Author: Gordon Govier

What was the first book in Memorial Library? Memorial Library has a long — and somewhat fraught — history, and when it opened on July 27, 1953, the arrival of the first book was cause for celebration. (Fraught: the UW had begged for 20 years to get the funds to build a new library, and even after the legislature agreed, construction was delayed first by a steel shortage and then an accident that caused the framework to collapse.)

WAUPUN, Wis. (WMTV) – A first of its kind graduation took place Tuesday, not in an auditorium, or a gymnasium, but inside a prison. A group of 20 inmates at the Waupun Correctional Institution made history. They graduated with a four-year bachelor’s degree. This is the first time the Wisconsin Dept. of Corrections (DOC) has sponsored this kind of inmate education program. “It’s been an experience like no other,” 34-year-old August White said. White has been behind bars for the last 16 years.

Fifteen pastors filter in on an overcast and surprisingly chilly summer day to our pavilion in William G. Lunney Lake Farm Park. Some gather and greet old friends and colleagues; others initiate introductions while they wait for us to get started. We welcome them to this initial gathering for Awaken Dane that is intended exclusively for pastors participating in our first cohort. But Awaken Dane itself is for more than just clergy. Over the next couple of months, these pastors will be inviting 8-10 congregation members from their respective churches to join our program. Together, pastors and their congregational teams will…

Those who haven’t heard of NBA player Giannis Antetokounmpo before this week, will surely hear about the man known as the “Greek Freak” who lead his Milwaukee Bucks to an NBA Finals championship win over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. And while his life story is fascinating, heart-warming and remarkable, the religious life of Giannis is less well known. The now 26-year-old Giannis became a Christian and devout member of the Greek Orthodox Church as a young person and continues to acknowledge his Christian faith.

It was a midsummer Sunday and the often sparsely populated sanctuary at Lakeview Moravian Community Church on Tulane Avenue on Madison’s east side was pretty much full with about 60 people present. It was not just the Moravians, though. The crowd included people from Zion Lutheran Church, which has been on the near East Side since 1890 – people who had just left their church building on Linden Avenue near the Barrymore Theater. Read more of this story.

A Wisconsin baby born at 21 weeks and two days has set the Guinness World Record for being the most premature baby to survive in an amazing story that is being celebrated by the pro-life community.

ROXBURY — Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison celebrated Mass for the faithful at St. Norbert Church in Roxbury on June 6, the day marking Corpus Christi and the Feast Day of St. Norbert, but also special this year as St. Norbert celebrates its 175th Anniversary. Recognized as the oldest parish in Dane County, St. Norbert has a continuous history dating to 1846, back when James K. Polk was the 11th President of the United States and 12 years before Wisconsin officially became a state. The current church building saw its cornerstone laid in 1856.

Over the past 8 months, I’ve been part of a cohort of learners in an initiative called “Missio Madison” or Mission Madison. The goals of Missio Madison are to bring together pastors and church leaders from a variety of denominations to build kinship, learn from one another, and foster collaboration.  During our time together we’ve focused on discerning 3 questions: “Where are we?”  “What is God up to here?” “What might He be inviting us into?” When I think about my church, the answer to the “Where are we?” question is an area of Madison known as the Triangle.

It began in 1980 as a “Middleton Outreach Mission” to all the apartment dwellers moving to the westside of that Madison suburb. Soon the mission became more than one church could handle. So, in 1984 its founding church, St. Luke’s Lutheran, welcomed St. Dunstan’s Episcopal, Middleton Community Church UCC, and St. Bernard’s Catholic Church in reforming itself as a nonprofit, named “Middleton Outreach Ministry” or, more fondly, MOM. It is now a major organization in the community focusing on providing food and housing security through both action and advocacy so that, as it says in its mission statement, it helps create “a community where everyone…

(RNS) — Jeff Weddle, a 46-year-old, wise-cracking, self-deprecating, Bible-loving, self-described “failing pastor” from Wisconsin, was already thinking of leaving the ministry before COVID and the 2020 election. He was, as he put it, fed up with church life after two decades as a pastor. Then, what he called “the stupid” — feuds about politics and the pandemic — put him over the edge. People at church seemed more concerned about the latest social media dustup and online conspiracy theories — one church member called him the antichrist for his views on COVID— than in learning about the Bible.