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September 17, 2025

This edition is sponsored by Aspen Group

Today’s Briefing

To Gen Z guys, Charlie Kirk embodied conviction without compromise.

America’s political violence portends a country seemingly on the brink of something unspeakably dark, writes Russell Moore.

Christian hospitals in Kenya are forced to close as the country’s debt-ridden government fails to send out reimbursements.

A Malaysian Christian convicted of drug trafficking and baptized in a Singapore prison now faces the death penalty.

CT issues two of its inaugural Compassion Awards to a Colorado ministry serving fearful migrants and a foster care organization in suburban Chicago.

CT is hosting an online event with Lecrae next week! Join Russell Moore and Lecrae on September 24 at 3:30 p.m. EDT for a live conversation on how evangelicalism has shifted over the past five years and what a faithful path forward might look like. Register now for free.

Behind the Story

From senior staff writer Emily Belz: I wouldn’t describe journalism as a cheerful profession, but every so often good news does win the day. CT’s Compassion Awards are a way to share good news. I covered the story of one award winner, an organization serving Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, called The Nehemiah Foundation, and after we published the article, its staff told us the piece was encouraging after a hard year where politics had divided their community.

We also saw happy developments for an organization we’re showcasing in the newsletter today, Safe Families for Children. In a newsletter to supporters this past week, its founder David Anderson shared that the organization had been approved as a federal partner. That’s something Safe Families has been working toward over a decade, partly because those federal partners must have evidence-based research to show the programs work. Safe Families wanted to prove the value of its method—supporting families with children at risk of entering foster care. They proved it with research showing “sustained favorable effect.” That’s good news we want to tell, cheerfully.

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In Other News

A prominent Assemblies of God pastor in Florida has been charged with failing to report sexual abuse.
A $5 billion dam that will double the electricity supply in Ethiopia and connect half the country to power comes as an answer to prayer for evangelicals.
Another idea for church growth: pet ministry.

Today in Christian History

September 18, 1884: People pack out the Brooklyn Tabernacle for the funeral of Jerry McAuley, founder of New York’s Water Street Mission and a pioneer among American rescue missions.

Texas Student Ministry Sues over Law Cutting Off Free Speech at 10 p.m.

New restrictions on campus speech in Texas have spurred a lawsuit from a coalition of student groups, including a Dallas ministry concerned about the impact on Bible studies, worship nights,…

An Unpersuasive Plea for Christians to Swing Left

One of the less interesting but increasingly common attacks one hears in Christian institutions is that some person or group is trying to “smuggle” liberalism or leftism into the church.…

Educating Low-Income Boys at Delta Streets Academy

After enrolling at Delta Streets Academy (DSA) in Mississippi in 2016, Imanol Moreno said, he “slacked a lot.” As a middle schooler who pushed back against the rules, Moreno often…

Navigating the Law at the Christian Immigration Advocacy Center

The first client intake I observed at Pittsburgh’s Christian Immigration Advocacy Center (CIAC) was a legal dead end. CIAC ministry director Rogerio Torres sat behind a desk crammed into a…

in the magazine

The Christian story shows us that grace often comes from where we least expect. In this issue, we look at the corners of God’s kingdom and chronicle in often-overlooked people, places, and things the possibility of God’s redemptive work. We introduce the Compassion Awards, which report on seven nonprofits doing good work in their communities. We look at the spirituality underneath gambling, the ways contemporary Christian music was instrumental in one historian’s conversion, and the steady witness of what may be Wendell Berry’s last novel. All these pieces remind us that there is no person or place too small for God’s gracious and cataclysmic reversal.

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