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By Samara Kalk Derby – Wisconsin State Journal – Abundant Life Christian School parent Kari Aeschlimann was feeling reflective Tuesday morning. A day earlier, customers had packed area Culver’s restaurants to support a fundraiser for Abundant Life, where a student killed a teacher and a student in a shooting Dec. 16. What had started as a local benefit to raise money to help Abundant Life families blossomed into a statewide effort, in which at least 80 Culver’s restaurants donated a portion of the day’s proceeds to the fundraiser. “There are no words to express what a beautiful outpouring of love…

MIDDLETON, Wis. (WMTV) – Blackhawk Church’s Christmas Eve service reminds the community that they are not alone this holiday season through a message of hope. This comes after a Madison school shooting resulted in a week of hardship and grief. “We actually have people who have family members that have been injured. We know people who lost their lives, so it’s been really challenging for us,” Charles Yu said. Read more of this story.

Erik Ogren – BGEA – As the snow falls quietly around Abundant Life Christian School and City Church in Madison, Wisconsin small groups of people huddle together. In some ways, it may seem like just another December day. But the long line of yellow sheriff’s department tape tells a different story. On Monday, a 15-year-old student brought a gun to the school, where she shot classmates and a teacher. The attack claimed two lives and left six others wounded (including two who remain in critical condition). The teenager also took her own life. In the midst of “the most wonderful…

By David Dahmer – Madison365 – Dr. Rev. Carmen Porco, the longtime executive director of Housing Ministries of Wisconsin who has been a highly respected anti-poverty activist and a well-known advocate of low-income housing, officially announced his retirement in June following over a half-century of work, including developing the revolutionary Wisconsin Anti-Poverty Model to lift people out of poverty and to transform their lives. “It’s difficult because I’ve retired from the organization where I don’t have the everyday responsibility,” Porco tells Madison365, “but I’m going to continue to try to promote some public policy debate and keep trying to get…

By Wisconsin State Journal Staff – Parents racing toward their children’s school as ambulances sped past them, a sea of police cars, a cry of disbelief as one person crumpled to the pavement. Madison on Monday joined the ranks of communities that have been staggered by gun violence in schools after police say a 15-year-old female student shot and killed a teacher and a teenage student at a Far East Side Christian school and wounded six others, two critically. Read the rest of this story. UPDATE: Friends Recall Those Lost in the Madison School Shooting

By George Spencer – On Wisconsin magazine – Odysseus overcame many obstacles during his 10-year voyage home. The hero of Homer’s ancient epic The Odyssey might have a modern-day counterpart — computer scientist Brent Seales MS’88, PhD’91. A professor at the University of Kentucky–Lexington, Seales has made it his life’s work to accomplish a seemingly impossible task — to “virtually unwrap” hundreds, possibly thousands, of priceless scrolls that were buried and carbonized when Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. Seales grew up in what he calls “a very strong and devout Christian tradition.” He wants as much ancient knowledge translated as…

One of Madison’s most vibrant worship communities, Lighthouse Church, celebrated its 30 year anniversary on Sunday, November 24, 2024. Lighthouse Church is lead by pastors Marcio and Tia Sierra, and Stephanie Avila. Guest speaker for the celebration was Alex Gee, pastor of Fountain of Life Covenant Church with other Madison pastors in attendance. More photos here.

“Are You For Us or For Our Enemies?” Joshua asked the man standing in front of him just outside of Jericho. ” [Joshua 5:13] “Neither,” he responded, saying he was with God, as the commander of the army of the Lord. In the wake of this fraught election season, said Lighthouse church pastor Marcio Sierra, it would be good to find our unity in God and not politics, “loving each other as God loves us.” Pastor Sierra offered the reflection as part of the third annual community ecumenical Thanksgiving service, held Monday, November 25, 2024, at Bethel Lutheran Church. One…

By David Dahmer – Madison365 – The Madison community is in mourning as it remembers its beloved pastor, mentor, coach, public defender, fraternity brother, and community leader, Rev. Richard Jones Sr., who passed away on Nov. 16 at the age of 61. Rev. Jones, who spent almost a decade serving as the senior pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Madison’s largest Black church, was well-known in Madison for his generosity, kindness, and compassion. Pastor Jones left an indelible mark on the church and the Madison community, says Dr. Rev. Marcus Allen, the current senior pastor at Mt. Zion Baptist Church.…

(Madison WI News Release) — The Madison Christian Giving Fund (MCGF), which has raised and donated to local charities over $1.2 million in the past decade, is entering 2025 with a new name, new partners, and a new, more dynamic grant process to deliver financial support to Christian ministries serving the needs of Madison area residents. From the beginning MCGF has been directed by volunteers from a variety of local churches. One hundred percent of funds raised have been distributed to the front lines of more than 60 local Christian ministries involved in meeting needs and sharing the Good News…