Author: Gordon Govier

NEWS RELEASE(Madison, WI) — InterVarsity Christian Fellowship will likely be impacted by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in the case of Christian Legal Society v. Martinez. The ruling allows Hastings School of Law in San Francisco, a public institution, to refuse recognition to a campus Christian group which excludes from membership students who refuse to sign a statement of faith and adhere to the tenet that sexual activity should not occur outside of marriage between a man and a woman. Hastings policy states that all campus organizations must be open to all students at all levels.

Jim Tebbe has resigned his position as vice president of missions at Madison-based InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and as director of InterVarsity’s Urbana Student Missions Conference. He is in the process of moving to LaHore, Pakistan, where he will become rector (president) of Forman Christian College.

On a recent Sunday morning, about 400 people filed into Madison’s High Point Church for its sole weekend service.It was a good-sized crowd — many churches would be thrilled with such a number — but a comedown from the days when the sanctuary, which seats 950, would be full and the evangelical church would draw nearly 1,300 people between two Sunday services.

The church will be closed tomorrow, and the drunks are freaking out. An elderly lady in a prim white blouse has just delivered the bad news, with deep apologies: A major blizzard is scheduled to wallop Manhattan tonight, and up to a foot of snow will cover the ground by dawn. The church, located on the Upper West Side, can’t ask its staff to risk a dangerous commute. Unfortunately, that means it must cancel the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting held daily in the basement.

NEWS RELEASEResponding to the May Evangelical Leaders Survey question, “Do you socially drink alcohol?”, 60 percent said “no” while 40 percent said “yes.” “Alcohol and its effects have been a major challenge in American society,” said Leith Anderson, President of the National Association of Evangelicals. “Just as society has dealt with it, as evidenced in the 18th and 21st amendments, so have evangelicals looked at how to appropriately interact with alcohol.”

Martin and Tina Rabalaif moved to Grand Isle after Hurricane Katrina struck the region in 2005 to start building homes. Martin had owned a CPA firm in Texas but sold it before Hurricane Katrina and had transitioned into his next career. Family members encouraged them to move to the Gulf to be part of the recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. So the Rabalaifs invested their savings into building a home on Grand Isle. Now they’re afraid they won’t be able sell it.When the oil spill hit work completely dried up for Martin. Now they’re waiting to see what happens…

Ray Gilder has some advice for Baptist preachers who are just starting out. Prepare to get a day job."Make sure you have a marketable skill," said Gilder, bivocational ministries specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Convention.

Most days after work, Diane Werle can be found hunkered down and reading her Bible, often at a neighborhood coffee shop.A devout Christian, Werle covers at least a chapter a day. And she takes detailed notes, often flipping from book to book researching and double-checking passages.There was a time when Werle carried her leather-bound and dog-eared Bible everywhere she went, scribbling in the margins as she read. These days she accesses the word and makes her notes on her iPod Touch.

More than 1.7 million children across the USA have a parent in U.S. prisons, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The number of children with a father in prison grew by 77% from 1991 through mid-2007. And those children are two to three more times likely to wind up behind bars themselves, says Christopher Wildeman, a University of Michigan sociologist who has studied the effects of imprisoned parents.To try to snap that trend, Angola and other prisons across the country sponsor two programs aimed at reconnecting prison dads with their children: Returning Hearts, a day-long carnival-like celebration where inmates…

COMMENTARYWhere did we get the idea that the church should be a place that makes people feel comfortable?It’s interesting when a teenage agnostic and a federal judge understand the nature of the church better than do some church staff. A plaintiff known as Doe 2 recently said that if s/he had to attend a high school graduation ceremony in a Christian church, s/he would be "forced to submit to a religious environment that … will make me feel extremely uncomfortable and offended."Doe 2 (as in "John Doe") was one of five plaintiffs who sought an injunction against Enfield Public Schools…