Daily Digest - April 17, 2020

“I’m so sad for these people who are so sick and have to go through it without family. … And they’re making decisions about their health on their own. All they have is their nurse and God.”Ashley Hammer, a registered nurse at University of Tennessee Medical Center, on caring for patients awaiting COVID-19 test results.


NEWS AND FEATURES

Holston Conference 
United Methodists on the front lines

ALCOA, Tenn. — As people around the world stay home to fight the coronavirus, many United Methodists have jobs that send them out into a dangerous world to care for others. Annette Spence reports on 11 United Methodists on the front lines in the Holston Conference. 
Read story

Ohio church alters produce giveaway due to COVID-19
COLUMBUS, Ohio (UM News) — Social distancing measures due to the coronavirus pandemic have not prevented The United Methodist Church for All People from continuing to provide support and hope to its community. Joey Butler has the story. 
Read story 

United Methodist Communications 
Advice from a veteran of pandemics

ORLANDO, Fla. — As a baby, Lucille Ellson survived the devastating 1918 influenza pandemic. The 102-year-old United Methodist offers words of advice and comfort for those anxious about the global spread of the coronavirus. Crystal Caviness reports.
Read story

Baltimore-Washington Conference
Baking bread with yeast and love

EMMITSBURG, Md. — The Rev. Heath Wilson's Facebook video, much like a favorite cooking show, finds him standing in the kitchen of Toms Creek United Methodist Church, with a monster bag of yeast at the ready. In his own quest to learn how to make a good loaf of bread, Erik Alsgaard caught up with Wilson for help. 
Read story


PRESS RELEASES

Church and Society
Earth Day virtual worship service set April 22

WASHINGTON — The United Methodist Board of Church and Society will hold a virtual worship service on April 22 in observance of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Inspired by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous words on the “fierce urgency of now,” the worship service will explore the call to be stewards of creation.
Learn more or register

Emory University
Emory University trustees elect 21st president

ATLANTA — Emory University’s board of trustees has announced that Gregory L. Fenves, president of The University of Texas at Austin, has been elected as the United Methodist-affiliated university’s 21st president. Fenves will assume office Aug. 1.
Read press release


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 the UM News staff.

Illinois Great Rivers Conference
Spiritual weapons to fight against COVID-19

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Christians are not powerless in the fight against a deadly virus, writes Bishop Frank Beard, who leads the Illinois Great Rivers Conference. “God has given to every believer an arsenal of weapons to be used in the spiritual battles that we face,” he said in a commentary that lists seven such weapons.
Read commentary


RECENT HEADLINES

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EVENTS

Sunday, April 26

Native American Ministries Sunday

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