People call him "Shoe Bob," but his real name is Bob Fisher. He owns a small shoe repair shop tucked in a corner of a little strip mall in Wayzata, Minnesota. Average height, average build. Shoe Bob looks like your average, hard-working, churchgoing guy.

But he is not an average guy.

Shoe Bob is a radical servant who has found a way to help the homeless. He helps the homeless by rallying his whole community, ...

Luis Palau, the Argentine-born international evangelist, describes how God expanded his ministry:

...

And the Lord gave me a verse. It sounds a bit bombastic, sort of big-headed, so I don't like to quote it in public. But to paraphrase, the Lord basically says, "I will open up nations to you." I took it personally, as a word from the Lord, and I wrote in the flyleaf of my Bible, "1966 (February, I ...

Justice is what love looks like in public.

—Cornel West, U.S. professor and scholar (1956—)

Mike and Marie Meaney of Bellevue, Washington, have a unique ministry in their retirement years.

After completing 40 years in their respective careers as caterer and teacher, they knew God wasn't through with them. Sensing God's direction, Marie, on her 60th birthday, flew to Lusaka, Zambia, Central Africa, to assess needs of teachers and students.

She returned home and began writing a curriculum for ...

It was an episode of Law & Order that confronted Christian recording artist Natalie Grant with the horrors of child sex trafficking in South Asia. When she turned off the television set, she knew she was being called to do something for the 6 million children who are sold and abused worldwide. Later that evening she discovered two faith-based organizations that rescue children from prostitution: Shared ...

For almost 10 years, Adam Bruckner, [assistant coach for the Philadelphia Kixx indoor soccer team], has made it his personal mission to help the homeless. Actually, "help" would be an understatement for what he does. Although he earns a modest income, he gives away practically everything. And when he decided that wasn't enough, he whittled his living expenses down to two items: gas for his car and ...

In this age of overflowing mega churches and high-profile Christian ministries, can a tiny congregation hidden in the middle of America make a difference?

Consider West Covington Baptist Church. Kalkidan Tessema, a 4-year-old Ethiopian girl, is alive and well today thanks to this northern Kentucky church with a Sunday attendance of about 25 people.

Last year, when member Grace Wilson received e-mails ...

In a 2007 edition of Newsweek magazine, author and radio personality Garrison Keillor was asked to choose what he considered to be the five most important books. Some readers were probably surprised to find that he ranked the Book of Acts at the top of his list. When describing the Book of Acts, Keillor offered this concise but potent summation: "The flames lit on their little heads and bravely and ...

In the opening chapters of his autobiographical classic The Seven Storey Mountain, Thomas Merton offers a unique look at the church's place in society. After his mother died, his father, an artist, traveled the world with Thomas often in tow. Religion had a more peripheral presence in young Thomas's life, but at one particular place of residence in France—the small town of St. Antonin—the ...

When a gnawing crack addiction engulfed Andy's life almost two decades ago, he abandoned family and friends. He was sleeping on park benches in Chicago's exclusive Gold Coast area when another homeless man suggested he earn an easy $250 from a car that sidled to the curb. To feed the drug habit, Andy gave it a try and began selling his body to gay men at night.

"It gave me a false sense of feeling ...