With the shift towards digital evangelism, and all the opportunities it offers, many local church communication directors have found it challenging to keep up with the ever-changing environment. With this in mind, Daniel Claudet, director of the Gulf States Conference (GSC) Communication Department created the Adventist Digital Evangelism Training (ADET) to provide a space for church communication leaders to learn from experts, deepen connections and offer mutual support.
The second annual training event, which took place September 23-24, 2023 at the Gulf States Conference in Montgomery, Alabama, engaged 120 church communicators and pastors from across the Conference.
The event kicked off on Sabbath morning with a sermon by GSC Conference President, Brian Danese, who highlighted the possibilities of the digital space saying, “Digital evangelism is one of the biggest opportunities we have at this time. We can reach out, communicate and encourage people far beyond our borders. This is the new frontier of the gospel, and I don’t want the devil to have all of this. Let’s all be part of influencing the world and join the digital team for Jesus.”
This message was well received by the attendees, with Elijah Crawford, one of the youngest in attendance sharing, “We had an amazing sermon from pastor Brian Danese who said no matter your age or experience you can share the gospel online.”
The training event continued with keynote speakers, Justin Khoe of the Digital Missionary Academy, Kirk Nugent, digital church consultant & media pastor as well as Pablo Fernandez, Media Production Professor at Southern Adventist University, Evelyn Tomkelski, Post Production Coordinator at Hope Channel Southeast Asia and Christina Norris, associate director of the Department of Communication at the Southern Union.
The workshops, Church Design & Reels, How to Write for Adventist Publications, Livestream Evaluation, Social Media in Spanish, Audio Basics, presented on both Sabbath afternoon and Sunday focused on helping attendees develop their technical skills.
Recognizing the importance of ADET, Christina Norris expressed, “These types of meetings are so important to have at the local conference level because we want to have all of our churches be equipped so they can minister in different ways including online.”
Communication Director Daniel Claudet reiterated this idea saying, “as communication leaders, we play a key role in advancing the church’s mission in our community. We have every confidence that this training has empowered our church communication leaders to create meaningful impact in their communities.”
All presentations were recorded and will be available on the Gulf States Conference website at https://gscsda.org/departments/communication/.