Under the leadership of Dr. Harold Lee, the Bradford-Cleveland-Brooks Leadership Center at Oakwood University invited pastors and students to a conference called “The Art & Craft of Preaching” with the subtitle: “Preaching Daniel and Revelation: Visions of Hope and Visions of Victory.” The meetings took place February 26–29, 2012. The BRI was also invited. The conference was organized because it was felt that at present in many places Daniel and Revelation are hardly preached and thereby important topics are left out and Adventist identity suffers. By avoiding the discussion on the interpretation and proclamation of biblical apocalyptic literature differences in interpretation will become more pronounced and theological unity more and more difficult to uphold.

The meetings wanted to encourage the audience to explore studying and preaching Daniel and Revelation from an Adventist perspective. It was acknowledged that in some cases the last word in interpreting difficult passages has not yet been spoken. Nevertheless it was clear that the church has a pretty clear picture of the interpretation of these books as a whole. The organizers must be lauded for putting together an exceptional conference with outstanding and well-known speakers, including the President of the General Conference.