Diana Chandler

WASHINGTON (BP) – Incoming President Donald Trump has halted for at least 90 days a refugee admissions program that resettled 100,000 individuals fleeing persecution in fiscal year 2024, including nearly 30,000 Christians.

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba (BP) – Evangelical Protestant pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo is among hundreds of prisoners, including several religious leaders, Cuba released last week after the U.S. removed the island nation from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

DORAVILLE, Ga. (BP) – The charge to “Let Freedom Run” typically spices Pastor Bill Kelly’s devotion at the annual Martin Luther King 5K Drum Run kicking off Jan. 20 from First Baptist Church of Doraville, he told Baptist Press in advance of the 14th annual community event.

JERUSALEM (BP) – Crucial humanitarian aid, the phased release of hostages in exchange for prisoners, and an end to Israel’s bombing of Gaza were among the initial terms of a ceasefire agreement announced Jan. 14 between Israel and Hamas.

BRIDGEVILLE, Pa. (BP) – Africa, with more Christians than any other continent, has in Nigeria the deadliest nation for believers at the hands of Islamic terrorists and suffers persistently high violence in a dozen countries in its sub-Saharan region.

ALTADENA, Calif. (BP) – Jordan Mitchell, caregiver to his disabled father and brother Justin with cerebral palsy, is certain he could have gotten them out of their Altadena home in advance of the Eaton fire. That is, if he himself hadn’t been hospitalized with sepsis.

WASHINGTON (BP) – Laws in 20 states aimed at shielding minors from online pornography are under fire as the U.S. Supreme Court hears a legal challenge Jan. 15, with the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) among many interceding for the Texas law at the center of the case.

SANTA ANA, Calif. (BP) -- Global Christian Relief (GCR), the watchdog group launched in 2023 when Open Doors USA reorganized, has released its first persecution report, citing top five countries persecuting Christians in select categories.

AMARILLO, Texas (BP) – South Sudanese attending All Nations Worship Church, a ministry of Paramount Baptist Church in Amarillo, know the pain of those displaced by the war in Sudan, which has created the greatest humanitarian crisis globally.

BATON ROUGE, La. (BP) – Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill has told school boards how to comply with the state’s law requiring public classrooms to display the Ten Commandments, despite a federal district judge’s November 2024 ruling declaring it unconstitutional and prohibiting its enforcement.