United Methodists give Russians view of America

At least 50 current and future Russian political leaders will visit the Florida Conference in the next few months as part of the as part of the "Open World" Russian Leadership Exchange.     Those visits began last July with the arrival of Mikhail Drougov, a student at Russia's Higher School of Economics, for a 10-day stay with Jim and Jean Henry of North United Methodist Church in Sarasota. Then, Oleg Cheremnykh, an investment consultant from Moscow, and Nikolay Vinogradov, the chief executive officer of a cattle farm cooperative and member of the district legislature in Vologda, arrived Aug. 6 for their 10-day visit to Orlando.    Full Story

Methodists in Cuba hope for Florida partners After a 48-year absence from Cuba, missionary Fletcher Anderson returned to the island last January to teach Biblical Hebrew and Wesleyan doctrine to Cuban seminary students. Anderson says when he arrived in Cuba he found a church that is even more vigorous than it was when he left in 1951. But, he also discovered Cuban Methodists are eagerly awaiting a helping hand from Florida Conference churches.  Full Story

Teen rescues girl from fire A 17-year-old Lakeland girl is still alive today due to the heroic actions of a high school senior on his way to worship at United Methodist Temple in Lakeland. Brent Jones and his girlfriend Charity Hartmann were walking into church Aug. 8 when he noticed a house adjacent to the church was on fire and one person was trapped inside.     "I just did what I thought needed to be done," Jones said. "I'd probably do it again."   Full Story

Youth pack potatoes for the poor "This is the grossest thing I've ever done," said 12-year-old Heather Douridas of First United Methodist Church, Clermont. Douridas was one of 150 volunteers from 22 different churches that sorted, bagged and delivered 45,000 pounds of sweet potatoes to Central Florida feeding programs Aug. 14.     "The Great Potato Drop" was coordinated by the Florida regional office of the Society of St. Andrew (SoSA), a ministry based in Big Island, Va., that salvages food, then gives it to groups that run feeding programs.     "It's for people that need it," Douridas said. "It's worth it knowing that people are going to appreciate that you're doing this."   Full Story

Society of St. Andrew celebrates 20 years Since Society of St. Andrew (SoSA) was founded in 1979, the food reclamation ministry has salvaged 255 million pounds of food and provided 765 million servings to the nation's hungry. In Florida, SoSA has salvaged 2.4 million pounds of food and provided 7.2 million servings. The ministry is now 20 years old and still going strong.    Full Story

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News at a Glance
Florida Southern ranks among
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B-CC makes multi-cultural honor rolls

Opportunities
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Health and wholeness ministers gather
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