Daily Digest - August 16, 2022

“It’s a diverse mix of people including children, prostitutes, drug dealers, people who are living in homelessness, drug users, gang members … anyone and everyone. They come in and get fed. This is holy ground.”Ray Rover, on the breakfast ministry at Heritage at Houston United Methodist Church.


TODAY'S HEADLINES

South Georgia Conference
Longstanding breakfast ministry feeds souls

MACON, Ga. — Each Sunday for 17 years, Heritage at Houston United Methodist Church has served breakfast to anyone who has walked through the church’s doors. The ministry, named Scrambled Eggs for Jesus, feeds between 60 and 100 people every Sunday, said leader and church member Ray Rover. Kara Witherow has the story.
Read story 

Global Ministries
Gentrifying neighborhood complicates ministry

ATLANTA — The Waughtown and Sunnyside neighborhoods in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, are gentrifying, pushing out of the community the people the Rev. Julie Wilson is trying to serve. The Open Arms Community center is looking into helping lower-income people get mortgages so they can remain in the area. The center continues to provide before- and after-school programs and summer activities for neighborhood children. Christie R. House reports.
Read story

United Methodist Communications 
Encouraging men to live boldly

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — United Methodist Men chief executive Greg Arnold has a passion to help men overcome isolation and anxiety to live a bold life of faith. On the latest episode of the “Get Your Spirit in Shape” podcast, he shares that passion.
Listen to podcast

Smith and Gaston Funeral Home
Yvonne Kennedy carried on parents’ work

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Yvonne Lowery Kennedy, a lifelong United Methodist, is being remembered for carrying on the civil rights work of her late parents, the Rev. Joseph and Evelyn Lowery. She led several organizations dedicated to the rights of ethnic minorities and women. She also was board chair of S.C.L.C./ W.O.M.E.N. Inc., an organization founded by her mother. She died Aug. 6 at age 74.
Read obituary

Religion News Service
Frederick Buechner, minister and author, dies at 96

RUPERT, Vt. — Frederick Buechner, a Presbyterian minister whose novels and nonfiction books have influenced many United Methodists, died Aug. 15 at age 96. “Listen to your life” was the summary message he had for readers. Emily McFarlan Miller reports, quoting various writers on their admiration for Buechner. 
Read obituary


COMMENTARIES
UM News includes in the Daily Digest various commentaries about issues in the denomination. The opinion pieces reflect a variety of viewpoints and are the opinions of the writers, not UM News staff. 

Church must think more critically about digital presence
DALLAS (UM News) — We are in the middle of a seismic shift in technology, particularly digital communication technology, and we don’t know how this will affect us as people of faith, writes the Rev. Dr. Wes Magruder, an ordained elder in the North Texas Conference who is serving as a Global Ministries missionary. He said the church must think more critically about the technologies that are shaping our lives.
Read commentary


RESOURCES

Church of the Resurrection
Leadership Institute set for Sept. 28-30

LEAWOOD, Kan. — The Church of the Resurrection will hold its annual Leadership Institute for clergy and lay ministry leaders Sept. 28-30. Speakers include the Rev. Adam Hamilton, the church’s senior pastor; Jo Saxton, leadership coach; and the Rev. Tod Bolsinger, author of “Canoeing the Mountains.” Early-bird rates end Aug. 17. 
Learn more and register


RECENT HEADLINES

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EVENTS

Thursday, Aug. 18

Faith Talks: Honoring Work and Workers

Thursday, Sept. 22
Race, America & the Church series: Undenied — No Longer Willing to be Unheard

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