(l to r) Death penalty panelist included Shane Claiborne, Gail Rice, Bernard “Chris” Dorsey and Randy Steidl.Randy Steidl knows firsthand what it feels like to be sentenced to death. Bernard “Chris” Dorsey argues capital punishment undermines the Christian faith. Gail Rice, whose police officer brother was killed in the line of duty, believes the death penalty is disproportionally waged against minorities and the poor. And Shane Claiborne believes no one, including convicted murderers, is beyond redemption.

The four-member panel that comprised the death penalty forum was of varied backgrounds and experiences but all argued for the same conclusion: the death penalty should be abolished.

Bestsellers – March, 2016

Fiction
1. If I Run – Terri Blackstock
2. Cold Shot – Dani Pettrey
3. Always Watching – Lynette Eason
4. Mermaid Moon – Colleen Coble
5. Restoration – Wanda Brustetter
6. Sensible Shoes – Sharon Brown
7. Room For Hope – Kim Vogel Sawyer
8. War Room – Chris Fabry
9. Two Steps Forward – Sharon Brown
10. Behold The Man – Brodie & Brock Thoene

Don't think academics when you're listening to the debut solo project from singer-songwriter Marty Lamain.

"So Break It," the seven-song release by the former Grand Rapids church music minster, just happens to double as Lamain's graduate school thesis (Lamain moved to Nashville two years ago to study vocal performance at Belmont University).

I give him an "A" for effort on this expressive and often soul-baring package of tunes.
The title track comes from a line in the ballad "It'll Take Something Beautiful." The lyrics tell of the emotional wall built by the writer to keep out pain and hurt, yet revealing a longing for connection. "It'll take something beautiful to break it down....so break it down," he invites.

Henry Sapp This is the sixth straight year that West Michigan-based comedian Henry Sapp has been part of LaughFest.

"I've been in it since the very first one," Sapp said of his part in the annual 10-day festival sponsored by Gilda's Club of Grand Rapids.

But in the 2016 version the married father of two is actually headlining a show – scheduled for March 19 at Living Word Christian Center.
"They came to me and said, 'You've always brought (other comedians) in, why don't you headline this year?'" said Sapp, 45. "And I said...that would be sweet."

Todd Cioffi is co-director of the Calvin Prison Initiative.Most inmates will never see beyond their prison walls while others eventually will be released, but what they share in common is a "moral rehabilitation" infused in their lives due to a newly accredited program called the Calvin Prison Initiative (CPI).

Up to 20 prisoners a year from any of the 31 prisons in the Michigan Department of Corrections system can apply to earn a bachelor of arts degree in ministry leadership. The program is a joint venture between Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary.

Encore Alliance of Greater Grand Rapids president L. James Harvey with his wife of 63 years, Jackie.L. James Harvey knows he faces an uphill battle, but he is convinced there should be more in store for senior adults than while away their time after they retire. Want proof? God says so, said Harvey, president of the nonprofit ministry, Encore Alliance of Greater Grand Rapids' Encore Living Program (ELP).

"I've taken a look at the Bible from beginning to end on what it has to say about longevity," said Harvey, 85, whose background includes former president of Prince George's Community College in Largo, Maryland, dean of students at Hope College in Holland and vice president of William Rainey Harper Community College in Palatine, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, and author of Christian books.

The moment a person knows they are loved by someone things usually change for the better. The moment a person doesn't feel loved by someone you often have the beginning of trouble. That, in a nutshell, is how the world functions. Sometimes we try to complicate things, but it often boils down to how much or how little love people experience. The main problem we all have in life, however, is that almost no one told us this fact. As a result, people spend much of their lives trying to figure this out and then more time trying to fix it once the problem has been defined.

West Michigan Christian web writer Terry DeBoer surveys the landscape for the area's faith-based arts and entertainment events over the coming month. Here are three highlights for March:

World Mission CEO Greg Kelley cuts the ribbon to an appreciative crowd.Staff and administrators at World Mission (WM) showcased its new headquarters to the public Feb. 26, 2016, but its aim to provide solar-powered audio Bibles to illiterate people living in Third World countries remains firmly intact.

WM chief executive officer Greg Kelley officially cut the ribbon inside WM's new facility at 4200 Alpine Ave. NW, Comstock Park, amid appreciative applause, which was then followed by two prayers, one said in Arabic and the second in English.

Dan SeabornBob's the kind of guy who you'd think has it all together. He prefers his clothing crisp, his hair clean-cut, his problems solvable, his life in order. This is a man people go to for answers. With 40 years of marriage under his belt—with kids and grandkids growing like weeds—it would be fair to assume that Bob has mostly figured out home life by now. There's no surprising the guy anymore, you'd think.

Volunteers in Flint help unload donated waterGrand Rapids pastor and national gospel recording artist Marvin Sapp wanted to do something more.

The leader and co-founder of Grand Rapids Lighthouse Full Life Center on Madison Ave SE was already scheduled to speak at a February revival at a church in Flint. But when the city's plight with dangerous lead levels in its water supply came to light, Sapp knew something else needed doing.

"We can't sit idly by and watch this.....and not do what we can to help," he said.
And so Sapp's congregation raised funds and sent to Flint a semi-trailer of 17,000 bottles of water which were distributed by The Church of the Harvest on Flint's northwest side (truck and delivery were donated by Corrigan Transportation).

The Jefferson Avenue location will an extension of New Community Church’s Community Recovery Counseling Center and provide space for two congregations: Greater Glory Missionary Baptist Church and Take Hold Church.Rev. Lew Vander Meer, senior pastor of New Community Church in northeast Grand Rapids, confirmed the church’s counseling ministry is in the throes of extending its outreach in the former Garfield Park Reformed Church.

Vander Meer said the 90-year-old building located at 1975 Jefferson Ave. SE will be used for its Community Recovery Counseling Center (CRCC), a 12-step recovery ministry that addresses a host of addictive and mental health challenges from a biblical perspective. CRCC is open to the public and provides counseling for all ages. An average of 150 to 200 people avail themselves to CRCC.

Vander Meer’s son, Mark, is CRCC’s founder and director.

Abraham Lincoln is near universally considered the greatest president in American history. Many scholars also regard Lincoln as America's greatest "civil theologian.

Interestingly, Lincoln remains the only president who used the name Jesus Christ rather than simply God in his public utterances. And his Second Inaugural Address delivered March 4, 1865, stands as one of the most impressive theologically infused orations in American political history.

Rick Hopkins and his wife Nicole Are you open to God's leading each and every day? Even in surprising, unexpected ways?

On a recent Grand Rapids morning, Rick Hopkins found himself with an unanticipated opportunity for ministry. His story reveals the blessings that can come when you act on the Spirit's prompting.

Rick made the following Facebook post after his unusual morning: "I just had one of those moments where God became very real. I went into work even earlier than normal today and got there at 6:30am. The coffee machine at work was busted. It's never been busted. So I decided to drive to Biggby near Beltline and 28th, one that I don't normally go to.

Tammy Trent Tammy Trent said she's looking forward to returning to her native West Michigan to be a presenter at the "Get Real" womens' conference, Feb. 19-20 at Community Reformed Church in Zeeland.

"We women carry so much with us – the weight of family, children, work, caring for husbands or parents and trying to be the glue of the family," said the singer-author-speaker from her Nashville, Tenn. office.

"This will be a chance to get together as girl friends and let it go for a day or two, and see the surprises and challenges in realizing that we're not alone, and to see how God can show up for us in this moment."

Catherine McClung’s “Birds of the Bible” was the 2015 first place winner.The winter doldrums stand a good chance of being dashed for those who experience First United Methodist’s 43^rd annual Celebration of the Arts (COF).

The Feb. 12-24 juried spiritual arts festival will display artwork submissions from 190 artists who live within a 150-mile radius of First United, located in downtown Grand Rapids at 227 East Fulton Street.Admission to Celebration of the Arts is free and open to the public.

Lori Layne is president of the Michigan chapter of Pilots for Christ.Dennis Emmons was a homeless, penniless man dying of brain cancer when Lori Layne agreed to fly to Houston and transport him to the Sparrow Hospital in Lansing. In and out of consciousness, Layne succeeded in receiving an answer from him that served as a comforting balm to his estranged sister.

Layne, president of the Michigan chapter of Pilots for Christ (PFC), flew Emmons to Michigan in 2011 at the request of his sister. Between the drugs to manage his pain and the disease itself, Emmons was not always coherent.

Read more: Pilots for Christ Expands Gospel-Outreach via Free Transportation Add new comment

Bestsellers – February, 2016

Fiction
1. Thin Ice- Irene Hannon
2. Mermaid Moon – Colleen Coble
3. First Hostage- Joel Rosenberg
4. Cold Shot – Dani Pettrey
5. War Room – Chris Fabry
6. Cup of Dust- Susie Finkbeiner
7. Always Watching – Lynette Eason
8. Two Steps Forward – Sharon Brown
9. Restoration – Wanda Brunstetter
10. Sensible Shoes – Sharon Brown

West Michigan Christian News writer Terry DeBoer surveys the landscape for the area's faith-based arts and entertainment events over the coming month. Here are three highlights for February.

Rev. Mitri Raheb: “I learned how to have the courage to go against the grain and to swim upstream.” Rev. Mitri Raheb lives and ministers in Bethlehem, Palestine, an area of the world that requires him to walk a cultural and religious tightrope.

He has witnessed his hometown reduced to rubble and shattered glass. Yet through it all, God had a plan, Raheb said recently at Calvin College’s January Series, which marked its 29^th anniversary this year.

Kurt VerBeek: “We’ve got to stop listening to the culture’s lie that our safety and comfort is a top priority.” There are 1,379 references in the Bible related to justice, according to Kurt VerBeek, who accomplished his personal Google search of the word to gird himself for a difficult future he knew he would encounter when he and his staff decided to walk a tightrope for change in a Central American country rife with corruption.

By standing up for victims of violence, labor and land-rights abuse and government corruption in Honduras, organizations around the world, including Transparency International and the United Nations, are increasingly recognizing VerBeek, Association for a More Just Society (AJS) as a pioneer in achieving justice for the poor, said VerBeek, director of Calvin College's Justice Studies semester in Honduras and co-founder of the AJS, a Christian justice organization that focuses on Honduras. VerBeek recently spoke at Calvin College's January Series.

Gabriel and Jeanette Salguero co-lead the multiethnic Lamb’s Church in New York City.Some ministers understandably prefer not to mix together in their messages current-events and politics. Rev. Gabriel Salguero is not one of them.

Speaking recently at Calvin College's January Series, Salguero shared the stage with his wife, Jeanette, who translated his message from English to Spanish.