Cooperation between Seventh-day Adventist mainstream media professionals and church lay communicators was the focus of a meeting in Cavite, Philippines, Nov. 11 to 13.

Some 60 attendees concentrated on communicating Christ’s mission in the media, and media professionals offered their services to disseminate church-produced programming.

“People were very willing to use the resources they have for communicating the Christian message,” said Reger Smith, director of public relations for the Adventist world church and one of the speakers at the event. “Church leaders in the region were pleased with the commitment between lay communicators and church media communicators in reaching their communities.”

“The Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Philippine Information Agency have one mission in common—to relay the ‘good news’ to the community,” said Olivia T. Sudaria, regional director of the Philippine Information Agency, under the auspices of the president of the Republic of the Philippines, in a keynote address. “Perhaps a PIA and Adventist partnership can be forged in the future to enable top national, regional, provincial, and city government officials to come face-to-face with Adventist leaders and members to find ways of addressing pressing social issues and concerns,” Sudaria said.

Other event speakers included: Willy Sumagaysay, associate director for trust services for the Adventist world church; Ellen Missah, shepherdess coordinator for the southern Asia-Pacific region; and Evelyn Barrido, graduate school dean of a state university.

The event marked the first time the church in the Southern Asia-Pacific region has hosted a communication convention.