Even though an estimated 4,000 UCC members and guests will converge on western Michigan in late June, the UCC's Stillspeaking Ministry wants to make sure that the UCC's imprint there is not short-lived, but long-lasting.

"In recent years, we've come to understand that General Synods are not just a time to gather, worship and celebrate internally as a church family," says the Rev. J. Bennett Guess, the UCC's director of communications. "But it's a great evangelistic opportunity to tell the UCC's story to the widest possible audience, to share our unique identity with others, and to invite them to learn more about us and to visit our local churches." 

This print ad will appear in REVUE, Grand Rapids’ weekly entertainment publication.

The get-out-the-word campaign also will include several print ads in the city's daily newspaper and several weekly/monthly publications, and two prominent billboards will display UCC advertisements at downtown exits along I-196. A display advertisement is already visible at baggage claim in the Grand Rapids airport.

Perhaps most uncommon, says Carrion, will be a bike-powered UCC billboard that will make its way throughout Grand Rapids' downtown streets for six hours each day on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of General Synod.

Two billboards along I-196 will proclaim an inclusive UCC message near exits to downtown Grand Rapids.

The Stillspeaking Ministry is committing about $30,000 to the local advertising effort.

"We want everyone throughout the region to know more about the UCC by the time we leave Grand Rapids," Carrion says. "We know that we only have one opportunity to make a good impression, and the good impression we make on Grand Rapids can benefit our churches there for weeks and months to come."

Carrion says it also will be an opportunity to showcase to all Synod attendees how effective and inexpensive a local media campaign can be, especially when churches work in partnership.

A UCC ad at the Grand Rapids airport touts the UCC’s baggage-inclusive welcome.

"Cable TV rates for non-profits are very affordable in local markets," Carrion says. "For as little as $5 to $10 per spot, depending on where you live, local churches can really saturate the UCC's message in specific areas of the country for relatively few dollars."

Carrion says he knows of one UCC church that has even negotiated cable TV spots for as little as $1 each, because the church made a commitment to keeping the ads on the air for an expanded period of time.

At Synod, Stillspeaking will also launch its new "Commit to Cable" educational campaign. Carrion and other staff will be teaching Synod attendees how best to use local cable TV buys to get the church's message before the general public.

This ad will appear in two editions of Michigan’s LGBT publication, Between the Lines, including its annual Pride issue.

Guess says he recalls the 2003 General Synod in Minneapolis when 3,300 people attended but media exposure was nil. "At the time, it was the largest Synod attendance in UCC history," Guess recalls. "But relatively few people even noticed we were there. We were greatly upstaged by a Shriners convention that happened just before we arrived and the Episcopalians who were coming into town right after us. It was a missed media opportunity."

Carrion says another attention-getting event -- the Stillspeaking Kite Flying Extravaganza at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 27 -- will also be a way to promote UCC visibility in Grand Rapids. "We're hoping that hundreds will join us on the lawn of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library for a magnificent Stillspeaking event with hundreds of red and gold 'God is Still Speaking' kites taking to the skies."