CHARISMA: When did you first discover that your testimony could help bring healing to others?Sarah Jakes: I created this blog and took what I was feeling and I put it into words. It exposed my wounds and helped me vent. I revealed situations that still had pain, and I...
Chonda Pierce’s personal testimony of enduring abuse, depression and the death of two sisters is anything but funny. Yet the Christian comedian has used it—and lots of genuinely hilarious material—to heal hearts through laughter for more than 20 years. She...
Francesca Battistelli (Warner Nashville)If We’re Honest hits stores three years after Francesca Battistelli released her sophomore album, Hundred More Years.The new album is set to be her most intimate to date, with the “Write Your Story” single already sailing up the...
Gospel for Asia (Saylors Brothers)Though shocking at times, Veil of Tears offers a rare and riveting look into the lives of millions of women in India who endure oppression. A documentary that shows how violence toward women has been ingrained in this society for...
Willie Robertson, star of A&E’s hit reality television show Duck Dynasty, has always been vocal about his family’s mission to see souls saved. Despite the program’s fourth season shattering ratings records this fall, with more than 11.8 million viewers in...
It might not be kosher to list a sibling’s album as one of your all-time favorites, but honest to God, our sister Rebecca St. James’ record Christmas is at the top of the list. Classy work, if we do say so ourselves. —Felicia Abraham
I remember buying Andy Williams’ first Christmas album [The Andy Williams Christmas Album] at a flea market. I love all the memories associated with it: the cover, the wonder it inspired in me, how it made me feel the magic of Christmas and how listening to it was...
A Charlie Brown Christmas. No question. I am a fool for nostalgia, and that recording—and TV show—take me straight back to my childhood. It’s jazzy and free, and I like it more the older I get. —Felicia Abraham
Amy Grant’s Home for Christmas is timeless. I have great memories of my family decorating the tree and listening to that album. We usually started playing it after Thanksgiving and kept it on until Easter! —Felicia Abraham
My favorite Christmas album is Home for the Holidays by various artists on Sparrow. It was originally released in the late ’80s and re-released [as Christmas] in the ’90s. I love nontraditional Christmas music. Fa la la la ... —Felicia Abraham
My favorite Christmas album is Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song. For me, it highlights the perfect Christmas spirit, and it also has the most anointed version of “O Holy Night” that I’ve ever heard. Nat’s voice and the arrangements always make me feel like it’s...
I think Mariah Carey has one of the most impressive voices of all time. Even though her album Merry Christmas came out in 1994 (20 years ago!), it’s still my favorite. “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is one of the most joyful, upbeat Christmas tunes I know of....
I’m often asked, “When should I leave a church or ministry team? How bad does it have to get?” I respond, “Who sent you to the church you presently attend?”The majority of the time they answer, “God did.”“If God sent you,” I reply, “do not leave until God...
Mary Pappas wasn’t sure she’d have a shot at a normal life. Diagnosed with a rare form of cancer of the thymus gland at the age of 23, she then battled cancer no less than six times—plus suffered a miscarriage—and lived to tell about all of it. In her new...