Assemblies of God

A PowerPoint presentation packed with graphs showing the decline of religious observance in America filled the fellowship hall at Madison’s Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Saturday morning. “I take no joy in showing you any of these graphs,” said Eastern Illinois University political science professor Ryan Burge. “This is me.” For the past 17 years Burge has also been the pastor of an American Baptist Church in central Illinois, but it’s planning on closing this summer. “We had eight people in worship last Sunday,” he said. UPDATE ON THIS STORY APRIL 2nd STORY FROM THE RELIGION NEWS SERVICE: The last service…

The Rev. John Clark, who pastored Madison’s Evangel Life Center for 25 years, has passed away in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he retired with his wife Julie in 2016. The church, now known as Life Center Madison, is located on Femrite Drive just east of Stoughton Road. An announcement posted on pastor Clark’s Facebook account stated, “John F. Clark went to be with Jesus, his Savior of 53 years, on April 4th after suddenly being overcome with metastatic melanoma. He was 70 years old. Clark was Principal Bassist of the Utah Symphony for 12 years after graduating from the University…