The Communications Committee meets monthly providing regular minutes to Session.  The church staff prepares a list of calendar items, and the committee determines how each item should be communicated internally and/or externally. 

Through the chairperson and key staff, the committee works closely with Session to coordinate its committees’ communications with the congregation as well as to foster more communication between committees.

A Communications “Task Force” was created in September 2003 in response to the fire.  The Task Force handled all communication within the congregation and with the community at-large.   The main areas coordinated by the Task Force were: the monthly newsletter, local media (newspapers, TV, etc.), weekly Phoenix Reports, and web-based communication.  In the months following the fire, the Task Force met at least weekly, and the most prominent products were the weekly “Phoenix Report,” media messages presented as press releases or interviews through a central spokesperson, and preparing and implementing comprehensive public relations plans for steeple raising, first service, and dedication of the new building.  During the years of the rebuild, the Task-Force posted a timeline and gave progress updates, as well as publicizing the capital campaign.

Once the new construction had been completed, the Task Force members agreed to keep meeting monthly (usually during the first or second week of a month to prepare the next newsletter), and changed its name from the Communications “Task Force” to the Communications “Team”.  Since its inception, the Communications Team had needed to convey to the community, to regular attendees, and to members, a response to the question “Who is Second Presbyterian Church?”   The Team, thus, suggested at the April 2007 Session meeting that Session begin a “visioning” process for our congregation.  Session responded by creating a Discernment Task Force to begin a visioning process for the congregation. This group, which included two members of the Communications Team, met for over a year.  During the time after Pastor Jim Kitchens left Second, the Team posted a timeline to mark the pastor search process and expanded social media efforts.  In 2010, the Team approached Session with a request to become a formal committee of Session, which was approved in July of that year.