Kacie Starr Triplett is on a mission to help St. Louis-area churches get their media game together. As part of a regular series on faith-based workshops, she will host a workshop on “Media Training for Churches, Ministries & Non-Profits” on Saturday, February 21.
The event begins with a continental breakfast at 9:30 a.m. on the third floor of Grace Hill Water Tower Hub, 2125 Bissell St. (at the corner of Grand Boulevard and N. Florissant Avenue), followed by the workshop proper from 10 a.m. to noon. The cost is $20. Advance registration is available at www.InspiredOverflow.EventBrite.com, with limited registration at the door.
“I want to provide training for churches and ministries on effectively using the media to promote greater understanding and outreach on the great things taking place within the church and community,” Triplett said.
Triplett is a licensed minister at her home church, Mount Zion MB Church in St. Louis, where Sammie E. Jones is pastor, though she plans to worship at Shalom Church (City of Peace) in Florissant following her March 7 marriage to Alfred Long Sr., an associate minister there.
She hosts a Christian talk show, “Inspired Overflow,” that airs 3 p.m. Wednesdays on Jubilee 690 AM. She has a speaking ministry, also called Inspired Overflow, where she speaks inside schools, prisons, churches – “wherever God sends me to tell the world of God’s grace, mercy and His power of restoration,” Triplett said. In fact, she met her fiancé while doing prison ministry.
Triplett is living proof of God’s grace – and the compassion of St. Louis prosecutor Jennifer Joyce, who negotiated a financial restitution settlement with Triplett after she admitted to misappropriating campaign funds when she was 6th Ward alderwoman. Triplett admitted to misusing between $8,000 and $18,900 in campaign contributions in a consent order filed February 2014 with the Missouri Ethics Commission.
In lieu of prosecution, Joyce got Triplett to agree to pay “$22,000 in restitution for breaking the community’s trust.” The Circuit Attorney’s Office is collecting the restitution and the money is going to the St. Louis Public Schools. Triplett said she is relying on family support to make the monthly restitution payments.
Triplett’s response to her personal crisis exhibited her communication skills and media savvy. The moment the news broke, she released an open letter to the media and public in which she took complete personal responsibility for her misdeeds and vowed to make good.
“Regrettably, my mistakes resulted not from need, but from greed and selfishness,” Triplett wrote. “I fell into a behavior in which, if I desired something that I could not afford, I used my campaign funds to buy it. This was wrong.”
After apologizing to past campaign contributors and supporters, she vowed, “Please know that I am committed to making good on my very bad judgment. I am not yet sure what God and the future hold for me, but I know the first step is to admit what I have done and to no longer keep things in the dark.”
As an alderwoman, Triplett was a skilled communicator who led many press conferences and public forums, most notably on the unmet needs of the city’s homeless – who have sorely lacked such a fierce and compassionate advocate in city government since she left office in November 2012 to accept a consulting contract regarding homeless issues.
Alderman Samuel Moore of the 4th Ward credited Triplett with modernizing his communication skills when they worked together at the board.
“I had papers stacked high on my desk, the old antiquated way,” Moore told St. Louis Public Radio, “and she kept telling me, ‘You’re going to learn how to do this computer.’”
To register for “Media Training for Churches, Ministries & Non-Profits” on Saturday, February 21, visit www.InspiredOverflow.EventBrite.com.
