As thousands of public schools face huge budget cuts, many are looking to alternate sources of funding, from bake sales to corporate sponsors. But Combee Elementary School in Polk County, Fla., has found an unlikely source in First Baptist Church at the Mall, a local megachurch that has “sponsored” the public school.

The church has donated $5,000 in school supplies, caters spaghetti dinners at school events, provides sneakers for poor students and sends in math and English tutors. It is also finding new opportunities for evangelism.

"We have inroads into public schools that we had not had before," pastor Dave McClamma told the Wall Street Journal. "By befriending the students, we have the opportunity to visit homes to talk to parents about Jesus Christ."

"It's better to get people doing missions with a $500 to $1,000 trip than having to continue to cancel $3,000 trips because people can't afford to go." —Bill Mitchell, global impact pastor for First Baptist Church of Orlando, Fla., who has had to suspend a number of overseas short-term mission trips due to declines in giving. According to Mission Data International, overseas trips have declined 15 percent since 2008 while inquiries regarding domestic trips have increased. [christianitytoday.com, 6/10/10]

There’s been a lot of attention on the changing views of young Christians in recent years, but according to a new Barna survey, the next generation shares at least one common opinion with their parents: They are opposed to abortion.

The survey, which looked at current opinions about abortion from Americans in all age groups, found that born-again Christians under the age of 45 were not substantially different from older Christians. Christians between the ages of 18 and 25 were actually more likely to support strong views about the subject than older adults.

Among the rest of Americans, abortion continues to be a dividing issue and one that is generally informed by a person’s faith. Among evangelical Christians, 78 percent believe that abortion should be illegal in most or all cases. Similarly, 72 percent of atheists and agnostics believe in keeping abortion legal. These groups were the most likely to express unyielding resistance or support for the practice.

QUOTE: "That's one of the beauties of having it [the garden] part of the community and part of the church. People who don't know each other get to work side by side." —Buzz Durham, who organized a community garden at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Asheville, N.C. The quarter-acre plot on the church’s property is tilled by 25 different families, all of whom agree to donate at least 50 percent of their produce to local food banks. [citizen-times.com, 6/7/10]