public relations and advertising firm.

United Methodist Communications has selected the Buntin Group as agency of record for "Igniting Ministry," a $20 million national television campaign meant to encourage attendance at the 36,000 Methodist churches in the U.S.

"We did a national search and ended up selecting a company that was right next to us," says Rev. Steve Horswill-Johnston, executive director of the campaign. "I keep telling everyone that that was a coincidence, but I'm not sure if everyone believes me."

Buntin Group president Jeff Buntin says that the Methodist ad campaign will have a dramatic impact on his firm.

"I would say that over the next several years, 20 people here will work on this contact one way or another," Mr. Buntin says.

United Methodist Communications will film most of the commercials for the campaign next Spring. They will begin to air next fall on cable networks such as VH1, ESPN and A&E.

Rev. Horswill-Johnston said that the commercials will be different from those produced by the Mormon Church, one of the few religious organizations that have run national television campaigns.

"The commercials done by the Mormons generally target middle class families, but ours will target a much more diverse audience," he said. He said that the commercials would target people between 25 and 54 years of age who do not regularly attend church.

The ad campaign is believed to be the most expensive ad campaign ever funded by a mainline Protestant denomination. Rev. Horswill-Johnston acknowledges that the decision to go ahead with such an effort is a major shift for the denomination, which has been shrinking in terms of church membership since the 1960s. He credited current United Methodist Communications Secretary Larry Hollon and previous Secretary Judith Weidman with helping to launch the effort.

"The feeling was that it was time for the denomination to choose whether it wanted to take part in the public moral discourse of the country or not," Rev. Horswill-Johnston says. "In order to do that, you have to use the mass media."

Rev. Horswill-Johnston points out that despite its middle-class reputation, the roots of the Methodist church lie in grass roots evangelism. "(Methodist Church founder) John Wesley went with his brother into all sorts of different public places to stand up and talk, including bars and seaports," he says. "He also rewrote bar tunes into church hymns."

In response to the argument that $20 million is too much, Rev. Horswill-Johnston points out that it is not a large sum when compared to what many businesses spend on advertising. "There are car dealerships in Nashville that spend $5 million on advertising, and they aren't trying to reach a national audience," he says.

In addition to the $20 million national ad campaign, Methodist Communications is also coordinating a $1 million regional ad program that will work in conjunction with local churches. The way that program works, individual churches will be able to obtain matching funds to pay for ad campaigns that will run in local markets.

The Buntin Group was founded in 1972. Other major Buntin clients include Tractor Supply Co., Kroger and O'Charley's.