Lee Strobel

Saddleback Valley Community Church has brought out the heavy artillery in its battle to reach the unchurched in Orange County: a nationally celebrated preacher who gave up his career as a big-city newspaperman and went from atheist to evangelist. The Lake Forest church recruited Lee Strobel away from Illinois' Willow Creek Community Church, the nation's largest church and a leading institution in America's blossoming megachurch movement.

Would Jesus be a vegan? Are Christianity and Islam compatible? Is there any evidence of God? Does Hugh Hefner believe in miracles? Are Mormons Christians? In a program that its creator describes as "O'Reilly meets religion," Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists and even animal-rights activists verbally duke it out over who is right about God and God's intentions. The new Pax TV show is "Faith Under Fire," created by Lee Strobel. It debuts at 10 p.m. Saturday.

Would Jesus be a vegan? Are Christianity and Islam compatible? Is there any evidence of God? Does Hugh Hefner believe in miracles? Are Mormons Christians? In a program that its creator describes as "O'Reilly meets religion," Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists and even animal-rights activists verbally duke it out over who is right about God and God's intentions. The new Pax TV show is "Faith Under Fire," created by Lee Strobel. It debuts at 10 p.m. Saturday.

Saddleback Valley Community Church has brought out the heavy artillery in its battle to reach the unchurched in Orange County: a nationally celebrated preacher who gave up his career as a big-city newspaperman and went from atheist to evangelist. The Lake Forest church recruited Lee Strobel away from Illinois' Willow Creek Community Church, the nation's largest church and a leading institution in America's blossoming megachurch movement.

The Rev. Robert A. Schuller, ousted in October as the preacher of the long-running Christian television program "Hour of Power," has resigned as senior pastor at the Crystal Cathedral and plans to open his own ministry. Church founder Robert H. Schuller removed his son as the sole preacher on the 39-year-old television show after the younger Schuller, three years into the job, refused to rotate his role with other pastors, the church said.

Madonna? Let those without sin cast the first stone. Rush Limbaugh? He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their maker. David Letterman? Sorry, Johnny gets the 11:30 slot in the hereafter. No, Jesus would not be tongue-tied if he returned to sit down with some of the biggest celebrities of our age. In a gentle, humorous new book, "What Jesus Would Say . . .," a minister at one of the nation's largest evangelical churches imagines some of those what-if meetings.

With another priest narrating from the Gospel of Matthew, Father Steven Tsichlis reenacted the scene Friday in which Jesus was taken down from the cross after his death nearly 2,000 years ago. Tsichlis pulled the nails from the hands and feet of the large wooden icon of Christ. He wrapped the body in clean linens. And he then laid a tapestry icon of Jesus in a symbolic tomb covered with white flowers near the altar at St. Paul's Greek Orthodox Church in Irvine.

One thing is clear: Willow Creek is no typical church. Named after the former theater where church members first met, it resembles a vast movie house with windows overlooking a pond. There are no crosses and no stained-glass windows. Don't look for a hymnal--lyrics are flashed onto video screens. Preachers avoid the term reverend , and no one sits on pews, just comfortable theater-like seats.

"Ezekiel and Ishmael, in accordance with your parents' wishes, you may go out into the hall and pray for our souls." --Bart Simpson's elementary school teacher, excusing two Christian students before a sex education film is shown Mark I. Pinsky says the secret to writing his new book, "The Gospel According to the Simpsons," an appreciation of the surprisingly rich spiritual life of the Simpsons and their Springfield neighbors, was to weave a couple of the show's jokes onto each page.

Promise Keepers, the international men's movement, brings its conference to Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim on Oct. 19 and 20. Prayers for the nation will be said during the free conference. The event is expected to draw thousands of men for encouragement, accountability and solid biblical principles for becoming better husbands, fathers, friends and co-workers. Registration remains open. (800) 888-7595 or register online at http://www.promisekeepers.org. Special Events * St.

Mel Gibson offered an explanation Saturday -- via live satellite -- about his personal reasons for making "The Passion of the Christ," as his publicity team pumped up Christian viewers at hundreds of churches nationwide in a highly orchestrated marketing campaign.

The prelude to Orange Coast Christian Outreach Week begins Thursday with nationally known Christian apologist, best-selling author and preacher Lee Strobel speaking at a prayer breakfast at the Westin South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. Strobel's experience as a journalist and his personal story of salvation were weaved together in his 1998 book, "The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus."