Both of the Missouri Synod’s seminaries will hold visitation events for high-school students this summer. Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, will host its 14th annual Vocatio June 23-28 on the seminary campus. The event is designed to identify, inform and encourage…

By Kim Plummer Krull More than 20 years ago, Linda Husfeld picked up a Laborers For Christ brochure at a Lutheran Women’s Missionary League conference and showed it to her husband, Rich. “This is something we would like to do when…

Seven LCMS schools were selected in March to receive the National Lutheran School Accreditation’s (NLSA) “exemplary status” recognition out of the 115 schools that it accredited or re-accredited in 2011. The schools are: Bethany Lutheran School, Parma, Ohio, Principal Ken…

In response to the earthquake in central Mexico March 20, the LCMS established telephone and email contact March 21 with President Alvaro Lopez of the Lutheran Synod of Mexico, a partner church of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. Lopez told the…

MOBILE, Ala. (RNS) — With 98 percent of state precincts counted, Roy Moore held on to 51 percent of the vote in his bid to retake his former job as chief justice of the state’s supreme court. Moore received 279,381…

TORONTO (RNS) — Two political parties in Quebec are speaking out against the ritual slaughter of meat, saying the practice runs counter to the province’s secular “values.” The opposition Parti Quebecois (PQ) on March 14 declared concerns about halal meat,…

LONDON (RNS) — Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said March 16 he will step down at the end of 2012, setting the stage for the unique process of government officials appointing the new leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Williams’…

CANTERBURY, England (RNS/ENInews) — The British government on March 15 launched a 12-week consultation that is widely expected to lead to the legalization of same-sex marriage in England and Wales, despite strong opposition from Catholics and some Anglicans. “Should two…

(RNS) — A Catholic priest who was pulled from ministry after a furor over denying Communion to a lesbian at her mother’s funeral insists he did the right thing and criticized the Washington archdiocese for disciplining him. “I did the…

HARRISBURG, Pa. (RNS) — The billboard is down, but the issue’s not gone. A billboard erected in one of the city’s most racially diverse neighborhoods featured an African slave with the biblical quote, “Slaves, obey your masters.” It lasted less…

(RNS) — Many TV network executives, advertisers and producers would sell their souls to get the kind of audience God has. But giving religion a starring role in prime time? Not so much. Religion, God and spirituality have made cameos…

SPOKANE, Wash. (RNS) — Kevin Finch grew up in meat-and-potatoes country, a small town off of Flathead Lake in western Montana. The only fine-dining restaurant there was half eatery/half bowling alley. Everything came out of the deep fryer. “It was…

The LCMS Southeastern District Coalition of Lutherans in Black Ministry is sponsoring a national Black Ministry Family Convocation July 11-15 at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, N.C. The convocation is the first to be held since the Synod’s…

LCMS Rural and Small Town Mission (RSTM) will hold a webinar from 1 to 2 p.m. (CT) Thursday, March 22. The presenter will be Sarah Guldalian, manager of Evangelism Training for Lutheran Hour Ministries, who will discuss “Social Networking Strategies…

By Kim Plummer Krull LCMS families in Ann Arbor are among those dealing with damages after three reported tornadoes ripped through southeastern Michigan on March 15, destroying at least 100 homes, according to news accounts. Two members of St. Paul…

The Rev. William C. Weedon of Worden, Ill., has accepted the call to serve as the Synod’s director of Worship and International Center (IC) chaplain. He will join the staff at the IC May 1. His installation is planned for…