The Diocese of Bethlehem is running some advertising on WNEP TV in northeastern Pennsylvania. Have a look.
The ads are part of a project of the approximately 45 churches in the northern two-thirds of the Diocese of Bethlehem. The Rev. John Major, Rector of Trinity Church, West Pittston and Prince of Peace, Dallas, described the project which began running on April 1st:
The Good Things Are Happening in The Episcopal Church in Northeast Pennsylvania project involves the production of three 30-second spots to be utilized on WNEP TV in their Good Things Are Happening segments for one year (if we can afford to run the spots this long).
The spots help to reintroduce our population to The Episcopal Church in our area and reveal
1. The Episcopal Church as a “sacramental” Church,
2. The Episcopal Church as a “Church of diverse people involved in the life of their parish and the mission of the Church” and
3. The Episcopal Church reaching out to one another and caring for neighbors in need”.
…the frequency of air time will be heavier before Easter and during the Easter Season, then lighter in the summer and heavier again during Back To School time and before Christmas.
The effort includes the use of a new “The Episcopal Church in Northeast Pennsylvania” logo that will be continuously displayed on WNEP’s website. An inquirer will be able to click on our NEPA Episcopal logo on WNEP’s site and will be linked to our new “common web page,” www.nepaepiscopalchurch.org, which will be up and running in about one week.
This new site will display the names of all the parishes in the north and central region and more. A click on any parish name will take the inquirer directly to the website of that parish.
Parishes from all over the WNEP viewing area contributed to the effort along with the Bishop and Evangelism Commission. There are no other churches or denominations running ads in the market at this time.
Episcopal Church members did the voice-over on two of the spots.
Erik Farmer, a parishioner at St. Stephen’s, Wilkes-Barre, who also works a WNEP, did the voice-over on the spot about sacraments. Tony Brooks, also a parishioner at St. Stephen’s, developed the logo for television and print.
“This has truly been a collaborative and cooperative effort by clergy and laity from all over the diocese,” said Gunn. “I am proud of what we have accomplished and of how much support we have received from the parishes.”
The voice-over for the mission and outreach spot was done by Reilly Shinger, a St. Paul’s Church School scholar and second grader at Elk Lake.
Reilly is eight years old, and a voracious reader. “She reads everything from the Magic Treehouse series to Harry Potter,” reports her father, Mike.
Learn more on Share the Bread, the blog of the diocesan Evangelism Commission here and here, and on DioBeth newSpin, the blog of the Diocese of Bethlehem, here.