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Died: Dr. John Edmund Haggai, Founder of Haggai International Ministry
John Edmund Haggai, a preacher and revivalist who saw the need to equip Christians around the world to evangelize their own countries, died Wednesday at 96.
Known for challenging people to “attempt something so great for God, it’s doomed to failure unless God be in it,” Haggai founded Haggai Institute for Advanced Leadership, moved it to Singapore, and trained more than 120,000 evangelists from non-Western countries, including 1,200 from Indonesia, 400 from the Philippines, 500 from India, 400 from Nigeria, and 380 from Brazil. He argued this was the best new strategy for global missions after the end of Western colonialism.
One of his first students was K. P. Yohannan, who went on to found Gospel for Asia.
“Haggai was full of stories,” Yohannan recalled. “In them all, Christians were overcomers and giants—men and women who received a vision from God and refused to let go of it. Diligence to your calling was a virtue to be highly prized. Haggai was the first person who made me believe that nothing is impossible with God.”
Haggai was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1924. His father was a Syrian refugee who had fled Turkish forces in 1912 and was welcomed to the United States. The elder Haggai converted from Eastern Orthodox to evangelical Christianity, enrolled in Moody Bible Institute, and became a Southern Baptist pastor.
The younger Haggai was inspired to follow in his father’s footsteps: He accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior at four years old and announced he felt a call to preach at six. A few years later, Haggai said he wanted to be a missionary to China.
Haggai went to Moody like his father and met Christine Barker from Bristol, Virginia, a soprano who sang professionally from the age of 13 and had her own weekly musical program on the radio. She had given up a scholarship at Julliard to attend Moody. Haggai fell in love, and the two got married the day after graduation in 1945.
While the young graduate still dreamed of being a missionary to China, a civil war broke out between nationalists and the Communists, and the Haggais decided to stay in the US. Haggai soon accepted a position pastoring a church in Lancaster, South Carolina. He grew it to about 1,000 members and won praise for record-high Sunday school attendance.
Haggai also started a radio ministry, with a 15-minute weekly program called Crusade for Christ. He got a second degree in history and philosophy at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, and started traveling with Youth for Christ.
He was a powerful and popular speaker on the evangelistic circuit. One ad claimed that though only a young man, he “has plumbed the depths of the Bible and emerged with usable answers to many of the problems of our time.” He condemned the moral decline of the era and urged people to turn to the Bible as a guide for life.
In one sermon, he preached that “a million hammers have banged away at the anvil of God’s Word,” and now “the hammers are broken but the anvil remains.”
Haggai did not directly challenge the racism and the segregation of the South, but he occasionally himself ran afoul of the racial codes. In one hotel, he was mistaken for a singer who was supposed to perform. In some parts of the country, ads for his evangelistic crusades spelled out his ethnicity ahead of time.
In 1950, the Haggais had their only son, John Haggai Jr. He suffered a traumatic brain injury at birth, caused by an intoxicated doctor. The couple refused to institutionalize their son, and Christine committed to caring for the boy full time. After Johnny died at 24, Haggai wrote that those his namesake never spoke more than two words at a time, he was convinced his son prayed powerful prayers, trapped inside his broken body.
A few months after Johnny’s birth, the family moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where Haggai took over as senior pastor at Woodland Park Baptist. His first sermon at the megachurch was titled: “What’s Wrong with Your Church.” He challenged the congregation to live out their faith, witness to their neighbors, and support global missions.
In 1956, Haggai moved to another megachurch in Louisville, Ninth and O Baptist Church. The Sunday school had more than 2,000 regular attenders. He baptized about 420 people his first year and grew the church’s mission class to nearly 1,000. Haggai was asked to speak at the pastor’s conference ahead of the Southern Baptist Convention that year, and decided to preach about what was wrong with preachers.
“God help us to reappraise and to re-emphasize the place of the pulpit in evangelism,” Haggai said. “Revitalized pulpits in our land with the proper emphasis on evangelistic preaching will bring a new day spiritually and socially within our drink-hazed, lust-crazed, gold-glutted borders. Forbid, O God, that we should minimize the place of the pulpit in evangelism.”
The sermon brought him national headlines. “BLAME ON PULPIT,” one said: “Ministers Who Substitute for Gospel Preaching are Scored at Baptist Convention.” Invitations to speak started rolling—more than 700 around the country—and Haggai decided to leave pastoral ministry and become a full-time itinerate evangelist.
After many years supporting mission work and encouraging missionaries, Haggai got his chance to proclaim the gospel abroad in 1964, when he was invited to preach in Lebanon. There, an interaction with Christians in Beirut changed the rest of his career in ministry. He heard some local Christian leaders complaining about missionaries.
“Frankly, it made me angry,” Haggai later recalled. “I knew that missionaries the world over had sacrificed greatly, many giving their lives. How could anyone question the methods of those willing to pay such a high price for their commitment?”
The local leaders told him that Westerners did not cooperate with local Christians and often barred them from leadership positions, even if they had more experience and education than the missionaries. They misunderstood local cultures, causing unnecessary offense, and seemed to the unconverted to represent colonial power rather than the cause of Christ.
“People aren’t rejecting Jesus,” the Lebanese Christians said. “They’re rejecting Western domination.”
Haggai changed his mind.
“It was a significant moment for Dr. Haggai,” said Ebenezer Bittencourt, director of the Haggai Institute in Brazil. “On the plane ride home, he realized that the world was changing and that the strategy for missions and evangelism had to change too.”
He developed his first leadership training institute to “equip and inspire” national leaders in 1969, in Switzerland. The first students were from Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Korea, what was then called Formosa, and Lebanon.
Two years later, with a $500,000 gift and a $130,000 loan from Cecil Day, founder of Days Inn Hotels, Haggai moved the institute to Singapore. On Day’s advice, the board members were all Singaporean, and Haggai was the only teacher with a US passport. The ministry trained evangelists from 189 countries.
“The Haggai Leadership experience, it really changed the way I see the world,” said Josie Ching, a Christian in the Philippines. “I got it, that each of us is a missionary in our right and in the place that God placed us.”
The institute celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2019, with more than 600 leaders from more than 60 nations. The ministry committed to training 250,000 more leaders in the next decade.
Haggai was preceeded in death by his son, Johnny, who passed in 1964, and his wife, Christine, who passed in 2019. Haggai International is collecting tributes to his life and work from around the world and planning an online memorial service.
Vanessa Joy Lancellotti was a newlywed preparing to get her life moving when the unthinkable happened — a February 2016 near-death experience that was absolutely terrifying.
“I had a ruptured arteriovenous malformation of the brain … and it’s something that I wasn’t aware I had that you can actually develop … in the womb … before birth,” Lancellotti told CBN News. “And, so, it just ruptured out of nowhere when I was having tea with my two sisters, Amanda and Melissa.”
The sisters were having a good time when Lancellotti started experiencing sharp pain in the back of her head — an ache so strong she collapsed to her knees in discomfort.
Lancellotti, who tells her story in the new book, “Miracles Really Do Happen!: Jesus Makes All Things New,” said she was “really scared,” and that her sisters rushed to get her to the hospital.
“I felt [like my head] was wet inside,” she said. “I felt it rupture. I felt the bleed out.”
Lancellotti said she knew what she was experiencing was serious and “life-threatening” and that death might befall her.
“I started preparing myself to meet Jesus because I really felt and believed that, ‘OK, this is it. I think I only have a few minutes left and I better get ready and prepare myself to meet Jesus,’” she said. “And, so, I started to repent the best way that I could and go through kind of my life history.”
She continued to repent while on the way to the hospital, fully prepared to die.
By the time she reached the hospital, she was unable to function. With the hospital ill-equipped to deal with the situation, they prepared to transport her to another facility and loaded her into an ambulance.
“I was preparing to die,” Lancellotti said. “I was not praying like, ‘Oh, Lord, let me be healed,’ because I knew that this was happening quickly. … It was like I was preparing to meet the Lord.”
Suddenly, while in the ambulance, she felt like she had been swept up into a “new place” and all of her pain and fear dissipated.
“I had no recollection of the past at all whatsoever,” she said. “It’s like sin never existed, pain never existed — no physical, spiritual, emotional pain at all. It was all gone, and it was wiped away immediately, and I was in the presence of the Lord. It was just this bright white, vibrant light around me, like this pure, pure white.”
Lancellotti said it is hard to put the experience into words. Overtaken by peace, she said she was suddenly with Jesus.
“I had an encounter with Jesus, like he was standing before me and He was just brilliant,” she said. “He was in brilliant white robes with this light blue sash around him, and I remember I felt like this little girl, like I felt very pure and innocent.”
Lancellotti continued, “And I remember that Jesus — He hugged me. I felt so, so loved … just like I was completely taken out of any trauma and I was in His presence. I was in His arms … He hugged me with His wide open arms and I felt so loved, and like all the fear was gone and I knew that I was protected.”
And then she said the Lord delivered a message she’ll never forget.
“He said to me, ‘It is not yet your time,’” she said. “I went back into the ambulance or back into the hospital.”
What’s most remarkable is the fact that her heart didn’t stop, so at no time was she clinically dead. Yet she doesn’t believe the experience was merely a dream or a vision.
“I was literally in a new place,” Lancellotti said. “I believe I was in paradise. I was with Him in heaven.”
The interaction profoundly transformed her life.
“Right after I had the encounter with Christ and my family was around me, my mom, she’s like, ‘You have such a glow around you,’ and I had such a joy despite what just happened or what we were going through.”
That joy persisted even as she was prepared for surgery. Suddenly, her spiritual awareness was totally illuminated, with Lancellotti focusing on Jesus’ imminent return as well as His care for her.
“He loves me,” she said. “He saved me.”
Afterward, she started attending revivals and learned more about the Holy Spirit. Over time, she said her faith got much stronger.
“Up to that point…I knew I had a strong knowledge and understanding of the Gospel,” she said. “I had a relationship with Christ. But, up until that point, I didn’t really know very much about the power of the Holy Spirit or the gifts of the Holy Spirit and how they operate in us as believers.”
Now, Lancellotti is sharing her story in an effort to help build up others’ faith, using her book “Miracles Really Do Happen!: Jesus Makes All Things New” to inspire.
Sources:faithwire
A California pastor is getting candid about why he almost quit ministry, shedding light on struggles preachers routinely face.
Shane Idleman of Westside Christian Fellowship in Leona Valley, California, is out with a new book, “I Almost Quit: My Journey of Leading Through the Landmines of Ministry,” a text detailing the factors that almost drove him away from the pulpit.
Idleman said he had gone through a “hard season” in recent years that presented difficult challenges — a time of chaos that started with COVID-19 chaos and lockdowns, his mom’s death, health issues, and extended into other realms.
After nearly leaving it all behind, the preacher could have concealed what he faced and felt, but, instead, he decided to openly share it all.
“I didn’t want to write it, of course,” Idleman admitted of the book. “Number one, it’s a little embarrassing. Of course, I’ve got the armchair critics. … ‘It’s God’s call. You should never want to quit.’ But, then, on the other hand, we know all the pastors I’m hearing from feel the same way.”
Recent survey data show that around 1 in 100 preachers leave the pulpit each year, a relatively low number, according to Lifeway Research. But the pressures of the role are evident.
“Two in 3 (67%) [preachers] feel they must be ‘on-call’ 24 hours a day,” the research firm reported. “Another 57% say their role is frequently overwhelming, up slightly from 54% in 2015 but down from 63% in 2021.”
Lifeway continued, “Around half (47%) of pastors often feel the demands of ministry are greater than they can handle.”
Idleman was feeling some of these very pressures.
“Everything was just hitting, and hitting, and hitting,” he said. “And I went through a very difficult season.”
What’s most interesting is that Idleman’s decision to share his struggles with his congregation actually encouraged spiritual fervor and sparked revival.
“When I finally [spoke] to our congregation, the floodgates broke,” Idleman said. “The following Sunday, we couldn’t even have a service. We just went into worship, the altar’s full — it really sparked revival in our hearts and in our church.”
The preacher believes the decision to be “transparent and repentant” helped others in their own faith walk.
“I had to repent of it,” he said. “I was disgruntled, I was discouraged, I didn’t really want to go to church.”
But Idleman was encouraged by the response and decided to write the book. Already, he’s hearing from other preachers who are feeling strongly encouraged by his honesty — a testament of struggles to which many of them can deeply relate.
“I just want to be faithful,” he said. “And we get our hearts right, we’re happy, we’re filled with joy. It makes all the difference.”
Ultimately, Idleman said God worked on his heart in key ways that prevented him from actually taking the plunge and quitting. At first, he wondered if he needed a sabbatical, but his wife pushed back.
“I thank God for our spouses, right? She’s like, ‘No, I don’t think you need another sabbatical. … You need a man up and just do what God’s called you to do,’” he said.
Idleman leaned into worship and repentance, telling God about his discouragement and apologizing. He also asked the Lord to bring back joy in his life – and he committed to showing up to church and fulfilling his obligations despite his feelings.
“He’s a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him,” Idleman said of God. “And that’s a process of just pressing in.”
As for his health, the preacher regained self-discipline and was able to get his body back in order.
“When you discipline your body, it has spiritual benefits because the physical effects is spiritual,” Idleman said. “It’s quite amazing. And so all of those things combined together really just released that floodgate that opened up.”
Sources:faithwire
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സ്വന്തം പേരിൽ സ്മാർട്ഫോൺ വിപണിയിലിറക്കി ട്രംപ്; ബുക്കിങ് തുടങ്ങി, ഇന്ത്യയിലേക്ക് അൺലിമിറ്റസ് കോൾ റീചാർജ് പ്ലാൻ
യുഎസ് പ്രസിഡൻ്റ് ഡോണൾഡ് ട്രംപിന്റെ (Donald Trump) ഉടമസ്ഥതയിലുള്ള ദ് ട്രംപ് ഓർഗനൈസേഷൻ (The Trump Organization) മൊബൈൽഫോണും റീചാർജ് പ്ലാനും അവതരിപ്പിച്ച് ‘ടെലികോം’, മൊബൈൽ സേവനത്തിലേക്കും കടക്കുന്നു. 499 ഡോളർ (നിലവിലെ വിനിമയനിരക്കു പ്രകാരം ഏകദേശം 43,000 രൂപ) വിലയുള്ള ‘ടി1′ (T1) സ്മാർട്ഫോണാണ് “ട്രംപ് മൊബൈൽ’ (Trump Mobile) ബ്രാൻഡിൽ വിപണിയിലിറക്കുന്നത്.
സെപ്റ്റംബറിലാണ് ഫോൺ വിൽപനയ്ക്ക് എത്തുകയെങ്കിലും 100 ഡോളർ (8,600 രൂപ) നൽകി ഇപ്പോൾ ബുക്ക് ചെയ്യാമെന്ന് ട്രംപ് ഓർഗനൈസേഷൻ വ്യക്തമാക്കി. അതേസമയം, ഫോൺ ബുക്ക് ചെയ്യാൻ ആളുകൾ തിക്കിത്തിരക്കിയതോടെ കമ്പനിയുടെ വെബ്സൈറ്റ് ഏറെ നേരത്തേക്ക് പ്രവർത്തനരഹിതമായെങ്കിലും പിന്നീട് സജീവമായി.
റീചാർജ് പ്ലാനിലും സവിശേഷത
പ്രതിമാസം 47.45 ഡോളറിൻ്റെ (ഏകദേശം 4,000 രൂപ) റീചാർജ് പ്ലാനും ട്രംപ് ഓർഗനൈസേഷൻ അവതരിപ്പിച്ചു. അൺലിമിറ്റഡ് കോളും എസ്എംഎസും ഡേറ്റയും (ഇന്റർനെറ്റ്) ഒപ്പം 24*7 റോഡ്സൈഡ് അസിസ്റ്റൻസും ടെലിഹെൽത്ത് സേവനവും മറ്റും ഉറപ്പുനൽകുന്നതാണ് “ദ് 47 പ്ലാൻ’ (The 47 Plan). ഇന്ത്യയിലേക്ക് ത് അടക്കം 100ഓളം രാജ്യങ്ങളിലേക്ക് അൺലിമിറ്റഡ് കോളും വാഗ്ദാനം ചെയ്യുന്നു.
Sources:azchavattomonline.com
US President Donald Trump’s company, Trump Organization, launched an America-made smartphone named Trump Mobile on Monday, 16 June 2025, according to the news agency Reuters. The company aims to capture conservative consumers and give them an alternative to other major telecom providers.
According to the agency report, the company has fixed the price of the phone at $499. The Trump Organization also said that both the call centre and the manufacturing of the phones will be done in the United States.
“Trump Mobile is going to change the game, we’re building on the movement to put America first, and we will deliver the highest levels of quality and service. Our company is based right here in the United States because we know it’s what our customers want and deserve,” said Donald Trump Jr. in the official announcement on Monday.
Monthly cost of Trump Mobile
According to the official website, Trump Mobile is offering “The 47 Plan,” which is wireless services for a monthly charge of $47.45 through which users will be able to avail unlimited talk, texts, and mobile data (first 20GB at high speed).
The benefits also highlight that the users will be able to call internationally to 100 destinations, have no contract and will be eligible to cancel anytime.
The company also said that it will not carry out a credit history check before giving a user a SIM card. Trump Mobile will also give out SIM cards to people who bring their own phones.
Other special features of the new device will be to provide Roadside Assistance through Drive America.
The company also announced that it will release its golden colored ‘T1 Phone’, which is made in America, for the people of the United States.
“Trump Mobile is also excited to announce it will release the “T1 Phone” in August. It is a sleek, gold smartphone engineered for performance and proudly designed and built in the United States for customers who expect the best from their mobile carrier,” said the company in the official release.
According to the agency report, more than 60 million smartphones are purchased annually in the United States. However, all of these devices are manufactured in India. China, South Korea, India and Vietnam are the major smartphone manufacturing hubs of the world.
The agency cited that due to the higher labour costs, supply chain complexity, and dependence on overseas component sourcing, the domestic manufacturing of smartphones has always been a challenge in the US.
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Sports7 months agoSoccer Star Reprimanded for Writing ‘I Love Jesus’ on Pro-LGBT Rainbow Armband