High-school sophomores, juniors and seniors who are interested in learning more about church professions are invited to attend the annual “Careers for Christ” weekend Nov. 5-7 at Concordia University Chicago. “Boldly Serving the Servant” is the theme for the 2010…

While the Missouri Synod’s 2009 statistical reports show a 1.08 percent loss in baptized membership — continuing a 30-plus-year trend in declining church membership experienced by most Protestant denominations — they also reveal a slight reversal of the previous year’s $57 million decline…

This year’s Christmas card from the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League “celebrates the light of the angels announcing that Christ, the Light of the World, is born,” according to its designer, St. Louis artist Judy Newell.  “This card brings home the…

Registration opens Nov. 1 for three Higher Things youth conferences next summer — July 5-8 at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; July 12-15 at Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal; and July 19-22 at Emory University, Atlanta. Under the theme…

JERUSALEM (RNS) — A huge sycamore tree that some believe was climbed by Zacchaeus the tax collector to get a better view of Jesus is the centerpiece of a new tourism campaign by the Palestinian government. The tree is located…

(RNS) — More than 160 North American Muslims from the U.S. and Canada have issued a “Defense of Free Speech” statement that affirms free speech and condemns those who threaten violence against people who criticize or mock Islam. The statement…

AUBURN, Ala. (RNS) — Chad Gibbs has been on a pigskin pilgrimage throughout the South, searching for spiritual truth in Tuscaloosa, Baton Rouge, Gainesville and Fayetteville. He grew up a fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide and switched allegiance to…

Luvenia Marie Kienker, executive director of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod’s Lutheran Housing Support Corporation, died Oct. 8 at the Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis after a 10-year battle with the disease.  She was 51. A memorial service was held Oct. 11…

(RNS) — Disability advocate Joni Eareckson Tada, long known as an evangelical icon and a wheelchair-bound quadriplegic who paints with a brush between her teeth, has faced a range of challenges since a diving accident left her paralyzed in 1967.…

(RNS) — “Silent Night” and other religious songs will remain off the program at holiday concerts in one New Jersey school district — and possibly others across the country — after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal…

(RNS) — The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed two federal lawsuits in the Carolinas, alleging religious discrimination over a teenager’s nose ring and prisoners’ lack of books other than the Bible. In South Carolina, the Berkeley County Detention…

(RNS) — A new six-part PBS series explores how deeply religion has influenced and informed American public life — from Catholic missionaries’ first encounter with Native Americans to the political marriage between the GOP and religious conservatives. “God in America,”…

As the remnants of Tropical Storm Nicole passed along the Eastern Seaboard in early October, heavy amounts of rainfall caused flooding throughout the states served by the Synod’s Southeastern District. For the third time in less than a year, Crossway…

The 30th Annual Fall Festival at the historic Saxon Lutheran Memorial in Frohna, Mo., is set for Oct. 9, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Frohna is located in Perry County, Mo., a little more than an hour’s drive south…

Two LCMS-related Hispanic ministries — Lutheran Hispanic Missionary Institute and Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care, both of El Paso, Texas — are sponsoring weeklong, intensive Spanish-language training courses in 2011. “Conversations in Spanish” will be held Jan. 16-22 and Aug.…

In a September mailing from LCMS Ministerial Growth and Support, Synod congregations received a poster and a suggested bulletin insert to help them observe “Clergy Appreciation Month” and “Clergy Appreciation Sunday” in October. Clergy appreciation observances have gained momentum throughout…