Newsmakers

Speaker and author Jennie Allen has had a front-row seat to revival — and her powerful role in helping spread the Gospel to new generations all started with a dream.

Allen said her decision to launch Gather — a global effort that rallies the church together for a 25-hour simulcast— was rooted in that dream, a fact she knows might "sound crazy to some people."

"I'm not saying I've not believed in dreams and visions from God," she said. "But I've never been one that's had dreams and visions from God, and, a few years ago, a friend prayed the night that I had this dream that I would hear from God on some pretty big things, pivotal things with my ministry and dream that Jesus was coming back in 10 years."

At the time, Allen was tired, weary, and considering quitting. But the dream absolutely changed all of that and sparked her current journey to persist in the faith. Allen cautioned that she isn't one to predict when she believes Christ is coming back, but noted that the dream made a deep impact on her.

"I have no idea when He's coming back — would never claim that, but I, I mean, I can't help that I vividly dreamed He was coming back," Allen said. "And what that did for me was just put an urgency in me and the thought of, 'What would we do if He were coming back and we knew it in now. ... If he were coming back in eight years, then what would we do and how would we live?'"

The dream itself was hyper-motivating for Allen considering its contents.

Bill Abbott, president and CEO of Great American Media, is on a mission to support faith and family-friendly entertainment — and he has a message about what Hollywood's churning out.

"We have a very loyal audience and we happen to believe the majority of the country wants to see traditional family values and really experience content that's supportive of faith, family, and country," Abbott recently told CBN News at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention. "And you look at Hollywood and 98, 99% of what's produced is ... anti-American, people of faith are demeaned and mocked, families are never shown in the traditional sense."

On today's Newsmakers, a mother's battle, revival, and the roots of cultural chaos.

Christopher Gunderson spent the first 16 years of his life unable to eat and in desperate need of medical intervention for survival. But Gunderson, who was born with chronic pseudo-obstruction syndrome — an ailment in which the gastrointestinal tracts can't appropriately absorb food — experienced a miracle that changed everything.

Here's his story.

A Florida mom who is fighting back against a Florida school district after her daughter experienced gender confusion is on a mission to help other parents maintain their rights. "This started for my family at the height of COVID in 2020," January Littlejohn told CBN News. "Our daughter fell prey to the lies of gender identity ideology and that she was born in the wrong body in May of 2020. And so this was shortly after three of her friends at our local middle school had also started suddenly identifying as some form of transgender."

Hear her explain.

Do miracles still happen today? "Investigating the Supernatural: Miracles" offers a compelling look at the evidence.

The pastor at the center of the Asbury Revival continues to have a front-row seat to some of the powerful moves of God that continue to reverberate two years after the spiritual outpouring first captivated the world.

Zach Meerkreebs, author of the new book "Lower: Igniting Spiritual Awakening Through Radical Humility," told CBN News about some of the transformational events he witnessed firsthand. He called articulating in the Asbury outpouring the "honor of a lifetime," noting he sometimes tears up because he misses the experience so much.

"We saw healings, we saw freedom, we saw deliverance," he said. "We saw people get out of wheelchairs. We had a basketball player who did not know Jesus at the beginning of the week, gave his life to Christ midweek, and by that night had prayed for someone and their tumors disappeared." He continued, "That's what happens when the presence of God moves into a place. You really don't have to exert yourself a whole lot besides just steward and curate meetings between God's Spirit and God's people." Meerkreebs also told his powerful back story of growing up Jewish and converting to Christianity.

"I grew up Jewish and I had not experienced the humility of God until I heard about the incarnation of Jesus," Meerkreebs said. "Like, the very fact of Jesus' incarnation, Him coming from the throne room into the world, just crazy humility." It is that radical humility that has made an impact on the preacher, as he admitted to early struggles with pride when he first came into the church. That was completely shattered, though, when, in February 2023, he said he got to be "part of a unique outpouring of God's Spirit at Asbury University."

As CBN News extensively covered, national and international headlines covered the stunning events at the Wilmore, Kentucky, campus, where, for 16 days and nights, students, the community and people from all over the world came together for nonstop prayer and worship. It all started at a regularly scheduled chapel service on February 8, 2023, with that service simply not ending for over two weeks. Meerkreebs, who was speaking at that event, has often spoken about the incredible moment he presided over. For the preacher, humility was the key ingredient that sparked the outpouring.

"I didn't want to write the book on specifically the outpouring at Asbury, but I could write about this thing that I think was so foundational and so intriguing about the outpouring — that was Jesus' humility and humble response to the humility of a couple students and a couple of people that would just wait and linger," he said. "And I think that's what we just experienced was what God will do when we go low in humility. He'll fill the space that we vacate." Reflecting back on those 16 days at Asbury, Meerkreebs called the spiritual experience "unbelievable."

Listen to him explain.

On today's Newsmakers, host Billy Hallowell gives us a glimpse into the new CBN Film, "Investigating the Supernatural: Miracles." We'll also hear from a Leukemia survivor and a man who had a confirmed miracle.

Christy Shamblin, whose daughter-in-law Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee was one of the 13 American service members killed in an ISIS-K terror attack during the chaotic August 2021 U.S. pullout from Afghanistan, said the Trump administration's recent detainment of an alleged terrorist responsible is "bittersweet."

"It was shocking," she said of learning that alleged ISIS-K devotee Mohammad Sharifullah, who was in court Wednesday, had been arrested for his purported role in the deadly attack. "The words bittersweet are my favorite ones to put to this because it's always hard."

Shamblin continued, "Here's a man who ... we watched celebrate Nicole's death and 12 others that died with her, and it's very difficult."

Despite the pain Shamblin and her family continue to experience as they navigate Gee's loss, she also noted that it's "extremely reassuring" that the Trump administration "cares and...is focused on it and is going to get results."

On today's Newsmakers: a new biblical epic, a surprising conversion, and Maine's trans battle.