Daily Digest - February 19, 2013

"When parents or churches can't be there for college students, our United Methodist-related schools are." - Tracy Fitzsimmons, president of United Methodist-related Shenandoah University.

President uses Wesleyan values to shape leaders

WINCHESTER, Va. (UMNS) - Tracy Fitzsimmons, the first woman to be president of United Methodist-related Shenandoah University in Virginia, is preparing students to change the world based on values espoused by Methodism's founder John Wesley.
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Elvis Presley's Methodist moment

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - Here is a bit of pop music trivia about the connection between the King of Rock 'n' Roll and the 1950s-era Methodist Church.
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Church makes meatless Fridays a treat

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (UMNS) - For at least 30 years, Trinity United Methodist Church has provided nourishment for the body and soul during the Lenten season. Masslive.com explains how the church each Friday until Good Friday serves lunches that include lobster rolls and homemade pies as well as offering chapel. The money collected from the sale of the food goes toward church mission projects.
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Making the African voice heard

WASHINGTON (UMNS) - Making sure the voices of Africa are heard when the discussion turns to issues on the African continent is what motivates Jefferson Knight, who represents the central conferences on the United Methodist Board of Church and Society. "I am on the ground in Africa," he says. He represents not only his home country of Liberia, but also Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Cte d'Ivoire and Sierra Leone.
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$116,000 United Methodist health fund grant

LIBERAL, Kan. (UMNS) - The Liberal Area Coalition for Families, in partnership with Southwest Guidance Center, has been awarded a grant of $116,000 from United Methodist Ministry Health Fund to focus on the social and emotional health of children from birth to age 5. Since 1986, the health fund has made grants totaling more than $50 million to improve the health, healing and wholeness of Kansans.
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Hendrix president steps down

CONWAY, Ark. (UMNS) - J. Timothy Cloyd is stepping down as president of United Methodist-related Hendrix College after 12 years in the position. At the Hendrix board meeting on Feb. 15, it was also announced that, after a sabbatical, Cloyd would return to the Hendrix faculty as a professor in the department of politics and international relations and work in higher education consulting.
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