he printer hummed diffidently, the computer screens glared, the cellular phones chanted their familiar song, and the Adventist Review staff labored, at the mercy of the relentless ticking of time.

It was the union of perseverance and prayer that guided the nearly two dozen men and women who planned and produced the official record of the fifty-seventh General Conference session.

TERRIFIC TEAM: Adventist Review and Review and Herald staff members worked together to produce the daily Bulletins at the GC session.

Prayer began each morning and sustained them as they toiled day and night.  After the 8:00 a.m. worship, the news team huddled to plot the coverage for the day, while staff members rushed to the Adventist Review booth to sell bulletins, collect subscriptions, and answer questions. During the week more than two hundred subscriptions and four hundred sets of the daily GC bulletins were sold.

In the pre-press production area, photos and articles were flowed into the template so that they would be ready to copy-edit.  The array of technology was invaluable, as designers and editors proofread pages before sending the magazine electronically over the T1 connection (the fastest Internet connection available) to the Delta Group in Scarborough, Ontario, and the Review and Herald Publishing Association (RHPA) in Hagerstown, Maryland. The Delta Group printed 5,000 copies of each day’s bulletin, that were handed out to delegates  before the morning business session and also sold at the exhibit booth.   

Time constraints were very evident as several news team members covered a new daily feature of the session, “Windows on Mission.” Articles for these sessions were written as the news happened, edited in about 15 minutes, dropped into the electronic copy of the magazine, and rushed to the printer right at closing time, Sunday through Thursday.  Each day a “writer of the day” also covered a twenty-four hour time period for “The Day in Toronto” feature in each bulletin.

Seventeen computers (office and personal), six printers, two copiers, and more than a dozen mobile phones also helped make the miracle of a daily Review happen. A Lanier 5710E color printer donated for the week by Lanier WW was an immeasurable asset to production. 

Miracles took place every day in the Adventist Review office, situated in the heart of Exhibition Hall of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.  Miracles also occurred in the press box where the news team worked, high above the green turf of the SkyDome. Miracles came in the form of the newly printed bulletins—the result of prayer and perseverance—clutched in the hands of fellow believers every day.

As team members met one last time at the Friday staff meeting, tired but gratified workers smiled at each other. “We’re almost done,” one staff member said fondly. “We’re almost home.”