Digital magazines are gaining momentum in the iPad age. Now, Charisma Media is delivering news, information and inspiration to Spirit-filled believers through the Charisma Media iPad app.

The Charisma Media iPad app is the fruit of nearly two years of research, development and approval processes with Apple. With the launch of the new app, Charisma Media’s vision for reaching the nations for Christ through advanced technology charges ahead on yet another platform. Readers can download the iPad app free and subscribe to Charisma Digital to read Charisma anywhere they go.

"When I launched Charisma magazine 30 years ago, I never dreamed I'd one day read it on a large-screen mobile device like the iPad," says Steve Strang, founder and CEO of Charisma Media. "We've always been at the forefront of Christian movements with our editorial perspective. With Charisma Digital, we're on the cutting-edge of Christian media delivery as more consumers read their news on portable devices."

For readers, this new digital platform offers an opportunity to experience Charisma magazine on a whole new level. Readers can navigate through interactive pages loaded with rich media and experience the convenience of Charisma on the world’s most popular tablet device. A new report from the The Magazine Publisher’s Association (MPA) reveals that tablet owners are reading more thanks to the rise of digital magazines. In fact, 66 percent of people who read magazines on tablet devices and e-readers expect to spend more time with digital issues in 2012—and 90 percent say they are reading as much, if not more, magazine content since buying a tablet.

“Interactive digital magazines like Charisma Digital are ideal for tablets and e-reader devices—devices on which the next generation of charismatic Christians are consuming media,” says Marcus Yoars, editor of Charisma magazine. "With Charisma Digital, you can tap into Spirit-filled news, inspiring features and teaching articles that help equip you to make a difference in your world."

For advertisers, Charisma Digital presents a new opportunity to reach a growing market of savvy consumers. The MPA survey reveals that 59 percent of consumers want to buy directly from advertisements and 79 percent say they want the ability to purchase products and services directly from editorial features. Nearly 75 percent of those surveyed say they typically engage with digital magazine ads.

“Digital magazines are taking the medium to the next level,” says Christopher Kevorkian, executive vice president of Digital at the MPA. “While various research has long proved that print magazines drive purchase behavior, digital magazines hold the promise of creating a direct link between purchase intent and actual transaction. The study proves that consumers look to magazine media to create that opportunity.”

How to get Charisma on your iPad:

1. Subscribe to Charisma Digital online at www.charismadigital.com and create your username and password for full access to Charisma Digital.*
2. Open the iPad Newsstand store.
3. Search for "Charisma" or "Charisma Media."
4. Download the free Charisma Media app (Internet connection and iTunes account required).
5. Sign in with your Charisma Digital username/password and download individual issues, with more added every two weeks.

Click here to get started.

*By subscribing through iTunes, users currently can’t access all issues of Charisma Digital. (This will be fixed shortly.)

Living Hope needed ‘faith and a fight’ to  hold on to its former Kmart campus

Despite high-profile ministry bankruptcies in the past year, Living Hope Church is proving God is still faithful by raising more than $1 million in just 40 days to maintain possession of its Vancouver, Wash., campus, a former Kmart retail store.

Of course, no one said the miracle came without faith and a fight. 

Not only did the 6,000-member church have its challenges, senior pastor John Bishop personally felt the impact of principalities and powers that opposed his gospel mission. Bishop suffered health problems even as his son battled with drugs.