current events Archives

Join Us for a Special Online Concert Featuring Toby Mac, Lauren Daigle, Lecrae – and More!

Are you a member of a small church congregation?

Every house of worship is feeling the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, of course, but the extended closure and quarantine has put many smaller churches on the brink of closing their doors for good.

I spoke with my friend Benjamin Watson a few weeks ago about his efforts to help raise funds for these congregations. The former NFL star has a real heart for helping those on the margins.

This COVID-19 Church Relief Fund is being administered by the National Christian Foundation (NCF), a trusted organization that Focus on the Family has collaborated with for decades. Through this campaign, 100% of proceeds will go to churches that are the most at risk. NCF is distributing $3,000 grants to churches as funds are available.

Topics: Current Events Tags: current events May 11, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Ahmaud Arbery’s Death Should Grieve Us All

There’s a lot that we don’t yet know about the chilling and tragic story surrounding the violent death of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery of Brunswick, Georgia.

But here’s what we do know.

On February 23rd Ahmaud Arbery was killed in broad daylight while running on a suburban street following an altercation with Gregory and Travis McMichael.

According to a press release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the McMichaels – who are father and son – “confronted Arbery with two firearms.

Topics: Current Events Tags: current events May 9, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Prayers and Stories of Hope for America

Today is
the National Day of Prayer.

If you’re not familiar
with it, this annual observance is held on the first Thursday of May and invites
people of all faiths to pray for the nation. It was created in 1952 by a joint
resolution of the United States Congress and signed into law by President Harry
S. Truman.

In honor
of today, I hope you’ll tune in for a special edition of our Focus on the Family Broadcast we’re calling “Prayers and Stories of Hope for America.”

We’re airing
your stories of hope, your tales of God’s faithfulness during this time of
crisis, and your prayers for our nation in the days ahead.

Topics: Current Events Tags: current events, prayer May 7, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Hope for Getting Through the Tough Times

Six months
ago, none of us has could have imagined what American families would be going
through right now because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Thousands
continue to get sick and die. Millions are out of work, and our nation is still
only in the very beginning stages of re-opening. There’s plenty to fear.

Or is
there?

What do
passages like Philippians
4:6-7 mean? It says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known
to God.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: current events, hope May 1, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

HHS Secretary Alex Azar Joins Focus Radio to Discuss Government’s Coronavirus Response

On today’s Focus on the Family Broadcast, I have the pleasure of talking with Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar.

It might surprise you that with a budget of $1.4 trillion dollars, the HHS is the largest cabinet department on earth. If it were a country, it would be only behind the United States, China, Japan, Germany and France.

Given the programs and responsibilities entrusted to Secretary Azar, including Medicare, Medicaid and the Food and Drug Administration, the department’s work is vital – and especially in the age of the coronavirus global pandemic.

Topics: Current Events Tags: Coronavirus, current events April 29, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Duck Dynasty Stars Dodge Bullets – Literally

News broke over the weekend of a drive-by shooting at the West Monroe, Louisiana, property of Willie Robertson, the star of the “Duck Dynasty” franchise.

According to police reports, 8 shots were fired from a car outside the fence that surrounds the home. One of the bullets broke through the window of a house owned by son John Luke Robertson, who is married to Mary Kate and has an infant child.

Thankfully, nobody was injured, but the incident understandably rattled the family.

Topics: Current Events Tags: current events April 27, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Presidential Feuds with the Press are Nothing New

History is always a good teacher.

If you were to visit the National Archives building in Washington, D.C., you’d see two separate statues just outside its Pennsylvania Avenue entrance.

One is a sculpture that contains a paraphrase of a quote from Confucius. It reads, “Study the past.” The figure is holding a closed book representing history’s previous events.

The other is a sculpture titled, “Future,” and at its base is a line from Shakespeare’s “Tempest” – “What is Past is Prologue.”

In other words, everything that’s happened contributes to everything that’s happening today and that will occur tomorrow.

Topics: Current Events Tags: current events April 16, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Governor Cuomo Claims God Shouldn’t Get Credit for Defeat of the Coronavirus

Should God receive credit for the turning of the tide of the coronavirus global pandemic?

Not according to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Speaking earlier this week, the Empire State’s chief executive, who is Catholic, was blunt:

“The number is down because we brought the number down,” he told reporters. “God did not do that. Faith did not do that. Destiny did not do that. A lot of pain and suffering did that…That’s how it works. It’s math.

Topics: Current Events Tags: Coronavirus, current events April 16, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Banning Drive-In Churches is a Road too Far

Since the outbreak and escalation of the coronavirus pandemic in March, pastors and faith leaders throughout the United States have cooperated with local and state officials in doing their part to “flatten the curve” of the pathogen by either canceling or transitioning in-person church services to online platforms.

For anyone born over the course of the last one-hundred years, the changes in weekly worship habits have been unprecedented. In fact, church services during the Spanish flu epidemic between 1918 and 1920 carried on as usual – for good or bad.

Topics: Current Events Tags: church, Coronavirus, current events April 14, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

On the Coronavirus, the Following Things are True

On the 100th day of the COVID-19 global pandemic, I would offer to you that the world has learned a few lessons.

This list is hardly exhaustive, but it’s nevertheless irrefutable – at least from my perspective:

1. We are not in control. God is.

2. Humans are frail, fragile – and resilient.

3. Because of sin, bad things happen to everyone.

4. No matter how dark the night, the sun rises in the morning.

Topics: Current Events Tags: Coronavirus, current events, faith April 8, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura