News
Once again, a federal judge has declared that the longstanding clergy housing allowance violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Offered only to “ministers of the gospel,” the 60-year-old tax break excludes the rental value of a home from the taxable income of US clergy. It’s the “most important tax benefit available to ministers,” according to GuideStone Financial Resources. It’s also the biggest: American ministers currently avail themselves of the tax break to the tune of $800 million a year, according to the latest estimate by the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. Wisconsin district judge Barbara Crabb first ruled…
The first alarm goes off at 1:30am for Brandon Taylor, morning news anchor at WKOW TV’s Wake Up Wisconsin. In the studio by 3:00am and on the air by 4:30am. The morning is fast paced and he’s off the air at 9:00am. But sometimes it’s too faced paced. Like last Monday, as the reports from the Las Vegas shooting kept getting worse and worse through the morning. He didn’t get a chance to process the tragedy until he caught his breath at 11:30am. “One of the reasons that I love doing the morning show is because it’s usually light news,”…
Maybe it was the celebrity speaker. Or maybe it was the fact that the local Christian community is starting to pick up on the vision of the Madison Christian Giving Fund. Whatever it was, the Sheraton Hotel staff was hopping Tuesday evening, substituting ten-seat tables for eight-seat tables so that a larger than expected turnout could be accommodated for the Madison Christian Giving Fund annual banquet. An estimated 250 attendees came together to learn about the fund and its origin, how it is impacting ministries in the Madison area, and to hear some thoughts from retired pastor and author Stuart…
When Henry Sanders started thinking about the ways churches could have an impact on the Madison-area community, a couple of things came to mind, he told a crowd Saturday at the Goodman Center for the formal launch of Selfless Ambition. One was a verse from Paul’s letter to the Philippians: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” (Philippians 2:3-4) The name of the project played off the words “selfish ambition” by calling for “selfless ambition.…
When Henry Sanders started thinking about the ways churches could have an impact on the Madison-area community, a couple of things came to mind, he told a crowd Saturday at the Goodman Center for the formal launch of Selfless Ambition. One was a verse from Paul’s letter to the Philippians: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” (Philippians 2:3-4) The name of the project played off the words “selfish ambition” by calling for “selfless ambition.…
Although it has been active since May, a Dane County faith-based coalition will lay out its goals Saturday as it takes on some of the area’s toughest issues. Already, Selfless Ambition, which was formed to unite area churches to solve some of the area’s most pressing problems, has held block parties throughout the summer and donated supplies and raised money for hurricane recovery efforts. But to help address problems like poverty, violent crime and racial disparities in Madison, the nonprofit group of churches plans to work with area schools and youth, said Selfless Ambition CEO Henry Sanders.
There were pastors and musicians, congregation members and Allied Drive residents, all gathered at the Percy Julian Way Park in Allied Drive. They were there for what the African-American Council of Churches called a Crusade for Peace, bringing together many congregations in a show of unity after a summer filled with shootings.
A Wisconsin church was vandalized with anti-Christian and sexually explicit graffiti during LGBT Pride last weekend. Cornerstone Community Church and other businesses in La Crosse, Wisconsin, were attacked by vandals who spray-painted message on the buildings’ walls and windows using red spray paint.
Some of the greatest musical hits of the Reformation were sung at the Overture yesterday. Several times each year the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Overture Center present a Free Community Hymn Sing, which is just the right kind of event to commemorate this fall’s 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. As I guessed, the opening hymn was Martin Luther’s A Mighty Fortress is Our God, written in 1529, followed by The Church’s One Foundation, written by Samuel Wesley and Samuel Stone in the mid 19th century. The rest of the 11 hymns were from all of the past five…
The first Leading with Power luncheon was held today at the Marriott in Middleton. Leading with Power lunches are designed for men interested in meeting with other men, networking, or growing as fathers, husbands, and business men. The meetings feature a guest speaker and time for interaction.