Author: Gordon Govier

I didn’t recognize the landscape in the opening shot of “Street Pulse,” a new documentary on life on the street in Madison by Marc Kornblatt. Traffic speeds by on an overpass that could be anywhere, before the camera takes viewers below the bridge to a couple of people just waking up in what we quickly realize is a homeless encampment. But it’s not long before we realize that this story of homeless people meeting life’s challenges is set right here in Madison.

A lot of church leaders would panic if told they had 29 days to vacate their facility. Not at Lakeshore Church. “Everyone is super excited about this,” said the Rev. Jeff Lennberg, lead pastor.

As the dust was starting to settle last December from the bitter debate and then rejection of a charter school called Madison Prep, I got a message from Madison School Board member Lucy Mathiak. She said she was curious about the relative silence of the Madison clergy over an issue that touched on issues of social justice, race, education and the fabric of our community. “There is a serious need for pastoral engagement to help with the very raw wounds that are out there,” Mathiak wrote.

Vatican City – Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday brought 22 Catholic churchmen into the elite club of cardinals who will elect his successor, cementing the Italian majority in a future conclave but also giving former Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan a position of prominence.

Two Ohio pastors who helped lead an effort in that state to bring back collective bargaining for public employees told a Madison audience Tuesday the campaign would have failed without a partnership between unions and faith leaders. The collaboration was essential but not easy, said the Rev. Michael Harrison Sr., pastor of Union Baptist Church in Youngstown.

Although largely unreported by the mainstream media, a decision announced two and a half ago weeks ago in Washington has ignited a call to action here in Madison and in religious communities across the country. The decision: confirmation of a federal mandate that all private health plans must include coverage for all FDA-approved contraception, including abortion-inducing drugs, as well as sterilization and similiar services. What it means is that some religious organizations will be forced to violate their religious beliefs. As Madison Diocese Bishop Robert Morlino stated in a letter that was read in local Catholic congregations a week ago,…

Once again Faith Community Bible Church, at the corner of Park and Regent Street will open their facility 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from Ash Wednesday to Palm Sunday. Since 2008 UW Campus leaders have hosted a prayer room during lent called the Badger Prayer Room. Students built and ran the room, making sure the time slots were covered so that prayers for the Lord to bring HIs glory and salvation to the UW campus would be offered 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Last September, David Johnson called Jeff Plake, the campus pastor at Evangel University. It wasn’t like Johnson, a 2010 Evangel graduate from Mayville, Wisconsin, to call out of the blue, but he had some big news. Johnson, a first lieutenant in the Army, had earned command of his own platoon. And he was going to Afghanistan. “He said, ‘I’m excited and a little terrified,’ ” Plake said. On Wednesday, Johnson was killed in Afghanistan, after deploying in December.

Shawano, WI – Liberty Counsel is representing the Wegner family after school officials at Shawano High School censored and punished Brandon Wegner, a 15-year-old, for writing an op-ed article explaining the Biblical view of homosexuality and supporting natural mother-father adoption. Liberty Counsel sent a letter to the school demanding it apologize for its unconstitutional and irrational censorship and humiliation of Brandon.