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When I was attending an event a few months ago where my book, Dark Journey Deep Grace, Jeffrey Dahmer’s Story of Faith, was on sale, a friend of mine was excitedly showing the book to another friend and urged him to buy it. The second man refused to even consider the book. When my friend asked why he reacted that way, the man said, “Because of what he (meaning Jeffrey Dahmer) did.” When my friend told me this story, we both agreed that this man understood the first part of the title, but missed the best part, the last part.…
DALLAS (ABP) — Worshippers hear them speak each Sunday, and a steady stream of people visit them each week. But for many pastors, ministry makes a lonely life.Though they often relate well to large groups of people on many different levels, ministers nationwide have reported difficulty in forming authentic personal relationships. And that feeling of solitude takes its toll, experts say, sometimes to the detriment of those involved. Read more.
Lessons from the Amish for the Greater ChurchCEN (Phoenix, AZ Oct 2006) Facing the emergencies of this past week in the Amish community brings home reminders for all Christians, churches, and ministries. As the Amish Community in Lancaster PA buries their beloved daughters and sisters, they remind us that to forgive is divine. Inviting the family members of the assailant to their usually closed funeral services, and offering to assist them in their grief with tangible gifts of kindness are a witness made in heaven.
Young Christian leaders from around the world listened to a mission expert present about the rapid growth of evangelicalism, especially in the global South, at a Lausanne gathering in Malaysia this week. Jason Mandryck – co-author of the mission prayer guide Operation World – presented on the status of the Christian faith around the world Tuesday during the plenary session “State of the Gospel” at the Younger Leaders Gathering. Read More.
October is Clergy Appreciation Month. This month we will be profiling some of Madison’s memorable pastors. This article by Eileen Hocker focuses on several pastors, past and present.It was the early 1970s. Madison had a one percent ethnic minority community. Midvale Baptist Church, a small church on Madison’s Westside, wanted to reach out to the African American community.“I remember this guy named Dave, and his driver, who came through the community every Saturday to see who was coming,” said Rev. Alex Gee, pastor of Fountain of Life Family Worship Center. “Then on Sundays the bus came. It was called the Happy…
News Release (MADISON, WI) – Members of the historic First Congregational Church will pound the first nail and kick off construction of a new Habitat for Humanity of Dane County home in the Twin Oaks Subdivision in Madison this Saturday, October 7, 2006.
News Release(Madison, WI) – On Monday, October 2, 2006, the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship chapter at the University of Wisconsin-Superior filed suit in federal court against the President of the University of Wisconsin, Kevin Reilly; the University of Wisconsin system; the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents; UW-Superior Chancellor Julius Erlenbach; and UW-Superior Dean of Student Life Stewart Platner. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship-UW Superior (InterVarsity-Superior) is the local, student-run chapter of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA (IVCF). InterVarsity is asking the UW-Superior to reinstate the chapter and allow all InterVarsity chapters on UW campuses to use religious criteria for the selection of chapter officers.…
Hollywood pundits and advertisers on Madison Avenue like to tell the press that sex and nudity sells best, but nothing could be further from the truth. For example, we recently completed a ten-year study of the theatrical box office at MOVIEGUIDE®. We discovered that Hollywood movies with strong Christian worldviews make far more money than movies with explicit sex and nudity. In fact, Christian movies make two to seven times as much money, and often four to six times as much money, as movies with explicit sex and nudity. The study is based on an analysis of nearly 2,700 of…
When the young Muslim men came to ask Rev. Victor Mosele to help them start an Islamic Youth Center across the street from his Roman Catholic church in Sierra Leone he wondered what their imam would say about that. "But father," they replied, the imam was the one who told us you could help us."
These are exciting days for the Christian church, although the most exciting things are happening in Africa and Asia rather than the U.S. and Europe, according to Lamin Sanneh, a Professor of Missions and World Christianity at Yale University. Sanneh was the morning plenary speaker on the final day of the What Next Conference, a prayer and missions gathering convened here in Madison to mark the bicentennial of the Haystack Prayer Meeting, that launched the North American Missions movement.