BY ROY ADAMS

On behalf of the Adventist Review staff, it's my privilege to extend a welcome to delegates and visitors to this fifty-eighth session of the General Conference.

As many of you know, the Adventist Review functions as the official recorder of the General Conference session. It's a demanding assignment, and this year we decided on a modification of the approach we've taken in the past--both for the convenience of delegates and to make life simpler for ourselves.

You hold in your hand a supplement of the Bulletins to be produced for the session. It contains the reports of all General Conference departments, services, and institutions. Whereas in the past these reports were scattered throughout the nine or 10 Bulletins produced in connection with a session, we've chosen this time to publish them as a single document.

There are three reasons for this:

1. To better serve the delegates to the session. In regard to the entities concerned, these reports contain a summary of their activities and accomplishments during the quinquennium. And since delegates will be making decisions that will affect the leadership of each entity for the ensuing period, these reports, at least theoretically, provide a partial basis for those decisions.

2. To make it more convenient for everyone. In the past, it became a time-consuming exercise to locate a particular report. Here they're grouped within the same cover, with a convenient table of contents.

3. To simplify the process. Making sure every report got published presented a nerve-racking challenge for the Adventist Review staff at previous sessions. With reams and reams of materials going through our office each day of the session, and with coverage of the proceedings and actions taking precedence and bumping some reports from their previously allotted slots, the possibility of one or more slipping through the cracks was a constant nightmare for us. Thus the publication of this single volume drastically simplifies our work. Besides, leaders of all departments, services, and institutions can have the satisfaction of knowing that their reports came to the attention of delegates during the session itself, rather than being published after the meetings are over (as happened to some in the past).

About the Reports
Those seeking a bird's-eye view of the various departments, services, and institutions of the General Conference will welcome this special supplement. We think you'll sense, as we did while preparing it, genuine excitement in the souls of these leaders. You will discover men and women who've taken their assignments with utter seriousness.

Our prayer is that this document might create in every reader a desire for greater involvement in the church and its mission.