Members of Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority staged a noisy protest outside the White House Thursday, demanding that Mubarak work for justice at home instead of between Israelis and Palestinians.

The protesters cited the drive-by killing of Coptic Christian worshippers after their Christmas Eve service and the burning of Christian homes and churches. They also said Egyptian Muslims kidnap Coptic Christian girls and force them to convert to Islam.

Christianity predates Islam by centuries and is still the faith of about ten percent of Egyptians, but Coptic Christians say they routinely face oppression by Egypt’s Muslim majority.

Capt. Dale Goetz was among five soldiers killed by an improvised bomb on Monday. Officials say he had hitched a ride on a resupply convoy.

The 43-year-old Goetz is survived by his wife and three young sons.

He listed his hometown as White, S.D., and once served there as pastor of First Baptist Church, according to the Argus-Leader of Sioux Falls.

Goetz and Staff Sgt. Christopher Stout, who was killed in Afghanistan in July, are the first chaplain and chaplain’s assistant to die in combat since 1970.

The Rev. Ivey Belch of Ocracoke Assembly of God says he and the island’s Methodist minister were on the same ferry to the mainland, and they joked that other islanders could view their departure as ominous.

Belch says people have asked how he can pray that the storm will miss Ocracoke, but evacuate anyway.

He responds that while the Bible says faith is believing what you can’t see, “stupidity is staying when you’re seeing, and not believing it.”

Alec Hill says that won’t change, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling against the Christian Legal Society. The justices ruled that a law school in San Francisco can deny recognition to a CLS chapter that won’t let non-Christians or gays become leaders, even though any student can join.

Hill says InterVarsity Christian Fellowship welcomes students regardless of their faith. But if those students were to elect a non-Christian chapter leader, Hill says InterVarsity would have to suspend its affiliation with that chapter.

He hopes campus recognition won’t be an issue this school year, so that IVCF can extend the same welcome as other student groups to incoming freshmen.

Capt. Ludovic Foyou  says the 34-year-old Stout was the first chaplain’s assistant to die in combat in 40 years.

The Army says Stout was killed in action while repelling an insurgent attack on an Afghan police compound in Kandahar. He’s survived by his wife and children.

Capt. Foyou offered his condolences, and recalled that he and Stout sometimes prayed together as they ministered to troops in the

82nd Airborne Division.

Have you ever dreamed of visiting the land of the Bible? Imagine what it would be like to walk where Jesus walked, and learn about biblical events where they actually happened!

Learn about the land, and history of the bible from renowned Dead Sea Scroll scholar Dr. Michael Wise and Old Testament scholar Dr. Ed Glenny. You will visit Megiddo, Caesarea, the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, Masada, Qumran and other sites from biblical history.

This all-inclusive trip takes place March 13-17, 2011 and departs from the Twin Cities. There is even an option to extend your trip to include a trip to Turkey, and add a visit to sites such as Istanbul, Pergamum and Laodicea.

Click here to find out more about this exciting trip and request more information.

One of the Great West’s most anticipated events of the year – the LifeLight Music Festival – is once again just around the corner! It’s the largest free outdoor Christian music festival in the US, and it’s right in our backyard.

Labor Day Weekend, September 3-5, will mark LifeLight’s first festival at its brand new grounds in Worthing, South Dakota – just outside Sioux Falls.

Festival Address: 47468 280th Street, Worthing, SD — From I-29:  take exit 64 (Worthing exit), go East 5.5 miles

Volunteer Information / Camping Info / Map of the Grounds