By Melanie Ave The Rev. Kent Pierce spent much of his summer on a bicycle, pedaling for a higher purpose. Pierce, campus pastor at the University of Missouri, Columbia, and chairman of the Lutheran Campus Mission Association (LCMA), rode 3,671 miles across…
Higher Things youth conferences focus on 'Twelve'
More than 1,900 youth, chaperones and pastors gathered at four college campuses in North America for this summer’s four Higher Things Lutheran youth conferences that had the theme of “Twelve.” Participants’ comments indicate that the conferences were well received. They…
LCMS members safe from Oklahoma wildfires
By Sarah Schafer LCMS-congregation members are safe after three dozen wildfires across Oklahoma torched more than 93,400 acres since they started Aug. 3. The LCMS Oklahoma District reported Aug. 7 that the only known loss among members is a barn…
NLSA commission accredits 111 Lutheran schools
At its annual meeting July 25-26 in St. Louis, the National Lutheran School Accreditation (NLSA) commission accredited 111 Lutheran schools. That number is just three fewer than the record-number 114 Lutheran schools the commission accredited a year ago. Among those…
2012-13 'Chapel Talks' available for order
The 2012-13 edition of Chapel Talks for Lutheran Schools is now available in a downloadable PDF format. Its focus for the year is “Live Love[d],” based on I John 4:9. That also is the theme for the 2013 LCMS National…
Commentary: Witnessing our Christian faith in the halls of power
By Timothy S. Goeglein Tiny Woodstock, Va., is a mere 94 miles from giant Washington, D.C. It is a quiet, peaceful community. But it was the site of one of the most dramatic and effervescent Sunday morning sermons in the…
94th Int'l LLL convention includes historic firsts
By Kim Plummer Krull When the International Lutheran Laymen’s League’s (Int’l LLL) outgoing President Mick Onnen passed the gavel to incoming Chairman Kurt Buchholz at the Int’l LLL’s 94th convention, the action represented one of several historic firsts for the…
New Mercy Operations Group to coordinate U.S., international 'mercy' strategy
A new LCMS unit, the Mercy Operations Group, was launched July 1 to integrate the Synod’s work of mercy with its Witness and Life Together program ministries in the Offices of National and International Mission. According to its mission statement,…
Lives saved as malaria-fighting commitments continue
By Kim Plummer Krull After learning about the Lutheran Malaria Initiative (LMI) at the LCMS Missouri District convention this summer, a pastor told his wife he planned to challenge his congregation to make a gift to stop the deadly disease…
Religion at the Olympics, from ancient Greece to London
(RNS) — A 600-foot footrace was the only athletic event at the first Olympics, a festival held in 776 B.C. and dedicated to Zeus, the chief Greek god. For the next millennium, Greeks gathered every four years in Olympia to honor…
Should a judge prevent a man from attending his church?
MARINE, Ill. (RNS) — Joseph Haegele remembers going to the church across the road from his grandparents’ house on Windmill Street in this farm town in 1956, when he was 5 years old. Haegele has attended other Catholic churches in the…
Bible museum closes $50 million deal for D.C. spot
WASHINGTON (RNS) — Planners of a Bible museum in Washington closed a $50 million deal July 26 on a building two blocks from the National Mall. The Museum of the Bible, a nonprofit group planning the, as yet, unnamed museum, announced…
Court upholds Georgia ban on guns in church
(RNS) — A federal appeals court has upheld Georgia’s ban on bringing guns into places of worship. The Rev. Jonathan Wilkins, a Baptist pastor, and a gun-rights group had argued that church members should have the right to carry guns into…
Poll: Majority of Americans would vote for an atheist for president
(RNS) — For the second time in less than a year, the Gallup poll reports that a majority of Americans would vote for an atheist for president. The latest survey, from June, found that 54 percent of those asked said they…
Scotland to legalize gay marriage by 2015
(RNS/ENInews) — Scotland has announced it will allow same-sex weddings as early as 2015, becoming the first country in the United Kingdom (U.K.) to do so. “We are committed to a Scotland that is fair and equal, and that is why…
Official notice: requests for reinstatement (August 2012)
HEATHER CHILDRESS, Shattuc, Ill.; MELINDA JAYNE HANKE, Ballwin, Mo.; JANET B. HEIEN, Peoria, Ill.; MEREDITH MATTERN, Spring, Texas; DAWN M. MUELLER, Wheaton, Ill.; LA RAYNE NEWTON, Saginaw, Mich.; JAMES GRANT RUSH II, Flint, Mich.; JAMES A. SCHEUER, Milwaukee, Wis.; and…
