Publisher

Our goal is to foster community through conversation. This website is the online companion to Spectrum, a journal established to encourage Seventh-day Adventist participation in the discussion of contemporary issues from a Christian viewpoint, to look without prejudice at all sides of a subject, to evaluate the merits of diverse views, and to foster intellectual and cultural growth. Spectrum magazine is edited by Bonnie Dwyer, and is published quarterly and mailed to subscribers. The blog is regularly updated with news, columns, spiritual reflections, Sabbath School commentary and interviews. Since we launched, we've had several million page views and hundreds of thousands of visits from all corners of the globe. Alita Byrd edits Spectrum Blog. If you would like to contact the Spectrum Blog editor, please email blog@spectrummagazine.org. The Spectrum Web Team Bonnie Dwyer began writing for Spectrum as a student. She is a journalism graduate of La Sierra University and California State University, Fullerton. After many years of writing news stories and investigative pieces for Spectrum, she became its editor in 1998. Watching the web site development, dreaming about new possibilities, and constantly working on the next phase of the site has been one of the major joys of her job. She says it has required creative thinking about basic things like conversation and time. She lives in Granite Bay, California with her husband Tom and son Mark, and they are all members of the Roseville SDA Church. It is there she has learned that abstract ideas about church need to be balanced with the practical realities of participating locally. The family dog Ella, now 16 years old, rarely leaves the front porch. Alita Byrd has been writing for Spectrum since 1995, when she was a journalism and English student at Columbia Union College (now Washington Adventist University) in Washington, DC. She worked part-time at Spectrum, under editor Roy Branson, updating circulation records and processing subscriptions. She was given her first investigative story while still a student, researching the Adventist involvement in the 1994 Rwanda genocide. Since then, she has written extensively about Rwanda for Spectrum, as well as other topics. Alita earned a master’s in history of international relations from the London School of Economics in 2001, and worked as a writer for magazines in the US, Europe and South Africa. She is currently based in Atlanta, Georgia, where she lives with her husband and three children, ages four, three, and almost one. Jared Wright is pastor of media and collegiate ministries at the Azure Hills Church. Jared grew up in Rwanda, Africa, and has lived in California, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas, Honduras and Thailand. Living in many parts of the world has provided sensitivities to the rich diversity of beliefs and practices within the Adventist family. In addition to writing, Jared enjoys graphic arts, competitive cycling and triathlon, and vegetarian cuisine. He appreciates and applauds Adventist engagement in issues of justice and equality and environmental stewardship. Joelle Chase edits Spectrum blog's spirituality section. She is Director of Messaging for Center for Action and Contemplation (an ecumenical, educational non-profit). Joelle earned a Bachelors in Elementary Education from Andrews University in Michigan and subsequently taught for two years in a one-room school in Montana. Having had her fill of northern cold, Joelle returned to the Southwest where her body and soul feel most at home. She writes and reads from Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she and her husband Peter raise two mutts, farm an urban homestead, and dance in the occasional rain. Jonathan Pichot, a software developer for Collective Idea, working out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, is the technical expert on the team. Born in the United States to an Adventist family that had recently immigrated to America from France, he grew up in Berrien Springs, Michigan, and finished high school having attended no more than two schools. He identifies as Franco-American, or, more specifically, Franco-Michigander. His interests tend to wander; currently, he's passionate about software and cities. In his free time he organizes a Code for America Brigade in Grand Rapids. He's been with Spectrum over 6 years–the longest he's been associated with any one organization. Spectrum has been a foundational part of his spiritual journey.