Volume 01 • Issue 02

Hip-hop guru Bakari Kitwana wants to turn rhymes into votes. He believes young people, and young black people in particular, can turn the tide of social and political neglect that has limited their options since the civil rights movement—if they can get themselves organized.

Good Conversationalists

What does every good church youth group need? Cool music? Zany games? Trendy young leaders? Could it be that the very things we use to draw young people to church youth groups keep them from joining a church when they get older? Join guest Mark De Vries for an intriguing dialogue.

Graceful Authors

We all need spiritual heroes-and Barbara Brown Taylor is one of mine. She writes lucidly and honestly about faith, a faith that is grounded in the everyday realities of our lives…

Wasn't that a Mighty Fall
Otto Selles
"Why is Martha's picture in the paper?" asked Anna, our nine-year old. It was March, and high time my wife and I had a talk with our kids about Martha Stewart's trial. Isabelle, seven years old, became very upset when we explained the guilty verdict: "But Martha's nice. She's a good woman!"...more»

Hope for Africa
Joel Carpenter
There are two images of Africa south of the Sahara that dominate the consciousness of the global North. One image is Africa as heaven, with snow-capped mountains at the equator, mighty rivers, thundering falls, and gigantic rain forests. The other image is Africa as hell—a God-forsaken land of plague, poverty, political tyranny and warfare, where drought brings starvation to millions, where AIDS threatens to wipe out much of this generation and make orphans of the next....more»

A Personal Journey in the World of SARS
Georgina Velhorst-Wiiteveen
On her first day at a new position as a vice-president for a North Toronto hospital, Georgina Velhorst-Witteveen donned her regulation N95 mask before walking into a SARS unit, but was immediately told that it was not safe and that she should change into a different one...more»

Also in this issue...

Christian Worship as Public Disturbance
Jamie Smith

Education or Illusion
William Spoelhof