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Vice President Mike Pence, former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow, Pastor Louie Giglio, and others paid their respects to notable Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias at a memorial service Friday. “He was the C.S. Lewis of our day. Crisscrossed the globe to every Mars Hill he could find to answer skeptics, move obstacles of unbelief, armed with intellect, girded with truth and love," Pence said at the service, which was held at Passion City Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Pence called Zacharias “a friend” and “a man for all seasons,” a term first used to describe 16th century Christian intellectual and writer Sir...

President Obama plans to address both the shooting deaths of minorities by police and the murders of Dallas police officers Tuesday at a memorial service for the five officers who were killed in an ambush by a black sniper. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Monday that Mr. Obama “recognizes that it’s not just people in Dallas who are grieving.”

I'm retired now, but once upon a time, as a church pastor, I was called on to conduct funerals and memorial services. All too often. I never saw them as opportunities to convert any possible unbelievers in attendance, exaggerate the virtues of the deceased, or advance some localized ecclesiastical agenda. That's not what they're about. Funerals and memorial services are about looking beyond the moment where the cold immediacy of death has taken hold, and toward whatever divine, otherworldly, or transcendent beliefs are held by, most importantly, the family, but also their friends.  When the October 2002 memorial service for...

Dignitaries attend a memorial at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York for the founder of modern conservatism. 'It's not easy coming up with an epitaph for a man like that,' says his son. NEW YORK -- Henry Kissinger reached the end of his speech. His voice cracked and tears rimmed his eyes as he addressed the 2,000 people who sat before him, quiet. William F. Buckley Jr., he said, "was a noble and valiant man who was truly touched by the grace of God." Kissinger eulogized the progenitor of the modern conservative movement Friday at the vast St. Patrick's Cathedral...

At the front of a quiet, dimly-lit auditorium inside Weatherford High School Thursday, Gov. Rick Perry and other friends eulogized the late Ric Williamson. Perry borrowed a quote from author Jonathan Swift to describe Williamson, who, as chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, was often at the center of controversy. “When a genius comes into the word, you will know him by this sign: that the dunces are all in confederacy against him,” Perry recited. “Jonathan Swift didn’t know Ric Williamson, but he pegged him.” Williamson, 55, was pronounced dead on Sunday after suffering an apparent heart attack while at...

As chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, Ric Williamson made major and often controversial decisions about the future of state roads. He died Sunday of a heart attack, at age 55, in his hometown of Weatherford, leaving a legacy as the hard-charging official that steered Gov. Rick Perry's divisive vision of toll roads across Texas into state policy. It was stressful work, and Mr. Williamson suffered two heart attacks while serving. He had known his health was fragile. "I'm trying to avoid the third one, which the doctors tell me will be fatal," he told Texas Monthly in a June...

Dear Friends, Four years ago today, a plane crash took the lives of Paul and Sheila Wellstone, their daughter Marcia, and three campaign aides - Mary McEvoy, Tom Lapic, and Will McLaughlin. On that horrible day, it seemed like the ground had fallen out from underneath all of us. It was, and still is, hard to imagine that they are gone. Here at Wellstone Action, our work is focused on building progressive politics for the future. Yet as much as we look forward to that future, today is a day of remembrance. We miss our friends. We remember their commitment...

A SPARE seat will be left beside Steve Irwin's widow and children tomorrow, as a special way to remember the Crocodile Hunter during his memorial service. Irwin's manager and long-time friend John Stainton has refused to reveal too many details about the service, but he has confirmed there will be a spare seat for Irwin beside his wife Terri and their children, Bindi and Bob. "There will be one seat alongside of the family for Steve because he loved the Crocoseum, he built it," Mr Stainton said. "His Australia Zoo cap that he always wore watching all the shows with...

TICKETS to Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin's memorial have been snapped up in just 15 minutes, leaving hundreds empty-handed. Irwin fans camped overnight outside several ticketing outlets in Queensland overnight for free tickets to Wednesday's memorial service. Three thousand tickets were snapped up at Australia Zoo and ticket outlets at Maroochydore and Brisbane. At the front of the queue in Brisbane was 34-year-old beauty therapist Melissa Power, who had lined up for more than 25 hours to secure tickets. "It's unbelievable," a teary Ms Power said once she had the tickets in her hand. "I haven't slept and am so over-emotional...

THOUSANDS of people are expected to camp out at booking outlets tomorrow night for tickets to Steve Irwin's memorial service. The life of the Crocodile Hunter will be honoured at a special public memorial service next Wednesday at the family's Sunshine Coast animal park, Australia Zoo. The memorial will be held at the park's Crocoseum, which was built by Mr Irwin and holds a capacity of 5500. Three thousand tickets – a maximum of four per person – will be released to the public at no charge from 9am (AEST) on Friday at Australia Zoo's box office and Ticketek outlets...

A MEMORIAL service to celebrate the remarkable life and times of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin will take place at 10am next Wednesday at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre at Boondal. Steve Irwin's close friend and manager John Stainton announced details of the event at a media conference held on Brisbane's Sunshine Coast at 11am t(AEST) this morning Mr Stainton has said the event will be as much a celebration as a tribute to Steve Irwin's remarkable life. Mr Stainton said Tuesday had been ruled out because it clashed with the Victorian state funeral of motor racing icon Peter Brock. The mountain...

A PUBLIC memorial service for Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin is expected to be held next week at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium. Irwin, 44, died last Monday after he was pierced in the chest by a stingray's barb while filming a documentary off the far north Queensland coast. A private funeral service was held for him at Australia Zoo on Saturday, his father Bob Irwin said today. His best mate and Australia Zoo staff member Wes Mannion said today a memorial service would be held next Tuesday or Wednesday, with Suncorp Stadium a likely venue. Mr Irwin died last Monday aged 44...

Humvee turned out to be death trap for U.S. troops Jay Price The Associated Press September 17, 2003 AP photo by Chuck Liddy/The News & Observer - A FRIEND SAYS GOODBYE IN IRAQ: Army Spc. William Moore pays respects during a memorial service for his best friend, Sgt. Trevor Blumberg, at Base Mercury in Iraq. Blumberg, 22, of Canton, Mich., died Sunday in Baghdad, Iraq, when two explosive devices struck his vehicle. WEST OF BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The Humvee in civilian trim is the macho brute of the American highway, but the military version has turned out to be a...

Archbishop of Canterbury's address at a Service of Remembrance for Iraq, St Paul's Cathedral, London [ACNS source: Lambeth Palace] Not long before the First World War, a French poet, who was to be one of the earliest casualties of that conflict, wrote that 'everything begins with mysticism and ends with politics'. People have argued a good deal over what he meant. Is he saying that every human story starts with vision and hope and love and deteriorates into conflicts and compromises? Or that you have to move on from fine words and ideals and make things change for the...

Dennis Geurin bent and touched the dog tags that hung not from his son's neck but from an M-16 rifle plunged ceremonially into the ground. Barely three months have passed since Lance Cpl. Cory Geurin, 18, died in Iraq when he fell off a building he was guarding. But yesterday's 1st Marine Division memorial service for 39 fallen members was the father's first chance to talk to Marines who ate, slept and fought next to his son. He hungers for every tidbit about his Marine's final days. "I need to touch base with Marines who knew him. I need to...

"We must make the dead know that their sacrifices were not in vain." This has been one of the major guiding points of the philosophy of Ted Hayes, Homeless Activist. Through protests, memorials and vigils, Ted's aim has been steadfast: To bring support to our troops, past and present, and to honor the sacrifices others have made in the name of the greater good of patriotism. To share in this honoring of the dead, a group of about fifty people gathered at 5:00am in Downtown LA for a memorial commemorating the dead of 9/11. The Memorial had two parts. The...

<p>Rick Kahn doesn't regret what he said during his famous speech at the memorial service for his friend Sen. Paul Wellstone, and he considers the electorate's reaction to it "extremely unfair," he told a television reporter during an interview broadcast Thursday night.</p>

<p>NEAR NASIRIYA, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. Marines Friday recovered the bodies of seven fallen comrades who died in intense fighting around Nasiriya in southern Iraqi Sunday, officials said.</p> <p>The city has been the scene of the fiercest fighting the Marine Corps has been involved in since Vietnam, senior Marines told CNN, and still is not under coalition control five days after coalition forces first engaged Iraqi paramilitaries.</p>

Columbia crew praised at East Texas memorial 02/08/2003 Associated Press LUFKIN, Texas - In an East Texas town that is the command center in the search for debris from space shuttle Columbia, the seven astronauts who died were remembered Saturday not only for being heroes, but also for being a fun-loving group. "Just seven days ago we were awaiting the successful return of the space shuttle Columbia," Gov. Rick Perry told the group of about 1,000 gathered at the First Baptist church. "Today we mourn the lives of the seven on board, so close to their final destination." Perry...

Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial Service Remarks by FL Gov. Jeb Bush They were supposed to return here. After orbiting the earth for sixteen days, after traveling more than six million miles, after seeing every corner of our beautiful world, they were supposed to return here. You -- their coworkers, their colleagues, their friends -- were ready to greet them with their families, to congratulate them on their successful mission, to honor them as the newest standard bearers of the great American tradition of exploration and discovery in space. They were supposed to return here, to the Kennedy Space Center at...