WASHINGTON (RNS) — Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour warned several hundred Christian conservatives gathered here June 3-4 not to expect a “perfect candidate” to emerge from the field of Republican (GOP) presidential contenders. “There’s only been one perfect person that ever…

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans is expanding a national disaster-response funding program it announced in May to include “any state in which … four major Lutheran disaster response organizations [including LCMS World Relief and Human Care (WR-HC)] are providing support.” Click…

PALMER, Mass. (RNS) — A Massachusetts woman charged with larceny and fraud denied June 7 that she stole donated items from a church that were intended for victims of a devastating tornado. Christine Lajewski, 47, of Ware, Mass., was charged…

(RNS) — A new Gallup poll finds 92 percent of Americans say they believe in God, a figure that has dropped by only a few points since Gallup first asked the question in the 1940s. Gallup pollster Frank Newport offered…

MOSS POINT, Miss. (RNS) — For the past 69 years, Ida Mae Cumbest has been the pianist and organist at Caswell Springs United Methodist Church — a tenure that qualifies her as the world’s longest-serving church organist. Cumbest has played…

OREGON CITY, Ore. (RNS) — After just an hour of deliberation, jurors on June 7 unanimously found two members of a faith-healing church guilty of felony criminal mistreatment for not seeking medical care for their daughter. Timothy and Rebecca Wyland…

(RNS) — For the second time this year, a federal regulator has rejected the First Amendment arguments of a Catholic college and cleared the way for the school’s adjunct faculty to unionize. In a May 26 decision, the Chicago office…

WASHINGTON (RNS) — Four months after the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a new Gallup survey says a majority of Egyptians want religious leaders to advise the nation’s officials but they do not want a theocracy. About seven in…

ST. LOUIS (RNS) — Taxi driver Nabeel Langrial was chatting with another cabbie last summer when an enforcement agent for the Metropolitan Taxicab Commission stopped to tell him his hat did not conform to the driver dress code. Langrial, a…

NEW ORLEANS (RNS) — Wearing a monk’s robe, Abbot Justin Brown climbed into the witness box on June 6 and said the only people who ever opposed his abbey’s bid to sell handmade caskets were funeral insiders who stood to…

Each LCMS congregation will receive this summer a free copy of a new Bible study on the Synod’s threefold “Witness, Mercy, Life Together” emphasis, including a video version on DVD. The mid-July mailing, funded by a donor, also will include…

By Adriane Dorr Heavy rain in the Midwest and above-average snowmelt out West have caused extensive flooding in Iowa, South Dakota and Montana. As rivers continue to rise, Lutheran families and LCMS churches in the affected areas are beginning to…

Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC) opened its ninth triennial convention June 3-6 in Hamilton, Ontario, with a march through the city’s downtown streets to Christ’s Church Cathedral for the opening worship service.  About 400 delegates, guests and members of local Lutheran congregations…

Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Ind., will host the International Loehe Society Theological Conference III July 26-30. Founded in 2005, the International Loehe Society seeks to promote the study of Wilhelm Loehe (1808-1872), a Bavarian pastor and churchman who…

A new campaign sponsored by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans seeks to raise Americans’ awareness of ways to improve their finances. Titled “Do One Thing Differently,” the campaign asks the question, “Would you do one thing differently to improve your financial…

Rev. Dennis Konkel of Des Moines, Iowa, is the new executive director of the Lutheran Deaf Mission Society (LDMS).  He is the first deaf director of the LDMS. Konkel, 62, was elected by the society’s Board of Directors May 5. …