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Greetings faithful readers:

After two and a half years of almost daily blogging, I'm going to be unplugging for the next 30 days. I'm heading down to Oaxaca, Mexico, to attend a wedding, get some reading done for school, and express some solidaridad. I'll be back online in September and until then I've left our Spectrum Blog in very capable fingers.

Trisha Famisaran is a graduate of La Sierra University with a MA in Theology from Claremont School of Theology. She's getting another MA in Continental Philosophy and a PhD in Philosophy and Religion from the Claremont Graduate School. She runs the Seventh-day Adventist Gender Justice blog.

Ron Osborn is a graduate of Atlantic Union College. He received a MA in Liberal Arts from the St. Johns College and a MSc in Conflict and Development studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. He is working on a PhD in Politics and International Relations at the University of Southern California. Check out his Z Magazine article "Lessons from Ben Suc."

Jared Wright has spent time in mission service and is a graduate of La Sierra University. He is studying for an MDiv from La Sierra in Theology and Ethics. He runs the Adventist Environmental Advocacy blog.

Everyday between 500 and 1000 different folks visit this site, several hundred of you visit up to 200 times a week. Y'all spend an average of 5:14 on the site and usually read three pages a visit. In the last 30 days during these dog days of summer we've had 82,416 pageviews.

We have a special series with Adventist law bloggers and the Bill of Rights coming in September, so stay tuned. Also, I'd love to meet you face-to-face at the conference Sept. 26-28 so if you can make it, do.

I was recently enjoying an article on Emily Dickinson in the August 4 issue of the New Yorker and thought of the culture that's shaped our Adventist theology. After reading Dickison's poems, a friend of Emerson wrote the following:

She is the quintessence of that element we all have who are of the Puritan descent pur sang. We came to this country to think our own thoughts with nobody to hinder. . . . We conversed with our own souls till we lost the art of communicating with other people.

In this age of mass isolation and "my relationship with God" rhetoric, the quote still rings true. In balance with our attention to saving our souls, it's been rewarding to see more and more Adventists communicating about the rest of the world as well - forging a relationship with God and creation. Through even the kerfuffles over hot issues like gay marriage and evangelism, together we just might be doing that hardest thing of all - conversing, and even sharing our souls with others.

Blessings.

See you in September.