There are many ways to tell the world about Jesus, but none is more important than the acts of love performed by members of local congregations — whether in large cities, in rural areas, at Adventist hospitals and schools, or on mission trips to foreign countries.
The communication department of the Pacific Union exists to help the churches and institutions in the Pacific Union tell these stories as widely and as effectively as possible. Our purpose is to support evangelism and nurture members. We do this through the Pacific Union Recorder, websites, public media and training events.
Pacific Union Recorder
In order to tell faith stories better, during the last five years the monthly Pacific Union Recorder has changed to full color, better paper and a new design. Current and recent Recorders are now available on an attractive new website — pacificunionrecorder.com. Our correspondents in the conferences, colleges/universities and health systems now submit articles and photos through a web-based data management system. This system moves the stories to press faster, improves accuracy and readability, and lowers staff costs. Because of the prominent part Loma Linda University plays in the Pacific Union, we have added LLU as a monthly contributor.
The next major Recorder transition involves circulation. For several years, the Recorder has been mailed to the approximately 55,000 homes in the Recorder database — which is not tied to church membership records. Even though membership has increased steadily through the years, the Recorder list has slowly decreased to the extent that the Recorder and Adventist World are mailed to only about half our members.
But by the end of 2006, the local conferences in the Pacific Union expect to complete their parts of the eAdventist membership database. When that happens. we will discard the old Recorder mailing list and start mailing to every Adventist home in the union — about 110,000 addresses. The good news is that the Recorder and Adventist World will be mailed to about 60,000 to 70,000 new homes. But about 10,000 to 15,000 homes currently receiving the Recorder are expected to stop receiving it because their names are not in the official church records. Getting all the right people back on the list will take some work, but will also present an opportunity to make the church records more accurate and even to visit people who have not attended church for a long time.
The Recorder is edited in the Pacific Union office in Westlake Village, Calif., designed in Walla Walla, Wash., by MCM Design, printed and mailed in Idaho by Pacific Press.
Church Websites
The Pacific Union is committed to helping every Adventist church create and maintain an attractive and up-to-date website that presents God’s message to web visitors, attracts visitors to the local church services and provides members with church news from home and around the world. During the last year the communication department has worked with TAGnet, based in Fallbrook, Calif., to design church websites, and now works with conference communication directors to encourage and facilitate local churches to utilize that program, or other web programs, to present the work of the church in the most positive light. Visit netAdventist.org for more details. By early 2006, more than one-third of the churches in the Pacific Union had developed automatically updating websites through the TAGnet system. We hope to see more than half online by the end of the year.
Consultation
Occasionally local churches, schools or individual members find themselves suddenly in the local, national or even international media spotlight — for favorable or unfavorable reasons. When that happens, the union communication staff works with the local conference communication directors to make sure the church responds quickly, accurately and appropriately. In the last four years the union communication department has provided consultation in about two dozen such situations.
