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3 weeks ago | 
ministrywatch.com | Kim Roberts |Tracy Simmons |Christina Darnell
Here at MinistryWatch, one of our goals is to equip donors with the information they need to make wise decisions with their giving. That’s why we manage our database, which rates more than 1,000 of the country’s largest ministries based on their financial efficiency, financial transparency, and their donor confidence score. Each week, we highlight ministries in our database that have had rating changes, plus a brief explanation about why it matters.
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Apr 30, 2024 | 
covidreligionresearch.org | Zachary Lee |Tracy Simmons
By Zachary LeeIn March 2020, Pastor Charles Tillman knew that his church would have to do their Sunday services differently in light of the pandemic, but he didn’t think it would require so much sweat. Tillman pastors the congregation of Woodville Church of the Nazarene, located in Richmond, Virginia, where he’s served for 38 years. His congregation was included in Understanding the Pandemic Impact on Black and Multiracial Congregations, co-authored by Dr. B.
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Apr 29, 2024 | 
dnews.com | Tracy Simmons
Faith Matters is a partnership with FaVS News (online at favs.news) providing readers a regular column about faith and its intersection with culture and our communities. “When will you see the truth?”That was the comment left on my Facebook post a day after I shared photos of a class field trip to Sravasti Abbey. My students and I were there as part of the Religion Reporting Project, a journalism program I started at Washington State University’s Murrow College in 2022.
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Mar 23, 2024 | 
dnews.com | Tracy Simmons
Faith Matters is a partnership with FaVS News (online at favs.news) providing readers a regular column about faith and its intersection with culture and our communities. The pandemic affirmed my inner hermit. Curling up with a book, or going on a solo hike or bike ride has always taken less energy for me than being in a crowd. I once read that telling an introvert to go to a party is like telling a saint to go to Hell.
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Mar 21, 2024 | 
covidreligionresearch.org | G. Jeffrey MacDonald |Tracy Simmons
By G. Jeffrey MacDonaldChallenges faced by rural congregations everywhere can be particularly extreme in Canada, where isolation takes on a robust meaning in one of the world’s most sparsely populated countries. But in the wake of the pandemic, far-flung flocks of the United Church of Canada are connecting with one another in ways previously unimaginable. Technology is closing gaps between people of faith, even where infrastructure is still spotty.
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Feb 24, 2024 | 
dnews.com | Tracy Simmons
Last month I was zooming along on my e-bike, on my regular morning commute, when my tire hit a slick patch of black ice. Before I could process what was happening, I heard the harsh smack of my helmet hitting the pavement. Surprised, I jumped up, twisted my handlebars back around and rode the steep hill up to my office. My headlight was dangling from the frame, my right pinky finger was tingling, but from what I could tell no blood was dripping from under my helmet.
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Jan 29, 2024 | 
dnews.com | Tracy Simmons
Faith Matters is a partnership with Favs News (online at favs.news) providing readers a regular column about faith and its intersection with culture and our communities. Apparently I’m birding years old. A few months ago a friend sent me a meme that had been going around. It read, “As you age, it’s ridiculous how fast bird-watching catches up to you. You spend your whole life being 100% indifferent to birds, and then one day you’re like ‘damn is that a yellow-rumped warbler?’ ”The meme isn’t wrong.
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Dec 28, 2023 | 
dnews.com | Tracy Simmons
Faith Matters is a partnership with Favs News (online at favs.news) providing readers a regular column about faith and its intersection with culture and our communities. For some of us, this is an awkward season. Traditionally this is when we travel to see our relatives, buy them gifts and share meals together. Many of us, though, have wounds when it comes to family — grief, rejection, tension. It can cast a shadow over the holidays.
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Nov 18, 2023 | 
dnews.com | Tracy Simmons
We have a sacred duty to listen to one another. During times of division that can be especially hard. The religion news and commentary publication I run, FaVS News, has been called a lot of names over the years. Angry readers have called us homophobic, Islamaphobic, antisemitic, far-right, far-left, racist; the list goes on. These accusations come when readers are angry we published a viewpoint they disagree with. It’s the “I’m right, you’re biased” mentality.
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Nov 15, 2023 | 
religionunplugged.com | Tracy Simmons
The ground search for a monk who went missing from Sravasti Abbey last week has been suspended by the Pend Oreille County Sheriff’s office in Washington state. Geshe Tenzin Chodrak (Dadul Namgyal), 64, went for a walk on the evening of Nov. 7 on the abbey’s 300-acre property and did not return. Namgyal officially joined the Buddhist abbey earlier this year as its first male resident teacher. Known as Geshe-la, he has been a monk in the Tibetan tradition for more than 40 years.
