Life Members

Douglas F. Cannon, a United Methodist communicator, was RCC president from 2008 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2013. He worked as associate editor of The United Methodist Reporter from 1984 to 1988, media services director for the United Methodist Communications Council of Texas and New Mexico from 1988 to 1996, and communication and public witness director for the Southwest Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church from 1996 to 2008.

Cannon joined the Religious Public Relations Council in 1988 and became RCC’s second  sustaining member in December 2005. He was active in the Dallas Chapter from 1988 to 1996. Cannon served on the RCC Board of Governors from 2005 to 2007 and from 2017 to 2020. He was RCC treasurer from 2007 to 2008. Cannon led RCC’s efforts in 2000 and 2001 to join the Universal Accreditation Board, which grants the Accredited in Public Relations (APR) credential. He was RCC’s first representative on that board from 2001 to 2005.

Cannon chaired the 2006 committee that revised the 1955 “Professional Aims for Religious  Public Relations Personnel” into RCC’s Guidelines for Professional Conduct. He chaired the 2011-2012 committee that revised RCC’s corporate bylaws.

Cannon taught public relations and reputation management at Virginia Tech from 2010 to 2023. He researched and published scholarly articles about how faith groups practiced public relations.

He retired in 2023.

Deb is someone who always wants to know what’s going on and to be able to tell the stories. That’s why journalism and communications as a career appealed to her. Starting in high school, her communication profession focused mostly on newspapers because that was the primary medium available. Learning writing, editing, and reporting skills for newspaper work, she later adapted those for broadcast, and then the ever-widening world of online/digital media.

She had a nearly 40-year career at UMR Communications, the parent company of The United Methodist Reporter, a newspaper that served the interests of The United Methodist Church. She assisted church, regional, and parachurch communicators to establish and improve best communication practice. At retirement from UMR, she worked in customer service, scheduling, department coordination, and had become the Director of Production.

Deb is a faithful Christian believer who channeled her skills and professional goals into the faith-based communication spheres with a strong interest in interfaith communications. Her involvement in the Religion Communicators Council began in the mid-1990s. She joined the local Dallas-Ft. Worth chapter and served as an officer and leader. On the national level, she participated in RCC’s Board of Governors as an officer including being the national president. “RCC’s goals and mission resonated with my own and the opportunity for professional development, networking, fellowship and interfaith literacy was so valuable.”

She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from Texas Tech University. She is a proud Texan, a wife, mother, grandmother and friend. Her hobbies are gardening and reading.

The Rev. Dr. Daniel R. Gangler of Indianapolis, 78, is the former Director of Communications for the Indiana United Methodist Conference (2003-2014) and is now retired after being active 38 years in pastoral and communication ministries.

He serves in retirement as member, advisor, past board member and past president of the Religion Communicators Council, a retired member and past president of the United Methodist Association of Communicators (UMAC) and as a volunteer social justice advocate. He remains active at Calvary United Methodist Church in Brownsburg, Indiana as teacher of a weekly senior-adult Sunday school class. He also serves as the Indiana United Methodist Conference Coordinator of Christian Unity and Interreligious Relationships.

A native of Peoria, Illinois, he holds a B.S. from Illinois State University at Normal (1968); a M.Div. from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary at Evanston, Ill. (1974) and a D.Min. from the Saint Paul School of Theology at Leawood, Kan. (1994). He was named United Methodist Association of Communicators’ Communicator of the Year in 1996 and inducted into the UMAC Hall of Fame in 2019.

He was ordained by the Nebraska United Methodist Conference in 1976 and served as a pastor for eight years before becoming the communication officer for the Nebraska UM Conference in 1983, the year he joined RPRC now known as RCC. Since then, he served as associate editor of The United Methodist Reporter based in Dallas, Texas (1994-1999) and as managing editor of The Disciple Magazine of The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) based in Indianapolis (2000-2003).

He is the father of three adult sons and three grandchildren all who live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He is married to Enid Gangler. His past-times are traveling, photography and model railroading.

 Tom McAnally, a retired staff member of United Methodist Communications, served in several elected positions with the Nashville Chapter of RCC and was national president of the former Religious Public Relations Council for two years (1988-1990). He also edited the national Counselor newsletter and was deeply involved in planning national conventions held in Nashville. McAnally retired in 2001 as director of United Methodist News Service, based in Nashville, Tenn. Previously he had served as director of communications for the Nebraska Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church. He was named distinguished alumnus by Oklahoma City University in 1985 and was named outstanding communicator by the United Methodist Association of Communicators in 1989.

In a career spanning 45+ years, Philip Poole has championed public relations as an integral part of every organization with which he has been associated, including higher education, association, nonprofit and corporate settings. He also has been a champion of the importance of interfaith communication in every community with which he has been connected.

Poole served a two-year term as national president of the Religion Communicators Council and additional years on the RCC governing board. He also was on the steering committees for the Religion Communications Congresses in 2000 and 2010 and was RCC’s representative on the Universal Accreditation Board for three years. He also chaired the 2004 75^th anniversary RCC annual meeting.

After taking early retirement after 15+ years as executive director of university communications at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, he was invited to be an adjunct instructor in public relations and to assist with the Public Relations Student Society of America chapter at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

He considers it his highest honor to have received the 2018 Ron Council Mentorship Award from the Alabama PRSA chapter, selected by chapter members in recognition of outstanding mentorship of young professionals and students.

Poole was inducted into the Public Relations Society of America College of Fellows in 2018 and served as the College’s chair in 2024. Additionally, he served as 2018 Alabama PRSA chapter president and continues to serve the chapter in other roles. He was president of the Mid-Missouri chapter and on the board of the Nashville chapter when living in those areas. He has been a member of PRSA since graduating from college (where he served as PRSSA chapter president!) and has been accredited (APR) since 1987.

The majority of Poole’s professional career was with various Baptist-affiliated organizations on the state and national levels. He served as national president of the Baptist Communicators Association and several additional years on that board. In 2022, he was honored as a life member of BCA in recognition of service to the profession and the association.

Poole also has served on numerous local and regional boards and has been active in the communities in which he has lived. But, he says his most important current position is as “Papa” to his three granddaughters.

Dr. Andrew (Andy) B. Rawls

Retired since 2007, Dr. Andrew (Andy) B. Rawls served for 32 years as Director of Media Services at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  He began his tenure on the library staff before transitioning to the communications team. In this role, he supported over 50 faculty members with classroom media resources, managed a weekday live radio broadcast aired on more than 50 stations and XM satellite radio, and produced video courses for distance learning. His portfolio also included media production for student recruitment and fundraising initiatives.

Dr. Rawls earned his Ph.D. from Southern Seminary in 1975, with a dissertation focused on media resources for teaching American church history. He holds a B.A. from Stetson University (Deland, FL), an M.S. in Instructional Design and Media Management from Florida State University, and an M.Div. from Southern Seminary. His lifelong passion for history and communications led him to produce numerous videos for the Southern Baptist Historical Commission, Seminary Extension, and the International Mission Board.

In 1991, Dr. Rawls was invited by RCC President Wesley M. (Pat) Pattillo and coordinator Ron Byler to produce the Wilbur Awards ceremony in Dayton, Ohio. He went on to research, write, produce, and present the Wilbur Awards for 30 consecutive years, until the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted in 2020. That year’s presentation—completed before the event was canceled—was re-edited and released on YouTube. The success of the Wilbur Awards over the decades was made possible through collaboration with coordinators such as Ron Byler, David Smith, Eric C. Shafer, Shirley Struchen, and the many dedicated Wilbur judges.

In retirement, Dr. Rawls remains active through photography, website management for nonprofit organizations, and service in his local church. He and his wife Malinda enjoy RV camping and have traveled extensively across North America—from Key West to Fairbanks, Alaska, to St. John’s, Newfoundland. They reside in Daytona Beach, Florida.

 For Tom Slack, becoming a communicator was an “on the job” learning experience made possible with the help of four mentors. Ordained an elder in the West Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church in 1974, the Marion, Ohio, native was pastoring a congregation when he became involved with the conference communications committee. Two photographer mentors helped him become proficient with a camera – so proficient that many people think of him as a photographer first, writer second. Slack served on the RCC governing board from 1991-96 and edited the fifth edition of the Religious Public Relations Handbook published in 1995. He left church journalism in 2006 and officially retired as a pastor on July 1, 2012, but has taught online communication courses for Kaplan University since 2001 and still takes photographs.

Shirley has worked as an ecumenical communicator for much of her career. She is a member of the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) North American executive committee. She served as executive director of the Religion Communicators Council (RCC) from 2001 to 2021.

In 2002 Struchen also became producer for the National Council of Churches’ quarterly television programming and coordinated access for religious broadcasting on major U.S. television networks. Prior to her work with RCC, Shirley worked for United Methodist Communications and as communications director and newspaper editor for the Western New York Conference of The United Methodist Church.

She was president of the Religious Public Relations Council, forerunner of RCC, 1996-98. She has also served as president of the Media Action Research Center; chairwoman of the National Council of Churches’ media education committee; and a member of the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC Global) board of directors. She is a former member of American Women in Radio and Television, and of the National Association for Female Executives.

The United Methodist Association of Communicators named Struchen United Methodist Communicator of the Year in 1997 and in 2023 she was inducted into the UMAC’s Hall of Fame. In 2010, she was named an honorary life member of the World Association for Christian Communication for service to the cause of ecumenical and interfaith communication and work characterized by dedication, integrity, and achievement.

Fred Swartz served on the executive committee of RCC (formerly RPRC) for five+ years in the 1970s and 80s. He was the first editor of the RPRC newsletter and helped to edit and write for the first Religious Public Relations Handbook. At the time he served with RPRC he was coordinator of the communications and stewardship units of the Church of the Brethren (COB) denominational staff. He left the COB staff in 1983 to resume his calling as a congregational pastor and is now retired.

Since retirement from the United Church of Christ in 2000, William joined the Coast Guard Auxiliary specializing in marine safety with stories in the boating magazines and a monthly column in a Long Island recreational sailing publication.

George Conklin was a photojournalist, longtime religion communicator and ordained minister known for an iconic 1960s photo of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Conklin, a retired faculty member at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California and a Life Member of RCC, had photographed King at the Cow Palace in San Francisco as the civil rights leader addressed an interfaith rally in 1964.

In a 2015 article posted on the website of his alma mater, Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, Conklin described how his black-and-white photo showed a beam of light shining down on King: “The long evening wore on, the humidity in the vast hall increased and I could see the beam appearing. I got up and took the last frames of a 36-frame roll,” he said. He added in the comments under the article, “it was partly being in the right place at the right time. The rest is history.”

Conklin was an ordained United Church of Christ minister. A graduate of Hartford Theological Seminary, he was on the faculty of Pacific School of Religion for 15 years in the 1970s and 1980s, ultimately serving as an associate professor of media and culture studies.

In 2013, Conklin was honored with the Religion Communicators Council’s DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Award, after his photo of King was engraved on a stone in San Francisco’s McLaren Park, overlooking the arena where Conklin captured the shot decades before.Conklin documented in photographs other events in religious life, from the historical trajectory of his home church in San Mateo, California, to the winners of the RCC’s Wilbur Awards. He also photographed leaders such as theologian Karl Barth, labor rights pioneer Cesar Chavez and then-Sen. Barack Obama.

“He has touched so many lives around the world,” said Shirley Struchen, former executive director of the RCC, of which Conklin was a life member.

Conklin served roles in numerous ecumenical and interfaith organizations, including as director of radio-television and print for the Hartford Council of Churches; associate director of the Northern California Council of Churches; and founding member of the North American Broadcast Section of the World Association for Christian Communication.He was the co-founder of Worldwide Faith News, an independent aggregator of denominational news releases. It launched in 1995, originally run by a commission of the National Council of Churches, and later expanded to include other faith groups, including Jewish organizations and Religions for Peace USA, according to the WFN website.

George passed in July 2025.