By Kim Plummer Krull As he prepared to travel to the East Coast on Wednesday (Oct. 31) to help LCMS districts and congregations reach out in communities battered by Superstorm Sandy, LCMS Director of Disaster Response Rev. Glenn F. Merritt suggested…

By Adriane Dorr PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. — On Oct. 31 — the 495th anniversary of the Reformation — the Rev. Dr. Alister McGrath, a professor at King’s College, London, called on confessional Lutherans around the world to continue to “unpack,…

By Sarah Schafer A four-person LCMS team began meeting Oct. 31 with district leaders in areas impacted by Superstorm Sandy, which struck the U.S. Eastern Seaboard Oct. 28-29. Team members are the Rev. Glenn Merritt, director of LCMS Disaster Response; the Rev.…

By Sarah Schafer LCMS districts are beginning to assess damages and identify needs caused by Hurricane Sandy Oct. 29 along the Eastern Seaboard. As of Oct. 30, no deaths among LCMS members had been reported, and it was not yet known…

(RNS) — Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court has agreed to hear the appeal of a non-religious family that’s challenging the mandatory daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in their children’s classrooms. The family, who are secular humanists, claim that the phrase “under…

By Sarah Schafer LCMS districts and congregations along the East Coast are preparing for Hurricane Sandy and two other storm fronts expected to strike the region late Monday or Tuesday, Oct. 29 or 30. “Each district is implementing necessary precautions and alerts,”…

Materials designed to help LCMS schools celebrate “National Lutheran Schools Week” Jan. 27-Feb. 2 are available free online. The materials are based on the theme, “Baptized for This Moment,” from Acts 2:38-39, the same theme as the one chosen for the…

(RNS) — The Rev. Samuel Wynn admired Billy Graham and his evangelistic association for decades, joining its spiritual crusades and urging fellow Christians to do the same. But no more. “I will never again support anything by the Billy Graham Evangelistic…

NEW ORLEANS (RNS) — In a sometimes harshly worded ruling, a federal appeals court Oct. 23 smacked down the Louisiana funeral board’s continued attempts to prevent a group of monks from St. Joseph Abbey from selling their hand-crafted caskets. “The great…

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS) — Eric and Ruth Brown believe nothing about daughter Pearl Joy’s life is a mistake. They say God gave Pearl her bright red hair and wide blue eyes, as well as the genetic disorder that created a cleft…

PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS) — Future generations could be stripped of mutations like hereditary blindness or maternal diabetes, after a breakthrough study at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). But the new technique is also one short step from genetic design of…

Concordia College — New York in Bronxville, N.Y., announced Oct. 24 that its president for the past 13 years, Dr. Viji D. George, has agreed to continue in that post and that the college’s board of regents has terminated its…

By Paula Schlueter Ross Twenty years. That’s how long the Synod’s Concordia University System of 10 colleges and universities nationwide has been around. That’s also how many years Concordia University System (CUS) enrollment has grown — in other words, every fall, just…

SEATTLE (RNS) — In the headquarters of Washington United for Marriage, a large collage displays a list of the high-powered sponsors backing the ballot-measure campaign to legalize same-sex marriage in the state. They include such iconic businesses as Amazon, Google and…

(RNS) — The Diocese of South Carolina announced Oct. 17 that it has disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church, escalating a long-running skirmish and setting the stage to become the fifth diocese to secede from the denomination. South Carolina said the split…