Dan Weber presents Betty Cooney with the 2017 AMC Lifetime Achievement Award in Communication at the ministries convention held in Tucson, Arizona. Photo by Pieter Damsteegt
The 2017 Adventist Ministries Convention recognized excellence in various ministries through presenting dedicated leaders with an award. The NAD NewsPoints Team congratulates two award winners, Betty Cooney and Steve Vistaunet, for their work in communication for the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Cooney received the 2017 AMC Lifetime Achievement Ministry Award. Since 2000, Cooney has been serving as the communication director, health-projects coordinator, and the Southern California Conference representative for ASI. While in New York, she served as communication director of the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Cooney represented the Adventist church on the Electronic Media Committee of the National Council of Churches and on Religion in American Life and was a member of the Religion Communicators Council. From 1997-1998, she served as associate director and communication director for the NET ’98 Bible satellite series, broadcasting worldwide in 40 languages and, in 1999, as satellite coordinator for a similar series, broadcasting internationally from New York City.
Cooney has a married son, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren living in the Los Angeles area; and a daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter living in Seattle, Washington. She has served in communication/public relations for the Seventh-day Adventist church for more than 30 years.
Left to right: Anthony White, Dan Weber, Steve Vistaunet, and Desiree Lockwood take a moment to celebrate the 2017 AMC Lifetime Achievement Award in Communication that Vistaunet was given at the ministries convention in January 2017. Photo provided by the North Pacific Union Gleaner.
Steve Vistaunet, assistant to the president of the North Pacific Union Conference and editor of the North Pacific Union Gleaner, received the 2017 AMC Excellence in Ministry Award Recipient for Communication.
Vistaunet and his team have successfully maintained and exceeded the communication standards for unions across the North American Division, including the transition from print to digital media, that seamlessly integrates both traditional and new media formats. Dan Weber, director of the NAD Office of Communication said, "The material they produce is concise, clean, and effective across all platforms. They have set a standard that all church communicators should strive to achieve."