At the Recorder, we’re always on the lookout for ways to better connect the Pacific Union Adventist family through inspiring content, eye-catching design and quality printing.

That quest has brought several changes to the 2004 Recorder. First and most obvious, you’ll notice that the magazine has color on every page and that the paper is smooth and crisp. That’s because a move to Color Press Publishing (colorpress.com), based in Walla Walla, Wash., has made it possible to print a full-color Recorder on a high tech sheet fed press, the very latest in high quality printing, all within our budget.

Hart Research Center, an Adventist-owned organization that provides evangelism and other resources to churches, owns Color Press. You may recognize their work from evangelistic series handbills.

Color Press has a close relationship with MCM Design Studio (mcmds.com), also based in Walla Walla, and the two companies made a package proposal last spring which also provides for design services, including a brand new, interactive website for the Recorder (pacificunionrecorder.com). There you’ll find all the stories in the current issue, plus feedback forms, archived issues, information about advertising and subscriptions, and much more.

“We at MCM Design Studio feel so blessed to be able to design the Recorder,” says Matthew McVane, MCM president. “For us, design is about the love of communication. Through design, we form relationships that will last an eternity, with the Recorder staff, and with the constituents of the Pacific Union. Your stories impact our lives and form a truly lasting friendship, though you may never see our faces. Thank you for the opportunity to share with you, and thank you for sharing with us.”

MCM also designs the North Pacific Union Gleaner.

We're also happy to announce that Loma Linda will be part of our team of regular contributors to the Recorder. Although Loma Linda University is a General Conference institution and not a Pacific Union insititution, we recognize that hundreds if not thousands of Pacific Union members are involved with and affected by Loma Linda's various entities, including the university and the medical center.

In this new year, we encourage readers to submit news stories with great photos to their local conference communication directors for publication in the Recorder. This is the “Year of Evangelism,” and the Adventist Church is teeming with heart-warming and inspiring stories of members doing personal, local and international evangelism for Christ. Check the new website for conference contact information, and let us know how we can better serve you through the Recorder.

By Alicia J. Goree, managing editor