Shepherds House UMC's current trustees, primarily African immigrants, won a battle to operate the church. A 2018 deed from the UMC umbrella organization to the trustees of Shepherds House triggered the Durham Tax Assessor to reconsider the church's tax exempt status. The church trustees filed the same documents the previous trustees filed with the tax office, which the tax office rejected. Unfortunately the church was in the position to straighten out this issue at the very beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic when the tax office was shut down to the public. The church is now facing a tax bill in excess of $80,000 when its activities qualify it for the tax exemption. Please ask Dwayne Brinson to apply that tax exemption for tax years 2019, 2020, and 2021.