News & Ideas

Friday's News & Ideas - 2/2/2024

  • Historic sermon at Black Baptist meeting
  • Residential schools in British Columbia
  • Prayer Breakfast in National Statuary Hall
  • Religious roots of Auntie Anne’s
  • Palestinian Americans decline Blinken invite
  • Extreme skiing

Historic sermon by Gina Stewart at joint Black Baptist meeting draws cheers, controversy
Religion News Service: After many in the room cheered her on and stood as she preached, the session featuring her sermon temporarily disappeared from the National Baptist Convention U.S.A. Inc.’s Facebook page.

‘I don’t want to cry any more’: Russian sect in Canada to get historic apology
The Guardian: British Columbia to say sorry to a pacifist sect of Russian immigrants known as the Doukhobors for ‘injustices’ including residential schools that shattered their community.

Speaker Mike Johnson to allow privately run national prayer breakfast into the heart of the Capitol
Religion Dispatches: Thursday’s National Prayer Breakfast will take place in the U.S. Capitol Building’s National Statuary Hall for the first time, congressional sources say.

The religious roots of Auntie Anne’s pretzels
Deseret News: Anne Beiler speaks often about the role faith played in her business journey.

Palestinian American leaders decline invite from Secretary of State
HuffPost: Their refusal comes a week after Arab and Muslim voters declined a meeting with senior officials in Michigan.

The Spark

Precipice of fear: The freerider who took skiing to its limits
Jérémie Heitz has pushed freeriding to breathtaking, beautiful new extremes. But as the risks get bigger, the questions do, too, The Guardian says.

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Emily McGinley

Applications now open for Reflective Leadership Grants

“The Reflective Leadership Grant gave me space and resources to connect with colleagues from diverse traditions and hear about what God is up to across the church…” — Emily McGinley, City Church San Francisco

Christian leaders from a variety of roles are welcome to apply. The grants provide “balcony time” to reflect on accomplishments, broaden perspectives and discern next steps. The application deadline is May 2, 2025.

Learn More