Image via http://ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=1123970 As the debate rages on over whether the Muslim community center Park51, better known by the misnomer the “Ground Zero Mosque,” should be allowed to be constructed near the former cite of the World Trade Center, little media...

Late afternoon on the day before the second live Church Hopping event, I got an email.  The tour guide who was supposed to lead the architecture talk had suffered a heart attack.  He was alright, but he wouldn’t be able to lead the tour.  The person emailing me asked if I could lead it without...

photo (c) Stephanie Nikolopoulos Have you ever stopped to really look around your own city?  Have you ever considered the history behind the buildings you pass every day?  Has a church’s beauty ever stopped you in your tracks? This past Saturday, with the support of our very own Burnside Writers...

Image via Wikipedia   Most of the time, I try to actually visit the churches featured in this column, but occasionally I hear about churches that sound so awesome I just can’t wait to tell you about them.  That’s the case with Chene-Chapelle, a church I heard about while reviewing Pete Nelson’s...

I’m super excited to announce that the Church Hopping column is going live in New York City this summer! The column began running on Burnside in 2008, and on our journeys we’ve visited the Nottingham church Robin Hood attended, the New Orleans cathedral where Tennessee Williams’ memorial...

Image via Wikipedia Some call it an eyesore.  Some may even consider it heretical.  But Don Justo Gallego Martinez’s “garbage” cathedral attracts tourists to Mejorada del Campo, just as the world’s largest crucifix draws people to Indian River, Michigan. Spain has a long history of mosaic art. ...

Victory Hellas!  March 25 is Independence Day for Greece.  To celebrate, I thought I’d bring you church hopping where it all began….   Church: Agia Lavra (Holy Lavra, “Lavra” essentially meaning “monastery”) Location: On Mount Helmos, which is southwest of...

The exterior architecture, showing a rose window, arched window, and vauled roof As a teen in the 90s, I saw the grunge era of Nirvana, Reality Bites, and heroin give way to the club kids scene of techno, Kids, and Special K.  The hallways of my suburban high school teemed with teens wearing platform...

The nave, showing the pews and supportive columns. When I heard that Eric Metaxas was speaking at Calvary Church about his new book Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy — A Righteous Gentile vs. the Third Reich, I knew I couldn’t miss the opportunity to hear him talk and to feature him...

Every other year, Calvin College hosts a Festival of Faith & Writing that brings together some of the brightest writers of our generation whose works Diane shared her homemade hummus illuminate “spiritual understanding, grace, or transcendence.”  In addition to speakers like...