Two years after being diagnosed with cancer and beating it, Mark DeMoss, founder of DeMoss, which market’s itself as America’s largest PR agency serving faith-based organizations and causes since 1991, announced Tuesday that he will officially close his business on March 29.
“Earlier today I completed informing our clients of my decision to close my PR firm. I wanted to now share it with others,” DeMoss began in a letter shared on Twitter by journalist Jonathan Merritt.
DeMoss whose firm represents high-profile Christian organizations such as, the American Bible Society, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, The Potter’s House and Samaritan’s Purse, says he is closing his firm because he doesn’t support the current direction of the public relations industry and believes he needs to take a sabbatical after never taking one over his entire career.
“At age 56, it is more clear to me than ever that my passion and skill lay in the practice of public relations – not the business of PR. Most successful PR firms began reinventing themselves and changing their business models a number of years ago, and I realize I’m not wired to want to do that with my firm. So, after nearly three decades of owning and running a firm, traveling extensively, directing and managing PR campaigns, and navigating every conceivable type of ministry crisis, I have decided to dissolve my firm on Friday March 29,” he wrote.
“I plan on working hard the next 11 weeks to oversee the successful completion of our firm’s work. After that I expect to take some time to read, study, pray, seek counsel and maybe to write. For the past 20 years, I have given a sabbatical to every employee after their completion of five, 10, 15 and 20 years of service. However, as my wife often reminds me, I’ve never taken a sabbatical myself! So I will look forward to a period of rest beginning in April,” he added.
DeMoss’ announcement on Tuesday triggered reactions from many religion journalists.
“Mark DeMoss is someone I respect a lot,” Salt Lake Tribune writer Peggy Fletcher Stack, wrote on Twitter.
“Surprising news! I talked to Mark DeMoss when he parted ways with Liberty after clashing with Falwell Jr. over the university president’s endorsement of Trump,” Religion News Service reporter Emily McFarlan Miller noted.
DeMoss who is also a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, parted ways with the board of Liberty University in 2016 after the university’s president, Jerry Falwell Jr., endorsed the then Republican presidential frontrunner.
The public relations executive, who had served as chief of staff to Jerry Falwell Sr., the founder of Liberty University, told The Washington Post in a spring 2016 report that the Trump campaign was filled with insults and did not reflect the values of Falwell Sr.
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SOURCE: Christian Post, Leonardo Blair
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