TELEVANGELISM

© Rev. Barbara F. Meyers 2008. All Rights Reserved.
Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation
January 13, 2008

Let's face it. Televangelists have a bad reputation.

The term congers up visions of someone who is charismatic and flamboyant; someone who has a personality cult; someone who fleeces money from vulnerable people. Financial and sexual scandals have followed some of the most prominent televangelists: Jim Bakker, Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart, Oral Roberts and Pat Robertson are some examples.

The roots of this activity come from the New Testament, when believers are told to spread the good news, or "gospel," of Christianity. Accordingly Evangelical Christianity has emphasized preaching the gospel to the whole world and attempting to convert as many people as possible. When radio was invented in the 1920's, they realized that it provided a powerful new tool for evangelism, and they were among the first to produce regular radio programming. These broadcasts were seen as a complementary activity to traditional in-person missionaries, thus enabling vast numbers to be reached at relatively low cost. When television was invented, preaching of the gospel naturally followed onto the new medium.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned, there are abuses and scandals which have plagued this way of doing ministry.

But are all uses of television for religious purposes suspect? As the producer of a TV show that I see as a component of my mental health ministry, I'd like to make the case that they're not.

What I'm doing with Mental Health Matters - Alameda County:

Toward a new meaning for Televangelism:

• Spread the Good News. Gospel means "good news." In the case of mental illness, this means hope of a better life; hope for a recovery; hope that one has control of his/her life. I call this the gospel of Hope, evangelism of Hope.
• Use mass media (Radio, Television and Internet). We can see plenty of examples of the media which is tasteless and doesn't serve any positive purpose in society. How about making them work for rather than against society's problems?
• Use the media to live out our religious principles: worth of each person, interdependent web, search for truth and meaning. I am not the first UU to use broadcast media as part of the ministry of the church. One might say that Rod Serling a UU who was the creator of the Twilight Zone is an early role model. Serling, who throughout his life spoke out eloquently on political issues-McCarthyism, racism, classism, power, the Vietnam War, nuclear weapons, capital punishment, and fear of atomic war among others. Most of his stories were about everyday characters grappling with the psychological kinks most people feel at times. His minister says that Serling "found reinforcement for his viewpoints in his congregation."
• Today, several UU ministers have regular radio broadcasts, and some have TV shows. More popular these days are podcasts that many UU congregations use to broadcast their weekly services.
• In my case, my version of evangelism, living out my religious principles is primarily: Give Hope. This is - hope that you can recover from mental illness and live a meaningful life. You may remember a sermon that I gave last summer when I talked about the stages of recovery from mental illness. The first stage was Hope.
  • During times of despair, everyone needs a sense of hope, a sense that things can and will get better.
  • Without hope, there is nothing to look forward to and no real possibility for positive action.
  • Hope is the start of recovery - believing you can recover.
• This is the "good news" or gospel that I want to spread.

I'd like to tell you how I go about structuring a TV show for this purpose:

• The opening of the show plays music written by Modest Mussorgsky, and shows art work by van Gogh, Bassano, and Michelangelo, all people who lived with mental disorders. The paintings used in this opening are on the front of the order of service today. I intentionally did this to begin with a promise of hope. No one can say that mentally ill people have nothing to offer to society - at the beginning of the show one is surrounded by music and pictures that demonstrate that some major artists and musicians also lived with these challenges and still greatly enriched the world.
• My goal with each show is to tell authentic stories that give hope, allow for emotional engagement tell them they are not alone. Rather than talk about what these stories are like, I thought I would show you part of one. The show this is from is the one on Schizophrenia. Kathryn Lum, a member of MPUUC is one of the guests. Here she is:
  • Kathryn can be watched here: Schizophrenia show
  • Kathryn goes on to describe how difficult it was to find a correct diagnosis and how, once she was diagnosed, she was able to escape the psychotic state she was in and finally have a "good day," the first one she could ever remember having. I want you to appreciate what courage it took for Kathryn to tell her story in such a public way. And, how rare it is for us to see inside the agony that many people live with every day. This kind of exchange is just what I mean by allowing people to see and understand the truth, and to find hope to face their trials.
  • In each show, whether about suicide, bipolar disorder, stigma, or another mental health phenomenon, I aim to get the authentic voice of the people most affected so that the viewer can empathize and be motivated to help in fixing what in society is hindering a solution. In addition to the person with the mental illness, I attempt to also have a family member as a guest. They too are suffering, in a different way of course, but they also need to know there is hope for their situation as well.
  • When we are meeting to discuss an upcoming show, I tell my guests to visualize in their mind's eye someone in the viewing audience who has the mental problem we will be focusing on, or whose family member does. This person may be feeling overwhelmed, not knowing where to turn. However, when they see the guest on the show describing what they have been through, and how they have emerged with a life worth living, they will think, "Maybe I will be OK, too. Maybe there is hope for me." In my view, this is how you begin to change the world - and a description of my religious purpose, the whole reason for doing the show.
• In case the audience is wondering what they can do to help the problem, I try and give them a challenge in each show - something that they can notice, think about, or some action they might take. In so doing, I aim to extend the network of hope-givers, or "evangelists."
• Give pointers to resources - websites, hot lines, support groups, etc.
• Make partnerships with government, non-profits, etc. They all feel like part of the success of the show. I have gotten some funding, ideas for shows and volunteers from the Alameda County Behavioral Healthcare Services, and other support from non-profits such as the Alameda County Network of Mental Health Clients.

  In addition to the hope given to the audience, the guests and crew members are given new perspective on life. One of the directors of the show is living in a homeless shelter with a mental illness. He has said that this work and other opportunities in the county have turned his life around. He now wants to film his own mental health show on a Spanish speaking TV station. Whereas before he and others like him might have seen their lives as being victims of the system, now they see bright futures of purpose ahead, with them taking charge of their lives and making a difference in the world.

  I am not the only public access TV show producer in our congregation. MPUUC member Paul Clifford, who has for 8-9 years been the host and producer of an award-winning public access TV show called "Parents and Friends" which focuses on issues of the gay / bisexual / lesbian / transgender community and their families. Over the years, Paul has interviewed many people active in the GBLT community, including Chris and members of this congregation, and has heard from many grateful listeners, telling them what a difference his show has made in their lives. In my eyes, he is an evangelist for the GBLT community. I now invite Paul to tell us about what he sees as the importance of doing this kind of ministry.

  [Paul speaks]

  How did I get into this? Paul, whose twin sister has schizophrenia, suggested to me that I might like to do a show on mental health, and he would lend his TV crew for this purpose. I decided that this was too a good opportunity to pass up, and Paul's crew filmed a show last March, which became the pilot for my series. After that show, I was hooked, and recruited a crew, including several members of MPUUC, and some of whom have mental illnesses. We film one episode per month. The shows are shown at regular weekly times during the month, and I post web versions of them on the internet as well on the MPUUC web site. This is my way of easily enlarging the circle of influence of our hope-giving message - our evangelism.

  If you are interested in doing something like this for your favorite issue, or for working on the mental health show or the PFLAG show, either Paul or I would be happy to talk to you about what is involved. Basically, you recruit a reliable crew, get them trained by the cable station, arrange for a regular taping date and start filming. Money is the least of the problems: the training and use of the Comcast facilities for filming and broadcast are free as part of Comcast's agreement with local authorities to provide public access programming.

  I'd like to tell you that another lesson I have learned from this effort. That is that you're never too old to start something new, if it is something that simply must be done. I was 60 years old when I became a producer, having never dreamed I would do anything like this until Paul put the idea of the possibility of doing so in my head. Once I saw it was a way of doing authentic ministry - potentially reaching large numbers of people - nothing could stop me.

  So what if there are over 80 years of broadcast history giving televangelism a shady reputation? That shouldn't stop us from seeing a good thing and doing real ministry using this medium. I am charging ahead, knowing that this is possible. I invite you to consider the possibilities.

  Finally, I'll pass on what I think is some advice from St. Paul, who was exhorting others to spread the Gospel. In the book of James 1:22 he says, "Be Doers of the Word, not merely Hearers." I couldn't have said it better.

  So may it be. Amen