"It’s a sad job. Most people just want a better life for themselves. My mother told me to just treat everybody right. My mom says she would rather have me doing this job than just some jerk who doesn’t care out here with a badge and a gun." David Weeks, border patrol agent at McAllen station.
NEWS AND FEATURES
Paths collide for immigrants, border agents
MCALLEN, Texas (UMNS) — The McAllen station is the busiest U.S. Customs and Border Protection station in the nation for apprehending undocumented immigrants and drugs. It is located in a rural area of Texas town where the winding Rio Grande narrowly divides the U.S. from Mexico. Agents patrol 53 miles of the river, which is surrounded by farmland on the U.S. side and tall trees and thick underbrush in Mexico. Story by Kathy L. Gilbert and photos by Mike DuBose.
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Angolans weigh in on Social Principles
LUANDA, Angola (UMNS) — Listening sessions in Angola and other African countries aim to make sure proposed revisions of The United Methodist Church’s 50-year-old Social Principles include global context. Orlando da Cruz reports.
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South Georgia Conference
Preparing for Hurricane Florence
MACON, Ga. — United Methodists are praying and preparing for Hurricane Florence, expected to make landfall this week. The South Georgia Conference offers advice for church members wanting to help.
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Read UMNS story on disaster preparation
PRESS RELEASES
Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century
Young adult network builds leadership pipeline
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — United Methodist Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century and its National Network of Young Adults program will host the Leading in Transformation Conference Sept. 21 at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta. The conference organizer said the full-day conference will help young adults and young clergy answer the question, "Where is God calling me to serve?"
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COMMENTARIES
African delegates need information
LOUGHEED, Alberta (UMNS) — In a commentary about the choices before the special 2019 General Conference, a Zimbabwean elder urges United Methodists to get all the information before forming an opinion. The Rev. Lloyd T. Nyarota writes that Africans and delegates from other central conferences must form opinions without neocolonial influence from the U.S.
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The Memphis Commercial Appeal
Church's 'head coach' lauds Team Read program
GERMANTOWN, Tenn. — Germantown United Methodist Church has been a driving force for "Team Read," a literacy ministry for second-graders in Shelby County public schools. Jackie Ross Flaum, a church member and "head coach," writes about the success of a program that connects volunteers to classrooms in the Memphis area.
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RECENT HEADLINES
Churches can help erase stigma of HIV/AIDS
Commentary: GC delegate says church should be considering hunger, healthcare
EVENTS
Monday, Sept. 17-Sunday, Sept. 23
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