Author: Gordon Govier

COMMENTARYThe conversation took place a couple of weeks ago at the Care of Creation booth at "Green Day", an Earthday event in Madison. I had already had dozens of conversations that had ranged from curiosity ("Really? A Christian organization here???") to congratulations ("Thanks for being here…"). But this guy was different. To start with, he towered over me, and I’m not short. And he was so emotional he almost couldn’t speak.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Citing widespread confusion about what it means to be an "evangelical," a group of Christian leaders issued a manifesto proposing to define the identity and commitments of evangelical Christians.Appearing at a Washington, D.C., news conference May 7, the group unveiled "An Evangelical Manifesto" and invited other Christians and people of other faiths to engage in dialogue about what it means to follow Christ.Read more of this story. Evangelical Statement on Faith, Politics Stirs Up Religious Right – Associated PressEvangelicals Set Record Straight on Image ProblemYou Call This a Manifesto? – Wall Street JournalRead the Manifesto

Not too many rock bands include Super Bowl champions in their ranks. But Hunter Smith, punter for the Indianapolis Colts, is finding much success with his Christian rock/worship band, Connersvine.Read more of this story.

MADISON — Wisconsin’s Catholic bishops have issued a pastoral letter strongly affirming the value of scientific research and endorsing the practice of stem cell research when it does not involve the destruction of human embryos.Read more of this story.

The people of Africa and Asia are more than faces in a National Geographic magazine to David and Tina Lippiatt of Cottage Grove, Wisconsin. They have stolen their hearts. The words of Proverbs 31 reverberate in their thinking and drive their vision: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”Read more of this story.

Sister Muriel Curran faced the man who shoved her to the ground and ripped away her purse three years ago. She quoted Scripture. She thanked him for the guilty plea that spared her a trial. And she asked a Baltimore County judge not to send him to prison.Read more of this story.

Mitri Raheb is a pastor of a small Lutheran congregation in Bethlehem, five miles south of Jerusalem, a world away from the Lutheran churches of south central Wisconsin.Yet on Friday morning, he was talking with a couple of hundred area Lutherans about the way things look from the Palestinian side of the separation barrier that separates the West Bank from Israel.Read more of this story.

Once a repository for earthly harvests, the old concrete silo at Fox River Congregational Church in the City of Pewaukee is getting a higher calling. Soon, it will be the Silo Prayer Tower, an intimate, embracing space where anyone can drop in for private prayer, meditation or small-group services at any hour.Read more of this story.

Tom Stanton’s disaster relief ministry began 2001 when a major tornado hit Siren, Wis. The following day -– after a sleepless night -– he felt "called" to go to Wisconsin."I had no clue what I was going to do," said Stanton, who first learned to sharpen chainsaws as an 18-year-old logger in Montana. "My first paycheck was a chainsaw."Read more of this story.

Oprah Winfrey is such a big star that we know her by one name, like Elvis, Madonna or Bono. She rules an entertainment empire worth nearly $1 billion. Yet she is so much more than an entertainer. Thousands of articles have been written about Oprah’s rags-to-riches life story and her philanthropy. (Oprah’s Angel Network has raised more than $50 million to fund nonprofit organizations worldwide).But one of the most controversial aspects of her cultural influence derives from the emphasis she places on religion and spirituality. In 2002 Christianity Today declared she “has become one of the most influential spiritual leaders…