A note from Brian Lowery, managing editor: "News That Illustrates" is a new feature that we're adding to our weekly illustrations. Each week I'm going to offer links to ten, up-to-the-minute news articles that I feel have some real illustrative potential for you as a preacher. Enjoy!

The folks at Slate asked readers to share what they have sacrificed in light of the recession. Some of the responses ...

In Time magazine's regular column "10 Questions," readers are given the opportunity to interview celebrities and world leaders through questions submitted via e-mail. In the November 24, 2008, issue of Time, Ted Turner was featured. Michael Flessas, of Katrineholm, Sweden, asked this question of Turner: "Do you still think Christianity is a 'religion for losers?'" referring to Turner's much-publicized ...

It seems the confessional booths of many Roman Catholic Churches are buried somewhere beneath layers of dust. According to a 2005 survey by Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research on the Apostolate, 42 percent of practicing Catholics said they never go to confession, while only 2 percent said they go regularly.

Theories as to why so many believers are abandoning the long-cherished discipline ...

In February 2009, Alex Rodriguez, all-star third baseman for the New York Yankees and the highest paid player in baseball, admitted taking banned substances in 2001, 2002, and 2003. In an interview with ESPN baseball columnist Peter Gammons, Rodriguez said:

I did take a banned substance. … I do remember thinking in my bed in Arizona, it was like, What am I doing? Wake up. Stop being selfish. ...

We're all probably familiar with the Roman Catholic Church's list of seven deadly sins: pride, envy, gluttony, greed, lust, wrath, and sloth. But did you know the Roman Catholic Church recently added seven more? Pope Benedict XVI was concerned about the "decreasing sense of sin" in today's world, evidenced by the declining interest in the disciplined act of confession. The list, published in the Vatican ...

If there is a terror about darkness because we cannot see, there is also a terror about light because we can see. There is a terror about light because much of what we see in the light about ourselves and our world we would rather not see, would rather not have be seen.

— Frederick Buechner, U. S. writer and preacher (1926–)

In March of 2008, I did something stupid. I fell on ice and ruptured the ligament that connects the kneecap to the thigh. The moment I hit the ground I knew my right leg was inoperative. My first thought was, I guess I won't be running tomorrow.

Dragging my useless leg, I crawled to the back door of our home and finally got the attention of my wife, Gail. With her assistance I managed to get inside ...

As a very little dust will disorder a clock, and the least sand will obscure our sight, so the least grain of sin which is upon the heart will hinder its right motion toward God.

—John Wesley, English theologian and early leader of Methodist movement (1703–1791)

Eric Wilson, professor of English at Wake Forest University, wanted to become a happier person. He at least wanted a smile on his face, rather than the scowl people were used to seeing. Friends urged him on to a sunny disposition. He purchased books to become happy, watched only uplifting movies, and inserted "Great!" and "Wonderful!" into his conversations. But none of these things helped, and the ...

The film Amazing Grace chronicles William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffedd) as he endeavors to end the British transatlantic slave trade in the nineteenth century.

Wilberforce has made an earlier visit to his old pastor and friend John Newton (Albert Finney). Newton himself was a former captain of a slave ship prior to his conversion to Christ and Wilberforce was hopeful that Newton would give an account ...