Minnesota

LINO LAKES, Minn. (AP) - The message from the pulpit was "Wine, Water and Worship" — with no mention of the other "W," George W. Bush.

At Eagle Brook Church, Minnesota's largest evangelical Christian congregation, there was zero talk of politics on the eve of the Republican National Convention. Church pastors politely declined an invitation to a GOP prayer breakfast this week.

When prodded, many Eagle Brook members confessed to apathy about the presidential candidates. more >>

A Christian legal group is suing a middle school in Hutchinson, Minn., in federal court over the right of a 12-year-old boy to wear pro-life t-shirts in school.

The boy, referenced in the lawsuit only as “K. B.,” was reportedly and repeatedly harassed, ostracized, publicly ridiculed, and threatened with disciplinary action by school officials because he wore t-shirts produced by the American Life League as part of their anti-abortion awareness campaign.

The t-shirts displayed images of unborn babies accompanied with such messages as, "Abortion: Growing, Growing, Gone,” "What part of abortion don't you understand?" and "Never Known – Not Forgotten" alongside “47,000,000 babies aborted 1973-2008" printed on the back. more >>

A former missionary to Africa was among the victims of the recent Minneapolis bridge collapse that killed at least 8 people.

The body of Peter Joseph Hausmann, 47, a father of four and a former missionary to Kenya, was among the three bodies pulled from the Mississippi River on Thursday.

The former missionary, who moved on to become a computer security specialist, was heading to the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park to pick up a friend for dinner when the bridge collapsed, according to The Associated Press. Hausmann had called home while stuck in traffic but the line went dead. more >>

More than 1,400 prayerful Americans gathered Sunday evening for an interfaith service to pray for the victims of last week’s bridge collapse in Minneapolis.

Participants gathered at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis where Gov. Tim Pawlenty as well as Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak spoke to the crowd as prayers were lifted up for grieving families, rescue workers, and traumatized survivors. Religious leaders offered prayers both from the Bible and the Quran.

“We’re here to begin the process of restoration,” said Pawlenty, according to The Associated Press. “We are also here to begin the rebuilding process.” more >>

American evangelist Billy Graham said he was anxiously watching the news to find out if many of his friends and former staff members in the Twin Cities were safe after the sudden collapse of a vital Minneapolis bridge earlier this week.

“For more than fifty years, our office headquarters was in Minneapolis and we have many hundreds of friends and former staff members in the Twin Cities,” said Billy Graham, in a statement Friday.

“Along with so many others in Minnesota and across the country, we continued to closely follow what occurred and were anxious to hear they were all safe,” Graham said. more >>

Christian organizations and individuals across the country have stepped in to offer aid and prayer for survivors of Minneapolis’s collapsed bridge as rescuers continue to comb the river for the missing and the nation still tries to grapple with the reality of the shocking event.

“Our prayers go out to the families who have lost loved ones in the collapse of the interstate highway bridge in Minneapolis, and we join in prayer with the larger community grieving in the wake of this disaster,” expressed the Christian humanitarian agency Church World Service in a statement.

On Wednesday, an interstate bridge just blocks from the heart of Minneapolis collapsed, killing at least five people, according to CNN Friday. At least 79 people were injured and eight people are still missing as searchers continuedto comb the Mississippi River for the victims. more >>