During her search for a creative partner to help tell the stories of local churches and leaders, Kim Jenne, Director of Connectional Ministries for the Missouri Conference of the United Methodist Church, was impressed by The Storyteller Studios documentary-style approach.
This year, we produced videos for the Missouri Conference of the United Methodist Church which featured pastors telling their personal stories of mental health challenges and counseling experience.
“We wanted to normalize counseling and therapeutic services for pastors and to encourage clergy to add counseling to their tools for health and wellness. The videos feature clergy sharing their mental health journey and the ways counseling has contributed to their discipleship and leadership in the church.
All of the videos caused a lump in my throat and ended with hope. I was touched by how vulnerable our pastors were about their journeys and the care The Storyteller Studios took with their stories.”
— Kim Jenne, Director of Connectional Ministries, Missouri United Methodist Church
The stories are currently featured on the website. Kim plans to run a sponsored social media campaign to ensure that the pastors connect with these stories throughout the year.
“We are confident the videos connect counseling to mental health and wellbeing. We want to help others see that counseling services are another tool for pastors to be the person everyone in their congregation already believes they are.
If we can encourage one more pastor to seek help, we consider that a win.
We love working with The Storyteller Studios! They truly listen to us and see us as collaborators. We consider them a part of our extended team, and I know they believe in our vision and mission as much as we do.”
— Kim Jenne
Storyteller Producer, Kevin Christensen, worked with the pastors to help tell their stories.
“Kim and her team were wonderful to work with, and they provided us the opportunity to capture some of the daily lives of the pastors who had benefited from counseling in their lives. We love these kinds of projects that create deeper emotional connections and help uplift and encourage people all through the power of authentic storytelling.”
— Kevin Christensen, Producer, The Storyteller Studios
Watch the series here: