Author: Gordon Govier

What does Madison mean to you? A place where my single mother could escape to and discover her dreams of obtaining a college degree and place where her two young children could find their significance. Who’s been your greatest inspiration, and why? Jesus Christ. His selfless living and intentional association with the disenfranchised really inspire me.

APPLETON, Wis. (BP) — Valley Baptist Church reaches out to local Hmong, Hispanic and deaf people groups, but the mostly Anglo congregation isn’t satisfied to stop there.

LeRoy Butler, the former Green Bay Packer credited with inventing the “Lambeau Leap” touchdown celebration, told a Madison audience Sunday there were many years as a child when he couldn’t walk, a situation that made him the target of bullying. He was born so pigeon-toed he wore leg braces and spent much of his childhood in a wheelchair. His mother taught him to stay positive, and he remembers telling one of his tormenters not to count him out. “I’m going to play professional football,” he told the boy, “and you’re going to want my autograph.” Butler, 44, delivered his anti-bullying…

USA (MNN) ― A college ministry is seeing growth despite recent troubles.Jim Lundgren of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship says they’re celebrating record numbers at their annual Orientation of New Staff (ONS). “I think it’s a sign of the health of our work on campus,” Lundgren says. “It’s a 10-day program that involves training in developing mission partners and the work they do on campus.”This year, a record 138 new staff members are attending the event in Madison, WI.

A few weeks ago the Illinois state legislature took up the issue of same-sex marriage. The outcome was regarded as a foregone conclusion. Illinois is President Obama’s home state, and his party enjoys commanding majorities in both houses. Same-sex marriage enjoyed the support of both the governor and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The president had even personally lobbied state legislators. Given all that, the vote in favor of gay “marriage” in Illinois was inevitable, right?  Well, no one bothered to tell the state’s African-American pastors.

Seventeen Madison-area ministries and churches are joining together to make a difference outside the four walls of the church. This summer, they will gather for four days of experiential learning, training and equipping in evangelism at the 2013 Wisconsin School of Power and Love. All are welcome to attend the event, which meets August 28-31 at High Point Church (7702 Old Sauk Rd.).

MADISON — For years, people have come to the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry on Fish Hatchery Rd. in Madison to get a helping hand to feed themselves and their families. Now, just one floor below the pantry, people with nowhere else to turn can get assistance with their medications.

It was getting pretty steamy this week at The River Food Pantry on Madison’s north side after thieves stole copper tubing and condensers from two industrial-size air conditioners there, disabling the cooling system. “It was brutal in here yesterday, over 90 degrees,” pantry co-founder Jenny Czerkas told me Tuesday amid a busy food pantry session. The crowd that attracts — in addition to heat from the open kitchen where daily meals are prepared — means the building at 2201 Darwin Road warms up pretty quickly.

A few months ago, Stephen Marsh, my fellow pastor, and I walked into Chief’s Tavern on the east side of Madison, Wis., ordered a couple pints, sat on a pair of stools and discussed an idea that would eventually have a massive impact on the congregation we serve together. In specifics, we wondered whether we could spark a ministry by fusing two of our most treasured Lutheran traditions: beers and hymns.

God may be omnipresent — but His priests aren’t. So a holy man in Madison, Wisc., has turned to app development, along with divine guidance, to find a better way to tend to the needs of his 800-family flock. Father Richard Heilman is launching a My Confessor App that will let his parishioners know when and where he is available to listen to their sins. Read more of this story.