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“It cannot be that the people should grow in grace unless they give themselves to reading. A reading people will always be a knowing people” – John Wesley’s Letter to George Holder (November, 1790)
Taken into the context of present day, perhaps John Wesley might have included other media in his letter. If there is one goal we have here at the Regional Media Center, it should reflect the mission of the church, “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”
How do we achieve that here? We empower our churches through knowledge, giving them the tools they need to better understand their own faith and to better understand the world.
I hope to personally get to know each and every one of you in the coming weeks, but let me start by introducing myself. I’m Ian Patrick McKnight. I grew up in Gig Harbor and began attending Gig Harbor United Methodist Church in the Summer of 2008. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I belonged there and that I was finally in a community with a pastor, Rev. Jim Head Corliss, that taught inclusivity and love, something that I had looked for in a church for a long time.
After High School, I went on to begin a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts at Western Washington University, where I attended College Fellowship at Garden Street United Methodist Church. My involvement there nurtured a love for mission work and ministry. While still in school, I had the opportunity to work for Skagit Opera, the WWU Opera Studio, and Seattle Children’s Theatre. I worked as a draftsman for a while, with work appearing at the 2012 Super Bowl half-time show, along with the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
I graduated from WWU with a BA in Theatre Arts, concentrating in Lighting Design, Stage Management, Educational Theatre, and Theatre Management, and a minor in Accounting. Immediately following college, I joined IATSE (The International Alliance for Theatre Stage Employees).
I moved back to Gig Harbor, where I had intended to begin working in professional theaters and assisting in technical theatre in high schools in the Northwest…God had different plans. By the time I got back to Gig Harbor, a need at GHUMC for an AV Coordinator had arisen. God had carved a place in ministry for me at exactly the right time; I accepted the position and began shaping a new vision for technological ministry at GHUMC.
Then, one day, while a GHUMC, our district superintendent, Rev. Cara Scriven, and her husband, Patrick Scriven, came to worship. God, again, had some new plans. A need for an Interim Manager of the Regional Media Center had come up presenting a new challenge in ministry for me to take up.
As we transition into new leadership here at the RMC, I thank you all for your continued patience. I hope you are all as excited for new adventures, new faces, and new friends as I am. And I hope you’re all revved up to make some new disciples of Jesus Christ.
