Carl Keyes has been working tirelessly to change the lives of individuals and communities around the world for decades. Now the founder of Aid for the World, an international humanitarian-aid organization, is spearheading a project of a different kind in his own backyard: a safe house for young girls rescued from the sex-slave industry.

“I get hundreds of emails every week from people that need help,” Keyes says. “Of course, I can’t help everybody, but when I read an email about a woman who was trying to rescue girls from forced prostitution and needed help renovating a historic home to house them, it felt right,” he adds, noting that the woman, Debbie Colton, had read about his organization in Charisma and decided to pursue his help.

“What has happened to these girls is not even human. Family members or boyfriends get young girls hooked on drugs, they are chained to a bed, and 25 to 30 times a day a man comes into their room for sex,” Keyes says. “When Debbie told me about this, I hit the ground crying and praying. I had to do something.” read more

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas presented a bid for full membership in the United Nations in September, blaming the failure of the peace process on Israel. Abbas called for a return to the 1967 lines. Meanwhile, Jews were at the Western Wall—praying. “Israel wants peace and a Palestinian state,” says The Israel Project’s Founder and President Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi. 

“Sadly, sometimes they seem to want it more than the Palestinians. I deeply hope that President Abbas will recognize that the issues of security, borders, water and refugees need to be resolved with mutual respect and agreements ... and cannot be imposed by the United Nations. He should drop his preconditions and hate and come to peace talks right away. Israel is ready for this conflict to end so both sides can have a better future.” read more

The solution for U.S. money woes isn’t ‘prosperity gospel,’ charismatics say

When Standard & Poor’s downgraded the United States’ credit rating, it sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average into a tailspin. That, combined with America’s more than $14.5 trillion national debt and Europe’s growing financial woes, have caused charismatic Christian leaders to stand up and speak out—and they aren’t preaching a “prosperity gospel” message.

Indeed, international evangelist Perry Stone says Americans better get used to major changes in the country and prepare accordingly. That, he says, is because the America we have known is changing. “We were promised in the 2008 election that America would fundamentally change,” Stone says. “America is changing, although I am not convinced this is the fundamental change most people had in mind.” read more

Technology is the key to growth for Vision 2020’s global-discipleship project

Call it the Jesus movie of discipleship. It’s a new, technology-driven movement to raise up a generation of lively stones in spiritually dead places—believers who are willing to walk away from false religions and idols to follow Christ.

The man behind the movement is Berin Gilfillan. When he launched the International School of Ministry (ISOM) 20 years ago, Gilfillan set out to train laborers for the end-time harvest by planting his video curriculum in local churches around the world. Today there are more than 15,000 training sites in 142 nations airing the materials in 70 languages. But he’s still not satisfied. read more