A new one-year course combining media production with church outreach will teach students and graduates how to produce, edit and distribute productions through new media.

The program is a joint effort of Seventh-day Adventist-run Helderberg College located in Cape Town, South Africa and SID Media, the media production organization for the church in the Southern Africa and Indian Ocean region.

The certification program begins January 2010. Ten students will be accepted to the program due to space and equipment restrictions, said Penny Brink, coordinator of the New Media Evangelism course.

"There is no other course [like the certification program] that we are aware of," said Brink. "It is truly a pleasure to partner with the college and train up people for the future."

Brink said they hope to offer the program each year.

The forms of new media in the training include Web sites, streaming video and audio, Web advertising and mobile computing.

Courses in new media include instruction on video and sound production and various types of editing software. For outreach, class focuses include trends in outreach, rural ministry and personal and public outreach.

Throughout the certification, students will get hands-on production experience at the media center, plus opportunities to go on location for their outreach classes, Brink said.

The certification targets college students and graduates who have an interest in new media combined with outreach.

For more information or to register online, visit sidmedia.org or hbc.ac.za. Applications must be received by October 30.