Author: Gordon Govier

AgapePress) – For one professional basketball star, the goal of winning an NBA championship fades in comparison to winning a teammate to Jesus Christ.Win or lose, Milwaukee Bucks All-Star guard Michael Redd and two other teammates gather at the center of the court after each game to give thanks to God. Redd says although there are no born-again believers on the team, he keeps "planting the seed" because he knows God will one day "give the increase." Read more.

For Alex Gee, a well-known pastor in Madison, and his wife Jackie, the searing moment happened not once, but twice.In 1992, their first daughter, born only 17 weeks into the pregnancy, died within a short time. "We called her Victoria and held her until she slipped out of our arms into eternity," Gee wrote in his new book, "When God Lets You Down."Read more.

(AgapePress) – Wacky guy Bruce Barry’s love for art started as a child when he sat on the knee of his father, an animation cartoonist for Walt Disney. Barry was eager to learn how to draw, cartoon and paint, and his father was willing to teach him."My dad always taught me, if you’re going to do something right, do it first-class or not at all," Barry said.Barry took his father’s words to heart. What began with cartooning at a nearby amusement park led Barry to create award-winning work for Disney, Universal Studios and the Rain Forest Café, among others. "But…

A darkened room. On the screen, a film about Scottish warriors. A movie theater? No. Try Sunday worship. This is the Grove Community Church in Peoria, Illinois, a self-described "men’s church." Mark Doebler, the bongo-playing pastor, says Christian men have been "neutered." Read more.

News Release(Madison, WI)—Alec Hill, president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, announced that InterVarsity and the University of Wisconsin (UW) have reached a stipulated agreement that at least temporarily restores official recognition to InterVarsity’s chapter at the UW-Superior. Read more.

CommentaryIt’s the kind of devil’s advocate question that Roman Catholic priests discuss when no one else is listening.How short do you have to make a Mass to appeal to parishioners who don’t want to get out of bed to go to Sunday Mass in the first place? Would more people attend if Mass was 40 minutes instead of 50?"There are priests who can do a weekday Mass in about 22 minutes and the people know that father has left his car running out back and his golf clubs are in the trunk," said Father John A. Valencheck of the Diocese…

MADISON — What happened at the papal conclave in April of 2005? Why did the cardinals elect Joseph Ratzinger to succeed Pope John Paul II? What has happened in the first 18 months of Pope Benedict XVI’s papacy and what are the urgent challenges he faces?These are some of the questions George Weigel answered in his lecture as part of the St. Thérèse of Lisieux Lecture Series on Thursday, Nov. 9, at the Bishop O’Connor Catholic Pastoral Center. Read more.Part two of this series.

Five years ago Ridley Usherwood’s global career track brought him to Madison, when he took a job with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship to work on the Urbana Student Missions Convention. Now he’s settled even further into the community by taking a pastoral position at High Point Church. MC interviewed the Rev. Dr. Usherwood on his illustrious career and his goals in his newest assignment.

CommentaryThere’s been a lot of talk about the tantalizing announcement of Thomas Pynchon’s new novel, “Against the Day,” coming later this month. But let me draw attention to a throwaway line from the one-page excerpt in the publisher’s catalog that may have escaped your notice. “It’s O.K, we’re open-minded,” says the leader of a gang interrupted in the midst of a robbery; “couple boys in the outfit are evangelicals.” Read more.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–More than two-thirds of formerly churched adults are open to the idea of attending church regularly again, according to LifeWay Research. In the summer of 2006, the new research arm of LifeWay Christian Resources conducted a survey of 469 formerly churched adults to better understand why they stopped attending church and what it would take to bring them back. The “formerly churched” are defined as those who regularly attended a Protestant church as an adult in the past but no longer do so. Read more.