June 2013 - Larry Hollon and his book "We Must Speak"

In June, RCC was able to hear from Larry Hollon, the General Secretary of United Methodist Communications who spoke in detail about the topic covered in his book "We Must Speak."

He began by showing everyone a video produced by United Methodist Communications about how communications work in the church began and how far the techniques of communication have come along. The video had an encouraging message for faith communities to speak out and get the message out to the world, reaching people where they are at through media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, Tumblr and so on.

Mr. Hollon made it clear that if we don't communicate about our faith - someone else will, and the chances are, it will be inaccurate somehow. He said, "Be energetic and aggressive in attempting to communicate in this way, because when we don't, we don't use the power and strength of the organizations and churches that are behind us." 

He stressed his point that the conversation about religion occurs whether we communicate about it or not, which makes it vital for us to communicate about our faith to get the accurate information out to the general public. "We must speak, because God has challenged us to speak."

In response to a question about how to reach both the older generation at the same time as the younger, Mr. Hollon said to look at the whole range of media platforms and tailor your message to each individual audience. He spoke about using various media together, such as including links in articles sent out in magazines and allowing people to subscribe online to hard copy print information.