians.

“We want to see the lost saved and the culture
changed,” Hall said. “We want this to grow and expand. We want an anointing
where no known disease would stand against the people of God. We want to see
this on the body of Christ worldwide, the third Great Awakening.”

Bickle said IHOP is not the next place of revival, but “one of many places that the Lord is visiting
in our nation.”

“We believe that
many other places are soon to receive a visitation of the Holy Spirit,” he told
Charisma.

Bickle says the meetings will continue in the run up to
IHOP’s One Thing conference Dec. 28-31 in Kansas City. Leaders expect some
20,000 students to attend, and seek to mobilize them to evangelize their cities
and campuses in partnership with area houses of prayer.

Bickle and Engle said the conference would also address “a new
wave of confusion that is systematically seducing many young adults into
deception.”

“Sincere young people whose hearts were once ablaze for
Jesus are being lured into compromise on foundational biblical truths and
practices, while at the same time they are increasing in works of compassion
and justice,” the ministers said.

They believe the renewal meetings are a sign that the Holy Spirit
will release His power at the conference.

“We must confront the confusion that is pouring forth from
many pulpits as well as from the halls of Washington,” they wrote. “It is time
to draw a line in the sand. We must hear what the Spirit is saying, and we must
act on it. The Spirit will confirm the truth with demonstrations of power.”

Islamic extremists controlling part of the Somali capital of Mogadishu
this month executed a young Christian they accused of trying to convert a
15-year-old Muslim to Christianity.

Members of the
Islamic extremist group al Shabaab had taken 23-year-old Mumin Abdikarim
Yusuf into custody on Oct. 28 after the 15-year-old boy reported him to the
militants, an area source told Compass Direct News. Yusuf’s body was found on Nov. 14 on an
empty residential street in Mogadishu, with sources saying the convert from
Islam was shot to death, probably some hours before dawn.

“Our brother
Yusuf has been murdered,” the source told Compass. “His body was dumped in
Yaqshid district of Mogadishu, and his body is said to be on an empty
residential street.”

Al
Shabaab, said to have
links with al Qaeda terrorists, controls parts of Mogadishu and much of southern
parts of Somalia, as well as other areas of the nation.

Their
accusations against Yusuf had led the extremist group to raid Yusuf’s home in
Holwadag district, Mogadishu, sources said. After searching his home, militia
didn’t find anything relating to Christianity but still took him into custody.

Before Yusuf was
executed by two shots to the head, reports filtered in to the Compass source
that he had been badly beaten and his fingers broken as the Islamists tried to
extract incriminating evidence against him and information about other
Christians. The source later learned that Yusuf’s body showed signs of torture;
all of his front teeth were gone, and some of his fingers were broken, he
said.

“We don’t know
the time he was murdered, but his freshly killed body was dumped in Yaqshid
district at around 4:30 in the morning of Nov. 14, and due to the will of the
family we have buried the body at around 3 p.m. on Nov. 14,” the source
said.

The clandestine
Christians could not safely identify themselves to Yusuf’s Muslim family, but
they were able to indirectly assist the parents in burying him with dignity, the
source said.

It is not known
whether under torture Yusuf revealed information about area members of the
hidden church, but underground church leaders have been relocating local
Christians who knew him, the source said.

“We still don’t
know if the Shabaab did find any new evidence from Yusuf,” he said.

Yusuf’s Muslim
parents did not know that their son was a Christian, and they had insisted to
the al Shabaab militants that he was still a Muslim, the source said. The
extremists accused the family of not reporting that their son had converted to
Christianity, and they ordered his mother and father to appear before an al
Shabaab court.

Although the
Compass source could not confirm whether the parents heeded the command, he said
they most likely did as it is not uncommon for the militants to behead those who
defy their orders.

“I cannot
confirm if they appeared before the Islamist court, but that is highly
possible,” he said. “Who can dare defy them?”

The extremists
have demonstrated they have no qualms about killing those they perceive to be
sympathetic to any “foreign” religion, the source said. He added that the
Islamic extremists did not execute Yusuf quickly only because they had no
evidence against him except the testimony of the teenage boy.

“In Islam, to
execute someone you need to have evidence of three witnesses, and they didn’t
have it,” he said. “Al Shabaab is known to do whatever they like, and
they don’t even follow the rules of their religion they claim adherence
to.”

The discovery of
Yusuf’s body brought an end to a strenuous attempt by his family to secure his
release, but they are now living in fear since al Shabaab has accused
them of concealing their son’s new faith.

The source said
Yusuf’s death was typical of the Islamic extremist group, which often pumps
bullets into their victims before dumping their bodies in public places to serve
as a warning to those who dare to resist its orders.

Since the ouster
of dictator Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia has been without a strong central
government and has been at the mercy of vicious clan-based militants. Some, such
as al Shabaab, are seeking to establish a strict version of sharia
(Islamic law) as they fight to oust the Transitional Federal Government of
President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed that is backed by the Africa Union and
Western nations.

As
Thanksgiving approaches once again, I am reminded of so many people who are
learning to be thankful despite their suffering.  However I want to encourage them to go one better — I believe we
can even learn to be thankful for suffering.

It
is a common response to question God’s goodness when we endure hardships — whether physical limitations, illness, job loss, the death of a loved one, you
name it.

When
I hear the question, Where is God? I am reminded of something I’ve
learned through the years. God doesn’t say, Into each life a little rain
must fall, and then turn a fire hose on the earth to see who gets the
wettest. On the contrary, He screens the trials that come at us, always
erecting invisible fences around the enemy’s fury and bringing ultimate good
out of wickedness.

I
wonder, how does He pull it off? I realize that we are a world of finite humans
trying to comprehend an infinite God. What is clear is that God permits lots of
things He doesn’t approve of. That fact doesn’t sit well with us, but think of
the alternative. Imagine a God who insisted on a hands-off policy toward the
evil barreling our way. The world would be much, much worse than it is. Evil
would be uncontrolled. But thank God He curbs it.

Please
know I’m no expert. There are days I wake up and think, I can’t do this.
I have no resources for this. I can’t face another day dealing with total
paralysis. But that’s when I plead, Lord, you have the resources I
lack. I can’t do this, but you can. And He does.

The
truly handicapped among us are those who start their mornings on automatic
cruise control, without needing God. But He gives strength to all who cry to Him for help. So who are the weak and needy? Who are those who need this help?
A brief pause in the dark shadows of recent events always allows the point to
come home. It’s you and me.

These
can be scary times in which we live. Never have the lines between the forces of
darkness and light, of good and evil, seemed so clear. Never has the world,
battered and bruised as it is, seemed so vulnerable, so fragile, so unsafe. In
the years since Sept. 11, 2001, and through the last two years of our shaky
economy, something has become clear to me. 
It was something I sensed was just ahead, something that began to appear
on the horizon and that grew with each day, with each hug shared, with each
word of encouragement spoken.

I’d
been given eyes to see . . .  an
adventure.

In
the long shadow cast by my wheelchair —the 43 years of my paralysis —I’ve
been granted the privilege of living at such a time. No greater shadow has ever
been cast in earth’s history. Today after Sept. 11 and the economic meltdown,
humanity seems to have taken an on-ramp to an ever-broadening highway. It is a
chance, a mandate, to remember the world’s most vulnerable — the disabled —while power brokers shift the planet’s levers and gears. It is an opportunity –
indeed, a gift – to witness the unfolding plan of a gracious God who draws near
to the weak, stays close to the afflicted, and always seems bigger to those who
need him most. It is an even larger, greater on-ramp to adventure.

And
my wheelchair is taking me there.

God’s “no” answer to my physical healing more
than 40 years ago was a “yes” to a deeper healing—a better one.  His answer bound me to other believers and
taught me so much about myself. It has purged sin from my life, it has
strengthened my commitment to Him, forced me to depend on His grace. His wiser,
deeper answer has stretched my hope, refined my faith, and helped me to know
Him better.

So
I thank Him, not despite His answer,
but for it. For the wiser choice, the better answer, the harder yet richer
path.  I thank Him for showing me that
there are more important things in life than walking.

Joni Eareckson Tada is the founder and Chief Executive
Officer of Joni and Friends, a Christian ministry to the disability community.
After a diving accident in 1967 left her a quadriplegic, she has become an
internationally known Christian author and radio host.

In this stormy economic season, trust the Lord to transport you to the other side.

I despise airplane turbulence. Even though I enjoy high-speed roller coasters, there is something about hurling through stormy skies in a commercial jetliner at 37,000 feet that turns my knuckles white. This is why I always ask for a window seat. Whenever we hit rough air and the seat belt sign flashes on, I feel safer if I can look outside.

But that didn’t help me last week when I was flying into Canada. I was not aware that rough weather was raging below and that parts of Vancouver were flooding. All I knew was that our journey through Canadian airspace reminded me of Doctor Doom’s Fearfall—a theme park ride I have enjoyed many times with my daughters. (That ride lasts only a few seconds, and it is firmly bolted to the ground. The turbulence over British Columbia lasted half an hour.)

It was 11 p.m., and I couldn’t see anything outside my window except horizontal rain. I kept reminding myself that the pilot was using radar and other high-tech instruments to avoid crashing into the side of a mountain. But my knuckles did not believe this. I clutched the arm rest, prayed and—for a few seconds—wondered how my wife would plan my funeral.

Of course the plane did not break apart in midair. When we descended below the cloud cover, and the lights of the city became visible, all my color returned. I breathed a prayer of thanksgiving when I heard the familiar sound of wheels touching the runway.

You may not share my fear of turbulence, but all of us have walked through scary times in life when we couldn’t see the path in front of us. Many people I know are going through such times right now because of the economic downturn. Some are facing job loss, financial hardships, foreclosures or unusual spiritual challenges. Churches are finding it hard to navigate change. More people than ever are in a season of transition because old business models don’t work and ministry paradigms are shifting.

Some of us find ourselves digging our fingernails into the arm rest while the plane bounces all over the stormy sky. And when we look out the window we see nothing but darkness.

I have found my comfort in the words David penned after he escaped from Saul’s pursuits. He wrote in Psalm 18:4, 6: “The cords of death encompassed me, and the torrents of ungodliness terrified me … In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God for help; He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry for help came into His ears (NASB).”

In describing God’s just-in-the-nick-of-time rescue, David borrowed vivid imagery from the day when God opened the Red Sea to deliver His children from Egypt. “The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered His voice … Then the channels of water appeared, and the foundations of the world were laid bare. … He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters … He brought me forth also into a broad place; He rescued me, because He delighted in me” (v. 13,15,16,19).

David’s transition was not easy. In the most difficult moment he noted that God had “made darkness His hiding place” (v. 11). We must remember that darkness is not a sign that God is not with us. It became stormy just before the Red Sea split open. Yet God was working behind the scenes, even when the clouds were black and the wind was violent.

If you are in the midst of a turbulent transition, hold tightly to this promise. You can trust Him. In yet a little while He will intervene. Don’t focus on your job crisis, the bad economic news, your lack of options or the bumpiness of the ride. When His lightning flashes, He will split the obstacles in front of you and make a dry roadbed in the midst of the sea. He can make a way where there is no way.

Ask the Lord to transport you. Eventually you will hear the sound of wheels touching down on the wet runway. Although you are helpless to make this transition on your own, your Deliverer will safely carry you from your present crisis into a broad place of future fruitfulness.

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. You can follow his travels on Twitter at leegrady.