(1951 to Present)

A brief history

The birth of Mennonite Media grew out of the church's desire to share good news with its surrounding culture. In March 1951, an eager group of students at Eastern Mennonite College (Harrisonburg, Va.), calling themselves Crusaders for Christ, sang on a local radio station. Soon B. Charles Hostetter was named the regular speaker on the program, which became known as The Mennonite Hour. In June of 1952, the organization incorporated, and in 1953 became the official radio broadcast of the Mennonite Church. The original radio work broadened into TV, print, international programs, Bible studies, calendars, ads, videos, the Internet and more. For a general history of Mennonite broadcasting, see information from the Mennonite Historical Society of Canada.

Today, Mennonite Media's work encompasses:

• Third Way Café. A website with interactive information and inspiration on Mennonites, current issues such as TV, immigration, capital punishment, facing death; family and social concerns. Regular columns, monthly updates, conversation areas, photo gallery and map of worldwide Mennonites.
• Documentaries. Mennonite Media has produced documentaries for national television broadcast including: Journey Toward Forgiveness; Hunger No More; Fierce Goodbye: Living in the Shadow of Suicide; Shadow Voices: Finding Hope in Mental Illness; and Building on Faith: Making Poverty Housing History with more in production. Well-known persons from political or other circles have frequently been included: Rosalynn Carter, Judy Collins, George McGovern, John Edwards, Elizabeth Dole, Jack Kemp, David Satcher, Kay Redfield Jameson, Linda Ellerbee and Christopher Kennedy Lawford.
• Prophetic witness videos. Beyond the News and Rhythms of Peace videos, with discussion guides and web supplements on current issues in society; designed to help the church understand and be equipped to minister in today's culture; for children, youth and adults.
• Websites. Mennonite Media creates and maintains websites to accompany some of the documentaries, including Shadow Voices, Fierce Goodbye, Journey Towards Forgiveness, and Finding Hope in Recovery.
• Public media. Radio and TV public service announcements, recently on racism, forgiveness, peacemaking, violence, grief; Another Way syndicated newspaper column.
• Music. Production and sale of inspirational a cappella music on cassette and CD; state of the art recording studio.
• And more. Mennonite church resources introducing the Mennonite Church.

Award-winning productions

Mennonite Media has been a consistent winner of religious and secular media awards including:

Clio · Telly · Gabriel · Good Sam · Communicator Awards · National Federation of Press Women · Angel · Religious Public Relations Council · U.S. Industrial Film Festival · Religious Broadcasters · Gracie · WorldFest-Houston Film Festival · Chris Awards · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services · Freedom Cinema Festival

What people are saying about Mennonite Media

"The Third Way Café is like a cool drink of water on a hot, hot day ..." - Trevor Barton

"Beyond the News [videos are] very user friendly. I find a lot of youth groups taking them out. -Lancaster Conference Resource Center

"The producers were insightful in putting together these 30-second spots" -WOLR radio

"That was a great message you had today [in Another Way]. My wife and I are stuck in a rut right now and you have given me the push to do something about it. Thanks. "-Steve

"We are starting a new Mennonite church in Dallas, Texas, with an intent to be anti-racist and multicultural. We'd like to use the anti-racism radio spots, and then later use the forgiveness spots." -Peace Mennonite Church

Webmaster Ian Milligan from the Interaction for Conflict Resolution Network wrote, "I quite enjoyed your site, both for its content and the presentation. It is very professional in look, easy to navigate, and chock full of good stuff." Visit their site at www.nicr.ca

"Just visited your web site for the first time and wanted to compliment you on the design of your homepage. It's very original and very appealing." - Marge

"I really appreciate the work that Mennonite Media does in spreading God's word and work as well as informing people of the Mennonite church." - Carole, Houston, TX

"Third Way helps maintain connections [with] my Mennonite identity" -E.S. Kurtz

Mennonite Media
1251 Virginia Avenue
Harrisonburg VA 22802

General inquiry email address: