MAGAZINE vol. 35, no. 1 TWR.org celebrating 60 years of speaking hope to the world
BECAUSE you gave EXTENDING THE REACH OF THE GOOD NEWS Thank You for Participating in TWR s Year-End Challenge TWR would like to praise God and extend our heartfelt thanks to you for standing with us in our 2013 Year-End Challenge. Some of TWR s closest friends launched the challenge with a gift of $237,500, and many of you, our supporters, added another $437,605. With this total of $675,105, TWR was able to end the year in a strong financial position. Your prayers and gifts sustained us for another year of speaking hope to the world! PANI Transmitter Fully Funded; Tests Are Ongoing The PANI project is TWR s ambitious plan to broadcast the gospel on AM radio into Pakistan, Afghanistan and North India, covering an area with a population of about 200 million people. Thanks to your generous gifts, and especially your prayers, our goal to raise almost $1.4 million for the transmitter installation was reached in 2013, and you gave an additional $63,000 to fund the initial broadcasts. The equipment is being tested and prepared to go on the air soon with programs in the Dari and Pashto languages, and more languages will follow. Thank you. Reaching the Unreached in Africa Reaching the unreached people groups across the vast continent of Africa is a huge challenge for TWR and our partner ministries. Your gifts of $98,000 to our Africa projects in 2013 supported our strategic broadcasts from Benin (West Africa) and Swaziland (Southern Africa), where programs in dozens of languages target the needs of very specific audiences, such as farmers, mothers, pastors, youth, the illiterate, those with HIV/AIDS, or those who adhere to other religions. With these programs, TWR seeks to introduce Africans to Jesus Christ and disciple them in a deep understanding of the Word of God. TWR Broadcasts the Word of god to Cuba In 2014, TWR is celebrating 50 years of ministry from our station on the Caribbean island of Bonaire. From there, our powerful transmitter can beam Spanish programs into Cuba, where TWR is loved by Cuban listeners. They write to us, asking for more programs and sharing how blessed they are to be drinking in the biblical messages, especially from the program Messages of Faith and Hope by Cuban pastor Alberto Gonzales. Plans are in place for an expanded lineup of programs produced especially for Cuba, as well as a Bonaire transmitter power upgrade to widen our reach into Cuba, Brazil and other parts of Latin America. Thank you for your recent support of nearly $50,000 to reach Cubans for Christ. anniversary milestones Join us in thanking God for these TWR colleagues celebrating 10 or more years of service, some during 2013 and the rest during the first half of 2014. 50 David Fisher, Wheaton, Ill. 45 Marli Spieker, Cary, N.C. 30 Bob & Beth Chick, Cary, N.C. Kalman & Annamarie Dobos, Atoka, Tenn. Jim & Roberta Hill, Cary, N.C. Chuck & Darlene Saunders, Cary, N.C. Peggy Corcoran, Cary, N.C. 20 Nathan & Janette McGurk, Bonaire Tom Watkins, Cary, N.C. 15 Wayne & Shelley Frost, Cary, N.C. Andrew & Holly Haas, South Africa 10 Paul & Donna Cox, Kenya Ann White, Cary, N.C. Tammy Stores, Cary, N.C. 2 twr MAGAZINE
president s column by Lauren Libby, President/CEO This morning, Feb. 20, 2014, about 130 people gathered at the TWR Americas office in Cary, North Carolina, to celebrate 60 years of ministry. It is nothing short of miraculous to recount what God has done in just six decades. TWR has a God-given past and a called future! Our calling from God is this: to reach the world for Christ by mass media so that lasting fruit is produced. God has been doing this for the last 60 years. Starting with just one small radio station in Tangier, Morocco, in the 1950s, TWR has grown into a media movement that speaks to more than 3 billion people in 230 languages every day. Using broadcast, digital, video, print and satellite platforms, TWR speaks hope with a big voice on behalf of Jesus Christ. But it doesn t stop there! TWR has an extensive field organization through TWR partner ministries delivering hope and personal spiritual support to thousands every day. Recently, I was at the production center of a major Christian TV network. The ministry leader told me he wanted me to meet someone. A young man who was the on-air anchor for the network s Arabic broadcasts came up and shook my hand and said, I met Jesus through TWR broadcasts to North Africa when I was a teenager. God used TWR to raise up this Arabic media spokesman. Recently in India, more than 900 radiohome group leaders were trained and equipped to minister to people who gather in their homes. These radio homes help believers grow in their relationship with Jesus. TWR s role in helping individuals develop their spiritual lives occurs on every continent except Antarctica. TWR is poised to move to the future. We are developing new ideas for deploying video production facilities, digital delivery platforms, personal smartphones, ipads, expanded broadcast facilities and content-delivery models just now being conceptualized. The world gets smaller every day! This is that big voice I was talking about earlier and how God is leading us to use what he has provided in telling the whole globe about Jesus. You, our ministry partner family, have made all this possible. Your prayer support has moved the hearts of political leaders, given wisdom to TWR staff and leaders, removed obstacles, and kept TWR moving through some very difficult circumstances. Your financial support of individual staff members, special projects and operating needs literally have enabled TWR to speak to the world and equip believers globally. In short, the future is as bright as our ability to believe God through faith to move forward. President/CEO Lauren Libby Editor Jon Hill International Director for the Americas Tim Klingbeil Director of Marketing & Communications David McCreary Designer Nicole Hughes www.twr.org Subscription: This publication is sent without charge and is sustained by contributions from those who have chosen voluntarily to support this worldwide ministry. Names on TWR s mailing list are used exclusively by TWR and are not sold to or rented by any other organization. TWR is a member of Missio Nexus, National Religious Broadcasters, Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, Evangelical Press Association, and Association of Evangelical Relief and Development Organizations. TWR (ISSN 1093-0124) is published triannually by TWR, P.O. Box 8700, Cary, NC, 27512. Periodicals postage paid at Cary, NC, & additional mailing offices. Canadian address: Send Canadian address changes to Trans World Radio Canada P.O. Box 25324, London, Ontario N6C 6B1 Postmaster: Send U.S. address changes to TWR, P.O. Box 8700, Cary, NC 27512, 919.460.3700. 2014 Trans World Radio Printed in the USA. PR31300313 www.twr.org 3
following his footsteps Rarely does a batter belt a homerun in the first few swings at the plate, but that s pretty much what happened with TWR s new missions-focused radio feature. Program host and producer Andy Napier, who joined TWR in Cary, N.C., last year after serving 24 years with Moody Radio in Chattanooga, Tenn., was amazed at how the whole concept of Footsteps jelled as he interviewed TWR chairman Thomas Lowell for an installment of the two-minute feature. Lowell told of presiding during a ceremony to commission pastors as missionaries to the countryside of India and of feeling deeply moved as he looked own on the kneeling men and noticed that all had bare feet, their shoes having been removed according to local custom. That was one of the very first interviews we recorded for the program, which is called Footsteps based on the passage How beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News, Andy said, quoting Romans 10:15. I thought, How appropriate. Almost a theme program for what we re doing. These Indian pastors with their bare feet and the thought that those bare feet are going to be carrying the Gospel around the country Andy s background as radio host and program director, travel experience and heart for missions make him the ideal candidate to launch Footsteps, described as a dynamic interview format that will reveal stories of how individuals and ministries around the world are fulfilling God s Great Commission. We want to put missions on their radar screen, he said. So many people in the Church in America think either only about their church or only about work in their community. And we want them to start thinking about, sure, reaching those in their neighborhood, but also going beyond their neighborhood so that missions is part of what they re interested in to the point where they re hearing a daily dose of a story from a missionary or a strategy from a missions organization or maybe it s just a challenge to get involved. Andy and John Summerville, director of radio station partnerships, are hoping to connect with Christian stations across the U.S. that will add the feature to their lineups. But the time on the air won t be the only chance for the program to reach an audience. Listeners will be directed to a website where they can learn more about the people and ministries highlighted in the installments and, eventually, they will be able to watch video versions of Andy s entire conversations with many of the guests. Jon Hill, TWR magazine editor 4 twrmagazine
Project Hannah gets award for partnerships spotlight Deciding what she would say as she accepted the National Religious Broadcasters award didn t come easy for Marli Spieker. Project Hannah had won the 2014 NRB Media Award for International Strategic Partnership, and the founder of the TWR women s ministry was determined to shine the spotlight on the right place during the Feb. 25 ceremony. Wow, this is humbling. Thank you, NRB. But actually, this honor does not belong to us not to TWR, not to Project Hannah, not to me. This honor goes unreservedly to God. Because touching lives of broken women trapped in cultural and spiritual darkness stripped of their God-given dignity and empowering them by instilling God s healing hope into their brokenness, is a big, big God thing! And this honor belongs to over 65 indigenous teams radio producers, follow-up workers, supporters and to 40,000 intercessors seeking biblical justice through prayer every day, in 124 countries! These global partners are the ones who climb inside the skin of our listeners to learn the language of their hearts. It has been said that The gospel is only good news if it gets there on time. By God s grace, together, using cuttingedge technology and most of all much prayer, Project Hannah will continue being on time! Being recognized by a major organization like NRB is wonderful, Marli will tell you, but the most deeply rewarding experiences occur in places like a women s prison in Asunción, Paraguay. When she first visited, Marli Spieker with NRB President Jerry Johnson the conditions nearly overwhelmed her: gates clanging shut, the inmates filthy language, the reek of dirt and excrement, cobwebs everywhere. With about a 100 prisoners crowded into a room, a musician sang and then Marli told them, We didn t come here because we are better than you. We are all fellow offenders. We all deserve the penalty. But someone paid my debt. Many women came to Christ that day. When Marli returned to Paraguay a year later and visited the prison, things had changed: The meeting room was painted pink and decorated with paper flowers. In partnership with three local ministries, a church had formed. There were prayer meetings and a choir, and a pastor even held services each week. Milk for the prisoners children, along with clothes, toilet paper and other items, had been donated. Women could make handicrafts for sale, and industrial sewing machines had been installed, enabling some of the inmates to earn money for when they were released. It s not all Project Hannah, but it s a byproduct of the transformation in that place, Marli said. Going back there and just looking around and smelling the place, I said, What we do is all worth it. It s a transformation of their worldview, a transformation of how they see themselves, how they see life, death, family, and their situation. Discover more about Project Hannah at projecthannah.org. www.twr.org 5
60 years on, the mıssıon isn t waning By Jon Hill TWR Magazine Editor TWR has been blessed with six decades of remarkable broadcasting history, but the mission to speak hope to untold millions in places like Cuba, China and Afghanistan fixes its focus on the future. That was the gist of TWR CEO Lauren Libby s message to participants in a Feb. 20, 2014, Insider Update webinar that celebrated the ministry's 60th anniversary of broadcasting. The past is very, very important, Libby told participants. The past is what we build on, but the future is what we grasp by faith. TWR has a God-given past. But we have a called future. We believe God is calling us as we move into the future. Our goal is for every person on planet earth to hear the good news about Jesus. Signing on the air Feb. 22, 1954, from Tangier, Morocco, the ministry founded by Dr. Paul Freed relied on one 2,500-watt Army-surplus transmitter for broadcasting to Spain in two languages. Today TWR uses 20 high-powered transmitting sites, 2,000 local stations worldwide and various new media outlets to declare the Gospel in more than 230 languages to a potential audience of roughly 4 billion in 160 countries. On the same day as the webinar, President Libby also spoke by video conference to an international gathering of TWR staff and partners, thanking God for the accomplishments of the past but then returning to the work still to be done. Other commemorative events will take place throughout the year for example, the production of a short video on TWR s history and a special booklet, Stories of Hope, has been published featuring 60 compelling letters from audience members. An audio-visual presentation created for the celebrations features longtime missionaries I came here to tell you that your broadcasts touched me. I am here because of your radio programs. I was made blind so I could find Jesus. listener from zimbabwe 6 twrmagazine
Two months ago, I got to know a follower of Jesus, and this man gave me a radio.... [H]e would humble himself to care for me and show love to a lonely old man like me. Why would he do that for someone who has nothing? I discovered the answer as I started to listen to TWR's programs. listener from china Tom Lowell, Anna Lee Erickson Stewart and Bill Mial fondly recalling several of the ministry s milestones. And there are lots to choose from piercing the Iron Curtain and blanketing much of Europe with Bible broadcasts from a Monte Carlo facility built for Nazi propaganda establishing a powerful transmitter 50 years ago on the Caribbean island of Bonaire and then building more on Guam and in southern and western Africa forming Project Hannah, with its radio program Women of Hope and worldwide prayer movement diving into new media with projects such as TWR360, the world s premier online tool for accessing Christian media resources in users heart languages to name a few. But TWR staff and supporters are always anticipating new outreach projects. For example, the fledgling 500,000-watt PANI transmitter, now being tested for carrying biblical programming to a potential audience of more than 200 million in largely unreached Pakistan, Afghanistan and North India a major upgrade of the Bonaire transmitter to 450,000 watts so it can reach all of Cuba and far into Brazil ongoing development of the language and content availability of TWR360 also to name just a few. These milestones, however, have depended in the past and will depend in the future on the prayer and financial support of people who heed the promptings of the Spirit, according to Libby. God has used you to touch people each and every day, he reminds supporters. So as a family, we have made this happen, and as a family, I believe God is going to continue to have us work together until he brings down the curtain on this current chapter in human history. The listener quotes on pages 6-7 are excerpts from our book, Stories of Hope. You can order a copy or read a different story from the booklet each week on the TWR.org blog. My curiosity got the better of me, so one day I decided to ask this resident what was so interesting about the radio program that caused her to spend that much time on it. Smiling sweetly, she invited me to sit down with her to enjoy the program. That was the very first time I heard the name of Jesus on a Christian program. listener from india www.twr.org 7
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