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Rick Warren has Rick Warren syndrome. That’s not a joke. He has a brain disorder. "I was born with it," he says. "I went to the Mayo Clinic, and the doctors said, ‘We have found a dozen or so other people with this. There’s no name, so maybe we’ll just call it the Warren syndrome." He describes the ailment’s chemistry as an inability to process his body’s own adrenaline. Its symptoms are tremors, disorientation and pain, and, as he says, "it makes my brain move very fast." I ask — since a colleague of his has asserted it — whether…
BEIJING, Aug. 13 — The Olympic Village’s religious center has become the target of a quiet protest by athletes, coaches and other delegates who say its staffing and services fall woefully short of the promises made by Chinese organizers.Read more of this story.
LA JOLLA, Calif. (BP)–When a volunteer from the United Kingdom met a young Middle Eastern man in Jerusalem’s old city and invited him to a Bible study, he had no idea he was talking to the son of a key figure in the Hamas terrorist organization.And while the volunteer surely hoped Masab Yousef would hear the Gospel and accept Christ, he had no clue how that invitation — and Yousef’s decision for Christ four years later — would eventually reverberate throughout the Middle East and perhaps even the world.Read more of this story. Read the original story in Israel’s HAARETZ…
International (MNN) ― Trans World Radio has rediscovered the ‘lost writings’ of Corrie Ten Boom from a forgotten archive of her radio programs.Read more of this story.
John Decker is convinced that a key to reducing the large attrition rate of students who come to college with a strong Christian faith, and leave without one, is to help students connect with churches and campus ministries like InterVarsity during that first week. But many times students won’t connect if they don’t know that InterVarsity and similar ministries are operating on their campus.Read more of this story.
COMMENTARYIn a recent investigative profile, the Associated Press tells the depressingly familiar story of televangelist Kenneth Copeland. His ministry’s private jet and lakeside mansion. The complex web of ranching, oil and media interests that benefits his extended family. In this case, there is no taint of hypocrisy. Copeland practices what he preaches — a doctrine that God wants his followers to prosper in very material ways. This prosperity gospel combines two of the most powerful forces on Earth: the profit motive and the power of positive thinking. At its best, it inspires hard work, generosity and the avoidance of life-destroying…
(CNN) — The Rev. Paul Earl Sheppard had recently become the senior pastor of a suburban church in California when a group of parishioners came to him with a disturbing personal question.They were worried because the racial makeup of their small church was changing. They warned Sheppard that the church’s newest members would try to seize control because members of their race were inherently aggressive. What was he was going to do if more of "them" tried to join their church?"One man asked me if I was prepared for a hostile takeover," says Sheppard, pastor of Abundant Life Christian Fellowship…
TIME recently highlighted its "100 Olympic Athletes To Watch." As Olympic coverage cranks up, you’ll be hearing more and more about them, although current reports seem mostly to have to do with the athlete’s ages, injuries, and drug use.Press agency AMP is working with the USOC and NBC to highlight other aspects of the athletes’ lives. They’ve told CT about a number of confessing Christians among the American athletes most likely to medal. A large proportion of them mention Philippians 4:13 in interviews and on their blogs: "I can do everything through him who gives me strength."Read more of this…
USA (MNN) ― On August 4, Brian Meyers began his first day of classes at Shepherds College, on the campus of Shepherds Ministries in Union Grove, WI. "It was really hard. It was good, and hard," Brian said. "We have really good classes here, but they’re really challenging." August 4 was also the first day of classes ever held at Shepherds College. One characteristic makes it stand out from other schools — it serves students like 19-year-old Brian, who have a primary diagnosis of Intellectual Disability. Read more of this story.
For the first time since 1997, the Wisconsin Family Council has released its tally of Wisconsin Cultural Indicators. It "provides an overview of important indicators that impact Wisconsin’s best natural resource: her traditional families," said CEO Julaine Appling, in a news release. "When Wisconsin’s families are healthy, Wisconsin is healthy," she added. "When our state’s families are weak and struggling, you can be sure that will be reflected in the overall health of the state." The document offers no conclusions, but instead states "the numbers speak for themselves."