WEEKLY NEWS SUMMARY - AUGUST 26, 2026
In this week's Intersect, read about:
State Dept. Commits $1.4B to Faith-Based Health Aid
"The State Department is turning to churches and faith-based charities to carry out a major piece of America's foreign aid work. Officials announced nearly $2 billion in new partnerships with faith-based and community organizations that provide global health care and humanitarian assistance around the world." Read more at Million Voices...
THINK.
- World Vision, Compassion International, and Samaritan's Purse will share up to $850 million over five years under the new America First Global Health Strategy, with faith-based groups now required to direct at least 80 percent of funding straight to patients rather than overhead.
- This shift comes as USAID has been reduced by roughly 83 percent, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio moving remaining humanitarian functions directly under the State Department, a reordering that trusts churches and local ministries over layers of federal bureaucracy.
- Scripture reminds believers that caring for the sick and suffering is a direct expression of caring for Christ Himself (Matthew 25:36). When government turns to the church to do this work, it is recognizing what believers have always known: the local church, not a distant agency, often reaches the hurting fastest.
PRAY.
Lord, we thank You for every missionary, aid worker, and local church volunteer who will carry this funding into some of the hardest and most dangerous corners of the earth. Protect them, provide for them, and let the care they deliver point hurting people back to You. Give wisdom to the officials directing these resources so that every dollar reaches those who need it most.
ACT.
Support a faith-based relief organization already serving overseas with your prayers, giving, or time. Learn about ministries doing frontline health and humanitarian work in difficult regions, and ask your church to consider partnering with or praying for one by name.
New Accounts Give Foster Youth a Financial Head Start
"Every year, more than 23,000 children age out of the American foster care system. Many leave with no savings, no safety net, and no family to fall back on if things go wrong." Read more at Million Voices...
THINK.
- First Lady Melania Trump is championing Fostering the Future Accounts, built on the new Trump Accounts created under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and twenty-three governors have already pledged to open them for children in their states' care.
- These accounts empower states, territories, and tribal agencies to act on a child's behalf when no parent can, reflecting a conservative preference for local and community-level stewardship over one-size-fits-all federal control.
- Scripture commands believers to care for the vulnerable, declaring that pure religion means to "visit orphans and widows in their affliction" (James 1:27). A modest seed deposit that grows for years mirrors that same call to plant seeds of hope for children who have no one else to plant them.
PRAY.
Lord, we lift up every child growing up without a permanent family. Give them a sense of Your presence when earthly parents cannot be there, and surround them with caseworkers, foster families, and mentors who reflect Your steady love. Bless the leaders working to build this financial foundation, and may it grow into real stability for young lives that have already known too much uncertainty.
ACT.
Consider mentoring or fostering a child in your community, or supporting a local ministry that walks alongside foster youth aging out of the system. Contact your state officials to encourage full participation in programs that give vulnerable children a financial head start, and pray regularly for the tens of thousands of young people who will age out of foster care this year.
American Bar Association's Power Faces Federal Challenge
"The federal government is taking new steps to end the American Bar Association's decades-long control over who gets to become a lawyer. President Trump's Department of Education is now recommending that the ABA lose its power to accredit the nation's law schools, a role it has held since 1952." Read more at Million Voices...
THINK.
- A 500-page federal report concluded the ABA's accrediting arm sits too close to the profession it oversees, and the Department of Education has already found the ABA "out of compliance" with federal accreditor rules, a serious rebuke of an organization that has held this gatekeeping role since 1952.
- Nearly 200 law schools depend on ABA accreditation for federal student aid and bar eligibility, meaning a change of this size would reshape the constitutional and legal training pipeline for the next generation of American judges, prosecutors, and lawmakers.
- Scripture calls God's people to pursue justice and hold institutions accountable to the truth, regardless of how much power or tradition they carry. When an organization entrusted with training future lawyers is accused of pushing ideology instead of impartial standards, believers have every reason to ask hard questions.
PRAY.
Father, we ask for wisdom for the officials weighing this decision and for integrity in every institution that trains and licenses those who will practice law in our courts. Raise up lawyers and judges who love justice and fear You above the approval of any professional guild. Guard the legal profession from ideology and restore it to a genuine pursuit of truth.
ACT.
Stay informed as the Department of Education's review moves forward, and share reliable reporting on this story with others in your church and community. Pray for law students and young attorneys navigating this uncertain season, and encourage Christian lawyers you know to remain salt and light within their profession.
29,000 Votes Decided Who Controls the House
"Control of the United States House of Representatives is supposed to feel like a big decision made by millions of people. In 2024, it came down to a number small enough to fit in a single high school gymnasium. Republicans held the House by a final tally of 220 seats to 215, and the ten closest races nationwide were decided by a combined total of fewer than 29,400 votes out of tens of millions cast." Read more at Million Voices...
THINK.
- California's 13th District alone was decided by just 187 votes out of more than 200,000 cast, and outside groups spent a combined $234 million chasing the handful of persuadable voters in the ten closest House races nationwide.
- Our constitutional system gives every citizen an equal vote precisely so that no single official or faction can seize power unchecked, and this election proved that design works exactly as intended, down to the last few hundred ballots in a handful of counties.
- Scripture calls believers to be faithful stewards of the responsibilities placed before them (Luke 16:10), and voting is one of the clearest, most tangible ways that stewardship shows up in ordinary civic life, especially when so few votes carry so much weight.
PRAY.
Father, thank You for the gift of self-government and for every citizen entrusted with a vote. Raise up believers who take that stewardship seriously, and give them wisdom, courage, and discernment as they consider who will represent them. Let Your justice and truth guide the outcome of every close election still to come.
ACT.
Make sure your own voter registration is current, and encourage friends, family, and fellow church members to do the same well before any election season begins. Get involved locally, whether through a voter drive, a civic education effort, or simply a conversation that helps a neighbor understand what is at stake in their district.
My Faith Votes— is a ministry that motivates, equips, and activates Christians in America to vote in every election, transforming our communities and influencing our nation with biblical truth. An estimated 25 million Christians who are registered to vote, fail to vote in presidential elections. My Faith Votes is on a mission to change this statistic by helping Christians act on their faith and vote in every election. When we pray unceasingly for our nation, think biblically about the issues, and vote consistently in every election the impact of Christians taking action from the local to the state and federal level will be unprecedented.
Website | www.myfaithvotes.org Twitter | @MyFaithVotes Facebook | My Faith Votes