Author: Gordon Govier

NEWS RELEASE(Madison, WI) – A near record number of campus staff appointees have arrived in Madison to prepare for ministry in the vibrant arena of the college campus. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA has welcomed 126 new and provisional staff appointees from across the country to Orientation of New Staff. The annual training is held June 18-27 at the Inn on the Park, 22 S. Carroll Street, in downtown Madison.Read more of this story.

The United Methodist Church in Wisconsin is facing a possible clergy shortage, with 55 pastors in local churches reaching the minimum retirement age in 2008, and fewer people entering ordained ministry in their 20s and 30s, a church leader told 1,000 clergy and lay members at a four-day annual meeting in Middleton last week.Read more of this story.

The United Methodist Church in Wisconsin is facing a possible clergy shortage, with 55 pastors in local churches reaching the minimum retirement age in 2008, and fewer people entering ordained ministry in their 20s and 30s, a church leader told 1,000 clergy and lay members at a four-day annual meeting in Middleton last week.Read more of this story.

COMMENTARYWhen it comes to religion and politics, many skeptics are convinced that strong faith leads to judgmentalism, which leads to intolerance, which leads to oppression and, ultimately, theocracy. Many people disagree, saying that it’s impossible to defend basic human rights without a religious or at philosophical commitment to moral absolutes. It’s easy to tell who is who when they speak out. Read more of this story.

NEWS RELEASEMONTREAT, N.C., June 16 – With her husband, Billy Graham, her older sister and five children participating in the program, and all 19 of her grandchildren serving as pallbearers or honorary pallbearers, Ruth Graham’s life was celebrated at her public funeral today in the 2,000-seat Anderson Auditorium at the Montreat Conference Center filled to capacity with family members and friends from the local community.Read more of this story.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (ANS) — According to Eric Bumpus and Tim Moranville, authors of CEASE FIRE: THE WAR IS OVER, there is a spiritual war that is taking place, and it will wage on until Christ’s return. But the fight Christians are involved in is not a battle with guns and tanks, but the ‘culture war’ rumbling through America. Bumpus and Moranville, say: "Christians have lost because they have adopted the political techniques of those around them." The authors contend that Christians have become just like the world they seek to "clean up." Read more of this story.

The small Bosnian village known as Medjugorje, where a busload of Wisconsinites were headed when they crashed Monday, has drawn millions of predominantly Catholic pilgrims for more than 25 years.More on this story.

NEWS RELEASEFive of nine sex education curricula evaluated are recommended in state DPI resource packetsMADISON — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a report this week on the effectiveness of “comprehensive” sex education with some startling findings: the most commonly used sex education programs do not keep teens from having sex but rather contain a number of sexually explicit lessons for students as young as 13. The abstinence message is virtually non-existent.

The faces are stoic, the gazes are steady, but it is more than that. Drazen Dupor points to the shadows, cast toward the outside, creating a glow."The light comes from inside the center — not outside," he explains. "It is holy."The 40-year-old native of Croatia, born of Serbian parents, has made a living all of his adult life by painting Byzantine religious icons. His training, in Greece, was old school — much like iconography was done 2,000 years ago.Read more of this story.

News ReleaseChristian Emergency Network was one of 16 key organizations recognized in the newly released Homeland Security Institute report showing how faith-based organizations (FBO’s) and secular nongovernmental organizations (NGO’s) stepped in when existing governmental disaster resources were overwhelmed in the historic national Katrina crisis. “FBO’s and NGO’s undertook a surprisingly large, varied, and demanding set of activities with extraordinary effectiveness.” according to the HSI report issued to participants this week.Read more of this story.Full HSI report online.http://www.homelandsecurity.org/hsireports/Herald_Unheard_Voices.pdf