New Digital Praise® Guitar Praise™ Set To Take Center Stage With Kids, Families This Fall

Digital Praise® Inc, the leader in Christian-themed, family-friendly entertainment software, today announced Guitar Praise™, its new inspirational PC guitar game, at the International Christian Retail Show 2008 in Orlando. Combining unique play features with a playlist of today's most popular Contemporary Christian rock hits, Guitar Praise gives Christian retailers a headlining opportunity to build on the $1 billion guitar game segment that continues to smash sales records among young consumers.

In creating Guitar Praise, Digital Praise has applied its intimate knowledge of player tastes gained through its #1 best-selling Dance Praise™ dance arcade game franchise. "Our research shows that 92% of Dance Praise families, and 100% of Dance Praise churches, are interested in Guitar Praise," said Tom Bean, President and CEO of Digital Praise, Inc. "People love the console guitar games on the market, but many would like more family-friendly songs and graphics. Guitar Praise gives kids, families and youth groups the play features they like best, plus some new twists as well as the best Christian rock titles out there today."

Guitar Praise features 52 of the most inspirational and pulsating tracks from the Christian rock world, all by the original artists. Today's most popular hits are combined with classics from the 80's and 90's; the playlist includes titles from Flyleaf, Skillet, Stellar Kart, tobyMac, Newsboys, Petra, 12 Stones, Spoken, Whitecross, Thousand Foot Krutch, Paul Baloche, David Crowder, and Red, plus many others.

Find out more about this great new program.

Third Day was on The Tonight Show last night. If you missed it, that's OK, because we have the VIDEO!

Not only possibly the best band in Christian Music right now, but also one of the best bands in all of music right now, Third Day showed the Hollywood crowd a little bit about uplifting rock and roll. The crowd loved it, and you will too. Here is Third Day's Call My Name live, the first single from their new hit CD REVELATION. It is one of the best CD's you will ever hear in my personal opinion, so be sure to pick up a copy or two today, or head on over to I-Tunes or Amazon for the download.

A heartbreaking yet heartwarming story - Steven Curtis Chapman on Good Morning America

No one could imagine an accident so terrible, as Maria, the child they adopted from China, now 5 years old and full of life and personality dies due to being ran over in an SUV by their youngest son. Amazingly it seems instead of tearing this family apart, this has brought them closer together. How you might ask? Only by the grace of God and the prayers of thousands of fans including myself. Get out your hankies for this video, this one is going to make you cry.

From YouTube and ABC News.

Free Christian music download - Downhere's new single My Last Amen

A great band from Canada with a unique sound, you will likely be hearing a lot more from Downhere over the next few months and years. Never turn down the chance to get a free legal download like this one.

Download the new single from DOWNHERE

Devout Heisman winner declines spot in 'Playboy' lineup

One year after winning college football's highest honor, University of Florida star Tim Tebow was pulled from consideration for Playboy's pre-season All-American team because the magazine conflicts with his Christian beliefs, a school official confirmed.

Tebow, who last year became the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy, comes from a family of missionaries and is a devout Baptist. Assistant Sports Information Director Zack Higbee said he chose not to nominate his quarterback for the Playboy spread based on what he knew about Tebow's spirituality.

"I've been working with Tim since his first day here and I know his priorities and his family," Higbee said. "He has that trust in me to make the decision."

As a teenager, the home-schooled Tebow made annual trips to the Philippines, where his father, a minister, runs an orphanage. This year, he went on separate missions to the Philippines, Croatia, and Thailand.

Higbee said Tebow supported the move when told of it this month. Playboy Sports Editor Gary Cole downplayed the university's decision, however, and said that Tebow would not have made the team anyway.

More from USA Today

Son of top Hamas leader converts to Christianity - 'I hope my father and family open their eyes to Jesus and the Kingdom of God'

The son of one of the most popular leaders in the Hamas terrorist organization has moved to the U.S. and converted to Christianity, it has emerged.

In an exclusive interview with Israel's Haaretz newspaper, Masab Yousuf, son of West Bank Hamas leader Sheik Hassan Yousef, slammed Hamas, praised Israel and said he hoped his terrorist father will open his eyes to Jesus

and to Christianity.

"I know that I'm endangering my life and am even liable to lose my father, but I hope that he'll understand this and that God will give him and my family patience and willingness to open their eyes to Jesus and to Christianity. Maybe one day I'll be able to return to Palestine and to Ramallah with Jesus, in the Kingdom of God," Masab said.

More from WorldNetDaily

Abortion clinic prayer vigils coming to 100 cities - For 40 days and nights, Christians will seek end of killing

In two previous campaigns by Christians to disrupt America's abortion industry with continuous prayer, officials with the 40 Days for Life campaign say 35,000 have participated in vigils, 514 babies have been saved and five abortion industry workers have lost their jobs.

Now a third campaign is on the calendar, with a signup deadline of July 29 for cities to take part in the outreach. Most locations will have prayer warriors on the sidewalks outside abortion clinics 24 hours a day from Sept. 24 through Nov. 2.

Spokesman David Bereit said the first campaigns have seen 150,000 people praying and fasting for an end to abortion in the U.S., and half of the 35,000 marching in vigils were on the lines for the first time.

He also said two abortion centers have closed their doors following the campaigns.

"We have had 340 cities express interest [in the new campaign,]" he told WND. "We are well on our way to having more than 100 actually registered.

"It's a massive undertaking. People are committing to call on believers to pray and fast for 40 days – that's 960 hours with people physically present," he said.

More from WorldNet Daily

South Dakota Remains First Abortion-Free State after Planned Parenthood Abortionists Refuse to Work

On Monday, July 21, eight women arrived at the Planned Parenthood office in Sioux Falls abortions but were instead met with locked doors and a hand-written not indicating the only abortion clinic in South Dakota was closed.

Planned Parenthood remains closed for abortions after their abortionists, who are flown in from other states, refused of work under the new law that went into effect last Friday. The law orders abortionists to inform patients of the humanity of their babies and that the procedure could affect their mental health two hours before the abortion can be done. The law also provides that abortionists can be sued if they do not comply.

This law was the brain-child of attorney Harold Cassidy and passed with the help of determined pro-life leaders Dr. Alan and Leslee Unruh, who pushed for the regulation in the face of opposition even from those in the pro-life movement. The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cleared the way for the law's enactment last week.

In remains unclear if the Planned Parenthood office has permanently ceased the practice of abortion. However, several women who were scheduled for abortions this week went to a pro-life center instead where some have reportedly changed their minds about having abortions.

More at Christian News Wire

Josh Hamilton - An amazing story of faith and overcoming drug addiction

Not a Great Night to be an Atheist

Josh Hamilton had a dream that he would be in Yankee Stadium in a Home Run Derby contest. The 27 year-old slugger from the Texas Rangers had his dream come true July 14, and he put on the greatest display of power and consistency in the history of the event. It wasn’t long ago that Hamilton wasn’t a professional baseball player at all. He was a cocaine and heroin addict. He had dropped out of baseball for three years.Once a prospect for the Tampa Bay Rays, Hamilton’s addiction cost him his job.

The thrill of being at the ball park was not as great as the craving for the next high. Drafted in 1999, he started using after an auto accident in 2001. Hamilton’s drug addiction led to a suspension by Major League Baseball for violation of the league's joint drug treatment and prevention program on February 18, 2004.

Read more, including the Happy Ending at Drug Addiction Support

Why John McCain may still be alive - Billy Graham and McCain's Father Prayed for Son's Release from POW Camp

The Reverend Billy Graham says he prayed for John McCain when he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam -- decades before the two finally met for the first time in North Carolina on Sunday.

Publicist Mark DeMoss says the 89-year-old evangelist told McCain that he met the senator's father, who was an admiral in Honolulu, during the Vietnam War.

Graham recalled that he and Admiral McCain prayed for young John McCain's release, and did so again at a subsequent meeting.

This past Sunday, DeMoss says the Republican presidential candidate prayed with both Billy and Franklin Graham during a 45-minute private meeting.

From Christian World News

Americans' Charitable Giving Hits a Record

Americans gave a record amount to charity in 2007, topping $300 billion for the first time, despite mounting economic worries.

Still, there are indications that slowing growth is taking a toll on giving. The 3.9% increase in donations last year was far less than spikes of roughly 10% and 13% in 2004 and 2005, respectively. In addition, researchers revised 2006's giving increase downward to a meager 0.4% from 4.2%.

Americans donated $306.39 billion last year, according to the closely watched annual report from the Giving USA Foundation, a nonprofit educational organization in Glenview, Ill. After adjusting for inflation, donations rose only 1% from the roughly $295 billion donated in 2006.

The report culls data from the Internal Revenue Service and Bureau of Economic Analysis, among other sources. The findings are preliminary estimates and subject to revision.

More at the Wall Street Journal

State frees teachers to criticize evolution - Global warming, origins of life, cloning also may be scrutinized

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal this week signed into law the Louisiana Science Education Act, which allows school districts to permit teachers to present evidence, analysis and critique of evolution and other prevalent scientific theories in public school classrooms.

The law came to the governor's desk after overwhelming support in the legislature, including a unanimous vote in the state's Senate and a 93-4 vote in the House.

The act has been criticized by some as an attempt to insert religion into science education and hailed by others as a blow for academic freedom in the face of pressure to ignore flaws in politically correct scientific theories.

Robert Crowther, director of communications for The Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based think tank on science and culture, called the act necessary.

Specifically, the act allows teachers in the state's public schools to present evidence both for and against Darwinian theories of evolution and allows local school boards to approve supplemental materials that may open critical discussions of evolution, the origins of life, global warming, human cloning and other scientific theories.

More from WorldNetDaily

92% of Americans believe in God or a universal spirit, Pew survey finds

Americans overwhelmingly believe in God and consider religion an important part of their lives, even as many shun weekly worship services, according to a national survey released today that also found great diversity in religious beliefs and practices.

Ninety-two percent of those interviewed for the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey said they believe in the existence of God or a universal spirit, and 58% said they pray privately every day. But California, like other states along the country's two coasts, resisted the prevailing national tendencies.

More from the LA Times

Jesus in China

Christianity — repressed, marginalized and, in many cases, illegal in China for more than half a century — is sweeping the country, overflowing churches and posing a sensitive challenge to the officially atheist Communist Party. By some estimates Christian churches, most of them underground, now have roughly 70 million members, as many as the party itself. A growing number of those Christians are in fact party members.

Christianity is thriving in part because it offers a moral framework to citizens adrift in an age of Wild West capitalism that has not only exacted a heavy toll in corruption and pollution but also harmed the global image of products "Made in China."

More from The Chicago Tribune

Decalogues everywhere, with thanks to the ACLU! Project Moses promoting God's Laws with Ten Commandments monuments

Thousands of stone Ten Commandments monuments on highly visible properties in communities across the nation, millions of smaller plaques in Christian and Jewish homes, and a massive bronze showing the biblical image of Moses holding the stones on which God wrote… The target of the ACLU? Nope. Thanks to the ACLU! Joe Worthing, the executive director for Project Moses, says his organization, only a few years old, is well on its way to reaching many of its goals of placing Ten Commandments monuments all over the nation, and it's because of a complaint from the ACLU.

The ministry was launched by John Menghini, an Overland Park, Kan., businessman, who was disturbed by a news story about the ACLU demanding and getting the removal of a Ten Commandments monument from a Kansas City courthouse.

The result was Project Moses, which works to install 900-pound stone monuments to God's Laws on church and other private properties in prominent civic locations across the country. Hundreds already are installed, as well as thousands of smaller stone plaques that are offered to families for their homes.

"The ACLU is not the problem [with removing the Ten Commandments from America]," Worthing told WND. "We need to send them a thank you. They awakened a sleeping giant.

More at WorldNetDaily

Shroud of Turin to Go on Display in 2010

Pope Benedict says the Shroud of Turin will go on rare public display in 2010.

The shroud, which is revered by many Christians as the burial cloth of Jesus, was last was shown to the public in 2000.

More than 1 million visitors viewed it in Turin cathedral during a special display for the new millennium Holy Year.

Believers say the image on the cloth was left by Christ's body after he was taken off the cross.

More from Christian World News

Holy water? Christian man's car 'gets 100 miles per ounce'

With gasoline prices in the $4 per gallon range, a Christian inventor in Florida claims he's developed a way to seriously stretch the fuel mileage on his car. "I get 100 miles to the ounce on water," Anthony Brown told WJXX-TV in Jacksonville. "I can run any water – distilled water, drinking water, tap water."

"Right now it's using a little bit of gas. If anything, it's getting a fuel vapor. I've got the fuel injection system shut down," he added. Sporting a T-shirt that proclaims, "Today, He Forgives," Brown brought his vehicle and the local ABC affiliate to a mechanic to examine his system, which he says is still in development.

Brown, who the station says runs the Wings of Love Ministry, indicated any profit from the invention would help missionaries around the world. "I've just been asking for a way the Lord to show me to raise money rapidly, and I started working on this idea," he said.

I've got my doubts about this one but I hope it is for real.

More at WorldNetDaily

'God loves you, Reno,' billboard says

A Southern Baptist church plant in Reno, Nev., has come up with a plan to counter the hateful messages touted by frequent protestor Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church group: Rent space on a billboard to proclaim God's love for the people of Reno.

"Out here, a lot of people are just kind of ignorant to the Gospel," Mike Stewart, pastor of Discovery Fellowship, said, referring to a cultural lack of knowledge regarding true Christianity. "If they know anything about God, it's either He's indifferent or He's angry or He hates women."

So in a staff meeting at the church, the idea of renting billboard space was conceived. The church learned they could rent space for $7,000 for 16 weeks, and they quickly raised the funds.

"I've heard people say that money follows vision, especially compelling vision, and within two weeks we paid cash," Stewart said. "It came from people within our church, people who know of our church but live across the country, and then the Nevada Baptist Convention helped out too."

Now the proclamation "God loves you, Reno," along with the Discovery Fellowship Web address, is one of eight messages that rotate on a digital billboard on a well-traveled thoroughfare in Reno.

More Good News on this story from Baptist Press.

Phil Stacey's Christian Roots Anchor His Country Album Debut

American Idol alumnus Phil Stacey has combined his Christian upbringing and a passion for country music on his new self-titled album for Lyric Street Records. As a consequence, the album is being worked in both musical formats.

"If You Didn't Love Me" has already climbed to No. 32 on Billboard's country singles chart, while "Identity," an introspective album cut, is being programmed on several contemporary Christian radio stations. EMI Christian Music Group is distributing the album to Christian music outlets.

"I sing Christian songs on my country record," Stacey says, a point rendered apparent by a close reading of the lyrics, many of which could allude equally well to earthly or spiritual love. The son and grandson of ministers, Stacey was born 30 years ago in the tiny Harlan County hamlet of Loyal, Ky. During Stacey's youth, his father moved to other pastorates in Kentucky and Ohio before settling into a ministry in Wichita, Kan., where Stacey attended both junior high and senior high school.

More from CMT.com

Also - Jonas Brothers bring Christian pop rock to UK from The Telegraph

Crossover Christian Music Festival to celebrate 10th year at Lake of the Ozarks

The nation’s top Christian contemporary and rock recording artists, plus several rising stars, will perform at the 10th annual Crossover Christian Music Festival, June 12-14, Lake of the Ozarks. One of mid-America’s largest Christian music events, the Crossover festival is expected to attract 10,000 music fans to the Stoneridge Amphitheater in Camdenton.

The three-day worship experience will offer both the main stage and a side stage featuring up-and-coming acts, as well as food concessions, merchandise vendors, and opportunities to meet the performers. In addition, Crossover will participate in Essential Records’ National Talent Search on the new Alternative Stage. Admission is free for the shows on the alternative stage from 9:00 a.m. to about 3:00 p.m.

Big Plus - Full one day tickets are only $30 at the gate!

More at Lakeexpo.com