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January 8, 2026

Today’s Briefing

As many Kenyan Christians from poor families have to work abroad, they wrestle with the costs to their marriages and families.

John Piper is turning 80 years old this weekend.

Three books on politics to consider, from national political correspondent Harvest Prude.

On The Bulletin: Is revival happening in America?

Behind the Story

From Asia editor Isabel Ong: When I interned at Singapore’s national newspaper, I received some surprising assignments from my editor that still make me chuckle today. Here are some of the funniest and weirdest stories CT staffers have covered:

“I wrote a piece on a small-town children’s magician-entertainer for my first job in North Carolina. I got to see all of his animals that he used in his show, including a trained monkey. The monkey bit me, and I had to go get rabies shots (even though monkeys can’t get rabies?). Creepiest person I’ve ever interviewed and wildest situation.” —features editor Kara Bettis Carvalho

“When I was freelancing more, I reported this story about “sweepers”: folks who enter contests and giveaways as a (surprisingly lucrative!) side hustle.” —senior features editor Kate Lucky

“When I was an intern at The Hill covering Congress, my editor asked me to eat at every eatery in the congressional complex in a day and write about the experience. The US Capitol has roughly a million eateries tucked away in its hallways and tunnels for staffers and lawmakers. It was fun for a 20-year-old (was the editor worried I wasn’t getting fed?), but I wouldn’t repeat.” —senior staff writer Emily Belz

“I once investigated a bunch of breastfeeding rooms in major shopping malls to write a story on how well (or how badly) they were designed. I also worked on a story reviewing various types of flip-flops (Singaporeans call them slippers) best suited for Singapore’s hot, humid weather and got unwittingly pulled into a photo shoot, with my image printed on two-thirds of the page in the next day’s newspaper.” —Asia editor Isabel Ong

In Other News

A North Carolina church kicked off the New Year with a public reading of the entire Bible.
The CEO of Palantir bought a former monastery for Trappist monks near Aspen, Colorado, for $120 million.
A Dalit Christian professor in Chennai, India, was fired over making comments that called for peace during the India-Pakistan conflict last May. In CT’s report on the armed clashes, believers in both countries said their relationships with each other have not soured.

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Today in Christian History

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So What If the Bible Doesn’t Mention Embryo Screening?

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Archaeology in the City of David Yields New Treasures

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in the magazine

As we enter the holiday season, we consider how the places to which we belong shape us—and how we can be the face of welcome in a broken world. In this issue, you’ll read about how a monastery on Patmos offers quiet in a world of noise and, from Ann Voskamp, how God’s will is a place to find home. Read about modern missions terminology in our roundtable feature and about an astrophysicist’s thoughts on the Incarnation. Be sure to linger over Andy Olsen’s reported feature “An American Deportation” as we consider Christian responses to immigration policies. May we practice hospitality wherever we find ourselves.

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