Pennsylvania Methodists Name Capitol Veteran, Church Leader Drachler to Lead Advocacy Effort

HARRISBURG – Stephen Drachler, a longtime United Methodist leader and veteran state capitol staffer and journalist, has been named to lead A United Methodist Witness in Pennsylvania, the Rev. Dr. Keith Benjamin, chair of the denomination’s statewide advocacy organization said today.

“A United Methodist Witness is entering a new era,” said Benjamin of Carbondale, in announcing Drachler’s appointment. “Stephen Drachler brings important leadership and advocacy skills to UM Witness. He has served as the highest levels of the church and state government. And he was a widely respected political and investigative reporter and editor for two decades.”

A United Methodist Witness in Pennsylvania is the social justice advocacy arm of The United Methodist Church in Pennsylvania. The members of its board of directors represent nearly 2,300 congregations with nearly 490,000 members across the Commonwealth.

Drachler, 58, is relocating to Harrisburg from Nashville, TN, where he operated Drachler & Associates, a public relations/crisis communications firm. He started the firm in 2006 after serving as executive director of public information at Nashville-based United Methodist Communications. In that role he served as a spokesman for the denomination and provided media relations counsel to its worldwide Council of Bishops.

In Pennsylvania, Drachler served as press secretary to former House Speaker John M. Perzel from 1995 to 2002, and served as the Harrisburg bureau chief for the Allentown Morning Call and Ottaway Newspapers, a chain of community newspapers. His reporting for the Morning Call was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

An active United Methodist, Drachler also served as director of communications for the Central Pennsylvania (regional) Conference, on the board of directors of The United Methodist Publishing House, and was twice elected as a delegate to the denomination’s top legislative body, the General Conference.

“In these uncertain times, we believe more than ever that the church is called to serve as a voice for the voiceless, and an advocate for those who are in need,” Benjamin said. “It is at the core of our beliefs as United Methodist Christians.”

Drachler will represent the church’s interests before the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the executive branch of state government. He will work closely with the state’s United Methodist bishops and with grassroots church members on social justice issues.

Pennsylvania is one of two states – Iowa is the other – where United Methodists employ a person as a lobbyist/advocate to represent its interests before state government.