"Chuck Knows Church" Arrives from the General Board of Discipleship

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Rev. Steve Horswill-Johnston (below) is a Cal-Pac elder and the Executive Director of Communications and Brand Strategy at the General Board of Discipleship. Rev. Horswill-Johnston won the UM Association of Communicators 2012 Hilly Hicks Award for Video Production for his work on the Vital Congregations project 'Church 2092'.  Promotional videos from Chuck Knows Church are included at the end of the press release below. Rev. Horswill-Johnston is the producer of Chuck Knows Church.

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Chuck Knows Church Online Video Series Begins SaturdayChuck Knows Church Promotional Still

NASHVILLE, Tenn. Oct. 31, 2012 /GBOD/ – Chuck Knows Church, a new weekly online video series interpreting the objects, symbols and terms used in church for anyone who might be unfamiliar with them, will begin on Saturday, Nov. 3.

The series featuring Chuck, a witty, fount of knowledge about all things church, is being produced by the General Board of Discipleship (GBOD) office of communications and worship resource team, in collaboration with the United Methodist Publishing House and United Methodist Communications.

“Chuck Knows Church was developed to invite churched and nominally churched people to understand the ‘stuff’ we see and do in church,” said Karen Greenwaldt, GBOD General Secretary. “It’s meant for a broad audience—youth and older. Each episode is presented in a simple, brief and fun way.

“Many church members can benefit from a short and informal description of the things they find in church,” Greenwaldt said.

“We found through research that even long-time members knew very little about some foundational symbols and terms used in their church—such as what's a paschal candle, why is there both a pulpit and a lectern and what really is the purpose of a narthex,” said Steve Horswill-Johnston, Executive Director of Communications and Brand Strategy at GBOD.

Beginning Saturday, a new episode of Chuck Knows Church will be available each week on the Chuck Knows Church YouTube channel and also posted to Facebook and the website ChuckKnowsChurch.com.

"Fun, quirky and solidly informative, Chuck Knows Church was designed for anyone who has ever wondered about the meaning of the symbols, rituals and practices of Christian worship generally, and United Methodist worship in particular," said Taylor Burton-Edwards, Director of Worship Resources at GBOD.

Chuck Knows Church is meant to augment the local church's education of its members in a social networking environment. It’s not meant to be a full and complete explanation of each week’s subject. At the end of each episode Chuck invites viewers to learn more by asking their pastor.

“Today nearly all of us mediate our world through screens. Chuck Knows Church has been produced with this understanding. It's an attempt to present vital information, yet in an informal social media type of approach,” Horswill-Johnston said.

Church leaders are invited to post the video each week to their local church or annual conference websites. In addition, the series is perfect for confirmation classes, new member classes, youth groups and worship teams.

Each new YouTube video link will be on the Chuck Knows Church YouTube channel. Church leaders can sign up on the Chuck Knows Church website for a simple weekly notice announcing when the latest episode is available.

If a church or annual conference commits to posting the series to their websites, they will be listed with a link on the Chuck Knows Church site.

Anyone can watch or download the episodes in the video series at www.ChuckKnowsChurch.com.

In addition, the series will be available on Facebook at: www.Facebookcom/ChuckKnowsChurch and on YouTube at: www.YouTube.com/ChuckKnowsChurch. Chuck Knows Church tweets at @ChuckKnows.

GBOD’s mission is to support annual conference and local church leaders for their task of equipping world-changing disciples. An agency of The United Methodist Church, GBOD is located at 1908 Grand Ave. in Nashville, Tenn. Visit www.gbod.org for more information or call the Communications Office at (877) 899-2780, Ext. 1726.

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