A greeting card company that was started by three Christian moms ranked recently among the top 200 Leading Moms in Business competition.

The Little Card Company was started in 2010, according to its website, by three mothers who one day thought about how frustrating it is that there are no photo greeting cards on the market that are modern and have faith-based messages that they could buy to send out to family and friends for Christmas.

This became the seed idea for The Little Card Company, and since its inception it has provided modern, high-quality, well-designed and faith-based options for personalized greeting cards to announce the birth of one’s child, say Merry Christmas to loved ones, send out faith-based messages on Thanksgiving, Easter or New Year, or distribute as invitations to a party, the website said

According to The Little Card Company’s website, “This is more than just putting Christ back in Christmas. Our cards offer our customers a chance to share all the exciting moments in their lives with family, friends and associates throughout the entire year. But they also go one step further — they create an opportunity to share the joy of Christian faith as it relates to those very special events.”

The Little Card Company ranked No. 72 in StartupNation’s 2011 Leading Moms in Business competition. Over a million votes went into the selection of the top 200 businesses that moms could do without having employment that would interfere with tending to the needs of one’s family, Christian Newswire said.

April Goodwin, co-founder of The Little Card Company told Christian Newswire, “We are thrilled to be recognized as a part of this fantastic group of innovative, self-starting women! Participating in this competition not only helped us grow awareness of our brand, but also provided us with a broader platform to share the news of Jesus.”

StartupNation is a website with resources to help people find the information they need to put up a business. Included is information on getting a business started, the marketplace, a connection venue for prescreened vendors, resources to get more customers, and a web community of more than 100,000 members, according to its website.

Rich Sloan, a co-founder of StartupNation told Christian Newswire, “With start-up rates at an all-time high, these moms are leading the pack in start-up rates. They’re going after business opportunities and developing innovative products and services with fervor.”

The 2011 Leading Moms in Business winners shared some of the following attributes: 1) A feel for the need to provide good value and discounts, 2) An innovative product that could meet the needs of mothers, 3) The incentive of being one’s own boss, 4) Having a social media element in the business, and 5) Adhering to responsible business practice even as it provides sustainable solutions, according to Christian Newswire.

For info on The Little Card Company, visit http://www.littlecardcompany.com/.

An interdenominational movement designated recently May to be Digital Outreach Month, with Sunday, May 15, slated as Internet Evangelism Day.

The group, Internet Evangelism Day, is an initiative of the Internet Evangelism Coalition which holds office at the Billy Graham Center in Wheaton, IL., according to Christian Newswire.

The purpose of holding Digital Outreach Month is to help churches learn about the ways that the Internet can be used for online evangelism. According to the IE Day website, the last 15 years have seen the world transform with a digital communication culture, changing the rules of effective communication both online and offline.

With some two billion web users, and double the number using mobile phones, the web has emerged, the IE Day website said, as a hyper-medium that links all digital media together.

Tony Whittaker, coordinator of IE Day said on its website, “The last 15 years have changed our world forever. Digital media are transforming the way we communicate, behave and even think. If Facebook was a country, it would have the third largest population in the world.”

In light of this, IE Day prepared a resource center to help churches around the world learn how to use the internet to share the gospel. Included is a one-year online guide with May 15 as its annual focus day, and the entire month as Digital Outreach Month, the website said.

Whittaker told Christian Newswire, “You do not need to be technical. There are many simple yet fulfilling ways of being salt and light in cyberspace.” The website includes resources to help Christians build a church website that can appeal even to non-churchgoers; and how blog and use twitter to share the gospel online. There are also opportunities to mentor others through email by linking with outreach ministries.

Free ebooks on internet evangelization

To further celebrate IE Day on May 15, several major Christian publishers have collaborated to offer free e-book downloads at the IE Day website of Christian titles that are normally paid for, which deal with evangelism through the web by using social networks and other digital forms, Christian Newswire said.

Naomi Frizzell, chief communications officer of The Lausanne Movement, told Christian Newswire, “This is a great opportunity to explore digital evangelism. I encourage Christians everywhere to take advantage of these free downloads to learn how to effectively share their faith in the digital world.”

How churches can help

IE Day is calling on churches and other Christian groups to lend time for digital evangelism this month, whether through featuring IE Day on its church bulletin, so that churchgoers can access the IE Day resource website, or set aside time during church meetings using free downloadable video clips, PowerPoint, drama sketches, etc. from IE Day’s website, Christian Newswire said.

The IE Day website also has pages that can be accessed using mobile phones. To learn more, go to www.IEDay.net.

Christian leaders have responded to the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by issuing statements and through Twitter.

Mark Tooley, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy said, “All persons of good will can be grateful that the U.S. military, helped by U.S. intelligence agencies, has successfully ended Osama bin Laden’s career of terror.”

He continued, “Sadly, since 9-11, many church voices have insisted that Christianity mandates pacifism. Hopefully there will now be greater appreciation for the Church’s historic stance that God ordained the state to punish evildoers who attack the innocent.

“The Church does not rejoice to see anyone perish. It always seeks repentance and offers God’s grace, even while recognizing the state’s duty to punish. As Christians we would have preferred to see bin Laden renounce terror. But he died, as he lived, by the sword. The Church has always understood that government has a distinct responsibility to execute justice, sometimes employing lethal force,” Christian Newswire reported.

The Vatican also released a public statement which said that bin Laden must answer to God for the killing of so many and for abusing religion as an excuse to spread hate, Reuters reported.

Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman told Reuters that Christians “do not rejoice” when a man is killed, but the death of Obama is a reminder of “each person’s responsibility before God and men.”

Lombardi told Reuters, “Osama bin Laden, as everyone knows, had the grave responsibility of having spread division and hate among people, causing the deaths of an innumerable number of people and exploiting religion for these purposes.”

Lombardi also told Reuters that he hoped that bin Laden’s death “would not be an occasion for more hate, but for peace.”

Meanwhile, Muslim extremist websites have drawn up bin Laden as a martyr who fought for Allah. One post said, “We won’t cry today, but we will revenge. Men and women in America will cry,” according to CNN.

Many Christians chose to respond to the news of bin Laden’s death by sending out Bible verses through Twitter.

The third most popular bible verse that was re-tweeted was started by Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church, who quoted Prov. 21:15. The verse is, “When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous, but terror to evildoers.”

The second most popular Bible verse re-tweeted was sent out by Rev. Run of Run DMC fame. Rev. Run tweeted Psalm 138:8 which says, “The Lord will vindicate me; your love, Lord, endures forever—do not abandon the works of your hands.”

The number one most popularly re-tweeted Bible verse is Prov. 24:17. However, it is not known who started it. The verse says, “Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice.”

GodTube has been redesigned and rebranded, and now, it is being re-launched with a whole new campaign where people who participate can win cash and prizes.

Starting on May 2, GodTube will begin a flurry of contests, promotions and announcements. The campaign, 30 Days of GodTube, is designed to generate awareness, interest and promote the use of GodTube’s many features, as well as educate users on how to benefit most from the site’s applications, according to Christian Newswire.

On May 2, GodTube will begin a 10-day video scavenger hunt. This is a competition that will be held in the first two weeks of the month. Each day, competitors may win $50, the website said.

In this contest a new clue will be posted at 8 a.m. EST on each day to find the GodTube logo on a video. Once the participants find the logo, they must comment and use the initials VSH. The winner will be randomly selected with the use of Random.org, the website said.

On May 16, entries will be accepted to the flash mob video competition. This is a contest where participants can win $1,500. Any group—a youth choir, dance group or just friends, can create a flash mob (sample flash mobs can be viewed in GodTube) whether it’s a prayer flash mob or any original idea of their choosing, the website said.

The videos have to be original and must not exceed 10 minutes. Music must also be original, or come from an EMI list of approved songs, the website specified.

Another activity, Mad Lib, is interactive and is scripted exclusively for GodTube.com, Christian Newswire said.

Godtube.com offers Christian videos and faith-based content online with sections on sports, Christian news videos, inspiration, Christian music, Christian comedians, and videos that are cute and/or funny featuring children and/or animals. There is also a Prayer Wall where one can post one’s requests, the website said.

GodTube was purchased by Salem Communications Corporation, which is the largest commercial radio broadcasting firm in the U.S. for Christian and family-oriented content and themes, Christian Newswire said.

Lindsey Neidenfeuhr, Brand Manager of GodTube.com told Christian Newswire, “This campaign will help engage our current users and educate millions of other people in a fun and interactive way. GodTube.com is as committed as ever to the original mission of offering a safe and family-friendly place to share videos.”

To date, GodTube.com has some 2.5 million visitors with eight million pages viewed monthly. Some 1,500 new videos are uploaded weekly, at a daily average of 215. Since the site was purchased by Salem Communications Corporation eight months ago, GodTube has had visitors from 228 countries, Christian Newswire said.

Neidenfeuhr told Christian Newswire, “GodTube.com is an alternative for anyone concerned about the vulgar and inappropriate videos available online. Searching the same term on both GodTube.com and YouTube.com will yield completely different results. People can rest assured GodTube.com will garner videos relevant for all ages.”

Fastest growing website

GodTube.com first opened in 2007 and was cited by ComScore as the fastest growing website in August of that year. Salem Communications Corporation has under its wing Salem Radio Network which syndicates news, talk and music programs to some 2,000 radio station affiliates.

Salem also owns Salem Media Representatives, a national media firm for advertising sales, plus Salem Web Network and Salem Publishing, according to Christian Newswire.

For full details on the contests, go to www.godtube.com/30days.

A Christian pastor wrote in his newly-released book that Christians should celebrate Easter outside the church rather than just within it.

Rev. Eric Foley, pastor of Doers of The Word Evangelical Church (with branches in Colorado Springs and Seoul, Korea) says in his book, The Whole Life Offering:   Christianity as Philanthropy that from a biblical point of view, Easter is best celebrated on the road, Christian Newswire said.

Foley, who is also co-founder and CEO of Seoul, USA, takes a deep look into Christian history, Scripture and Protestant theology. He says in his book that making one’s life an offering to God is characterized by being soaked in grace, in this way empowering one’s Christian discipleship, according to the book’s website.

In so doing one achieves full maturity in the faith. The website says, “[G]rowing to full maturity in Christ isn’t only possible; it is God’s intended purpose for every Christian, right here on earth in the midst of everyday life.”

In the first chapter Foley says the book’s goal is “[T]o enable the philanthropy of Christ to be magnified more fully in the life of the reader, and to equip the reader to mirror that philanthropy more fully into the lives of others as a continual act of worship.”

Foley adds, “The Whole Life Offering is Christ’s philanthropy. He pours the fullness of his life into any who will receive it. Those who receive it are enabled and authorized to share the length and breadth of it with others,” the website says.

Foley says, “Whether it’s the disciples who meet Jesus on the road to Emmaus or the apostles who are called out of the Upper Room and on to Galilee, the Easter message is clear: If you want to meet Jesus, hit the road,” Christian Newswire reported.

Foley writes in his book about seven spiritual disciplines that enhance loving God, and 10 outreach disciplines to strengthen loving one’s neighbor. Easter Sunday, he adds, is the perfect time to practice both branches of loving, Christian Newswire said.

The seven spiritual disciplines are called Works of Piety, while the 10 outreach disciplines are anchored on these. Foley says in the website, “We find not only what we should be doing in order to love our neighbors, but how to do it to the glory and praise of God.”  The Whole Life Offering can be purchased either at Amazon or at the book’s website, www.thewholelifeoffering.com, according to Christian Newswire.

Foley’s church, Doers of the Word meets via satellite in Seoul, Korea and Colorado Springs, Colorado. In the last 20 years Foley has trained some 1,300 church leaders on volunteerism and socially oriented programs, the website said.

A Christian organization applauded recently President Barack Obama’s pledge to work toward generating employment and balancing the budget in his State of the Union address.

Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World said that even as the president is in the right direction, he hoped that those most in need would not carry the weight of the recession, Christian NewsWire said.

Beckmann told Christian Newswire, “As a nation, we must address our ballooning budget deficit. Yet at the same time, we must ensure that hungry and poor people do not bear the brunt of deficit reduction efforts.”

Beckmann stressed, “cutting or reducing our investments in programs that benefit the least among us is morally wrong.” In particular he cited programs that serve as safety nets for people who are in dire need, Christian NewsWire reported.

For example, Beckmann cited the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly food stamps), and tax credits for the working poor. Beckmann told Christian Newswire that these types of programs only compose 14 percent of the federal budget.

Beckmann told Christian Newswire, “Investing in programs such as SNAP provide an immediate boost to local economies. Low-income families spend SNAP benefits immediately, which spur greater economic activity in their communities. Eighty percent of all SNAP benefits are redeemed within two weeks of receipt, and 97 percent are spent within a month. Every dollar in SNAP benefits generates almost $1.75 in economic stimulus to local communities.”

Tighten one’s belt

Rep. Paul D. Ryan told the Los Angeles Times that he believed Obama repackaged his earlier call for ‘stimulus’ as ‘renewed investment,’ and said there is a need to tighten one’s belt. “Whether sold as ‘stimulus’ or repackaged as ‘investment,’ their actions show they want a federal government that controls too much, taxes too much, and spends too much in order to do too much,” Ryan told the Los Angeles Times.

However, Ryan admitted that the Republicans share part of the responsibility for the increasing debt. He said the government must make spending cuts, even as the Republican party last Tuesday reverted their spending to the levels of 2008, the Los Angeles Times said.

Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell, Senate minority leader, applauded Obama’s backing of a five-year freeze on federal discretionary spending, but added, “We need to reduce domestic spending substantially,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

A press release from Richard A. Viguerie, chairman of the Tea Party’s Conservative HQ.com deplored both Obama and the Republican response from Sen. Ryan, Christian NewsWire said.

Viguerie told Christian NewsWire that there was an overall failure in leadership from both Obama and the Republican Party. Of the latter, he said, “Republicans have so far not come up with a serious plan to rescind the enormous spending of the Democratic and Republican Administrations going back to Bill Clinton.”

However, Viguerie himself did not propose any plan of action in his press release.

Sources:

http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/7956216046.html

http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/8601916045.html

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-address-gop-20110126,0,6056927.story

A company that makes Christian Manga publications launched recently a fund raiser program so that they could get enough money to go digital.

Mecha Manga Bible Heroes launched the fund raiser program Kickstarter to raise $10,000 so that they can continue to publish their bible series as Apps and digital comics that can be accessed through computers and Smartphone, Christian Newswire said.

So far, according to their website, they have raised $135 (as of this writing) from three donors. The fund raising campaign is ongoing until Monday, May 23. Depending on the amount donated, contributors will receive different tokens of thanks such as a prototype comic book, autographed hand drawn art sketch cards, or one’s likeness drawn in a crowd scene.

Mecha Manga Bible Heroes is created by Paul Castiglia and Thomas Hall. The publisher is John-Marc Gorb. It’s first issue was about the story of the shepherd boy David and the giant, Goliath, Christian Newswire said.

According to its website after the first issue the hits on the site “increased 10,000%”. They also got a great deal of publicity in print, online, through radio and on TV.

The first comic can currently be downloaded for free at itunes.apple.com/us/book/david-vs-goliath/id419801543?ls=1, according to Christian Newswire.

New twist

However a new twist to the Old Testament stories in forthcoming issues would be the inclusion of robots, advanced technology and aliens. Mecha Manga Bible Heroes is hoping with sufficient funding they can expand the story of David to a series on The Rise of King David, made in high quality digital comic format, according to its website.

Castiglia told Christian Newswire, “The journey to David’s kingship is packed with action, adventure and intrigue as David becomes a fugitive from the deadly King Saul, jealous over the adoration David has received since slaying the giant (robot) Goliath.”

Mecha Manga is hoping to make a complete epic series on David by offering digital downloads of three installments. It is hoped that all four issues will, in due time, be made available as a printed paperback special edition as well, with new art re-workings on the first issue, according to its website.

The website said the new digital comic installments will be available for iTouch and iPhones, and will also be downloadable on Apple iBooks store. It is anticipated that other systems and outlets will also be possible.

Hall told Christian Newswire, “Taking stock of limited financial backing and distribution of our printed comic book and the current economic situation it became apparent that digital distribution is the way to go.”

Dream team

Mecha Manga has a dream team behind it, with Castiglia’s background as a veteran writer and editor who worked with DC, Dark Horse and Archie comics. Hall was a co-creator and writer for R-13, the most downloaded independent and award winning comic. Grob created FriendFish and the highly popular Noah A-Z download, Christian Newswire said.

New people on board are Joey Endres as co-writer, and artist Jeff Slemons for covers and Eric Merced and Josh Alves for the interior pages, Christian Newswire reported.

Those interested in donating may do so at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/805513803/mecha-manga-bible-heroes-the-rise-of-king-david.

A congressman urged recently President Barack Obama to raise the issue of human rights violations in China stemming from its one-child per couple policy, when the president meets with China’s President Hu Jintao this week.

Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey, in a press conference, said women in China are forced to abort their babies and oftentimes, because they can only have one child, they are pressured to abort females, Life News said.

Smith said, “[China’s one-child policy] is ‘marked by pervasive propaganda, mandatory monitoring of women’s reproductive cycles, mandatory contraception, and mandatory birth permits, coercive fines for failure to comply, and…forced sterilization and abortion,’” Life News reported.

Smith said that in China, “illegal children” cannot have access to health care, education and marriage. Fines to bear illegal children are ten times the yearly income of both parents, and families who fail to pay may be jailed or their child may be killed, Life News said.

Smith also said the family of an illegally pregnant woman who flees may be beaten and jailed, and neighbors and colleagues may be denied birth permits because of her. Women are also physically forced to have abortions, according to Life News.

Chai Ling, a former Tiananmen Square student leader, showed a petition of 1,500 signatures and photos of 300 people around the world urging Obama to raise the issue of abortion and gendercide with Hu, Christian Newswire said.

Chai said over 35,000 coerced and forced abortions take place daily in China, and a baby dies every 2.5 seconds. One of every six girls is aborted for her gender, and 500 women commit suicide, “five times the world average rate,” Christian Newswire reported.

Chai also said 3,000 baby girls are abandoned in street corners daily, while over 200 women and children are sold to slavery. Chai said, “The brutal and violent enforcement of the one-child policy is the largest crime against humanity; it is the inhuman secret slaughter against mother and babies,” according to Christian Newswire.

During the press conference Smith told the story of Wujian, a victim of forced abortion. Wujian hid from the population police but was found and brought forcibly to a hospital where she saw “hundreds of pregnant moms,” who were “like pigs in a slaughterhouse,” Life News reported.

Wujian’s baby was cut into pieces in her womb, and then sucked out. In her testimony she said, “I could hear the sound of the scissors cutting the body of my baby…one nurse showed me part of a bloody foot with her tweezers,” Life News reported.

Borrowing from the words of the late Rev. Martin Luther King, Chai said she had a dream of children in China growing up with “brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts,” of  “mothers [who] mourn no more because they are with children, and of tears wiped from the “faces of parents whose children were taken,” Christian Newswire reported.

Chai also said she dreamed that “justice will roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream…that God would bless his promised land of China and the World,” according to Christian Newswire.

Canada’s largest faith-based programming network will join forces with U.S. based ComStar Media LLC, which has access to more than 40 million homes.

Crossroads, Canada’s leading faith and values media content provider for some 50 years, along with Crossroads Television System, a leader in faith-based, balanced programming, is now partnering with ComStar Media LLC, which operates the television networks Family Net and American Life, accessing some 40 million homes, Christian Newswire said.

ComStar is headed by Robert A. Schuller (formerly of Crystal Cathedral) and CEO Christ Wyatt, who founded GodTube and many other social media networks. Founded in 2008, ComStar acquires media properties with global distribution for faith programming through television, the internet and mobile phones, according to Christian Newswire.

Under the agreement, Canada’s CTS will have exclusive Canadian access to the media libraries of American Life and Family Net. They will also be permitted to use ComStar’s social media platforms, Christian Newswire reported.

At the same time, Canada’s Crossroads/CTS will have access to licensing so that its content can be broadcast on ComStar’s networks. The partnership also will facilitate future co-productions, Christian Newswire said.

Schuller told Christian Newswire, “This exciting new partnership between ComStar and Crossroads/CTS will allow us to extend our reach by offering our award winning media library to the largest Christian Broadcaster in Canada. Mr. [Don] Simmonds and I share the vision for the future of Christian television programming, which includes a more sustainable economic model. We’re thrilled to take part in the next generation of television.”

Simmonds, chairman and CEO of Crossroads/CTS told Christian Newswire, “The strategy and vision of ComStar closely matches that of Crossroads and CTS. It begins to fulfill our dream of finding capable, compatible partners around the world with whom we will work to produce and distribute clear faith and values messages more broadly through the media.”

Simmonds added, “Most importantly, the people behind ComStar believe in our vision to communicate a relevant message of Christian faith and values to North Americans of all ages, along their whole faith journey; using multiple technology platforms,” according to Christian Newswire.

Sources:

http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/4764215948.html

For the first time, a Christian clothing line received an exclusive invitation to be at the Golden Globe gifting suite.

Faith Baby Inc., a Christian baby apparel line, will be at the 2011 Pre-Golden Globe Boom Boom Room Baby and Big Kid Gifting Suite, according to Christian Newswire.

The five-year-old company has, according to its website, a wide range of Christian baby items including ruffled baby bloomer diaper covers, Christian baby onesies, Christian accessories, Christian toddler shirts and baby crochet beanies.

The founder and owner of Faith Baby Inc. is Stephanie McGuire, a Christian wife and mother to three children—one boy, Joshua, and two girls, Grace and Faith, according to her blog.

McGuire told Christian Newswire that the invitation was sent to her from fashion guru and internationally-renowned clothing designer Jayneoni Moore. She was selected by Moore when the latter happened to come across Faith Baby’s blog.

McGuire was also delighted to learn that Faith Baby was given exclusivity in offering Ruffled Baby Bloomers, which is widely in-demand baby fashion item in the industry today, according to Christian Newswire.

McGuire told Christian Newswire, “In its fifth year and with many A-list celebrities expected to attend the event on Jan. 14-15, this may very well be the largest children’s play date to hit Hollywood this year. Little Angels Shining for Jesus! What a great way to witness to celebrities without even saying a word.”

In Faith Baby’s website, some baby tees show Christian sayings including, “I am a child of the Most High God,” “Jesus loves me and so does my daddy,” “All God’s grace in this tiny face,” “God has big plans for me,” “Mommy’s answered prayer,” and “Blessed,” among others.

Faith Baby also has a Facebook fan page which was started last year and today has 29,000 followers, and it is still growing. The Facebook fan page has a wide array of product photos and regularly gives announcements on Faith Baby promos.