Good News, now On Demand with HourStream.
The Hour: 50 Years of Good News
History
The Hour began as a radio program in 1971. Reverend John McCay, serving as Superintendent of the Hattiesburg District of the United Methodist Church at that time, supervised the start-up of the half hour program dedicated to spreading the gospel. By 1975, the program was airing on 15 radio stations across Mississippi.
Executive Directors who followed McCay continued to expand the ministry to include what became a half hour television program broadcast on 13 television stations throughout Mississippi and other states in the Southeast. TIME THAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE reached into an area of over 10 million homes with an ecumenical program of hope and encouragement.
Following the national trend, The Hour recently moved from expensive television broadcasting to an online streaming model. We are putting our 50 years of wonderful content available on demand, for free! It is our Netflix, our future. It is HourStream. And we're excited to share this content to a whole new generation. And we hope you continue to help us share the unchanging Good News message.
Hosts have included John McCay, Wallace Roberts, Sam Morris, Kimberly Pace, Connie Shelton, Eddie Rester, Shane Stanford and Steve Casteel. The mainstay was Keith Tonkel, who brought the International Sunday School Lesson to the program for over 30 years. Keith also served Wells United Methodist Church in Jackson, Mississippi. Watch Keith's Memorial Video here.
Over the years, The Hour has won broadcasting awards from Witnessing Through Media which has included Awards of Excellence for Best Video Programs, Best Radio Programs and more. At the 2006 Annual Meeting of the United Methodist Association of Communicators (UMAC) The United Methodist Hour was recognized for outstanding work in broadcasting and received the highest award given, the Award of Excellence, for a radio episode of TIME THAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE, best of division for the television/cable category. And a certificate of merit was awarded for the video production, “Remembering Katrina." Numerous awards and honors have continued to be garnered.
From the humble beginnings of The Hour, there has always been a spirit of love and a hunger for fulfilling God’s will in the life of this ministry. God has continually blessed this ministry, preparing it for and pushing it toward new goals. It is this spirit that makes The Hour’s history a special and meaningful one. The faith of men and women who pioneered a new kind of ministry in Mississippi and in Methodism, along with those who continue the tradition of ministry today, is what has made the difference.
Mission
The mission of The United Methodist Hour is to, through media and technology, proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ and to resource the local church to live faithfully and boldly in the world.
Statement of Faith
We are a television and online witness serving as an extension of the local church’s mission and ministry for the glory of God. We pledge unceasingly to seek higher standards of excellence in presenting the story of Jesus Christ with truth and clarity throughout the world so that “they may know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom God sent.” (John 17:3) In carrying out our mission we acknowledge the futility of human efforts without the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Core Values
1. We believe in the Bible as the living, breathing Word of God in action.
2. We believe that faith in Christ is sufficient for transforming lives, both present and eternal.
3. We believe in the promise and potential of the Local Church as the “hope of the world”
4. We believe in the medium of technology as a means for reaching the unchurched, dischurched and under-resourced with hope and a future.
5. We believe in the “servant life” as the hands and feet of Christ.
6. We believe in the unconditional love and forgiveness of God and in our responsibility to express that to the world.
MESSAGE FROM OUR PRODUCER, ANTHONY THAXTON:
The Hour is no longer broadcasting on television. Below is our letter sent to our partners and friends explaining the future of this important ministry:
Dear friends of The Hour,
What amazing times these are in which we find ourselves. While we have felt so apart, we’ve been heartened by the gifts of our friends which have allowed us to continue broadcasting Good News to a world that needs it now more than ever. THANK YOU. We absolutely could not have reached the thousands of viewers like we have without your support, both financially and prayerfully. We have been blessed, and we know it.
Now we find a challenging road ahead. With job losses and world-wide uncertainty, our donations have greatly been affected. And some of our longtime wonderful giving partners have passed away. Yes, we’ve taken many hits lately, and it will change what we are able to do going forward.
Recently, we were forced to leave our television outlets. We’ve had to strategically decide to let go as funds have gone away. Our airtime is terribly expensive on broadcast channels. We’ve tried to switch to less expensive stations and partner with our few wonderful providers who air us for free.. but it is not enough. Television viewership across all shows and channels continues to shrink. It is becoming unsustainable for us to continue broadcasting in this way. These are the harsh realities of where we are.
However, we are not defeated. In fact, these hardships have forced us to look into new directions, into the future, if you will. We’ve known that we needed to embrace the online streaming platform with our great archive of content. And we’ve been so excited to launch HourStream, our online on-demand streaming service! Please go to thehour.org to see the hundreds of programs, art shows, music concerts and more. It is amazing, and we are thrilled at the response. HourStream is modern and presents our content in a Netflix-like fashion. We believe this streaming service is our future.
As churches world-wide have seen of late, an online ministry is vital in our changed world. We believe we have created the perfect outlet through HourStream to be contemporary in our approach. We feel this sets up the future way we will deliver our content.
With HourStream, we will offer to churches to download individual messages from Steve and our contributors to be shown in local churches! Our lessons, features and messages can serve those who have no pastors, it can serve small groups and individuals, and it can provide great content to share with others in a unique way. Best of all, the costs of sharing streams online are minuscule compared to the high cost of broadcast television. We can offer new formats and more content with no additional costs. And we believe this is our future. Yes, born out of the challenge now, but it is a visionary platform that is how The Hour will continue to serve and bless thousands moving forward.
So rest assured that The Hour is poised to do some of our best work ever. We ask three things: First, please visit us online to catch the excitement and see why we are so optimistic. Second, please pray for our future as we transition away from broadcasting and move (like all the media companies are doing) to a streaming model. Third, we ask you to consider continuing to support our efforts. As we shed costs and streamline our efforts, we believe God has given us the perfect outlet through HourStream to allow us to be an even more effective provider of hope and encouragement through our media resources. You are such an important part of continuing to proclaim Good News in new ways. Your gifts will continue to make a difference. Join us in the journey..
We are truly filled with excitement and vision. We believe this is God’s path for us. Please continue to partner with The Hour. The world needs us now more than ever!
Prayerfully yours,
Anthony Thaxton
Producer
GIVING TO THE HOUR
We receive numerous letters and emails every month telling of how God uses The Hour to touch countless lives. Our ability to reach so many is due to the generous support from our viewers. We simply cannot survive without help your help. In fact, 90% of our budget comes from viewers like you. Only 10% of our budget comes from apportionments from the Mississippi Annual Conference.
You absolutely can make a difference. We not only bring the Good News in an encouraging way to a hurting world, we also feature how God is working through OTHER ministries, thereby expanding their reach.
Won't you help so that we can continue?
We've made every effort to remain faithful stewards of your gifts. Please prayerfully consider giving. Another way to ensure the long-term life of this organization is to remember The Hour in your estate planning. You can help us for years to come. Please call 601.467.2038 for more information and help on including the ministry of the Hour in your plans.
The Hour P.O. Box 1393 Clinton, MS 39060
CONTRIBUTIONS AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION
This ministry is truly making a difference in countless lives.
We take this mission seriously and would love for you to partner with us. The Hour has a number of giving opportunities available for those who would like to partner with us in ministry.
General Fund - Unrestricted funds received to this fund are used for general budget expenses of operating the ministry. These can include staff salaries, utilities, and maintenance.
Memorial and Honor Gifts - The Hour has a system by which every gift that is given as a memorial or in honor of someone, is immediately acknowledged to the family of the deceased or to the person being honored. These funds are unrestricted.
Supporting Gifts - These funds are used for building maintenance and improvements.Endowment Fund - These contributions are restricted for permanent investment. The Hour receives the benefit of annual interest from the balance of this fund.
Ministry Resources - Links to previous programs or dvds are available upon request.
Tax deductible support can also be extended through gifts of securities (stocks, bonds, mutual funds), property, life insurance assignments such as cash values or dividends, life insurance beneficiary designations, pensions, ira’s, and other retirement funds (including cd’s and savings accounts.) Charitable bequests are deductible for estate tax purposes. An immediate gift for The United Methodist Hour through a living trust (Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust) can also mean an income for the giver for life or for a specific number of years. This gives the contributor an immediate tax deduction and avoids possible capital gains taxes. A revocable living trust is a gift that you can take back if the need arises. A charitable lead trust provides for the ministry of The United Methodist Hour for a term of years and then the property reverts to the giver and heirs.Financial InformationUnited Methodist Hour funds are invested with The Mississippi Methodist Foundation in Jackson, MS. Methodist Foundation investments include funds that are permanently restricted in an endowment account and other temporarily restricted funds for specific purposes designated by the contributors. unrestricted funds are held in foundation accounts and with local banks. Generally accepted accounting principals are utilized to account for all funds.
A complete audit is conducted annually by certified public accounts and a compilation is performed by accountants in June. These reports, along with other detailed reports are shared with the board of directors at meetings twice per year and at intervals throughout the year. Staff persons given the task of accounting for United Methodist Hour funds have years of experience in non-profit accounting. Contributors receive a detailed report of their giving at the end of the month in which their gift is received. Also, yearly statements of giving are sent so that givers may be prepared for income tax reporting. Contributors of material items are also given a contributor tax letter to be used when reporting gifts to the irs.
The United Methodist Hour is a 501(c)(3) organization. As an agency of The United Methodist Church, The United Methodist Hour is required to submit an annual audit to the Council on Finance and Administration of The United Methodist Church. Annual reports are available upon request.