Shine Global Network

I gave my whole heart to this project I was invited into… I thought about it in the morning, sent text messages at noon, and prayed at night. I was going to –come hell or highwater — be. faithful. to. this. mission. Yet, something was wrong. Way wrong. Despite my best attempt to see things through, I couldn’t lie to myself any longer. Pressing questions remained, like: Why are they engaging so little and pushing off meeting? Where is their enthusiasm and feedback? Why do I feel a door shut in my face when I have something to say? Why am I continually (and, seemingly foolishly), pressing in while they…

One sleepy Saturday in 1989, no doubt after yet another viewing of Batman at the mall multiplex, I wandered into Family Bookstore to peruse the cassettes on the New Release wall. My young eyes were drawn to a sepia-colored cover featuring a strange, imposing figure in the wilderness, wearing shades and a cape. The band was The Swirling Eddies. The album: Outdoor Elvis. Full disclosure: I already owned their debut album, Let’s Spin. It’s a solid introduction to what now feels like a proto-’90s alt-pop sound, something that wouldn’t feel out of place among The La’s, The Lemonheads, Stone Roses, or even Soul Asylum. In fact, lead singer Camarillo Eddy (not his real name)…

What began as a humble outpouring of local worship in a small town in Northern California has grown into one of the most influential worship movements of the modern Church. In 2025, Bethel Music celebrates 25 years of ministry, a quarter-century of songs, moments, and spiritual awakenings that have echoed far beyond the walls of Redding’s Bethel Church. Co-founded by Brian and Jenn Johnson in 2001, Bethel Music emerged from the overflow of their home church’s passion for God’s presence. But what started as a simple pursuit became a global sound that helped define the first wave of modern worship. Since their official recorded debut with Here Is Love in 2010, Bethel…

“I wrote this book to help children and youth see the Bible as one continuous story of God’s love for man and His faithfulness to His Word,” remembers Dorla Schlitt. That simple mission—connecting hearts to the unbroken thread of God’s redemption—has guided Dorla’s life as both an educator and author. Over the years, she’s shared that vision in classrooms, Sunday schools, and through beloved children’s resources from publishers like Lifeway and Thomas Nelson. But it all comes together in her latest work, The Adventure of the Scarlet Thread: The Promise Fulfilled a visually rich and theologically grounded book that traces the “scarlet thread” of God’s promise from Genesis to the arrival of…

Some songs are written. Others feel given. For Chris Tomlin, “How Great Is Our God” was the kind of song that arrived like a gift—unexpected, unshaped, and ultimately unstoppable. Now, twenty years after it first hit worship sets around the world, Tomlin is still in awe of how far the song has traveled. “People ask me what’s my favorite song I’ve ever been a part of,” Tomlin says. “I always say that one, because the way it’s crossed cultures, crossed generations… I feel like it’s not attached to me anymore. It’s the one song that completely feels unattached.” Let that sink in: the man who co-wrote and first recorded one…