The liaisons would work closely with department staff in identifying and following up on potential stories of how God is at work in local churches in each conference, as well as various conference-sponsored ministries.
“The volume of potential stories exceeds the ability of our small communications staff to pursue them,” notes Don Meyer, executive minister and editor of Covenant Communications. Two editorial staff produce each monthly issue of The Covenant Companion, which each year is honored with numerous awards for excellence in reporting and writing. The daily online Covenant News Service report, which draws the largest amount of traffic at the Covenant website, has only one full-time editorial position, plus a portion of the editor’s time.
“We have enlisted the help of North Park University, which has partnered with us to establish an internship program, but even that assistance is not enough to appropriately cover 800 local churches, 11 conferences/region, affiliated ministries of all kinds, and mission operations in 30-plus countries,” Meyer notes.
Communications liaisons could provide an important link in identifying stories to be pursued, as well as helping to develop those stories, Meyer believes. It is not necessary for liaisons to have journalism training or experience, although it is possible that working journalists who are part of a Covenant church might want to volunteer their talent as a ministry contribution.
Individuals desiring to volunteer should email an expression of interest to Covenant Newsdesk. This is also the link to use for individuals and churches desiring to share story ideas. All Newsdesk emails are acknowledged. “Most often, one of us will respond with a number of follow-up questions, to flesh out additional detail for a story,” Meyer says. Photos also are easily shared by attaching them as jpegs to the email.
Those interested in regularly following the daily online Covenant news report may find Covenant Newswire a helpful tool. This news service sends one email each day containing the headlines and a few lines of copy for each story published during the previous 24 hours. Click here or visit the Covenant home page Newswire link to register for this free service. RSS feeds also are available.
