1. The Martyrs of India. While the world was preoccupied with the global economic slowdown, Hindu militants went on rampages in Orissa, a state in northern India, in the late summer. They killed as many as 500 Christians and left 50,000 more homeless. Some martyrs were killed with daggers, machetes and swords. Some were raped. Others were doused with gasoline and burned alive—including a handicapped Christian, Rasananda Pradhan, who could not run from his attackers. When one pastor, Samuel Nayak, tried to block militants from entering his church, they slit his throat and destroyed the building.

“The violence in August and September 2008 has been the worst in our 2,000-year history in India,” says John Dayal, a Christian human rights activist who monitors persecution of Christians in India. Most observers say the Orissa conflict erupted because radical Hindus are upset by the growth of Christian churches in the region. Militants are now demanding that Christians stop all conversion efforts.

2. African-American Pastors. Christians were deeply divided by the 2008 U.S. presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain, but history will record that black pastors played a key role in securing Obama’s victory. Energized by the possibility that a man of color could win the highest office in the land—and overthrow more than two centuries of prejudice—these pastors organized voter registration drives and endorsed Obama from their pulpits. Some exit polls also indicated that the heavy influx of African-American voters, who tend to be conservative on the issue of gay marriage, helped traditional marriage proposals win in California and Florida. Now, because many white Christian conservatives supported McCain, these black leaders will be first in line to speak to Obama about important moral issues. I’m praying they will.

3. Sarah Palin. Whether you love her or hate her, the perky Alaskan governor with a Pentecostal background gets credit for injecting faith and pro-life values into the 2008 campaign. Pundits and talk show hosts vilified her, but we’ll remember her for staying calm under the relentless media scrutiny while she unapologetically defended the right of the unborn at a time when our nation is ignoring the issue. Whether she’ll run for president in 2012 is a mystery, but her candidacy gave conservative women the hope that the glass ceiling of gender prejudice in American politics will soon fall.

4. Alex and Stephen Kendrick. From their unlikely base in Albany, Ga., these two amateur filmmakers—with help from members of Sherwood Baptist Church—produced their most successful movie to date, "Fireproof." Starring Kirk Cameron, it’s the story of a firefighter who salvages his troubled marriage after converting to Christ. The movie opened in September at No. 4 at the box office and remained in the top 10 for three weeks—and it has grossed $30 million so far. (Not bad for the Kendrick brothers’ third movie.) The men started making films in 2002 after reading a Barna survey that said movies are the No. 1 influence on culture.