YOUR LINK TO MEDIA IDEAS, ACTIVITIES AND RESOURCES

 

UNDERSTANDING THE FUTURE OF GLOBAL COMMUNICATION

Free communication resources on the web.

 

If you were unable to attend Religion Communication Congress 2010 held April 7-10 in Chicago, Ill. (mentioned in the last issue of Links), you can still reap the bounty. Many of the presentations and workshops are available at the RCCongress 2010 website—for free. Three staff members from Third Way Media who attended have highlighted several presentations that may be of interest to Links readers. To find links to all these presentations, go to http://www.rccongress2010.org/

 

·         Top Notch Congregational Communication – Angela Bengston

·         Web Ministry 3.0: A View of Emerging Tools and Applications – Matt Carlisle

·         Social Media Marketing – Leah Jones

·         How Copyright Law applies to Communities of Faith – Kevin Keener

 

SURVEYING THE DIGITAL FUTURE. Don’t miss Jeffery Cole’s complete plenary presentation from RCCongress 2010 “Surveying the Digital Future.” It is worth taking the hour or so to watch. (Download it to something mobile and listen to it while taking a walk or exercising, or multitask and delete old e-mails or do filing while listening to/watching this piece.) “Think mobile, mobile, mobile,” says Cole, director of the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication (digital media focus). http://www.rccongress2010.org/news/jeffcoleplenary.shtml

 

SUMMER RADIO BROADCASTS INCLUDE MARTIN MARTY ON FAMILY MEMORIES. Upcoming topics for Shaping Families for June and July include the following (subject to change and please note that the content is NOT available online until the date of the broadcast). You can subscribe to program updates through RSS feeds at http://www.shapingfamilies.com/static/subscribe.asp

 

June 5 “Abducted Child” (forgiveness after the unthinkable)

June 12 “Surviving Katrina” (starting over after hurricane)

June 19 “Rescuing Dad” (intervention for father’s alcoholism)

June 26 “Life with One Leg” (amputee finds new purpose)

 

July 3 “Teaching Peacemaking to Kids” (volunteers working on school bullying issues)

July 10 “I Crawled Out of a Garbage Can” (what it’s like to be homeless)

July 17 “The Bible and Suicide” (G. Lloyd and Gwendolyn Carr, authors of Fierce Goodbye)

July 24 “The Church, Faith and Suicide” (Fred and Gail Fox on faith aspects)

July 31 “Taking Time for Family” (Lutheran religious historian Martin Marty)

 

FOOTWASHING VIDEO TO FEATURE EMILY RALPH AS HOST.  Narration for a new footwashing video with the working title “Wash One Another’s Feet” was shot in early May in Pennsylvania with host Emily Ralph. The video will depict various everyday scenes of service to others along with the theology behind the footwashing sacrament. It is being sponsored and produced by several churches in Pennsylvania in cooperation with Third Way Media. Emily is also a worship leader at Swamp Mennonite Church, Quakertown, Pa., an occasional speaker on the Shaping Families radio program, and a partner in Rethink Creative Services, Barto, Pa.

BOOKS FROM SHAPING FAMILIES SPEAKERS 

Natalie Francisco, one of the speakers on Shaping Families, has written a new book, Parenting and Partnering with Purpose: Linking Homes, Schools and Churches to Educate our Children, available as an e-book and in paperback (St. Paul Press). Natalie is co-pastor at Calvary Community Church in Hampton, Va., where she and her husband founded Calvary Christian Academy. The book focuses on education of children. For more on the book or to hear Natalie personally, go to www.NatalieFrancisco.com

 

Jim and Norma Fairfield of Singers Glen, Va., were recently featured in the Harrisonburg area media in several news stories about Jim’s memoirs published as Frog Hollow Journal, which is excerpted about every six weeks on the Shaping Families radio program. Reading the memoir is his son-in-law, Sam Heatwole, who works as a freelance radio voiceover announcer in Virginia. Fairfield worked a number of years as writer/producer for the predecessor agency of Third Way Media, and his Greatest Week in History Easter radio programs (see last Links) was re-released last year on CD and used by a couple dozen radio stations.

 

Harvey Yoder is another Shaping Families speaker with a published book on family issues, Lasting Marriage: The Owner’s Manual (Herald Press, 2007) with illustrations by the late Lee Eshleman. Based on the idea that marriage needs more than the kind of care we give to our cars, Harvey drew on more than 40 years experience as a pastor, spouse and marriage counselor to look at ways to sustain a healthy marriage relationships.

 

Frog Hollow Journal and Lasting Marriage are available at https://store.thirdwaymedia.org/. 

 

KUDOS FROM PHILHAVEN. Jim Shenk, development director of Philhaven, a nonprofit behavioral health organization in Mt. Gretna, Pa. noted after listening to one of the Shaping Families programs: “I was moved to tears listening to the powerful story of forgiveness and hope that emerged from the rubble, pain and anger of the Oklahoma bombings. The content of Shaping Families is authentically rooted in real and difficult issues faced by families everywhere – and by Philhaven client families every day.” Philhaven has expressed interest in sponsoring the program one week a month on the powerful WDAC radio station in Lancaster, which has been airing the program since its launch January 4, 2010. Other sponsorships are in process.

 

LOCAL SPONSORSHIPS OF SHAPING FAMILIES. Local churches, ministerial associations, conferences, and any company or agency wishing to support the family-help oriented nature of the Shaping Families program can sponsor the program on a station or partner with others to make it possible. Sponsorship of the program benefits the local organization or business by forging a positive identification in the minds of listeners with the caring, compassionate nature of the program. The program also offers sponsors exposure and clicks from links coming from the Shaping Families website. Airtime costs vary widely, depending on the coverage and number of listeners in the station’s listening area, but each program allows 30 seconds for sponsors to convey their message. For a sponsor kit contact

 

NAKED ANABAPTIST OFFERS ‘THE SKINNY’ ON BASIC ANABAPTIST BELIEFS. Anabaptism, a stream of faith emerging out of the reformation of the 1500s, has frequently been clothed in Mennonite and Amish traditions and culture. But what does it look like without Amish and Mennonite clothing? Stuart Murray asked that question and wrote a book: The Naked Anabaptist: The Bare Essentials of a Radical Faith (Herald Press, April, 2010). He heads up the Anabaptist Network in Great Britain and Ireland and is also the author of other books (see below). Find excerpts of The Naked Anabaptist at Third Way Café(http://www.thirdway.com/menno/?Page=5331|Introduction) or visit the The Naked Anabaptist Facebook page. You can purchase the book at https://store.thirdwaymedia.org/

 

STUART MURRAY FEATURED IN THIRD WAY MEDIA DVD. Stuart Murray appeared in a video from Third Way Media called Cloud of Witnesses that focuses on expressions of Anabaptist faith around the world. He is also the author of Church Planting: Laying Foundations; Biblical Interpretation in the Anabaptist Tradition; Coming Home: Stories of Anabaptists in Britain and Ireland; Church Planting: Past, Present and Future; Post-Christendom: Church and Mission in a Strange New World; and Planting Churches: A Framework for Practitioners. The Cloud of Witnesses DVD includes segments from England, several countries in Africa, and Bolivia and Brazil. https://store.thirdwaymedia.org/p-43-cloud-of-witnesses.aspx

 

NEWLY UPDATED ANTI-RACISM BOOKLET. Shared Voices: Guidelines for Antiracist Communication has been updated again (April, 2010); it was originally developed by the marketing and communication department of Mennonite Mission Network in consultation with anti-racism experts. The booklet gives examples of how to evaluate photography, writing and design through the lens of anti-racism. https://store.thirdwaymedia.org/p-244-shared-voices.aspx

 

DIRECTOR ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT. Burton Buller, director of Third Way Media (Mennonite Media since 1999), has announced his retirement effective June 30. During Buller’s 11-year tenure, Third Way Media has produced nine full length documentaries all aired through network TV affiliations (ABC-TV and NBC-TV) and on Hallmark Channel and numerous other cable outlets.

 

The agency has launched or revamped an additional 11 websites in this same period, completed a series of videos especially for youth and the PeaceDVD youth curriculum, produced 13 re-mastered Mennonite Hour CDs, conducted five public service radio spot campaigns aired on hundreds of stations, and grew the flagship Third Way Café website from 100 pages of information to over 3,000 pages with new daily and weekly content.

 

Program manager Sheri Hartzler and business manager Lowell Hertzler have been named interim co-directors of the agency. Buller will continue to host the Shaping Families radio program as a volunteer as well as work on contract for a new documentary. (See below.)

 

NEW DOCUMENTARY FOCUSES ON “WAGING PEACE.” Stories of peacemakers can help build bridges across chasms of mistrust and misunderstanding. Third Way Media has contracted with Buller Films LLC to create a new feature-length documentary tentatively titled, “Waging Peace,” looking at streams of peacemaking in both the Muslim and Christian faiths. The program will tell challenging stories of Muslims and Christians finding peaceful solutions to conflicts and stories of those who have dedicated themselves to this effort. The film will be produced in the coming year. If you know of current stories of conflict and peace that could be filmed in the U.S., please contact us at:   

 

ANOTHER BOOK FROM ANOTHER WAY COLUMNIST. A new book encouraging families to reclaim family dinner is nearing completion from Melodie Davis, a syndicated newspaper columnist (Another Way) since 1987. The book, titled Whatever Happened to Dinner?: Recipes and Reflections on Family Mealtime, will include recipes from Shaping Families writers, speakers and staff, and will be published by Herald Press.

 

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD. Third Way Media produces electronic and public media on various issues of the day. To assist in this mission, go to www.ThirdWayMedia.org/donate.

 

DID YOU KNOW?

… Video Librarian reviewed Pax Service: An Alternative to War  in its Dec. 2009 issue: “Beautifully captures the ingenious and often backbreaking work of Pax personnel along with their stories of lighter moments of camaraderie. Although produced by a religious organization, Pax Service focuses on the universality of the message of peace through good works which should make this engrossing documentary widely appealing.” –J. Reed.

 

… Ron Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social Action said of the documentary Long Road Back: “A wrenchingly powerful portrayal of the agonizing difficulties facing these people coming out of prison. … I wish every congregation would watch this video and ask what God wants them to do.”

 

… Jim Gilkeson, a volunteer with Gemeinschaft re-entry program in Harrisonburg, Va. showed Long Road Back to a “very interested” community audience at Sunnyside Presbyterian Retirement Community there. A Sunday afternoon showing attracted 60-70 people, with 30 who joined a talk-back session with producer Burton Buller. The documentary was also screened at the Religion Communication Congress 2010 in Chicago in April.  

 

… The re-entry services staff of Dillwyn Correctional Center in Dillwyn, Va., is passing review copies of Long Road Back around various institutions in the Virginia Department of Corrections.

 

SPECIAL OFFER FOR LINKS READERS: Many folks are curious about Mennonites. The following “Mennonite” resources are available for a limited time for ten percent off your total order. Items included in this offer are: Ask Third Way Café: 50 Common and Quirky Questions about Mennonites (book); The Naked Anabaptist (book); Pax Service: An Alternative to War (DVD documentary) and Who are the Mennonites? (brochure). To get this discountl, you must call with your order and ask for the “Links Reader” special. Call 800-999-3534.