Debt elimination and increased revenue have placed Pacific Press Publishing Association (PPPA) on a firm financial footing, says Robert Kyte, president of the Seventh-day Adventist-owned and operated institution. At its August 30 Constituency and Board meeting, the Idaho-based publishing association reported $100 million in revenue over the past five years.  The board also reported that PPPA is now debt-free, having abolished the $10 million debt that existed ten years ago.

“We started work on this in 1990,” says Kyte. “We did a recapitalization, introduced more efficient equipment, streamlined inventory, and reduced staffing levels, mainly through attrition, by about 25 percent.”

Kyte says that the turnaround will allow the publishing institution to pursue its mission with renewed strength. “Pacific Press doesn’t exist merely to provide employment or to keep presses busy,” says Kyte. “We are a spiritual enterprise with the highest calling of service that our Lord gives.” PPPA strives to fulfil this mission by “providing resources for evangelism and by building up the church through nurturing the members.”

Last year, the 125-year-old institution began a new era in marketing, launching an on-line book store (www.adventistbookcenter.com) to complement its bricks and mortar distribution centers. Kyte says that given the rapid pace of technological innovation in book marketing, PPPA’s move into cyberspace was inevitable. “If the church doesn’t reach into the ‘hot markets’–such as the Internet and e-commerce–we’re going to be behind where the church members already are,” he says.  Web site sales are expected to exceed $100,000 this year.

Pastor Lowell Cooper, newly elected chair of the PPPA board, says the significant progress of the publishing association during the past five years is indicative of “a committed workforce, professional management, and a spiritual focus.”  Cooper, who is also a general vice president of the Adventist Church worldwide, says that PPPA is “well poised to serve the church in the demanding years ahead.”

The publishing association, which has more than 150 employees, prints some 18 million magazines and four million books and booklets each year.  In addition, PPPA owns and operates 14 Adventist Book Centers and 20 retail stores in North America.

Outgoing PPPA board chairman, Pastor Robert Kloosterhuis, says that it has been a “special privilege to serve as chair of the PPPA board for the past 13 years and to note the steady progress of this institution–particularly in its financial stability.”

Established in 1874, PPPA will continue to invest in the “human and material resources” needed to support the world mission of the Adventist Church, says Kyte. PPPA not only provides publishing expertise and counsel to church institutions around the world, but in the past five years has donated approximately $1 million in funds and products to international church projects.