NAE

Top evangelical leaders across North America are joining a special service Monday in Boston to celebrate the 200th anniversary of North America's first ordained missionaries. The event also marked the official debut of Missio Nexus, which will be the largest evangelical mission network in North America following the historic merger of CrossGlobal Link and The Mission Exchange.

The Missions Bicentennial service and celebration is taking place at Tabernacle Congregational Church in Salem, Mass., the location where on February 6, 1812, the first missionaries being sent from a North American mission agency were commissioned.

The ordaining of Adoniram Judson and four other missionaries for overseas service represented the beginning of a new era in history when America joined the global mission movement. After their ordination in Salem, Judson, along his wife Ann and other missionaries, set sail in February 1812 to bring Christianity to India. more >>

Former evangelical leader Ted Haggard may have skipped the first scheduled taping of ABC’s “Celebrity Wife Swap,” in which he will star alongside reality show king Gary Busey.

The show’s producers confirmed to People magazine Wednesday that on the celebrity version of the show, Haggard will swap his wife, Gayle, for Busey’s girlfriend and mother of his child, Steffanie Sampson.

Taping for the ABC reality show was supposed to be held Thursday at the GLBT Pride Center in Colorado Springs. more >>

Former megachurch pastor Ted Haggard will appear in a Christian sex comedy that is being developed in Colorado Springs.

Haggard, who resigned from New Life Church in Colorado Spring following a drug and sex scandal in 2006, makes a cameo as himself in a film called "The Waiting Game" that promotes abstinence before marriage.

The movie is about a guy who saves himself for marriage but later becomes determined to lose his virginity after his fiance dumps him at the altar on their wedding day. more >>

In a move that may be surprising to some, evangelicals have formed a coalition with progressive Christians as well as Catholics to oppose federal budget cuts that would hurt the poor.

While a “moral budget” is the expected agenda of the “religious left,” the National Association of Evangelicals is lending their voice to calls for budgetary protection of domestic and international assistance programs that help the needy.

Alongside the Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners, David Beckmann of Bread for the World and the Rev. Peg Chemberlin of the National Council of Churches USA, NAE President Leith Anderson is among the signatories to the “Circle of Protection.” more >>

Should atheists be able to serve as military chaplains?

The head of the largest representative body of chaplains in the U.S. Armed Forces and Veterans Administration doesn't think so.

A New York Times article this week highlighted the case made by humanist organizations and atheists that humanist chaplains are needed to serve nonbelievers in the military. One humanist group has asked for an audience with the chiefs of chaplains to discuss the proposal. more >>

A majority of evangelical leaders believe that the Bible does not require Christians to tithe, according to a survey released by the National Association of Evangelicals on Wednesday.

Fifty-eight percent of respondents (members of the NAE board of directors) said they do not think giving 10 percent of one's income to the church is mandated by the Bible, while 42 percent do.

Likely the wording of the survey explains why most of the respondents said offering tithe, a strong tradition among evangelical churches, is not a duty of believers. more >>