The 79th General Convention of The Episcopal Church, July 5 – 13, in Austin, TX, features a Media Hub created by the communications staff of The Episcopal Church. The Media Hub makes it possible for anyone to tune in to worship, follow legislation, or listen to conversations taking place. The General Convention takes place every three years and is the event through which the Church conducts its legislative business, working in community on issues important to the larger community.
The Media Hub allows church leadership, parishioners, Sunday school teachers, youth, journalists, and anyone interested in the work of the Church to follow exactly what is going on. It also helps communicators for dioceses (geographic regions within the Church) tell the story of what their representation at Convention are up to. With access to the Media Hub, Episcopal communicators can spend more time getting stories about what being part of The Episcopal Church means to their particular regions.
An exciting highlight and new feature of this 79th Convention is the talk show, Inside General Convention, which gives viewers on site and away an intimate look at the human side of GC79. This popular show has received 36,462 views between Facebook and the Media Hub.
TEConversations, a new format for discussion at General Convention this year, engages the wider Church in important listening and engagement work. These live joint session (House of Deputies and House of Bishops) discussions have earned 15,181 views between Facebook and the Media Hub.
TEConversations and Inside General Convention are useful resources for viewers. Individuals can enjoy in-depth conversation on hot issues, such as racial reconciliation, evangelism, and creation care, among the two branches of government in The Episcopal Church with TEConversations or enjoy human interest and feature stories in the magazine-style show, Inside General Convention.
Featured on the Media Hub are ten separate streaming channels, including four dedicated Spanish streams, plus Spanish-first content daily on the Inside General Convention channel, and two daily live shows (Inside General Convention / Adéntro de la Genéral) with original programming and interviews. As of press time on July 10, views among these offerings consist of 143,062 live views, with an average viewing time per person of 19:41.
In addition, sermons and other programs have been posted individually. A Revival service was held at Palmer Events Center in Austin Sunday evening. It brought in 26,747 individual viewers and 4,620 engagements (comments, likes, and shares). Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s sermon at that event has attracted more than 58,000 views on Facebook.