Lifestyles

Heightened conservatism with the checkbook may be trickling down to affect individuals' financial contributions to churches.

 The church hires its first full-time education director to focus on working with youth.

COLUMBIA — Jeff Porter, special projects director for the Association of Health Care Journalists, is adamant that his blog, "Stroke of Faith," isn't about him. In the "About Me" section of the site, Porter writes: "The term ‘About Me' is a default setting by the free blogging Web site and difficult to change. However, as the first post states, it's really not about me."

In fact, it took Porter seven years from when he suffered his own stroke, in May 1998, to start "Stroke of Faith." For those seven years, he tried to "push the experience away to a corner of my mind." Although he said he doesn't remember it, doctors told him he nearly died that day.

Rabbi Yossi Feintuch said he believes that science is "Judaism's ally" and can be used to help interpret the Torah. Pastor John Baker said he believes the Bible should be seen as a book of books, where each one is different and has a different function.

1,800 cottonwood and sycamore trees were planted at the Columbia Solid Waste Division landfill last year to help soak up and cleanse toxic groundwater.

Pam Fleenor and John Benton have made a life out of drumming. For these two percussionists, hand drumming is a universal human experience, something they are trying to share with others.

Growing up during the 1930s and 1940s, Katherine Finley, Mary Watkins and Claude Havens learned to live without some luxuries, but relished Christmastime.

The MU trombone choir, begun in 1992, combines school with friendship and community service for its 25 members.

The Boone County Courthouse is booked up for weddings through February 2009, with some couples booking three months in advance.

More than 100 people gathered Sunday at Congregation Beth Shalom to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah.

About 100 people celebrated the first night of Hanukkah, the Jewish eight-day festival of lights, during a gathering at Congregation Beth Shalom on Sunday.

Justin Nabors, a music instructor for the Southern Boone School District, teaches his fifth-grade students through a combination of singing and dancing.

An assessment of reports and surveys shows that, in Missouri, minorities and those with lower annual incomes are more likely to have a higher rate of diseases, such as cancer and diabetes.

The "mother tongue" is back. With 70-strong Latin enrollment at Rock Bridge High School, consistent numbers at Hickman High School and its status as a required class at Columbia Independent School, Columbia is part of a nationwide revival of the "dead language."

The telling of the story is called a cardboard testimony. Members of churches leave their pews and step up in front of the congregation long enough to show fellow churchgoers part of their lives. On the first side, written out big and bold for all to see, is a struggle, trial or sin that person has battled with. Flip it over, and the sign shows where the person is today. And the person giving the testimony credits his or her new life to changes brought by a relationship with Christ.

Jennifer Luna teaches Columbia elementary students who have the most severe emotional and behavioral problems. With her dogged determination, loving discipline and unconventional techniques, she gets through to students other teachers have found impossible to teach.

Two artists, separated by centuries and the Atlantic Ocean, offer distinct perspectives on winter in their artwork, displayed at the Museum of Art and Archaeology at MU.

Sickle cell researchers in St. Louis say they've significantly increased blood donations to fight the disease with appeals targeted at predominantly black church congregations in the city.