Daily Digest: May 21, 2014

“We have been asleep … no woman in America should have to rely on tips and no employer should pay below minimum wage.” – Saru Jayaraman, author of “Behind the Kitchen Door.”

Serving up fair wages should be No. 1 tip
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (UMNS) — According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, restaurant workers hold seven of the 10 lowest-paying jobs. Tip workers legally earn $2.13 an hour and that figure has not changed in over 20 years. Saru Jayaraman, author of “Behind the Kitchen Door,” is leading an effort to include tip-workers in the minimum wage bill. “No worker should be dependent on living off the mercy of customers,” she said.

Read story and post comment

Archives and History names new top executive
MADISON, N.J. (UMNS) — The Rev. Alfred T. Day III, has been unanimously elected as the new top executive of the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History, succeeding the Rev. Robert J. Williams. Harrisburg Area Bishop Jeremiah Park, the commission’s president, made the announcement. The transition will be effective as early as July 1.

Read press release

U.M. ARMY heading to Louisiana
BOSSIER CITY, La. (UMNS) — Armed with hammers and paintbrushes, hundreds of workers with a mission will descend this summer on the Bossier City and Ringgold communities in the Louisiana Annual (regional) Conference as part of U.M. ARMY (United Methodist Action Reach-out Mission by Youth). The Louisiana Conference has the story.

Read story

NCC holds Christian unity gathering in D.C.
WASHINGTON (UMNS) — In their first national meeting in more than three years, National Council of Churches’ member communions and partners came together May 19-20 to worship, celebrate and discuss crucial national issues, such as mass incarceration.

Read press release

Reaching the millennial generation
WASHINGTON (UMNS) — Asa J. Lee of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership, gives an overview of recent Pew research about today’s young adults and what it means for churches.

Read commentary

Childhood home of 3 church leaders burns down
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (UMNS) — The home of Marcela Alegría burned down May 3. She is the mother of six children, including Richard Alegría, former president of the Rio Grande Annual (regional) Conference United Methodist Men; Raúl Alegría, president of MARCHA, the caucus for Hispanics within the United Methodist Church; and the Rev. Frank Alegría, a United Methodist pastor in Duncanville, Texas. Their sister, Elizabeth Riley, and her three daughters were living there when the fire erupted.

Kiii News reports on salvage attempts

United Methodist Men report

UMTV: Young cancer survivor cares for kids
BEL AIR, Md. (UMNS) — You could call her Amazing Grace. Despite her own illness, Grace Callwood focuses on comforting other kids who are sick or homeless. She created We Cancerve to inspire others.

Watch video and post a comment

Harding, Iliff professor and MLK friend, passes
DENVER (UMNS) — Vincent G. Harding, a civil rights leader and professor emeritus of religion and social transformation at United Methodist Iliff School of Theology in Denver, died May 19. Harding worked throughout the South in the 1960s on the anti-segregation campaigns of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Congress of Racial Equality. He drafted speeches for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., including King’s famous 1967 anti-Vietnam war speech, “Beyond Vietnam.” “Dr. Harding's death is a loss to the church and world. His legacy will be rich in part because of all those he mentored and who now carry his commitment and passion for truth and righteousness into the future,” said Erin Hawkins, the top executive of the United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race.

Read Christian Century’s remembrance


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