A few weeks ago now, on Friday 6 September in Christchurch, the NZ Salvation Army Media Unit gave a presentation on their War Cry edition in the wake of the Christchurch shooting.
When the March 15 Christchurch terrorist attack took place, War Cry was just days away from being printed. This session by the NZ Salvation Army Media Unit responded in the immediate aftermath of the shootings and produced a hope filled edition to their readers.
They navigated the various public narratives and responses – both from within the church and the wider community. The presentation was thorough and too solid to include in this space as each War Cry story was explained with philosophical input.
In the presentation were
Ingrid Barratt
Jules Badger
Julia de Ruiter
Matt Gillon
Martin Barratt
Sam Coates
Shar Davis
Louise Parry
Bethany Slaughter
This erstwhile team of journalists all employed for the Salvation Army Media Unit – headquartered in Wellington with staff elsewhere such as Auckland.
Also former staff member Robin Raymond assisted the presentation and the team, was made up of journalists, graphic designers, social media specialists and web.
As an aside, last year 2018, the highly successful Australiana and Kiwi young writer annual conference was held at the Christchurch Salvation Army Centre, only 5 months prior to the terrorist attack.
Leader
Shar Davis was and is the team leader of the communications department for the Salvation Army in New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa.
Ingrid Bartlett who was the managing editor of War Cry is an award-winning journalist, magazine editor and communications advisor with 20 years experience.
Ingrid has a Masters in English and Film Studies from Waikato University and a Diploma in Journalism from Massey University.
As a daughter of missionaries, Ingrid’s formative years were spent in South America, before coming back to settle in New Zealand.
Ingrid is a wonderful story teller, communicator and speaker with a passion for social justice issues and body truthfulness. Ingrid now lives in Upper Hut with her husband, Martin, and their 7 year-old son, Jacob and their rescue cat, Poppy.
Post Script - Ingrid and her husband Martin (Salvation Army web manager at the time of the ARPA Conference) have very recently moved on from their roles and relocated to Cambridge (North Island), with Martin taking on a new opportunity as web manager for Waikato University. Ingrid is now entering the exciting world of freelance writing but will be very much missed from her War Cry role.
Hailing from North Auckland, Blake Gardiner sounds American, looks Swedish, but grew up in Laos. As an introvert, Blake lives life on the edge by socialising. When he isn’t putting his life at such risk, he enjoys reading theology and debating whether Interstellar is truly the greatest movie of all time. Blake is married to fellow young writer Jessica Gardiner.