News
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — One in eight background checks conducted on volunteers or prospective employees through LifeWay Christian Resources found a criminal history that might have kept an individual from working or volunteering at a church, the Southern Baptist Convention publishing house reported Aug. 4.Read more of this story.
(UNDATED) The nation’s largest Lutheran denomination will consider lifting its ban on gay and lesbian clergy who are in lifelong, monogamous relationships as it gathers this month for a churchwide meeting. More than 1,000 delegates will debate church policy Aug. 17-23 at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s biennial General Assembly in Minneapolis. Read more of this story. Lutheran CORE (Coalition for Reform) is a coalition of individuals, congregations, and reform movements in the ELCA. – More information here.
Madison area residents have the opportunity on August 27th-29th to be trained as crisis responders, and to learn how to bring God’s presence in the wake of tragedy and disaster. Crisis Response International (CRI) is an outreach that recognizes that God’s love, hope and mercy is needed most after disaster strikes. And who better to deliver the Good News than God’s people.
WHITTIER, CALIFORNIA (ANS) — At the end of last year, one of the most generous members of Willow Creek Community Church pulled Pastor Bill Hybels aside and told him he just lost his job, was close to losing his home, and would not be able to make his annual gift to the church – traditionally in the six-figure range.Whipsawed by declining revenue and growing needs for assistance within the church, Hybels and his team faced hard choices. Read more of this story.
LAKE PROVIDENCE, La. — The Rev. Michael Owens says nothing compares with dunking someone toward salvation. Owens, the pastor at New Hope Baptist Church in this small church-crowded hamlet in northeast Louisiana, recently joined a dozen other pastors in leading outdoor baptisms in Lake Providence. They baptized 40 white-robed children, ages 4 to 15, plus three adults who waded in unannounced.Read more of this story.
If you think it’s difficult to be pro-life in a pro-choice world, or to be a disciple of Jesus in a sea of skeptics, try advocating for young marriage. Almost no one empathizes, even among the faithful. Read more of this story. Wait for Sex and Marriage? – Associated Press follow-up
This year’s Promise Keepers stadium event took a different turn from its usual godly men talks.Relaunched this past weekend under the leadership of founder Bill McCartney, the men’s ministry drew some 10,000 men, women and children to Boulder, Colo., for talks of revival and unity.Read more of this story.
United Methodists have defeated amendments that would have made church membership open to all Christians regardless of sexual orientation and furthered the creation of a new, U.S.-only governing body, according to the denomination’s news service.Read more of this story.
MADISON — The Catholic Multicultural Center (CMC), located at 1862 Beld St., off Park St. on Madison’s south side, will be re-opened Monday, Aug. 3.Read more of this story.
First it was Rick Warren hosting his Saddleback Civil Forum last summer with Barack Obama and John McCain. Then, in January, evangelical PR magnate Mark DeMoss, whose clients have included Jerry Falwell and Franklin Graham, quietly launched The Civility Project.Now, Focus on the Family, whose founder accused Obama last year of promoting a "fruitcake interpretation" of the Constitution and has called the fight to ban gay marriage "our D-Day, or Gettysburg or Stalingrad," is going civil.Read more of this story.