wfn.org | Ken Medema to highlight Religious Communication Congress 2000

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@wfn.org>]

August 21, 1998
Religious Communications Congress 2000 (RCC 2000)
http://www.rcc2000.org

For more information contact:
Martha M. Cruz, 212-870-2344, RevMartha@aol.com
Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-3193, Ephilips@aol.com

MEDEMA'S MUSIC, `FULL OF STORIES AND HUMOR,'
WILL HELP SET THE MOOD AT RCC 2000

	Musician Ken Medema, known throughout the world for his 
highly praised concert and television appearances, will 
dramatize the theme and set the mood when more than 1,500 
professional religious communicators descend on Chicago 
March 29 - April 1, 2000, for the historic Religious 
Communication Congress 2000.

	"Faith Stories in a Changing World" is the theme of 
RCC 2000 and Medema's music is described by fans as "earthy 
and direct, full of stories and humor."  

       The blind singer and poet from San Francisco is
equally at home in styles ranging from classical to rock,
from ballad to blues, from sacred to profane.  "It is," 
according to one observer, "always searching for ways in 
which people can connect to each other, enabling them to 
sense the sacred in themselves and in surprising places."

	"That makes Ken an ideal addition to our roster of 
presenters," said Shirley Whipple Struchen, a United 
Methodist communicator and chair of RCC 2000.  "No one is 
better equipped to entertain us while inspiring us to seek 
more exciting ways to proclaim our stories of faith."

	RCC 2000 continues a 30-year tradition of religious 
communication congresses beginning in Chicago in 1970.  

The international, multi-faith forum, to be held in the 
Chicago Marriott Downtown, will include state-of-the-art 
communication exhibits, worship celebrations, banquets, 
social gatherings, denominational and interfaith meetings 
and the presentation of major awards.

The main purposes of RCC 2000 are to enable 1,500 
religious communications professionals 

.. To exchange views on communications issues which affect 
people throughout the world;

.. To explore the effectiveness of religious communication 
models currently in use;

.. To examine new technologies for the effective 
communication of values and faith in the new century

.. To enhance cooperation among people of diverse media 
disciplines, faiths, cultures and nations.

The congress theme will focus on five major ways of 
sharing faith stories: spoken stories, electronic stories, 
cyberspace stories, written stories and artistic stories.

"As plans for the congress develop, we'll be seeing 
more and more gifted `story tellers' added to our roster," 
Struchen said.  "And Ken Medema is an exciting way to 
begin."