Last week we heard from Selena Cunningham, who works on the Daily Christian Advocate. Today we learn more about what it's like to work on the publication.

So what does it look like to be a part of this staff? On the front end, it looks like packing for the long-haul and being prepared for anything. Most of us take the early flight, so that we can arrive and get our bearings in terms of the city we’ll call home for the next two weeks, the hotel we’ll stay at, and most importantly, the makeshift office where we’ll spend most of our waking hours for the following fourteen days. The truth is, we often see very little daylight during our stints as DCA staff members. We work long hours and take few breaks.

The team spends a great deal of uninterrupted, high-pressure time together. As the conference gets going, people else work until the wee hours of the morning, surviving on a consistent diet of conference center and hotel food, and other fare that the body was not meant to run on long-term. We get tired, and grumpy just like anyone, and now and then a heated conversation arises. Yet, we also do our best to have fun together despite the seriousness of our work. I doubt there is a DCA staff who hasn’t come home with a few inside jokes or funny stories to tell about their time together.

Flexibility is key. We often find ourselves having to adjust the processes we thought we would use to handle the workflow due to situations on site. We have to adapt to whatever we run into whether that be conference center rules that weren’t anticipated, unexpected technical difficulties, or figuring out how to make a former NFL locker room function as an office for twenty or so people. In addition, we are trying to incorporate ourselves into the larger Conference staff, meeting and getting to know new people quickly. Being ready for anything is a key personality trait of a DCA staff member.

We drink a lot of coffee. We horde snacks. We push ourselves hard. Inevitably, someone gets sick. We help them feel better. We get tired, and we help one another pull the load. We strive for excellence. We make mistakes. We keep going. We make it through.

At last when our work is complete, we haul our weary selves and our luggage back to Nashville to catch up on sleep. Later on, we’ll forget how hard it was at times. We’ll only remember how proud we were of our finished product, the funny stories, and the best teamwork experience we’ve ever had!

Being a part of the group that puts together the DCA is a challenge, an honor, and a work experience unlike any other.

Today's post was written by Selena Cunningham. Selena was an editor at The United Methodist Publishing House and a member of The Daily Christian Advocate staff.