Our services are funded by your generous support of the World Service Fund, through the sale of products & services, and through individual gifts. Learn more about our stewardship.

Content reproducible for church use with our permission. Learn How

News
O, The Oprah Magazine, Taps United Methodist Pastor for "The O Panel"

The Rev. Rudy Ramus

(May 2, 2007, GBOD) —The Rev. Rudy Ramus, pastor of Saint John's United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas, has been asked to serve on a panel for a new feature, "What Do I Do Now?," which will appear in O, The Oprah Magazine, a monthly periodical read by 2.3 million readers.

In the current May 2007 issue, an introductory article on page 28, "Do the Right Thing: The O Panel," includes Rasmus's photograph, along with five other contributors to the monthly feature.

O's editors assembled experts in ethics to help tackle "that vast gray area between right and wrong" for the new monthly feature.

Rasmus believes he was invited to be a part of the panel as a result of reporter Jancee Dunn of Rolling Stone magazine spending several days at his church six years ago.

The reporter, now with O, The Oprah Magazine, was writing a story about Destiny's Child, which included Beyoncé Knowles and Kelly Rowland, who were a part of his 9,000-member United Methodist congregation at the time.

"You can't walk into our congregation and not be touched," says Rasmus.

Rasmus says that his congregation has received extensive media coverage over the years because of their work in feeding hungry people, working with the homeless, and ministering to populations that are either infected with or affected by HIV.

After leaving Rolling Stone and joining O, The Oprah Magazine, Dunn remembered Rasmus while working on a column about etiquette.

Invariably, according to Rasmus, after posing their questions about etiquette, readers often responded: "What do I do now?"

O's staff found that the etiquette questions were really "ethics" questions, so the magazine this month launched "What Do I Do Now?," a new column on ethics that will run over the next five months.

"O is a reliable source for a lot of people," says Rasmus.

After assembling a panel of ethicists, the editors found that they lacked a view from the streets."

And that's when Pastor Rudy Rasmus entered the picture.

"I do ethics every day from the moment I wake up," he says.

"I am constantly trying to determine what do I do next. As a pastor, I give life-determining advice.

People need advice from a trusted source. They need advice and hope from a source they can count on," he says.

Rasmus and other panelists are asked to respond to a set of questions each month. A brief quote is included in the magazine and the longer responses of up to 200 words are posted on Oprah Winfrey's website at www.oprah.com.

In the May issue (page 95), Rasmus responds to the question "What do you do if a couple is fighting and you're out to dinner with them?"

"If it's getting loud, request the check and end the evening quickly, before the scene gets uglier and you all wind up paying for some broken dishes or, worse, having to make bail."

Rasmus released his first book, Touch: The Power of Touch in Transforming Lives (Baxter Press/Spirit rising), in November 2006.

GBOD’s mission is to support annual conference and local church leaders for their task of equipping world-changing disciples. An agency of The United Methodist Church, GBOD is located at 1908 Grand Ave. in Nashville, Tenn. For more information, call the Media Relations Office toll free at (877) 899-2780, ext. 7017.