Author: Gordon Govier

Two opening night receptions Friday night drew art fanciers downtown on a frigid winter evening. Besides offering a glimpse at the artistic talents of local residents, the receptions also offered insights into an active community of Christian artists that exists in the Madison area.

To help teens translate good intentions into real life abstinence, Care Net of Dane County is re-launching its LifeWise abstinence education program to come alongside parents and churches to help them discuss sexuality with teens and effectively promote sexual abstinence. Recent changes in the Wisconsin sex education law have now made the mission of LifeWise even more critical.

You can find Jenny Czerkas at The River Food Pantry on Madison’s north side just about every day of the week. “It’s the best job I’ve ever had,” said Jenny Czerkas. Andy, Jenny’s husband, is by her side at least 30 hours a week. Andy is an instructor at MATC. He will retire in a couple of years and join Jenny full time.

Nikki Toyama-Szeto is Urbana Program Director in InterVarsity’s Missions Department and a Madison resident. She oversees the development of programming for InterVarsity’s triennial Urbana Student Missions Conference. Prior to joining the Urbana team, Nikki was involved in InterVarsity’s campus ministry at the University of California-Berkeley, Stanford, and the University of San Francisco. She is also co-editor of the InterVarsity Press book, More Than Serving Tea: Asian American Women on Expectations, Relationships, Leadership and Faith. On Monday, January 17, 2011, Nikki marked the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday by speaking at Calvin College. Her talk was part of Calvin’s January Series,…

A centuries old relic has been discovered in a Bonduel church, northwest of Green Bay, tucked away for decades. No one realized it was even there, or what it was.In a cramped, rarely seen safe, no bigger than a kitchen pantry, at St. Paul Lutheran Church are heaps of old books and pamphlets. Many of which are more than 100 years old and in foreign languages.

“But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” Jonah 4:11 [NIV] God is at work in the city of Madison, just as He was a work in the city of Nineveh. We catch glimpses of His activity in our churches. But there’s much more going on.

Believers from many faiths filled a 600-seat Monona Terrace ballroom Monday for an inauguration-related prayer breakfast that stressed shared humanity over political differences.

  This past year our family expanded to a new generation. The precious new addition greatly enhanced our appreciation of the benefits and importance of family. Several articles I read recently also reminded me not only of the importance of family but just how precarious are families in today’s culture.

Once a week for more than a year, homeless men and women have gathered at a Downtown Madison church to talk about a book they’re reading together. The discussion usually starts out focused on the literary topic – stories about faraway places and fictional characters – but regularly wends its way to the gritty reality of living in poverty.

An earnest academic, writing on the Web site Patheos, recently made the case against Santa Claus. Saint Nick is a multicultural nightmare: “A person shouldn’t have to pander to a white man – sit on his lap and beg, even! – to enjoy the good life. . . . If Santa were a refugee, or a woman of color, or even a plant or animal, I could probably get on board.” But Saint Nick’s offense is also religious. He is “in direct competition with God, and it seems Santa may have the upper hand.” “They’re both invisible characters that appear…