wfn.org | Texan receives first minority fellowship from communications

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

agency

June 5, 1998       Contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
{342}

NOTE: A head-and-shoulders photograph of Larry R. Hygh Jr. is available
with this story.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- Larry R. Hygh Jr., an African-American
graduate student from Marshall, Texas, is the first recipient of United
Methodist Communication's Racial Ethnic Minority (REM) Fellowship. 

"I am very honored to be the first recipient of the REM fellowship, and
I am excited to have the chance to give back to God that which he has
given to me," Hygh said. "I am a lifelong United Methodist and am
excited and optimistic about using my talents in the religious
communication aspects of the United Methodist Church." 

United Methodist Communications launched the fellowship program this
year as a way to provide mentoring and direct experience in annual
conference communications throughout the church. The scholarship aims to
correct the under-representation of ethnic minorities serving as
communicators in the church's U.S. annual (regional) conferences. Only
three of the 66 conferences in the United States have an ethnic minority
communications leader on staff.

"Every local church and every church agency's task is to invite, equip
and send leaders into our churches," said the Rev. Steve
Horswill-Johnston, head of UMCom's Conference Resourcing Team. The team
is charged with ensuring that annual conferences find the people and
resources needed for an effective communications ministry. "What we have
done is to take it a step further. Racial ethnic minorities have some
voice in other areas of the church, but they don't have a large voice or
a representative voice in communications, which is a vital link in the
connection."

A member of Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Marshall, Hygh, 22, will
serve in the denomination's New England Annual (regional) Conference for
one year, beginning July 1. He will work in Lawrence, Mass., with the
Rev. Michael Hickcox, an experienced communicator in a variety of media.
Hygh will receive a salary of $30,000 plus benefits, moving expenses and
travel, and Hickcox will receive a $5,000 stipend for serving as a
mentor.

What was impressive about Hygh, Horswill-Johnston said, "was his
willingness to be a servant to the church. He was not looking for a job
but for an opportunity to serve the church and live out his faith."

The New England Conference, the fifth largest in the connection, was
chosen to inaugurate the fellowship because it has a communications
program that takes seriously the role of communications in mission and
ministry, Horswill-Johnston said.

Hickcox is one of the most experienced communicators in the connection
and has broad-based responsibilities across the New England Annual
Conference that many other communicators do not have, Horswill-Johnston
said. "Mike gets his hands in a lot of areas . . . and sees his role as
a servant to local churches. This was the attitude we wanted for a
mentor."

The conference is pleased to play a role in launching the program,
Hickcox said. "We recognize that Larry may go in many different
directions in the future, but if he stays in communications in the
United Methodist Church, it would be gratifying to know that we played a
part in that."

Hygh is pursuing a master of arts degree with an emphasis in education
from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. He has an
undergraduate degree in communications from the school and is a graduate
teacher assistant in the communications department. He has served as a
contributing writer for The Pine Log, the university newspaper, as well
as an anchor and reporter for a Nacogdoches television station and a
studio operations technician for a Lufkin, Texas, television studio. He
also was a press operations intern during the 1996 Summer Olympics and
an intern in both the White House and the U.S. House of
Representatives. 

Horswill-Johnston said the fellowship will give each recipient:
*	enhanced communications skills;
*	exposure to a variety of communications tools and media; and
*	interaction with people throughout the United Methodist
connection.

"It is hoped that by exploring this vocational area, the recipient will
seriously consider annual conference communications as a career goal,"
Horswill-Johnston said.

After the fellowship is completed, United Methodist Communications will
be an advocate for each recipient seeking a permanent job as an annual
conference communicator. By the year 2000, the agency plans to have a
program endowed by the Foundation for United Methodist Communications,
which will fund the fellowship annually.
# # #

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/