ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON PRAYS WITH PATIENTS

"FOR A LOT OF PEOPLE, praying before surgery is more a matter of nerves or a wish for 'good luck' than anything else. For Dr. Michael Goodwin's patients, it's routine. 'That's the thing I'm most excited about, incorporating prayer into my office,' said Goodwin, an orthopedic surgeon. 'I ... enjoy the opportunity to share my faith with my patients.

" 'People seem to recover much better, have more confidence in me, and are much more at peace when I get to have prayer with them,' he continued....

" 'When my current wife and I began dating, I started going to church with her, and I felt like I heard the truth for the first time. I've changed drastically ...,' said Goodwin,.... 'And, I give all the glory to God for that.' Goodwin ... said when he first started praying with his patients, it just felt 'like something I had to do'....

" 'I think incorporating my faith into my practice has made a huge difference for those people hurting emotionally as well as physically, and for myself also.' "

Beth Hendricks
"Goodwin incorporates faith into practice"
The Herald-Dispatch. February 21, 2005

CHURCH, YOUTH, AND POP CULTURE

"BLACK HAIR STRATEGICALLY MUSSED, 19-year-old Carlos Barahona wears a Got Jesus? T-shirt and grips a pair of drumsticks.... A little bit Partridge Family, a little bit rock' n' roll, this is Sunday School at Fort Lauderdale's First Baptist Church, a place that's emblematic of organized religion's efforts to reach out to young people....

"Sunday mornings are devoted to casual roundtable discussions of topics ranging from honesty to abortion, usually driven home by a movie clip. Sunday nights, Christian rap and rock groups take to the concert stage, equipped with a movie screen and a sound and lighting system rivaling any South Beach nightclub. Hundreds usually attend....

"First Baptist has joined a decade-old movement that academics have labeled 'emergent worship,' the use of popular culture to attract younger worshipers. With Xboxes, skate parks, and sermons downloaded onto iPods, churches from suburban St. Louis to urban New Jersey are using the strategy to attract teens and their families....

"Pop culture in church is not only palatable for teens but attractive. Many embrace the view that God truly is everywhere—on MTV, on CNN, at the movies. Pop historians looking at 2004 will note the popularity of The Passion of the Christ with young audiences and musical performers whose lyrics reference Jesus....

"[Last] month, the nation's largest Bible publisher launched a print campaign to promote a new translation targeting 'spiritually intrigued 18to 34-year-olds.' After some reluctance, Rolling Stone has made an exception to its policy of running only secular ads, and agreed to publish it. A trend that has captivated Europe and is slowly creeping into America is '24-7 Prayer' or 'extreme prayer'.... Participants pray all night, fueling themselves not on ecstasy but on The Word."

Ashley Fantz
"Churches are turning to rock music and frank discussions
of popular culture to attract young people"
©2005, The Miami Herald. February 16, 2005

PRAYER CHAIN MINISTERS TO BRITISH COMMUNITY

"IT'S NOT A HOTLINE

to God—but it's the next best thing. A group of Coventry women are using the power of prayer to help people in need. For the past decade, every day at 6 p.m., members of St. Luke's prayer chain have taken calls from those in need, despair, and pain, and promised to pray for their needs....

"Those involved—who are celebrating the chain's tenth birthday—want to remain anonymous so people can continue to feel free off-loading their most difficult problems to them. But this anonymity has not stopped the committed chain members from becoming the equivalent of guardian angels to many troubled people.

"The chain's leader, a 72-year-old grandmother, said: 'The chain was started ten years ago when we asked for volunteers. Now we have 15 to 20 people of all different ages who take part. Some of them work and some of them are retired, so we chose 6 p.m. as the time for the call....'

"The grandmother says feeling the prayers are being listened to is very rewarding. She said: 'Since we started, people have the same worries; they are lonely or in pain or very depressed. People often come to say thank you for the prayers and say it was a great comfort to know so many people were thinking about them.' "

Emma Race
"Group's 10 years of prayers online"
Coventry Evening Telegraph. February 12, 2005

MEDICAL SCHOOLS ADD SPIRITUAL HEALING TO CURRICULUM

"RELIGIOUSLY AFFILIATED HOSPITALS account for 20 percent of US inpatient care, according to a 2002 study....

"Although a 1994 study found that 77 percent of Americans felt physicians should address patients' spiritual needs, the same study discovered that only 11 percent of doctors actually participate in such discussions.

"But within the last decade attitudes have changed. Today 101 medical schools incorporate patient spirituality in their curricula, up from 17 in 1995. Some hospitals, such as UCLA Medical Center, encourage physicians to include spiritual histories in patients' charts....

" 'I recommend that physicians ask every patient if they consider themselves spiritual or religious,' said [Dr. Harold] Koenig. 'Doctors should encourage prayer and religious participation if that is a source of comfort. Religion has a power to heal, and we have an obligation to value that alongside medicine.' ...

"On a sunny afternoon in January, about 30 UCLA medical students crowd into a small hospital conference room to begin their instruction in spiritual healing. The medical school's curriculum is partially funded by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, established by a religious Wall Street investor 'to contribute to the reintegration of faith into modern life.' Fortyfive US medical schools have received grants of up to $50,000 to bring spiritual awareness into their classrooms....

" 'We provide spiritual care, not advocacy,' Robbi Micah Human begins.... 'Our role in providing spiritual care is not to diagnose,' Hyman tells the students.... 'Our role is to listen to what patients tell us they need.' ..."

Charles Duhigg
"A spiritual treatment? As more doctors push for greater respect for
patients' religious beliefs, others say science should come first"
Los Angeles Times. February 28, 2005