Patricia Heaton and Zachary Levi join Billy Hallowell from the red carpet premiere of "The Unbreakable Boy" to discuss God, Hollywood, and Following truth.

A former congressional candidate and campaign manager has shown that compassion, empathy, and truth should be the gold standard — even in the oft-times cutthroat world of politics. Bunni Pounds, founder and president of Christians Engaged, told CBN News Christians must always remember Jesus' call — even when it comes to navigating politics. "The first commandment is to love Jesus with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves," she said. "We do not cease to be Christ followers if we get involved in politics and government."

While Pounds said some might scoff at or worry about entering into the political realm — a place she has personally worked for quite some time — she noted that a consistent prayer walk and relationship with Jesus can help Christians "see great impact" in such arenas. Pounds isn't just talking the talk, either. She has consistently walked this walk. When she ran for Texas' 5th Congressional District in 2018, she found herself in a precarious place. "I lost a race by 2,700 votes out of 43,000 votes," she said. "It was really close. But my opponent, during the Republican runoff, his consultants had floated all of his invoices. So, if you could imagine — his TV, his mail, his radio ads, his consulting fees, all had been not billed."

Pounds said she was out-raising him despite her loss to Rep. Lance Gooden. And her inability to win amid her well-managed campaign left her frustrated. "When I finished the campaign, I paid off all my bills — and I couldn't win," Pounds said. "So, the injustice of that was digging at my heart. Well, a year later, I heard the Lord say, 'You're not going to get through this if you don't do something drastic to impact your heart.'"

She knew she had to listen to God's promptings.

"I called [my former opponent], had lunch with him, and asked him if I could help pay off the rest of his 50,000 of the debt that he had from our runoff — and he graciously accepted," Pounds said. "And we did a huge party, and I fundraised towards that, and we all paid for it. All of our campaign staff, consultants — we all laid our offenses, bitterness and unforgiveness down at the feet of Jesus and walked out of there completely free." Now, Gooden and Pounds are friends and she said he became the first member of Congress to support her latest book, "Jesus and Politics: One Woman's Walk with God in a Mudslinging Profession." "I think is a testimony of God's grace," she said.

Katelyn Pavey is a real-life inspiration. Born with one arm, she persevered, overcame the odds — and, against all odds, played college softball. Pavey's incredible journey is told in "I Can," a film that shows God's grace throughout life's many trials. 

For years, she rebuffed attempts to make a movie about her story, believing she didn't really have anything special to share. "I didn't want to be seen as sitting on a pedestal," she said. "And I also thought there was more people in our congregation that needed their story to be told — and it wasn't only me who denied it three times. It was also my dad."

But her pastor, Tyler Sansom — who is also the director of "I Can" — was successfully able to convince Pavey to take part. "Gowing up, I faced a lot of adversity," she said. "I faced a lot of challenges that I had to overcome and adapt to." Sometimes, parents even stopped their children from playing with her because she looked different. Over time, she had to learn to adjust to such moments.

"You continue to adapt to any adversity that you're thrown in life, and you overcome that, you become successful," Pavey said. "You don't go back to your old ways, you don't give up, you keep pushing on to be successful, to show people that you can. And that's just what I did my whole life, especially through the sport of softball."

She forged toward her goals, becoming an all-state player during her high school career and eventually signing college scholarship to play softball — a full-ride to Cincinnati Christian University.

It’s been 500 days since Hamas dragged 251 men, women and children into the tunnels of Gaza. 73 remain. But as these Israeli hostages slowly come back home, folks are asking, "Is this a really bad deal?" CBN's Raj Nair and Billy Hallowell unpack the details. 

On today's newsmakers: surviving a terror attack, Trump's plans for Israel and Gaza, and the battle between good and evil.

A watchdog is sounding the alarm about increasing anti-Christian persecution in India, the world's most populous nation. Joel Veldkamp, head of international communications at Christian Solidarity International, told CBN News that the intensifying situation comes as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi heads to the U.S. this week to meet with President Donald Trump.

The encounter could offer an opportunity for Trump and the West to pressure Modi to stem the tide of persecution, according to Veldkamp. The watchdog said the most "extreme case" of persecution is unfolding in Manipur, a state in India's northeast. "This is a place where, about two years ago, the region exploded into anti-Christian violence," Veldkamp said. "There was a conflict over land rights about who had what right to own what land in the territory, and it turned into a religious conflict."

And that conflict forced 40,000 Christians to flee their homes over the course of a few weeks. With nearly two years passing since that chaos, the situation remains grim for the majority Christian Kuki-Zo community. "Most of them now live in refugee camps where the rates of deaths from cancer, and kidney failure, and other treatable illnesses have really skyrocketed, because they simply have no access to medicine or to basic supplies," he said. "And that violence against this specific group of Christians called the Kuki-Zo people continues until this day."

Just months ago, one of the most horrific examples of violence unfolded. "There was a mother of three, a Christian woman from this Indigenous group ... who was attacked by Hindu militants, raped, and burned alive," Veldkamp said. "And that set off another round of violence between the groups, scores of people were killed, more people were displaced, and the government really seems kind of completely absent from this situation."

The world is celebrating after Marc Fogel's years-long detention in the Russian prison system came to a close this week, with President Donald Trump securing his release. No one is more elated over the freeing of Fogel, 63, than his mother, 95-year-old Malphine Fogel, who has intensely advocated for her son's release. Marc Fogel, an American teacher who taught history in Moscow, was serving a 14-year sentence after being found in possession of prescribed medicinal marijuana — a harsh rebuke that stunned his family.

Malphine Fogel told CBN News Thursday that her faith in God sustained her throughout the horrific ordeal, especially as uncertainty abounded. "Sometimes, there's nowhere to go except on your knees," she said. "We just prayed on regular intervals. We just put our faith in God — we really did. And it worked." Fogel reflected on the "shock" she experienced when her son was initially arrested nearly four years ago. Despite Russia's troubling history, she said she still found the entire ordeal "outlandish" and surprising.

"It seemed that it would just blow over," she said. "I never expected that it would go as far as it did. I just thought they would check all the facts and know that he was not a drug dealer with six or seven grams of marijuana, but they didn't see it that way, I guess."

Fogel said the Biden administration, which presided over most of her son's detention, didn't push hard enough, in her view. "I can't say that I ever felt they were really trying very hard to get him out," she said. "And I could be wrong about that, but that was the feeling I got." One of the most remarkable parts of Fogel's story centers on the now-infamous Butler campaign rally, where President Donald Trump was shot in the ear. Fogel was at that event and met with Trump before gunshots rang out.

More than a month after Cathy Tenedorio's son, Matthew, was killed during the New Year's Day terror attack in New Orleans, she's relying on her faith to get through rapid waves of emotion. On Sunday, Tenedorio and her husband, Louis, were invited to the 2025 Super Bowl along with first responders and other victims' family members to honor the lives of those lost.

She told CBN News that the scene was "very moving" to be part of. "They honored the 14 victims," Tenedorio said. "It was just beautiful."

She said the entire experience was deeply "comforting" and made her and her husband "feel special," as she recognized there are many other parents who face similar pain but who don't get a lot of attention or help publicly in navigating such dynamics. The families were joined by members of the New Orleans Fire Department, New Orleans EMS, and New Orleans Police, who held photos of the 14 victims during the coin toss. "I'm very, very honored and blessed," Tenedorio said. "I'm very humbled by it, and I just ... wish this could happen for everyone — that everyone's life was celebrated like my son's life has been." 

She also shared how President Donald Trump, who was on-site at the Super Bowl, came down to meet with her and other victims' family members. She called the experience "very awesome." "It was a quick moment, but he was very nice," she said, noting how Trump shook her father's hand and thanked him for his past military service. "It was very, very, very awesome." Tenedorio said she sensed that it was very important for Trump to be there with the victims and that he could have stayed up in the suites but took the time to take photos and talk with the families and first responders. "I feel like it was very important to him," she said. 

Pastor Jentezen Franklin of Free Chapel in Gainesville, Georgia, said he was "moved" by President Donald Trump's comments and plans surrounding the Gaza Strip, calling Trump's plans "brilliant." Franklin was referring to Trump's Tuesday announcement while meeting with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, a proclamation that sent shockwaves throughout the globe and ignited discussion and debate.

Regardless of the debate and skepticism among some, Franklin believes Trump's shock announcement could lead to a more fruitful future. "I heard in our president, a healer of nations," Franklin said. "I heard a man who said, 'Don't these people deserve a better life? Don't their children — if we go back to that place, it's a zone of death. It's a zone of destruction.'" He continued, "I thought it was brilliant, personally. I thought if ... you shoot for the moon and if you hit the stars, hey, you've done something that nobody else has ever done."

Franklin also spoke about a Monday meeting he attended with fellow evangelical leaders and Netanyahu. Held before the prime minister's meeting with Trump, Franklin said the gathering was "weighty" and "was a tremendous honor to be a part [of]." "He was very warm," he said of Netanyahu. "He was so appreciative of the Christian community, the Christian friends that he felt like had Israel's back when they're facing so much opposition, especially in universities and in the streets of major cities where the protesters are ... screaming 'Death to Israel' and all of that."

Franklin, who coalesced with more than a dozen leaders for just over an hour, said Netanyahu expressed his "tremendous appreciation" to those in attendance for the Christian community's help after the Oct. 7 terror attacks. "He said, without the Christian church, he did not believe that Israel would be existing today," Franklin said. "And I thought that was a powerful statement." Watch him share more about the meeting.

Listen to him tell his story.

It's been two years since social media influencer Oli London officially detransitioned and embarked on a faith-filled journey toward true peace and joy. "Life has changed very dramatically," he recently told CBN News. "I wake up every day with a sense of purpose, a sense of duty ... I feel a lot happier every single day." London, who has openly spoken about his Christian faith, said it has been "exciting" exploring his newfound belief in God. Raised as an atheist, he said he wasn't "too familiar with Christianity."

But since detransitioning two years ago, he spent a lot of time in Christian spaces. "I've been going to a lot of Christian events, been going to churches, connecting with people in the Christian community and elsewhere," he said, noting he's now trying to live out Jesus' example. "And I've been tremendously happy since then." But it's not just faith that has been the centerpiece of London's changed life. He's now become an advocate speaking out to help others struggling with the issues that once dominated his own life.

"Since ... I detransitioned, I've also been trying to use my platform now to try and do good in the world," he said. "And try to spread faith as well to the Generation Z audience." Considering London's own back story, he expressed a passion for young people "being led astray" today. "They are not connecting with God," he said of youths. "God is being taken out of classrooms in some places, and ... I think it's something that the young generation is missing." London has been open over the past two years about the detransition process, reaffirming past expressions that it wasn't the easiest of journeys, especially after years of attempting to present as a female.

"I underwent a lot of surgeries over a period of 10 years," he said. "I was going through an identity crisis, so I did spend several hundred thousand on the surgeries, the looks ... the clothes, all the fillers, the makeup, everything like that." London continued, "And ... it is something I regret, but, at the end of the day, I think ... it is a lesson. You can't dwell on these regrets, you can't dwell on the past." Ultimately, he said he tries to focus now on the positive, despite wishing these weren't decisions he had made. As for his transition, which he said has made him 10 times happier than before, London said at the start there wasn't much information or resources.

Listen to him tell his story.