Capital Times
By Will Briggs – Madison Cap Times – The Rev. Staci Marrese-Wheeler can pinpoint the moment she heard a conversation that crystalized the need for Madison’s churches to rethink their model. Two young student teachers were talking on their way to a monthly gathering, hosted in the former Lakeview Moravian Church building. “They’d always come past my office and say, ‘Hi,’” recalled Marrese-Wheeler, pastor of Common Grace and co-director of the nonprofit Eastmorland Community Center. “One day I hear (them) as they’re walking downstairs, and one of them says, ‘What does this building smell like? It kind of smells like…
By Erin Gretzinger – Madison Capital Times – On the evening of Dec. 16 last year, Marcio Sierra Jr., the senior pastor of Lighthouse Church, felt his faith being tested. That morning, a 15-year-old student at Abundant Life Christian School opened fire on her teachers and classmates, leaving two dead and six more injured before she died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Among those most gravely wounded was then 17-year-old Samy Garduno-Martinez, who attended Lighthouse and went to the church’s school up until he went to high school at Abundant Life. More than a dozen other alumni and other students from Sierra’s congregation…
A few religious leaders will carry an eight-foot wooden cross up State Street at 11 a.m. Saturday to protest the cruelty of Donald Trump’s government. They will start at Lake and State streets and will finish at the state Capitol. Everyone is invited. Madison, of course, has many protests, but this one stands out because of the backstory of its principal organizer. For much of his adult life, David Couper was Madison’s transformational police chief, employing innovative policies and hiring a diverse and well-educated workforce. Couper’s mastery as police chief extended to peacefully accommodating Madison’s many protests, always honoring First…