ASI Convention 2026

Around the Table: Reflections from the ASI Convention.

Four days. Hundreds of conversations. One shared purpose.

When Blue Vineyard arrived in Phoenix for 2026 ASI International Convention, much of our time was expected to be spent in the exhibit hall alongside Amazing Facts International, introducing people to Ezra and sharing some of the technology behind it.

And that certainly happened.

But one of the most valuable lessons from ASI was that some of the most important conversations didn’t happen at the booth at all.

They happened around the table.

Where conversations become connections

Breakfast and dinner at ASI became natural meeting places. People sat down as strangers and left knowing a little more about each other’s stories, ministries, challenges and ambitions.

A conversation over breakfast led to meeting the leadership of 3ABN Canada and hearing about their vision for expanding the reach of Bible study through technology.

Another connection opened a conversation with the Ellen G. White Estate about its work in digitisation and AI.

Other introductions led to discussions with Outpost Centres International, Adventist Young Professionals, Light Bearers, Voice of Prophecy, Child Impact International and Southwestern Adventist University to name a few.

Some conversations were about AI. Others were about websites, content, education, homelessness, outreach or the challenges organisations are facing as technology continues to evolve.

What connected them wasn’t technology.

It was mission.

Technology should begin with listening

It can be tempting to attend a conference with a polished pitch and an answer ready for every question.

ASI reinforced something we believe strongly at Blue Vineyard: good technology often starts the other way around.

It starts by listening.

What are you trying to accomplish?

What’s getting in the way?

Where are people losing time?

What would allow your team to reach more people, serve them better or spend more time doing the work that matters?

One conversation with Voice of Prophecy captured this particularly well.

What began as a casual discussion while passing their booth became a conversation about content, AI and the possibilities technology could create for their ministry.

The initial assumption might have been that another organisation needed something similar to technology already being developed elsewhere.

But after asking questions, a different need emerged: helping transform and digitise existing content so it could reach people in new and more dynamic ways.

That’s an important distinction.

Innovation isn’t about finding somewhere to put the latest technology.

It’s about understanding the problem well enough to know which technology — if any — should be there.

Ezra: seeing an idea become something real

Throughout ASI, Blue Vineyard was based alongside the Amazing Facts team, helping introduce attendees to Ezra and explain some of the thinking and technology behind it.

Ezra represents something particularly exciting for us because it demonstrates what can happen when a ministry’s knowledge and experience are combined with technology designed specifically around its mission.

Rather than simply responding to questions, Ezra is being developed to facilitate proactive Bible study and engagement.

Seeing people interact with it created conversations well beyond the product itself.

People began asking:

“Could technology help us do something we’ve never been able to do before in our mission outreach?”

That’s a much more interesting question than simply asking how an organisation can use AI.

Toward the end of ASI, Pastor Jean from Amazing Facts spent time going through Ezra with the Blue Vineyard team and providing feedback directly.

His response was encouraging. Amazing Facts could see what had already been achieved, while also recognising that this was only the beginning.

For Blue Vineyard, that trust matters.

When an organisation places an important part of its mission in the hands of a technology partner, the responsibility extends well beyond delivering software. It means understanding what is at stake, protecting that trust and building something worthy of the organisation it represents.

AI was everywhere – but people remained at the centre

Unsurprisingly, AI featured in many conversations across the four days.

There were discussions about AI and Bible study, content creation, education, ministry systems, internal efficiency and how organisations might responsibly introduce AI into their operations.

Adam also joined Hope Channel International to discuss AI and ministry, including the work being undertaken with Amazing Facts and his own experience in local church youth ministry.

“Yet one of the clearest takeaways from ASI was that the conversation shouldn’t really begin with AI.  It should begin with people.”

Technology can remove friction. It can create capacity. It can help organisations understand information, communicate more effectively and reach people in ways that previously weren’t possible.

But technology isn’t the mission. It’s there to serve it.

Sometimes the best opportunities aren’t planned

ASI International Convention was also a reminder of the importance of remaining curious.

A conversation leads to an introduction.

An introduction leads to another booth.

Someone says, “You really need to meet this person.”

And suddenly a discussion begins that neither party expected to have that morning.

That’s how many of the most meaningful connections at ASI happened.

They began with curiosity.

A movement filled with people doing remarkable things

Perhaps the most encouraging part of ASI was seeing the breadth of work being undertaken across the Adventist community.

There were people working in media and Bible ministry.

People fighting child trafficking.

People serving communities experiencing homelessness.

Educators, entrepreneurs, missionaries, healthcare organisations and businesses trying to live out their faith through the work they do every day.

Not every organisation at ASI looked the same, and neither did their challenges.

That matters.

Because technology shouldn’t make organisations similar. It should give them greater capacity to do the thing they were uniquely created to do.

What we brought home from Phoenix

Blue Vineyard left ASI Convention with new relationships, and plenty of conversations that will continue long after everyone has packed up their booths.

But perhaps the bigger takeaway was a reaffirmation of why Blue Vineyard exists.

We don’t believe technology should be implemented simply because it is new. We believe it should solve real problems and help organisations spend more of their time and resources on the people and purpose they exist to serve.

ASI was filled with people trying to make a difference in their corner of the world.

Our role isn’t to become the centre of those stories.

It’s to listen carefully, understand what they’re trying to achieve and, where we can, put the right technology behind them.

Because sometimes moving a mission forward starts with sophisticated technology.

And sometimes it starts much more simply… with just a conversation around the table.