North American Division —More than 175 Adventist communicators met in Orlando, Fla., Oct. 9–12, to network, fellowship, and learn at the Society of Adventist Communicators (SAC) convention. Attendees traveled from around North America representing almost every entity of the Adventist Church.

The convention was preceded by a special crisis management training seminar entitled When Bad Things Happen to God Organizations II. "The crisis management seminar was extremely helpful," said Diane Thurber, Indiana Conference communication director. "Listening to the seminar presenters made me highly aware of my need to be proactive in protecting the Lord’s work."

A series of professional growth seminars on anything ranging from Web site development, writing skills, to marketing and advertising strategies were offered for attendees. "You can get some of the same seminars at the larger conventions, but you miss the networking with Adventists," says Ryan Teller, Mid-America Union communication director and newly elected SAC president. "A primary benefit of the convention is networking and being able to help each other with solutions to similar problems."

Another program running in conjunction with the SAC convention was SONscreen. SONscreen is an annual Adventist film festival, now in its second year, that features films produced by college-aged and professional Adventists. The films are judged and awarded prizes.

Next year the SAC convention will be held in Dallas, Texas, in October. A significant challenge for the coming year is reaching out to Adventist communicators outside of denominational employment circles. "We want to make SAC a value to all Adventist communicators," Teller says. For more information, please visit www.adventistcommunicator.org.

Jeff Rogers, Adventist-laymen's Services and Industries (ASI) communication director