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Francesca Pica – Wisconsin State Journal – Just off Highway M in Middleton is a hidden place, sheltered by dense trees and blanketed with grasses. Out of sight, though, doesn’t mean off-limits. On the contrary, the Benedictine sisters who run Holy Wisdom Monastery invite visitors and hope it’s a welcoming place for all, worshipers and the general public alike. The spacious, white-walled monastery offers free water and coffee, a log to request prayers during the daily service, and volunteers eager to assist. Outside, the sisters, who live in the monastery and lead the group, invite visitors to wind their way…

World Relief Wisconsin will be better equipped to welcome newcomers to the Fox Valley as the Oshkosh office moves in August to the Hyde Family Community Center, 545 Monroe St. As a community partner in the new center—a component of the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh’s recent $18.5 million expansion—World Relief Wisconsin will provide refugees arriving to the Fox Valley with a more accessible, family-friendly space to seek services. Read more of this story.

By Dean Robbins – Photo by Bryce Richter – ON WISCONSIN magazine – UW–Madison launched the Center for Interfaith Dialogue last year — and not a minute too soon, given the onset of the Israel–Hamas war. Though it had been in the works for a while, the center opened just as the university urgently needed a place where students from different religious backgrounds could get to know one another and engage in civil dialogue. Interim director Ulrich Rosenhagen envisioned a program in which undergraduates serve as “interfaith fellows,” educating themselves about religious traditions while fostering a spirit of understanding in…

WMTV-NBC/15 profiled the work of Hope2Others, a Sun Prairie ministry that is working to bring improved medical technology and medical training to Tanzania so that more babies will survive and thrive. Leigh Mills talked with Meriter nurse Karen Klemp and Meriter nursing manager Sue Shafranski in this feature. More information on this ministry at http://www.bringinghope2others.com/.

A PowerPoint presentation packed with graphs showing the decline of religious observance in America filled the fellowship hall at Madison’s Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Saturday morning. “I take no joy in showing you any of these graphs,” said Eastern Illinois University political science professor Ryan Burge. “This is me.” For the past 17 years Burge has also been the pastor of an American Baptist Church in central Illinois, but it’s planning on closing this summer. “We had eight people in worship last Sunday,” he said. UPDATE ON THIS STORY APRIL 2nd STORY FROM THE RELIGION NEWS SERVICE: The last service…

By Michael Foust – Crosswalk.com – Hot dogs and peanuts are familiar sights at baseball games, but fans at a recent matchup in Nashville experienced something unexpected: a baptism. After a game Saturday between the Nashville Sounds and the Memphis Redbirds, a portable baptistry was brought onto the field, where Nashville’s Brewer Hicklen baptized teammate Wes Clarke while players and fans cheered.  The Sounds are the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. The Redbirds, also Triple-A, are affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals. Nashville won the game, 4-1.  Both players wore “Jesus Won” shorts during the baptism.  Read more of…

By David Dahmer – Madison365 – The 6th annual Madison Gospel 5K, 10K Run/Walk & Health Fair will take place at Saturday, July 13, 8 a.m. at Penn Park. Uchenna Jones founded The Madison Gospel 5K Foundation in February of 2019 as a charitable organization focused on the health and wellness of families of color. Every summer, her organization have been hosting a Madison Gospel 5K Run/Walk that just keeps getting bigger and better. “We first started six years ago with a 5k and then over time, the participants were like, ‘Oh, can we have a 10k?’ They have grown…

MadisonChristians.com commentary by Fred Grossenbach – Many of us have been praying for Revival in Madison for years. The prayer still goes on. We long to see God work in powerful miraculous ways to transform the city. I’m reminded however of Jesus’ statement to the Pharisees in the Gospel of John chapter 5 verse 17: “My Father is always at work to this very day, and I too am working.” So Jesus is at work today, right here in Madison. I think also of the parable of the sower and the seed in Luke chapter 8:5 -8. Jesus explains the…

By Emilie Heidemann – Wisconsin State Journal – ARGYLE — “We are going to be okay.” The Rev. Dan Bohlman, pastor of Apple Grove Lutheran Church that was destroyed Saturday by a tornado, told this Sunday morning to more than 100 people gathered near what little was left of the 129-year-old church building during a worship service to grieve its loss. The crowd convened just to the left of the rubble, some visitors crying with others somberly soaking in Bohlman’s words as he began the service. Attendees clapped when Bohlman said all would be well. They later sang hymns and…

A rainy Sunday at the end of a stormy week revamped Brat Fest plans for the last day of the 3-day festival. The music acts were condensed from three outdoor stages to one indoor stage, in the Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Brats were still for sale but Friday’s Take Your Brat to Work drive-through lanes were revived. And the cornhole tournament was moved to the Arena, starting right after the church service. An enthusiastic crowd of several hundred worshipers filled the Arena for the 9:00 am church service. “They have moved heaven and earth to get us out of the…