Where do rich and famous Christians find their spiritual community? Not at church, according to D. Michael Lindsay, a columnist at USA Today. After five years of interviewing 100 prominent evangelicals including Hollywood celebrities, athletes, business executives, and two presidents, he reports that sixty percent were not regular attendees in a local congregation. They tended instead to meet with other high-level Christians for fellowship in private Bible studies.

Gary LaFerla, whose credentials include being a senior pastor, CEO, published author, and executive coach, has worked with Christian leaders in business and the arts for over 25 years and had a somewhat different experience. Most of the Christian business executives he knows do go to church and interact with believers from different income levels, but many Christian artists are not solid in their church attendance, especially those who perform as Christian artists for religious audiences. They leave for a number of reasons, he said, some because of personal sin, others for involvement in Christian outreach to seekers, be it personal evangelism in private bible studies or domestic and international missions.. “You have to give them a lot of credit,” LaFerla said of the latter.

But one of the biggest reasons he listed for Christian stars’ departure was disillusionment. “They perform in mega-churches, and unfortunately see contradictions behind the pulpit. Others have too many options: too much wealth with too little accountability.”

LaFerla said he and his family are “praying and considering the start [of] a new work among businesspeople outside of the local church,” geared primarily for interested non-Christians and new believers. They’ve attracted some interest, he said; “We’ll see where it goes.”

Young people are taking longer to grow up. Studies show 18- to 30-year-olds are waiting longer to marry, have children, finish school, and establish financial independence. Young adults also tend to leave the church during this period.

Justin Moffatt, college pastor at Christ Church in New York City, calls it “Rumspringa,” after the Amish practice of releasing youth from normal restraints for a time before they decide whether to join the church permanently. He is familiar with delayed responsibility and drifting from the church. “Students bring their parents to Christ Church and say, ‘I go here,’ and I have to tell the parents, ‘They’ve been here twice this whole semester.’” He listed several reasons young people slack off from church: tiredness, busyness, self-sufficiency, lack of motivation, difficulty forming relationships, or a flat-out desire to sin.

Many are also troubled by intellectual problems that confront them as their knowledge expands. “In high school,” Moffatt said, “a good student knows, say, 98 percent of the curriculum. But when he leaves home, he finds the gap between what he knows and what he can know much larger than he thought. Overseas travel, wide reading, and relationships can all have this effect. But instead of letting what they do know inform what they don’t know, students often think the other way around. I want them to think: ‘I don’t know why there’s suffering in the world, but I do know that God is love.’”

How should the church engage young people? “Too many Christians let fear dictate their actions,” Moffatt said, “whereas Ecclesiastes says ‘Cast your bread upon the waters. Try things in faith.’ I think the church’s default position should be ‘Grow up,’ but there needs to be flexibility. We need to disciple [youth] with care and love.”

Lynne Spears, mother to Britney and Jamie Lynn, is writing a memoir. Pop Culture Mom: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World was scheduled for a Mother’s Day 2008 release when Jamie, 16, became pregnant. The company’s spokesperson would not say whether or not this development influenced the publisher’s decision to delay the memoir, but the release has been indefinitely postponed.

Mrs. Spears was working with a Christian publisher, Thomas Nelson, Inc., whose website says, “We inspire the world.” Thomas Nelson has offered no comment on its partnership with Mrs. Spears or its decision to suspend the publication of her book, but CEO Michael S. Hyatt said this: “We believe in redemption. Therefore, we are standing with Lynne and her family during this difficult time. Though the book has been delayed, we believe God is at work. The story is still being written, and we are confident in His ability to turn ashes into beauty.”

What do incidents like this say about the state of Christian publishing? Marvin Padgett, who has worked in Christian publishing for 25 years, said he sees a general shift of emphasis in the industry from ministerial to commercial. While some houses remain confessional, many release more general-interest works than ministry-driven ones. “When I look at the books in my personal library, there’s more [doctrinal] weight in the older books,” Padgett said.

Christian publishing has played a major role in the growth of evangelical Christianity around the world through book distribution, and most publishing houses are still putting out “serious books on serious issues,” according to Padgett: “fine books that spur vigorous debate.” But Christian publishing’s shift toward commercialism gives cause for concern. Padgett said he is often disappointed in the books pushed at major Christian publishing conventions.

For Iranian Jews wanting to move to Israel, it’s not easy to get out. Government-imposed travel restrictions prohibit them from taking furniture, most possessions, and large amounts of cash, making it impossible to take anything more than a few suitcases out of the country.

That’s where the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews comes in. Based in Chicago and Jerusalem, the organization works closely with the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem and the Israeli government, offering $10,000 grants to repatriating Jews.

Since Jews are allowed to take so little from Iran, the money often goes toward renting an apartment and purchasing furniture or appliances. Arriving in Israel, Jewish immigrants go through an absorption center where they receive services such as language training and, for the children, basic education. The government also provides food aid and job training, so that incoming Jews have whatever help they need in finding their feet again.

Do Iranian Jews want to leave Iran? It depends on circumstances, according to the IFCJ. Some who are older and economically well-off prefer to stay and weather the storm. Many, however, dislike living in a hostile country. They are concerned about the presence of a secret police, the heavily-stacked conditions in Parliament (the Jewish community is represented by one of 290 seats), and the intensifying radicalism of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against Israel.

IFCJ works to bring Jews from other volatile areas of the world as well. Ethiopia is one of its current projects. Argentina and the former Soviet Union have received its services in the past. The goal of these operations, according to the IFCJ , is not to coax Jews to return to Israel, but to help those who wish to return safely to their homeland.

In April 2005, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich ordered state pharmacists to dispense the abortifacient drug Plan B, regardless of conscientious objections. Refusal would bring legal consequences. Seven pro-life pharmacists sued the governor, saying his edict infringed their constitutional and statutory rights. Some, fired by Wal-Mart and Walgreens for refusing to dispense Plan B, sued their former employers.

The legal matters are complex, but so far the prolifers are winning. Earlier this year, a federal judge ruled in the Wal-Mart case that pharmacists are covered by the Health Care Right of Conscience Act, and as health-care professionals dispensing health-care services, they can withhold services inconsistent with their religious beliefs. The judge held that Blagojevich’s rule did not apply to individual pharmacists.

On October 12 Walgreens offered a settlement by which pharmacists could refuse to dispense Plan B and could instead make it available to women through the pharmacy owner or another employee. The seven pharmacists did not accept that offer. Their attorney, Francis Manion of the American Center for Law and Justice, said such a settlement would still require pro-life pharmacy owners, techs, and store manager to dispense Plan B.

The Wal-Mart case is still in progress, as are several other suits in behalf of pro-life pharmacists. Bogomir Kuhar of Pharmacists for Life International hopes that each of these will work out “in favor of pharmacists’ rights of conscience and full disclosure to patients of all the dangers of these abortifacients.” For now, Blagojevich has backed down and individual pro-life pharmacists are off the hook, with the state of Illinois agreeing that the governor’s order “does not apply to individual pharmacists, and…the state will never apply it to individual pharmacists.”