Author: Gordon Govier
BARABOO — It was a joyful day at Durward’s Glen on Saturday, May 14, as the new local owners celebrated their purchase of the retreat and educational center. “Durward’s Glen has been here for almost 150 years,” said Mardell Krejchik, the center’s director, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony. “We are so happy to continue the history and tradition started here by the Durward family.” Krejchik held up the certificate declaring that Durward’s Glen is on the National Register of Historic Places.
A 300-resident, privately owned student housing facility in Madison that state lawmakers in 2009 quietly made exempt from paying local property taxes is on track to be added back to the tax roll. The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee voted 14-2 on Thursday in favor of repealing the exemption for Pres House, an 80,000-square-foot facility owned by the Presbyterian Student Center Foundation.
Two Milwaukee-area faith-based groups on Friday voiced their opposition to legislation, now pending in Wisconsin, that would allow the carrying of concealed weapons in public. In separate statements, the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee and the Jewish Community Relations Council condemned the measures, which do not exempt houses of worship, saying they would endanger public safety and perpetuate a culture of violence and fear.
Many months ago, the Rev. Eugene Johnson picked the 2011 theme for the Madison Pentecostal Assembly, where he is senior pastor. By coincidence, it has turned out to be a doozy: “Maintain a Rapture Ready Attitude.” Johnson said he had no idea at the time that a loosely organized Christian movement would begin spreading the word that the world will end Saturday. He hasn’t joined the movement.
Harold Camping may not have convinced evangelical Christians that Jesus is coming back on May 21st, but he has gotten the attention of the media elite. Garry Trudeau is skewering the rapture crowd in the Doonesbury comic strip this week, National Public Radio has covered Camping, and the Washington Post lined up a whole page of bloggers to weigh in on eschatology, including Jewish, Hindu and atheist perspectives. Harold Camping is the president of Family Radio, a national network of 66 Christian radio stations, the nearest of which is WMWK in Milwaukee. Camping has a history of end-of-the-world predictions. Remember…
Before morphing into a secularized symbol emblazoned on T-shirts and buttons, the real Sojourner Truth battled slavery and sexism as a fiery Pentecostal evangelist, during a time when religion and radicalism kept much closer company. It’s therefore no surprise that the avowedly Christian Acacia Theatre Company has stepped forward to produce Sandra Fenichel Asher’s “A Woman Called Truth,” which focuses on the first half of Truth’s life, from her formative years as a slave in New York state through her first years as an itinerant preacher.
All it took was some raisins, a box of saltines and a sheet of paper to teach a group of college students a lesson about culture. The first day of the Milwaukee Urban Plunge began with a game in which students from a number of Wisconsin universities broke into four groups, each receiving a slip of paper describing our group’s made-up “culture.” I was placed in group D, a refined culture that preferred keeping a comfortable distance and discussing current events rather than getting too personal. We were visited by group A, a thrifty and hardworking culture; group B, a…
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Join God where He is working. That simple premise hasn’t changed during the two-decade history of “Experiencing God,” an interactive Bible study first published in 1990 that taught a radically God-centered way of life. Initially written by Henry Blackaby and Claude King, the material was revised and expanded in 2007 by Richard Blackaby, Henry Blackaby’s son. Henry and Richard Blackaby will be in Madison this weekend with a follow-up to Experiencing God.
When the Capitol erupted in protests over Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-repair bill, religious leaders were among the strongest voices, leading protesters in prayer vigils and lending their moral authority in support of workers’ protections. The daily protests and proclamations have subsided. But that advocacy continues as faith leaders in Wisconsin and across the country work to ensure lawmakers do not balance state and national budgets on the backs of the poor. Late last month, a coalition of 50 Christian organizations – from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to the National Association of Evangelicals – launched what they called the…
City officials, reviewing last Saturday’s Mifflin Street Block Party, tallied two stabbings, three injured police officers, and 160 arrests. But Steve Springer, senior leader of Advance K Ministries, saw miracles of healing and salvation take place. Advance K Ministries has established an outpost called The Furnace in a former laundromat at the corner of Mifflin and Beford Streets. This was their third block party, and the best yet in terms of ministry.