Eric Shafer's blog

Through Odyssey member the National Council of Churches (www.ncccusa.org) and the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission (www.interfaithbroadcasting.com), Odyssey members have Christmas worship services on all three major US television networks on Christmas Eve/Day this year. Here’s the schedule:

· A Christmas for Everybody from St. Paul & St. Andrew United Methodist Church in New York City will be broadcast on CBS television stations across the country on Christmas Eve in the normal David Letterman hour. In New York City, it can be seen on WCBS TV 2 at 11:35 p.m. on 12/24. Of the three programs, this is the only one broadcast across the USA at the same time (a “must carry”). This broadcast will include presentations by a local Rabbi and Imam. More details are online at http://www.interfaithbroadcasting.com/program.aspx?PID=324.

· A Service of Lessons and Carols from Historic Trinity Church on Wall Street, New York City will be broadcast on ABC television stations across the country on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Local stations have the choice to broadcast or not and to schedule this program whenever they wish. In New York City, it will be seen on WABC TV7 at 1:08 a.m. on 12/25 (for most of us that’s still Christmas Eve!) More details are online at http://www.interfaithbroadcasting.com/program.aspx?PID=332.

· Christmas Angels (ecumenical segments from UCC, ELCA, Episcopal congregations) will be broadcast on NBC television stations across the country on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Local stations have the choice to broadcast or not and to schedule this program whenever they wish. In New York City, it will be seen on WNBC TV4 at 3:00 p.m. on 12/25. Our members are heavily involved in this one: Jean Robinson (UCC) is the program producer and Peter Panagore (First Radio Parish of America) produced the segment from Boothbay Harbor UCC in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. (I produced the segment from St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Chicago - in my former life – Christmas video “lives” forever!) More details are online at http://www.interfaithbroadcasting.com/program.aspx?PID=328.

The Interfaith Broadcasting Commission’s website (www.interfaithbroadcasting.com) has links for each program to the local affiliates which are broadcasting each program with the date and time.

I write from “Time to Time” (T2T) to members and friends of Odyssey Networks. Here is my December 16, 2010 e-mail to them:

• We want to welcome new members to Odyssey Networks! Five faith-related organizations and one individual were officially received when Odyssey’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved their membership on December 3. They are:
o Center for Spiritual Enlightenment, San Jose, California – www.csecenter.org
o Common Good Radio, Grand Island, New York – www.commongoodradio.org
o Hindu American Seva Charities, Livingston, New Jersey – www.hinduamericanseva.org
o The Interfaith Center of New York, New York City – www.interfaithcenter.org
o Union Theological Seminary, New York, New York – www.utsnyc.edu
o Leo Brunnick, Englewood Colorado – Leo is CEO of www.patheos.com

• This brings our membership to 27 faith groups, 47 faith related organizations, and 9 individuals. We began 2010 with 26 faith groups, 27 faith related organizations, and 0 individual members.

• We continue to receive applications from new members. These applications will be acted on when the Board Member Relations Committee next meets and, if approved by the committee, will come before the April 6 meeting of Odyssey’s Board of Trustees:
o Greater Chicago Broadcast Ministries, Chicago, Illinois – www.gcbm.org
o Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, New York – www.jtsa.edu
o Member Mission Network, Plattsburgh, New York – www.membermission.org
o National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, New York, New York – www.clal.org
o Ava Martin, Chicago, Illinois

• All members and friends, new and “old” alike, are invited to attend the first Odyssey Member “Town Hall Meeting” to be held on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 beginning at 2:00 p.m. eastern standard time. If you can, you are invited to join us in person at the site for this live broadcast at the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, 44 Charlton Street at Varick, New York, New York - http://www.wnyc.org/thegreenespace/about/ . Those participating in person will receive a free Call on Faith tee shirt! We know that most of you cannot join us in person and will be joining us online at www.odysseynetworks.org . CEO Nick Stuart will present an update on Odyssey’s work and respond to in person and e-mailed questions. Nick will also announce the 2011 Odyssey Networks Member Program Grants and an additional opportunity for a 2011 grant for which all members are eligible. Please plan to attend or tune in on January 11th! And, please share this information with others from your faith group or organization so that they might join us also!

• Call on Faith, www.callonfaith.com, our new app for smart phones, officially debuts on January 18th. Among the many members now or soon appearing on Call on Faith are:
o The Rev. Barry Black, US Senate Chaplain (Seventh-day Adventist Church)
o The Rev. Richard Cizik (New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good)
o Glen Fullmer (Baha’i)
o Imam Johari Abdul-Malik (Inner-Attainment Television)
o The Rev. Dr. Serene Jones (Union Theological Seminary)
o The Rev. Peter Panagore (First Radio Parish Church of America)
o Angela Rice (Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters)

• I hope you have already had a chance to explore Odyssey’s new website which debuted earlier this month. We were pleased to present a five part web-only video series, Beyond Mumbai: Hope and Healing, on our site to mark its relaunch. You can still view this series online at http://www.odysseynetworks.org/faith/beyond-mumbai-hope-and-healing .

• On our website, you will see new material on each of our 74 members. You will want to take a look at what is there for your faith group or organization. The listing begins at http://www.odysseynetworks.org/member-channels .

• There have been a number of staff changes at Odyssey over these last few months. We now have a complete listing, with photos and bios, of Odyssey’s staff online at http://www.odysseynetworks.org/staff . Among the new staff you will see there are Esslie Hughes, new Director for Philanthropy, Jocelyn Dupre, now assisting Mary Dickey and me, and Jennifer Kachler, new Senior Web Editor.

• CEO Nick Stuart continues his monthly blogs for the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good. His latest, “Home Is Where the Midnight Mass Is,” is online at http://www.newevangelicalpartnership.org/?q=node/94 . I continue to try to track others among our members who blog regularly. Bob Chase’s latest blog, “Please, Mr. President,” is online at http://intersectionsinternational.org/blog/2010/12/13/please-mr-president . Peter Wallace’s blogs regularly appear on the Huffington Post and one of his recent reflections appeared both there and on Patheos - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-peter-m-wallace/shining-the-light-on-the-_b_793715.html . I’d be very interested in seeing the work of others who blog regularly.

• Debra Gonsher Vinik’s latest documentary, I BELIEVE YOU: Faiths’ Response to Intimate Partner Violence, produced with a 2009 Odyssey Production Grant, will be broadcast on ABC television affiliates across the USA beginning in January. You can read more, and see a trailer, online at http://www.divacommunications.com/programs/i-believe-you-2/ .

• Tim Frakes (www.frakesproductions.com) writes that he will be in Haiti in early January working for Church World Service (www.churchworldservice.org) – January 12th is the one year anniversary of the Haiti earthquake.

• Many of you are aware of the It Gets Better Project, an effort to support gay and lesbian youth and others who have been bullied. I recorded a video for this effort which you can view (and share with others) at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMqndB20r2k .

• Mark your calendars – the 2011 Odyssey Member Gathering will be held here in New York City on May 9 – 11. A major part of this gathering will be a May 10 symposium on “9/11, the Conversation We Never Had” with these three keynote speakers – Yvette Flunder, Eboo Patel, and David Saperstein. Hold these dates and watch for more details soon!

• Since I last wrote to you I have traveled to Washington, D.C. (Seventh-day Adventist Church), Baltimore (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) and Phoenix (Episcopal Church USA).

Our Christian members will be celebrating the Christmas religious holidays over the next several weeks. And then we all celebrate the calendar’s new year! Warmest wishes to all.

Eric