When Frank Drown saw the missionaries’ yellow single-engine plane hacked up, he knew the worst had happened. His friends were dead.

That day, 50 years ago, Drown was heading the search party in the jungle of Ecuador looking for the five men who had flown in for a face-to-face meeting with the violent Waodani Indians. . . .

As the artists turned the Rosenbergs' treason into dissent and then into patriotism, the audience was enthusiastically in tune. Present were the Rosenbergs' children, Robert and Michael Meeropol, who continue to contest their parents' Soviet entanglement, and the former editor of the Nation, Victor Navasky. When it came time to ask questions, the moderator warned off any "Cold War warriors" from asking "disrespectful" questions, like, presumably, how these authors could defend an ideology that took millions of lives. No one did. . . .

"Whatever happened to repentance?" Frederica Mathewes-Green asked in Christianity Today (2/4/02). "We live in a time when it's hard to talk about Christian faith at all, much less about awkward topics like repentance … Try telling a person who's been discipled by modern advertising that he's a sinner."

No one has ever liked being called a sinner, she said, but the great revivals in history began when people were convicted of their sin. Mathewes-Green is right—we need a way to help today's listeners to confess and turn from their sins.

Martin Luther, John Wesley, and Dwight L. Moody in their respective centuries found ways to communicate the doctrines of sin and repentance to reluctant people. They transformed churches, universities, and nations with their message.

Their approaches can help us. . . .

A conference this weekend at the University of Missouri-Kansas City will take a critical look at the business practices of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

“Rollback Wal-Mart” will be held Friday evening and Saturday at UMKC’s Pierson Hall, 50th Street and Rockhill Road. The event is being held to counter Wal-Mart’s annual managers meeting, which is being held this week, said Judy Ancel, director of the Institute for Labor Studies at UMKC. . . .

BALTIMORE--In Big Labor's war against Wal-Mart, "collateral damage"--in the form of lost jobs and income for the poor--is starting to add up. Of course, since the unions and their legislative allies claim that their motive is to liberate people from exploitation by Wal-Mart, these unintended effects are often ignored. . . .

Mexican soldiers and civilian smugglers had an armed standoff with nearly 30 U.S. law enforcement officials on the Rio Grande in Texas Monday afternoon, according to Texas police and the FBI.

Mexican military Humvees were towing what appeared to be thousands of pounds of marijuana across the border into the United States, said Chief Deputy Mike Doyal, of the Hudspeth County Sheriff's Department. . . .

Intelligent design proponent William Dembski stood on an empty stage Monday at the Lied Center.

Organizers of the event had tried in advance to get a science professor to spar with him, but all who were asked declined.. . .

A United Methodist bishop told a congregation of Methodist worshipers in the nation’s capital that that the United Methodist Church “stands behind” the Methodist president “100 percent (and) supports your policies as they relate to the ongoing development of our country – especially your pronouncement on the fight against corruption.” The bishop said that Methodists around the world celebrated the president “not only as a United Methodist but a person of faith and integrity and deep commitment to serve all of God’s people.”

“God has given us a new leader,” said Bishop John Innis. . . .

The story has been told in Christian circles for 50 years. In 1956, five missionaries were brutally murdered in the Ecuadorian jungle by members of the Waodani tribe they went to serve. And then something amazing happened; the killers became Christians. . . .