Since he began serving as executive presbyter of the Presbytery of San Diego in 2007, the Rev. Clark Cowden said the presbytery has focused on being a missional church.

On the Sunday after an earthquake ravaged New Zealand’s second-largest city, worshippers gathered outdoors, in unfamiliar churches and next to damaged buildings to reflect, pray, mourn and give thanks.

Nearly 100 American Orthodox rabbis have signed a letter demanding that the conversions they perform outside Israel be recognized —  at least for immigration purposes — by Israel’s Interior Ministry.