GAiN EUROPE for ADVENTIST COMMUNICATORS

It is Monday evening - and it is all over.  Arrangements are made for flights home - and we go back to the routine.  In the closing ceremony co-hosts for the event, Miroslav Pujic and Corrado Cozzi, gave Europes top Adventist Communicators a simple challenge.  Be Spiritual, Be Professional. 

Many of us have learnt new things, had ideas challenged, and even placed ourselves in the shoes of others - those of different cultures, languages and financial situations but who, in the end, share the same vision for sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. We have even learnt that our website can easily be captured by some one with a smart phone by capturing the mosaic that you see on the right of this blog!  (Technically, I am told, this is called a QR code - and this one is the quick way to this site.

Those two phrases, Be Spiritual, Be Professional, have led to a 12 point charter for the next five years voted by the delegates.  They have agreed to:

1. Review  your vision and mission regularly
2. Produce news regularly
3. Develop public relations strategy
4. Develop media contacts
5. Update websites and data regularly
6. Harness media for the mission of the church
7. Provide training
8. Be creative
9. Nurture small steps towards change
10. Temper criticism with praise
11. Be spiritual
12. Whatever you do, do the best quality

With that list it looks like teams will be busy.  On the other-hand, the networking and sharing that has happened over the last five days means that teams are going home invigorated, with new ideas, and opportunities of sharing across borders.  After all, we are one church.

Tuesday morning was dedicated to sharing mission perspectives – whether from Williams Costa, Communication Director for World Church headquarters where he emphasised that in Communication there are 3 important words:  Unit, integration & convergence  -- the only way to produce great things.  His vision from headquarters covered the introduction of video news reporting, the Great Controversy Project and the production of video training guides.  I was impressed by GC Associate director, Andrae Brink's series of mini-testimonies that accompany the Revival and Reformation initiative.

Through until 11 am, presentations from Adventist World Radio and Hope Channel showed how podcasting and TV production both for satellite channels and the web is providing a cutting edge evangelistic tool.

After the break delegates crowded back into the hall to hear from the various media entities across the two divisions.  I could recount the stories.  Each one from the large studios in Germany through to the ¼ salary in Finland is doing exciting stuff.  I was particularly impressed by the work of Al Waad, the Arabic studio in the Lebanon.  What a joy to hear that other Christian churches are so impressed with the output from Al Waad  that they choose to link to their website.  Others were clearly pleased as well – resulting in a special time of prayer for their ministry.

This morning I climbed the mountain.  585 metres, the highest mountain in this region of Slovenia.  Starting in the darkness and mist in the valley it is stunning to climb the steep path, rise above the mist, and see the sunrise.  A wonderful place to meditate and start the day.  Yet shortly after sunrise at 6:55 am I found myself heading back down into the valley – and the intense pressures that will be packed into the last day of this conference.  Yet when Stanborough Press editor, Julian Hibbert, stood up to lead the morning devotional, his heart felt talk followed on the same theme that was already in my mind.

Julian touched the real lives of producers, editors, and communication directors.  He started by asking them what they liked most about media production.  Gabi from Germany stated,  'Meeting a lot of interesting people and jumping into their lives'.   Other thoughts included, 'I can express my thoughts in creative writing.'  'Working with creative colleagues.'  'Editing,'  'The joy of seeing a product develop.'

Julian then noted and challenged our thinking by stating, 'Nobody said Deadlines, constant pressure, or merciless demands.'   Here, us communicators are here as a group – but tomorrow we go home alone.  In other words, we are on top of the mountain but will be heading down into the valley.

Time for the Bible.  Daniel chapters 7 – 9.  Scanning through those chapters Julian pointed out that as an editor and communicator, Daniel wrote down the substance of his dreams but that he was deeply troubled by his thoughts.  By 8:27 he states he was 'worn out and lay exhausted for several days.'  Here is a man with a great responsibility to publish and proclaim but who feels drained.  His creative courage is depleted.  How did he succeed?  In chapter 9 he turns to the Lord in prayer, including praying for his people – and God answers.  'You are highly esteemed!'  And Daniel finds the creative courage to finish the book.

For Julian, as an editor, with all the demands in his job, this story is an encouragement.  If Daniel is revived and restored then there is the same positive, creative promise for each one of us.  God will keep our creative courage strong.

I love a good story!  Gary Krause provided one.  An urban myth of organ removal.  Yet why do such stories get remember?  Simple! Such myths are Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional and they are Stories!

Jesus was the supreme story teller.  Stories stick in the mind. How can we do any better than follow his lead -  whatever kind of media we are using.

For me, Victor’s discussion of copyright was very practical, as were his comments about the legal issues relating to permission to use photos; photos of children under 16 and vulnerable adults; the appropriateness and tastefulness of photos; etc. 

He raised an interesting point about the photography of ancient sites and buildings owned or managed by the National Trust in the UK. If your photo is taken from within their grounds it belongs to them! He made it clear that this may not be true for all participating countries.

His page on Music copyright is an excellent reference for anyone who wants to stay on the right side of the law and within his own conscience.

One of the difficulties he faced in his presentation was the difference in copyright laws and related legal issues between the countries represented at the conference. Despite these obvious challenges the presentation was most helpful.

[Photo: Is this copyright? Victor appears with Pedro from Spain on a Facebook page.]

Yesterday afternoon I admired a person enjoying a flight with a paraglider. I got a bit puzzled when it looked as if the pilot was going to land on the hotel roof. Instead, she landed virtually on the hotel doorstep even if it was not a virtual but a real landing.

The pilot had our attention. Out came our cameras.

We are communicators wanting attention, just like that paraglider. How are we going to get that kind of attention in our effort to bring the message from God to
people around us? That is the driving quest behind this conference.

Today, again, we have had very good presentations honing our skills, stimulating our creativity and beefing up our knowledge on key communication issues. All to make
the three angels fly in midair, even today.

From Belinda Stojanovic, the psychologist, I learned that the brain switches between right hemisphere dominance and left hemisphere dominance every 90 minutes. Trouble
is, it is a little hard to tell when the switch happens. Anyway, even for a Larry type (order and detail) like me, there is hope. Just after the orderly me has gone to sleep, the creative me is still exploring interesting ideas. But the creative part of me is too disorderly to jot down the ideas, and too shy to wake up orderly me to take note of all those brilliant ideas.

Imagine all the innovative creativity that has been lost through the years.

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this stalemate?

Belinda’s lecture was very valuable but she struggled in two related areas: she assigned herself too much material to cover within the time constraints, and therefore fell victim to her own time pressure by speaking too fast for audience comfort. Now that I know the value of her material and her insights, I wish we could have given her double the time – her material spoke to the heart of the conference theme, ‘Explore Creativity’.

Her suggestion that we need to have a ‘balance’ between ‘Right’ and ‘Left’ hemispheres of the brain was refreshing. She made no attempt to plug us into one box or the other, but encouraged us to develop in both areas of our potential creativity (artistic and analytical).

I found her comments about new research that indicates that our minds seem to alternate between the analytical and the artistic on an approximately 90 minute cycle, quite fascinating – and I will definitely review her online notes in this regard.

Her comments about the right hemisphere ‘going to sleep’ later at night than the other is revealing, explaining why we get these flashes of inspiration before we sleep when things are quiet.

Her outline of the ‘creative process’, with its various stages of preparation, incubation (intuition), insight, evaluation, and elaboration was really helpful and deserves follow-up reflection. The same is true of her discussion on the ‘orientation to change’. Her distinctions between ‘explorer’ and ‘developer’ will be useful in understanding the roles we play in the work place. 

Going by the evidence on Facebook and this website there are a lot of photographers at this event!  Mega length lenses seem to be pointed in every direction!  So it can be a daunting thing for a young media professional to stand in front of such an august group.  However that did not seem to intimidate Melita Pazitka and she gave a short historic background to photography, including demonstrating how news images can strongly influence public opinion including stunning shots from the Vietnam war and the  Indian Tsunami.  "Where words fail, an image speaks."

What was the most important tip I gained from the presentation:  ""If you want to be creative, push yourself" 

Other tips: Creative use of cropping can enhance, focus on the important part.  Portrait photos:  try and include something in the photo that lets people know who they are. Be creative with group shots.  With kids – come to their level.

You may have noted that this blog has been silent for 24 hours.  There is a reason.  When communicators get together the technology starts to whirr and there can be the danger of overload.  That is why God gave us the Sabbath.  As the sun set Communicators joined with colleagues from world mission who are meeting in the hall next to ours.  It was time for worship.  To make a break I switched off my computer – a tip I learned from a rabbi I had spent some time with recently.  It added to the Sabbath blessing.

That blessing was intense: 

• Friday evening devotions focused around prayer – with testimony from Jerry and Janet Page.  Jerry is Ministerial Association Director at World Church Headquarters.  Their combined story showed how prayer makes a difference in personal lives and the lives of those around us.  The evening concluded with a positive season of prayers.
• The highlight for me: an expert exposition of the Word from Daniel Duda(TED Education director) in Sabbath school.  Daniel really inspired us with his overview of worship in the book of Revelation clearly showing the choice of positive, right, pure worship in Revelation 14 compared with worshipping the beast (and by inference the dragon) in Revelation 13.  What became very clear is that worship is central!
•  Bill Knot (Editor, Adventist Review and Adventist World) preached in the main worship time using his skill in storytelling to make us think about what is core in our faith and practice.  If we do not care for others.  If we are not a house of compassion, then we are nothing at all.
• Sabbath evening verspers looked at lessons of mission from the Book of Jonah.  This was led by Dr Ben Shoun, General Conference Vice President.

Testimony, witness in the local towns, walks in nature, and for some a boat trip on the river Sava, were all part of a special day.

What was the highlight of the day for you?  If you have a special moment or thought why not share it by adding a comment?