BY STEPHEN CHAVEZ, Assistant Editor

he paper you are holding in your hand may soon be an obsolete relic of the Twentieth Century. As much as we hate to admit it, by the time you read the reports of the General Conference session here in the pages of the Adventist Review, the news will already be several days (weeks?) old.

The truth is that twenty-first-century technology enables thousands of individuals and groups of Adventist believers around the world to know what has happened at the session within moments of its happening—even as it is happening.

Those who have Internet access could view the Adventist Review’s daily Bulletins even before they were printed and distributed to the delegates in Toronto. The Web site was updated daily by news and online editor Carlos Medley. The Web site (www.adventistreview.org) also had links to real audio and real video updates from the Adventist Radio Network (ARN) and the Adventist Communication Network (ACN).

The Adventist Review Web site also featured a Bulletin archive of all the devotionals, departmental reports, proceedings, actions, and Nominating Committee reports presented during the session.

Another communication avenue was provided by Adventist World Radio (AWR). Programs produced in Toronto were uplinked every day and translated into nearly 60 languages for broadcast around the world. Although AWR broadcasts cover an estimated 70 percent of the world, its broadcasts are primarily focused on areas of the world where Christianity is not allowed to be practiced openly.

According to Don Jacobsen, president of Adventist World Radio, the primary focus of AWR is Jesus, forgiveness, and hope. But the broadcasts are also designed to improve its listeners’ quality of life with programming about the importance of health, proper diet, raising children/youth, and nurturing family relationships.

Most of AWR’s programming is broadcast over shortwave radio bands. Jacobsen estimates that there are a billion shortwave radio receivers in the world, making the message of the fifty-seventh General Conference session—“Almost Home”—a welcome message.

Video and audio signals that travel 45,000 miles in less than a second were the means used by the Adventist Communication Network (ACN) and the Adventist Global Communication Network (AGCN) to send satellite signals to thousands of downlink sites around the world in more than 21 languages. Three hours of prerecorded and live programming were broadcast each evening of the Toronto session, beginning at 6:00 p.m. (EDT).

According to Glenn Aufderhar, general manager of ACN, the evening broadcasts help to unify Adventists around the world. “They feel part of the family,” he says. “They don’t feel excluded by distance.” ACN provided six and a half hours of satellite programming each Sabbath of the session (two hours for the worship service and four and a half hours during the afternoon and evening).

Overseeing the production and transmission of these satellite feeds was Warren Judd, chief executive officer of Adventist Media Productions (AMP). In addition to pulling together all the technical and production staff for the ACN broadcasts, Judd’s staff of more than 40 church employees, freelancers, and volunteers guaranteed that each committee room was provided with whatever audiovisual equipment was needed during the session (projectors, screens, microphones, tape players, etc.).

“We do our best to capture the event for the people in the Dome as well as the greater audience that is watching in their homes and churches,” says Judd.

The total cost for the seven satellite systems used throughout the session is between eight to nine thousand dollars an hour, roughly $30,000 per evening. Judd points out that though it sounds expensive, an estimated 1,100 downlink sites makes the cost less than $30 per site.

Communication in the twenty-first century is more diverse than at any other time in human history. And although the Adventist Review may not be your first source of news about General Conference sessions, it will still be one of your best. It will certainly be the most portable.