Author: Gordon Govier

Located at the southeastern entrance to the city of Madison, just north of the intersection of the Beltine and Stoughton Road, Evangel Life Center is home to a stunning variety of ministry activities that belies the relatively small size of the Assembly of God congregation. Small, that is, when compared to a handful of other churches in the Madison area which regularly attract more than 1,000 to their weekly services.

Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll used to be the Big Three of rebellion. Some families are adding religion to that list.An increasing number of teens and young adults who were raised in nonreligious or nominally religious families are getting swept up in religious fervor. This is creating a complicated and sometimes painful family dynamic.Read more of this story.

Arthur Fletcher, the 6 feet 4 inch former defensive end for the Los Angeles Rams and republican architect of affirmative action, died at 80 years of age this past summer. As the head of the United Negro College Fund in the 1970’s, he coined the phrase, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” In 1996, he ran for the presidency of the United States after fellow republican Robert Dole repudiated affirmative action. Neither Fletcher nor Dole won the White House but the controversy over affirmative programs is as heated after his death, as it was in his lifetime.Read more…

CommentaryI spent last fall chasing a suitcase from city to city on tours of the U.K. and U.S., promoting my new book on prayer. Along the way, I got a bird’s-eye view of the church, and among my observations, the following stand out. Read more of this story.Author Philip Yancey survives automobile accident. Read this story.

Leading archaeologists in Israel and the United States yesterday denounced the purported discovery of the tomb of Jesus as a publicity stunt. Read more of this story.

PIKESVILLE, Md. — At Restoring Life International Church, pastor June Robinson wears several hats — and not the big fancy ones you might expect for a pastor’s wife.Standing in the pulpit with her husband, senior pastor Kenneth Robinson, she encourages the congregation to join them on a mission trip to her native Guyana to help them see "how blessed you are in America."Read more of this story.

Last summer, Slate deputy editor David Plotz, a Harvard-educated Reform Jew, found himself bored out of his mind at a cousin’s bat mitzvah. Rather than feigning interest, he reached into the back of a pew and started to read an English translation of the Torah.He opened to the soap opera-like saga of Jacob’s sons seeking to avenge the rape of their sister Dinah—and found himself utterly engrossed. The experience became his impetus behind a Slate series called "Blogging the Bible." Started in September 2006, the blog records Plotz’s progress and comments as he reads through the entire Old Testament, a…

Energized by a near-capacity crowd of about 2,200 Catholic men and boys, organizers of last weekend’s Men of Christ Conference in West Bend are planning a second annual gathering for next Feb. 23 while considering other follow-up activities. Read more of this story.

BEVERLY HILLS, CA (ANS) — Moses and the Baby Jesus, "God in the flesh," were honored Tuesday night at the 15th Annual Movieguide® Faith & Values Awards Gala, held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. "The Ten Commandments," an ABC-TV production about the Prophet Moses, took home the $50,000 John Templeton Foundation Epiphany Prize for the Most Inspiring TV Program of 2006. "The Nativity Story," a movie about the Virgin Mary, her husband Joseph and the birth of Jesus Christ won the $50,000 John Templeton Foundation Epiphany Prize for the Most Inspiring Movie of 2006.Read more of…

In the face of heated criticism, Bishop Robert Morlino defended his service on a federal advisory board for a controverisal U.S. military school on Thursday night.More than 80 people packed the Catholic Multicultural Center for a discussion on Morlino’s position as chairman of the Board of Visitors of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly the School of the Americas.Read more of this story.