Author: Gordon Govier

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEA) — A budget amendment may put to rest an ongoing clash between religion and government. Amish families in Wisconsin would be exempt from building codes they say go against their religion under a provision in the state budget added by the Legislature’s budget committee.

The sun shone brightly in a bright blue sky for the Sunday morning worship service at Brat Fest. Last year, that is. This year, not so much. A small crowd of about 75 was welcomed by Never Claim, a Christian band from Portland as the worship service began at the Lifest stage. By the end of the service two, maybe three times that number had gathered, huddled under umbrellas. Last year the first community worship service at Brat Fest drew a crowd of about 1,000.

Madison-based InterVarsity Christian Fellowship has announced that InterVarsity President Alec Hill has been diagnosed with myelodysplasia, a cancer of the bone marrow, which requires rigorous treatment. As a result of this news, Alec will enter cancer treatment on June 10. The InterVarsity Board of Trustees will meet in early June, at which point an interim president will be appointed.

The Rev. Leonard Thompson Sr., the recently arrived interim pastor of Mr. Zion Baptist Church, could have lived anywhere when he moved to Madison. He and his wife chose an apartment two blocks from Mt. Zion, impressing many church members. The church is on the city’s South Side, in a neighborhood with high rates of poverty and unemployment. Thompson, 63, said he was not attempting to make any grand political statement with his housing choice, he just liked the convenience.

One day, you’re trying to refurbish a building on South Ingersoll Street that once was an upholstery shop, but had fallen into disrepair. Next thing you know, the renovated building, called Luke House, has served millions of free meals, provided with help from thousands of volunteers through the Community Meal Program, and three decades have come and gone. “How did that happen?” Paul Ashe said this week.

MADISON, Wis — A local organization that is run completely through donations has been providing mothers who are going through a rough patch in their lives a safe place to stay with their baby. “Jennifer,” a young mother, spent some time at the Elizabeth house because she found out her father’s house was facing foreclosure. She wanted to find a place for herself and her unborn child.

On Friday May 8th an unprecedented meeting of faith leaders was held in the Madison Urban Ministry offices. We came together over the systemic injustices that exist in our County and out of concern for our community.  We know that as clergy and people of faith we are called across traditions to work for justice. Our meeting on May 8th represents the beginning of our work as a faith coalition, we recognize that there is much, much more to be done and we pledge to continue Tomorrow, Tuesday, May 12th at 2:30 p.m. the District Attorney will announce his decision regarding the officer involved shooting…

Gov. Scott Walker told a heavily — if not exclusively — Christian crowd gathered at the Italian Community Center in Milwaukee Thursday to go out and share their faith with the world, and to pray for their leaders in government and business regardless of party or position. “Always pray for our leaders so that God’s will will be followed rather than their own,” he said. Walker spoke at the annual Governor’s Prayer Breakfast, organized by the West Allis-based Christian publishing nonprofit ProBuColls Association.

The National Day of Prayer observance at the Wisconsin capitol drew about 100 men and women over the noon hour today, and consisted of more than just prayers. “We are praying with an ear to hear what the Lord has to say to us,” said Joleen Helbig, Wisconsin National Day of Prayer State Coordinator.Those present included lawmakers, businessmen and women, clergy, and others who are concerned about the strength of our state and  national spiritual foundation. Also present was someone who may, in the long run, help change the spiritual climate in Wisconsin’s legislature.

The final words of a dying Christian father of three fatally shot during a Sunday walk with his family on a Wisconsin trail bridge were, “forgive the shooter,” his wounded wife has revealed. Erin Stoffel, 32, woke from a coma with a breathing tube in her throat on Tuesday just two days after she and her husband of more than a decade, Jonathan, 33, and their 11-year-old daughter, Olivia, were shot during a random attack on the Trestle Trail Bridge in the city of Menasha. While Erin survived the shooting, Jonathan and Olivia did not, and the first thing that…