Now a pastor in Orlando, Prehn preaches in a sanctuary with a nearly life-size bronze statue of Mary and the baby Jesus. During advent, the four weeks leading up to Christmas, he leads his congregation in singing the Magnificat -- a prayer Mary sings in the Gospel of Luke.

Until fairly recently, devotion to Mary would have caused a scandal in most Protestant churches. Many Protestants still reject Mary's exalted status within Catholicism and worry that honoring her will put her on par with Jesus. But in recent years a growing number of mainline Protestants and evangelicals have started to rethink their centuries-old opposition to revering Mary. ...