• Saeed Abedini: American Pastor Freed From Iran Prison Along With Three Other Americans

  Among four Americans released today from prison in Iran is Pastor Saeed Abedini, a formerly devout Muslim who was saved by Jesus Christ in his Tehran bedroom more than a decade ago and converted to Christianity. After establishing numerous Christian house churches, he eventually moved to the United States with his wife, Naghmeh.

  

• Joey Feek Update: Rory Feek, Husband of Terminally Ill Singer, Discusses 'Where God Has Us'

  Country singer Rory Feek says each morning he watches the sleeping breaths of his dying wife, Joey Martin Feek, and reads from a daily devotional called "Jesus Calling" as well as the Bible. Joey, who is only 40 years old and dying from stage 4 cervical cancer, chose hospice care over additional treatment in October. For the past two years, Rory has chronicled and publicly shared their life's journey.

  

• Anglican Communion Suspends U.S. Episcopal Church Over LGBTQ Rights, Same-Sex Marriage

  Anglican Communion leaders, the global organizing body of Anglicans, are punishing the Episcopal Church by revoking certain privileges for at least three years, following years of heated debates with the American church about homosexuality, same-sex marriage and the role of women, per a Thursday announcement.

  

• National Religious Freedom Day Celebrates American Liberty Jan. 16, 2016

  Americans celebrate National Religious Freedom Day on Saturday, as a day set aside each year to honor the right to freely exercise deeply held religious beliefs. The day is always held on Jan. 16, which is the anniversary of the passage of Thomas Jefferson's landmark Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom on the same day in 1786.

  

• 'The Prayer' Singer Celine Dion's Husband, René Angélil, Dies After Cancer Battle

  René Angélil, aged 73 and husband-manager of award-winning pop singer Celine Dion, died Thursday at her residence in Las Vegas, Nev., after an 18-year fight against throat cancer. The family wishes to mourn in privacy, and some fans wonder if Dion will lean on her devout and conservative Roman Catholic upbringing for comfort. The couple married in 1994 at a lavish wedding in Montreal's Notre Dame Basilica.