United Church of Christ Barb Powell, press contact 216-736-2175 powellb@ucc.org
United Church of Christ names J. Bennett Guess to direct denominational communication efforts
CLEVELAND ? The Rev. J. Bennett Guess has been named director of communications for the 1.2-million member United Church of Christ.
?Ben has amazing vision, and understands how new technologies can be harnessed to communicate the story of the United Church of Christ to the world,? said Edith A. Guffey, the UCC?s associate general minister. ?He will build meaningful partnerships, and we are delighted that he?s willing to assume this crucial role in the life of the church.?
A journalist, activist and pastor for more than 20 years, Guess will forge new paths for the communication ministry of the United Church of Christ, including its ongoing Stillspeaking identity campaign.
The communications agency also includes United Church News; video production; web and emerging media; print design, production and marketing; special events; and the denomination?s historic advocacy work in media justice and reform.
?In the coming years, the UCC must radically embrace new and emerging media as central to our communication strategies,? said Guess. ?This is a time that must be marked by creative, clever communications when the church seizes upon technological advances to proclaim the gospel and advocate for justice and peace in newer, bolder ways.?
Guess, 41, has worked in the national setting of the United Church of Christ for seven years, first as minister for communication for the UCC?s Justice and Witness Ministries and, later, as editor of its denominational publication, United Church News, and as news director. He has served as the acting director of communications since August.
He succeeds the Rev. Robert Chase, who currently is the founding director of Intersections, an interfaith social justice agency based in New York City.
?The UCC has developed a reputation for innovation in communications, and I look forward to continuing that same edgy, youthful approach,? Guess said. ?Across the UCC, I have met committed members who are proud that their denomination their church has stepped out of the shadows of obscurity and is being bold about its vision and its witness. I, too, am deeply excited in every time and place where we make this happen.?
Prior to coming to the national offices of the UCC, Guess was a local church pastor for 12 years. From 1992 to 2000, he served Zion United Church of Christ in Henderson, Ky., where he also founded the Paff Haus Justice and Peace Center and was founding managing editor of the Out of Line Literary Journal.
?Ben is a gifted and trusted colleague who will bring energy and creativity to his new role,? said the Rev. John. H. Thomas, UCC general minister and president. ?Ben?s knowledge and love of the church, his experience as a pastor of a vibrant, renewing church, his commitment to justice, and his editorial work with United Church News equip him for this key position. I look forward to our work together as we build on the strengths of our excellent communications ministry and claim the exciting opportunities of new and emerging media.?
Guess is chair of the news and media relations committee of the National Council of Churches Communications Commission; a member of the board of governors of the Religion Communicators Council; and a member of Associated Church Press and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association.
He is a former member of the Kentucky Council of Churches Executive Committee, the Kentucky ACLU Board of Directors, and co-founder and co-chair of the Kentucky Fairness Alliance.
Since taking over the helm of United Church News in 2003, Guess has won more than 60 journalistic awards and citations. He was the 1997 recipient of the UCC?s Just Peace Award, presented at the UCC?s biennial General Synod.
After completing his B.A. degree in journalism from the University of Kentucky School of Journalism (1988), Guess began his career as a journalist for The Daily News in Bowling Green, Ky. Feeling called to both social policy and ministry, he studied Public Administration and Policy at Western Kentucky University and Murray State University, and also enrolled full time at Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville. He received his M. Div. degree in 1991, and completed a D.Min. in preaching from Chicago Theological Seminary in 2001.
Guess and his partner, Jim Therrien, are members of Pilgrim Congregational UCC in Cleveland.
The Cleveland-based United Church of Christ has 5,700 local congregations across the United States. It was formed by the 1957 union of the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church.
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