By Vicki Brown A fire apparently sparked by a mechanical failure in a dryer unit destroyed a 46-bed lodge before dawn July 22 at Windermere Baptist Conference Center in Roach, Mo. The 7,200-foot Whispering Oak Lodge was one of 13…
Campbell’s music conference provides ministry oasis
BUIES CREEK, N.C.—From the vibrations of organist Jane Holstein’s open organ registration in the initial session to the harmony of a variety of instruments, voices and bells in the closing worship service, attendees at Campbell University Divinity School’s second annual…
Is gun control a religious issue? Maybe, but the debate rages
(RNS)—Of all the controversies that have followed in the bloody wake of July 20 shooting rampage in Aurora, Colo., few have provided such a clarifying insight into the moral tensions and contradictions in American culture than the argument over whether…
Is gun control a religious issue? Maybe, but the debate rages across America
(RNS)—Of all the controversies that have followed in the bloody wake of the July 20 shooting rampage in Aurora, Colo., few have provided such a clarifying insight into the moral tensions and contradictions in American culture than the argument over…
CELEBRATE RETIREMENT: Congregation helps widow who faces eviction from her home
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.(ABP)—Mary Cate Jones never doubted her congregation would help when it learned she faced a foreclosure crisis last month. But raising $35,000 in the last two weeks of May and finding a donor to match the rest? The 78-year-old…
Ramadan fast poses challenge for Muslim Olympians
(RNS)—Winning an Olympic medal is hard. Surprisingly, winning one when you’re fasting for Ramadan is not that much harder. At least, not for Suleiman Nyambui of Tanzania, who took silver in the 5000 meters at the 1980 Summer Olympics while…
CELEBRATE RETIREMENT: Goal of college degree before 70 becomes reality
BLUEFIELD, Va.—Harriett Libby finished Middlesex High School in Saluda, Va., in 1960, married Howard Roane that September and set her heart on finishing her education with a college degree. But despite a calling to professional ministry, which would require a…
Mormons and Baptists compete for converts
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS)—Jake Pulsipher’s first day as a working missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began at 6:30 a.m. with prayer and exercise, followed by breakfast and study. Then he put on a black suit, white…
CELEBRATE RETIREMENT: Baby Boomers are reinventing old age
Del Webb, America’s largest homebuilder of active adult communities, released in April its 10th Baby Boomer survey since 1996. It reveals new and compelling facts and opinions from the generation of Americans born between the years of 1946 and 1964…
Survey finds record 19 percent of religiously unaffiliated Americans
(RNS)—Unbelief is on the uptick. People who check “None” for their religious affiliation are now nearly one in five Americans (19 percent), the highest ever documented, according to the Pew Center for the People and the Press. The rapid rise…
CELEBRATE RETIREMENT: 86-year-old celebrates birthday with cross-country motorcycle ride
RICHMOND, Va.—University of Richmond Chancellor E. Bruce Heilman celebrated his 86th birthday on July 16 by arriving home—in one piece and in high spirits—from a 9,000-mile motorcycle trip around the United States. Bruce Heilman at a stop in San Antonio,…
Project Ruth celebrates two decades ministering to Roma children
BUCHAREST, Romania (ABP)—Project Ruth’s Mihai Ciopasiu is all too glad to talk about the success the organization has enjoyed the past two decades serving the poorest and most shunned children in Romania. The nonprofit began as a day center with…