Author: Gordon Govier

For over 50 years new international students and scholars, who arrive at the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison at this time of year, have been invited to a free tour of their new home city offered by residents of the local community and facilitated by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. After visiting some of the most interesting attractions in the city, the tour ends up at the homes of local residents, so internationals get to see how Madison families live. Read more.

Monsignor Paul Swain, vicar general of the Diocese of Madison, will become the bishop of Sioux Falls, S.D., the diocese announced today. Read more.

The one-year-anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is hardest on those still rebuilding there, but it’s been made easier by local volunteers. One survivor thanked those who helped him by phone Tuesday night. High Point Church in Madison is one of more than a dozen churches that are sending volunteers to Louisiana and Mississippi every month. On Tuesday night, they were told just how much they’ve accomplished. Read more.

Madalyn Murray O’Hair never petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to get religious broadcasting off the air. James Dobson never launched a petition drive to stop her. O’Hair died more than a decade ago, but the rumor about her FCC petition lives on. The commission has received millions of inquiries about it, many the result of church-sponsored letter-writing campaigns. Read more.

(Ventura, CA) – As the United States nears the fifth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Americans are looking back at how their lives have changed in the half decade since that tumultuous day. How have their spiritual lives been affected? A new study by The Barna Group examined data from nine national surveys, involving interviews with more than 8,600 adults, conducted right before the attacks and at regular intervals since then. Read more.

IRBIL, IRAQ (ANS) — “The news media often focus on the conflict between Shi’ites and Sunni Muslims in Iraq. But there are other ethnic and religious groups under attack. The small Christian community in Iraq is now finding itself caught in the crossfire of sectarian violence.” Read more.

COMMENTARY–As we approach the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s devastating march through the Southeast, we will see a great deal of public soul-searching and hand-wringing in the mainstream media.We’ll hear people asking what happened? Could it happen again? When such so-called "acts of God" occur, don’t we all have a responsibility to pitch in and help?

(Phoenix, AZ) Christian Emergency Network (CEN) along with Church Communication Network (CCN) announces the Christian Emergency Satellite Network, scheduled to launch September 7, 2006 as a part of Homeland Security National Preparedness Month. CEN Training will begin its ongoing emergency training series with “Church Safety and Security” and will add local church emergency, chaplaincy deployment, volunteer and personal readiness training to equip churches to respond with the Hope of Christ before, during and after any disaster. When a national disaster occurs the TV feed will also provide specific instructions, bulletins, and TV updates related to the disaster from trusted national…

The WHAT NEXT conference celebrates a small event that had major consequences, since it turned out to be the beginning of the North American foreign missions movement. We are calling together students and church people from the upper mid-west region to recall what God has done in the past, examine the state of the Church, and tune our hearts and thoughts to hear from God what He wants to do in our generation. We are gathering to ask God, "What’s next?"

RACINE, Wis. – The Rev. William Dietzler is not a stand-at-the-pulpit kind of guy. The pastor of the St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church often roams around the sanctuary as he delivers the homily to his parishioners on Sunday mornings. All eyes are upon Father Bill as he makes his way around the room – all except those of the deaf and hearing-impaired parishioners in the front pews. Their eyes are on Sue Kelley, the sign-language interpreter who takes Dietzler’s spoken words and turns them into visual signals so that the deaf community can understand them. Read more.