"It was very encouraging and productive for the members of our staff to have a face-to-face meeting," said David Treybig, managing editor. "The creative juices always seem to flow a little faster, and the enthusiasm seems to be retained a little longer when we are able to focus our collective attention on a given subject over an entire day."

Plans for the next year include covering more subjects in each issue, continuing to develop young writers, helping the current writers sharpen their skills and testing a video welcome by Aaron Booth on the Web site.

"With three-fourths of our readers outside the United Church of God, Vertical Thought has become a viable media tool for preaching the gospel to the younger generation," Mr. Treybig said. "Obviously, we want to do our part in making this tool as effective as possible."

One of the most surprising developments discussed was the increased traffic on the Vertical Thought Web site in 2006. From approximately 5,000 visitors per month in January 2006, the number increased to approximately 17,000 per month in December. Also, over the past two months approximately 1,200 new people have subscribed to Vertical News—a monthly e-mail announcing new issues, introducing online articles and providing timely commentary.

Most of this increase is due to advertising on Google and Yahoo. In conjunction with this advertising, Vertical Thought is also receiving a surge in magazine subscription requests.