As denomination's Internet platform arrives locally, leaders offer young people training in news, Web production
Brother Lozano’s traveling media training show made a five-city tour earlier this month.
Seventh-day Adventist Church communication leaders trained nearly 130 of the church’s young people to produce news articles and videos for the Web in a series of one-day workshops across Southern Mexico.
The training was offered in response to this region’s release earlier this year of netAdventist, Web site publishing software which allows every Adventist church to have a free hosted Web site with content sharing capabilities.
Raúl Lozano Rivera, the church’s communication director for the region, said the workshops were designed to empower young people to maintain their own congregation’s Web site, thereby serving as local eyes and ears for church news reporters.
“I want the church to see that there are effective and fun ways to involve youth in God’s mission,” Lozano said. “These kids can accomplish a lot if they are trained and allowed to participate.”
The workshops, held between July 8 and 16, offered basic courses in Web design, newswriting, podcasting, video and photography for local churches.
“I like communication as a career [possibility],” said Anahí Rodríguez, a member of the Bienestar Social Adventist Church in Tuxtla Gutiérrez. “I came to see what instruction given here we could apply in our church.”
Some young Adventist Church members in the region have already been experimenting with communication technology in anticipation of their church’s Web sites.
Oscar Ruiz and three other teenagers from the Pichucalco Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Southern state of Chiapas agreed to form a multimedia production team. They bought a digital camera and a high-definition video camera to begin production.
“We’ve always liked multimedia,” Ruiz said. “But we needed training.”
The workshops were held in the cities of Tapachula, Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutierrez and Pichucalco in the state of Chiapas, in Cancun, Quintana Roo, and in Merida, Yucatán.
“Youth are excited about this because they see the possibilities and they see a spot they can fill,” Lozano said.
Church leaders say they plan to offer similar training next year.