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Daily Digest: January 14, 2014

“Bishops like him only come around once in a lifetime.” — Greater Northwest Area Bishop Grant Hagiya, paying tribute to the late Bishop Jack M. Tuell.

Bishop Tuell, church law expert, dies at 90

DES MOINES, Wash. (UMNS) — Retired Bishop Jack M. Tuell, a widely respected expert of United Methodist church law, died Friday, Jan. 10. He was 90. “He will be considered one of the two or three giants of our Council (of Bishops) in the latter part of the 20th century and the first part of the 21st century,” said retired Bishop William B. Oden, a longtime friend.
Read obituary and post a comment

Chicago pastor critically injured in Guatemala

CHICAGO (UMNS) — The Northern Illinois Annual (regional) Conference is praying for the Rev. Ramon Nieves, pastor of Humboldt Park United Methodist Church, who was critically injured Jan. 10 in Guatemala City while on a volunteer mission trip with his wife, Yolanda. The conference and others are assisting as his family arranges medical air transport back to Chicago, said Bishop Sally Dyck.
Read Dyck’s message

West Va. churches help during water ban

CHARLESTON, W. Va. (UMNS) — United Methodist congregations in the denomination’s West Virginia Annual (regional) Conference helped provide clean water to residents after a chemical spill left 300,000 people without potable water for several days. Laura Harbert Allen, the conference’s director of communications, reports.
Read story

History of Hymns: ‘Word of God, Come Down on Earth’

DALLAS (UMNS) — Father James Quinn, a Jesuit, is the writer of this hymn, No. 182 in the United Methodist Hymnal. He aimed to provide a commentary on John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory.” C. Michael Hawn of Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology shares Quinn’s story.
Read story

Seminary receives grant for large-church project

WASHINGTON (UMNS) — Lilly Endowment Inc. has awarded United Methodist-related Wesley Theological Seminary a major research grant for a unique, three-year, large-church leadership project. The project will study large congregations and identify ways to develop the leadership-education resources and strategies required to help future congregational leaders.
Read news release

Seeing food insecurity, income disparity hurt

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (UMNS) — The loss in 2013 of two regulars at the Lord’s Table in the basement of Trinity United Methodist Church gave Lewis W. Diuguid pause to reflect in the Kansas City Star on the increasing food insecurity and income disparity he sees.
Read commentary

Moving forward and looking back — in summary

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — In this final installment of his blog series on how the intersection of technology and communication is shaping the church, the Rev. Larry Hollon, top executive of United Methodist Communications, points out that communication is ministry, not just a technical tool.
Read blog


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