Daily Digest - March 27, 2023

“It did our hearts good, I think, to just sit in front of that church that meant so much to us and feel the presence of God while we sat there.” — Laura Hollis, Rolling Fork United Methodist Church member, describing the church’s Sunday prayer service after a tornado laid waste to much of the Mississippi town.


NEWS AND FEATURES

Church reaches out after deadly tornadoes
ROLLING FORK, Miss. (UM News) — After a powerful storm brought death and destruction to one of the poorest regions of the U.S. South, United Methodists are helping people in the Mississippi Delta mourn and pick up the pieces. North Alabama United Methodists are preparing to help recovery efforts in their region as well. Heather Hahn reports.
Read story

Greater Things Are Yet to be Done
Bishop calls for prayer following school shooting
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Bishop Bill McAlilly of the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference has called for prayer in the wake of the March 27 shooting at a Nashville school that left three students, three adults and the shooter dead. “I continue to join my voice with others in the Church as we together seek to see a new day in our country where pain and sorrow and death will no longer be visited on innocent children,” he wrote in his blog.
Read post

Video series spotlights history-making Black women
SEVERNA PARK, Md. (UM News) — “Hollering for Change” is beginning a new series highlighting Black women “firsts” across the denomination. Today’s interview is with newly elected Bishop Dee Williamston of the Louisiana Conference, the first Black woman elected to the episcopacy in the South Central Jurisdiction. The Rev. Tori Butler speaks with Bishop Williamston about her calling, the surreal experience of her election, and the “opportunity and honor” of being the first in her position.
Watch video
Coming tomorrow: A conversation with the Rev. Nicole Caldwell-Gross

Texas Conference
Ministry connects with hot dogs, hamburgers
LUFKIN, Texas — Jim and Cindy Tierney of First United Methodist Church of Lufkin have for 10 years hosted the Cook & Serve ministry, which on the second Saturday of the month provides low-income families with a free lunch of hot dogs and hamburgers. The couple and other volunteers, including many from the church, have served 36,000 meals in the parking lot of Herty Primary School. Lindsay Peyton reports.
Read story

Greater Northwest Area
New church works for affordable child care 
BEND, Ore. — The parents involved in ReVillage — a nonprofit cooperative child care consortium in Bend — are intent on creating affordable child care in their community and advocating statewide for greater access to child care. The nonprofit was birthed by Storydwelling Faith Community, a joint new church start by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The United Methodist Church. Kristen Caldwell reports.
Read story


PRESS RELEASES

Texas Methodist Foundation
Helping churches go the first mile
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Methodist Foundation has announced the launch of Neighbor2Neighbor, a three-year initiative to help churches “be the heart of flourishing for their local neighborhood and community.” United Methodist churches are among those in the program’s first cohort. The initial focus will be on reaching people who live within a mile of the church.
Read press release


RESOURCES

Discipleship Ministries
Online service of lament planned  
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Discipleship Ministries is planning an online worship experience titled “Out of Ashes: A Service of Lament in a Season of Disaffiliation.” The service is scheduled for 11 a.m. U.S. Central time April 20 and is intended to be a time to name loss while seeking the new thing God is doing.
Read press release
To register


RECENT HEADLINES

Church responds after cyclone batters Africa

Native immersion explores culture, horrors


EVENTS

Monday, April 17-Sunday, April 30
Ministry for Dementia Patients: Serving the Forgotten Through a Spiritual Lens

Monday, April 17-Monday, May 1
Online course: Leading Missional Small Groups