News

By: Rev. Melissa Drake, Conference Superintendent, Aldersgate District  I was with the good folks of the Bedford and New Market churches this week and they were sharing with me about how important it is for them to be involved not only in Bible Study Discipleship, but also in active “Love Your Neighbor” Discipleship. The New Market church says “Ministry Opportunities are everywhere!  As we identify them, we work to serve them!” As they were describing their ministries and what was involved, ...

By Beverly Nolte Hurricane Laura slammed the Lake Charles/Sulphur, LA area making landfall on August 27, 2020. Marching in after was Hurricane Delta on October 9, 2020, followed by a deep freeze of 16 degrees, the coldest in Louisiana in 119 years on February 15, that burst pipes throughout the area. Then by a deluge of 18 inches of rain in two days on May 17-18, 2021. And a tornado struck in October 2021, which left around 12 homes uninhabitable and exacerbated the already hundreds of persons ...

Denison First United Methodist Church provided much-needed organization, hundreds of volunteers, physical and monetary donations to the Crawford Cares drive-up food distribution program when a massive increase in need became apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Crawford Cares is a Facebook-based organization that acts as a message board to connect volunteers to community members who may be less self-reliant in Crawford County, Iowa.   After the Denison Community School District closed their ...

This is the final installment of a series of Faith In Action reports on how churches, ministries, and people from the Iowa United Methodist Church are making a difference and changing lives following the derecho disaster in August 2020.  By: Liz Winders, Director of Communications On August 10, 2020, a derecho damaged an area nearly 800 miles wide throughout the Midwest, with the highest winds recorded at over 140 miles per hour in and around the Cedar Rapids area.  Barns and sheds had been ...

This is the sixth in a series of Faith In Action reports on how churches, ministries, and people from the Iowa United Methodist Church are making a difference and changing lives following the derecho disaster in August 2020.  A typical year of confirmation turned upside down for Lovely Lane United Methodist Church in Cedar Rapids after quarantine and the derecho on August 10. That didn’t stop Rev. Scott Meador from completing the year with a celebration.   “We started back in the fall of 2019 ...

This is the fifth in a series of Faith In Action reports on how churches, ministries, and people from the Iowa United Methodist Church are making a difference and changing lives following the derecho disaster in August 2020.  Bishop Laurie Haller and Assistant to the Bishop, Rev. Dr. Harlan Gillespie visited Salem UMC in Van Horne, Iowa on Friday, August 28 on their tour of derecho damaged churches. Rev. Leonard “Doc” Ranson and the Trustees chair, gave them a tour of the church’s beautiful ...

This is the fourth in a series of Faith In Action reports on how churches, ministries, and people from the Iowa United Methodist Church are making a difference and changing lives following the derecho disaster in August 2020.  The derecho storm that tore through Iowa on August 10 became the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that members and volunteers at Shueyville United Methodist Church could come together and work in their community. “The derecho was oddly what we needed," said ...

This is the third in a series of Faith In Action reports on how churches, ministries, and people from the Iowa United Methodist Church are making a difference and changing lives following the derecho disaster in August 2020.  The Matthew 25 Hub building in Cedar Rapids Iowa sustained major damage from the derecho disaster that blew through the region on August 10, 2020. The roof was badly damaged, and the inside experienced major water damage, estimating at least 3 months until the building ...

This is the second in a series of Faith In Action reports on how churches, ministries, and people from the Iowa United Methodist Church are making a difference and changing lives following the derecho disaster in August 2020.  See a gallery of images from Christ Community United Methodist Church.   On August 10, 2020, a derecho damaged an area nearly 800 miles wide throughout the Midwest with the highest winds recorded at over 140 miles per hour in the Cedar Rapids area. Christ Community United...

This is the first in a series of Faith In Action reports on how churches, ministries, and people from the Iowa United Methodist Church are making a difference and changing lives following the derecho disaster in August 2020.  It is estimated that the city of Cedar Rapids lost 50 percent of its tree canopy as a result of the August 10, 2020 derecho. The derecho, with wind gusts of over 140 mph, devasted much of the city and surrounding areas. Since day one of the disaster, the Iowa United ...