Asia (MNN) — Christian radio is impacting lives in Asia. As believers are recognizing how radio can be used by God to spread the Gospel, many indigenous ministries are looking to develop Christian radio stations.
That’s where HCJB World Radio comes in. As their network of partners has grown, HCJB has seen a need and responded. They offer a training program for their radio station partners in the Asia-Pacific region. It’s called the “Radio School of Mission” and the program focuses on spiritual development, leadership development and management.
HCJB’s David Kealy says that the training is on many levels, “So the purpose is to teach them beyond the technical parts of radio, because they’re involved in, I don’t want to say a business, but they’re involved in a pretty demanding ministry that has a lot of components.”
Important leadership skills, as well as technical and radio skills, are developed. Through the program, believers are being equipped for greater effectiveness in radio ministry. The intent of the training school is to equip leaders who will then go and teach the same materials to others, to multiply effectiveness.
Kealy explains their goal: “What do we want to see as a result of that? We want to see them producing programs that meet the real and felt need of their audience, so they need to know their audience. And they produce a program that meets that need but introduces, spiritual–if it’s not a teaching, preaching, training program– if it’s a more general program for a seeker, we want them to have their follow-up material ready so that people can respond to the program and they can encourage that. So they respond to the program and they put them in touch with someone who could see them in a Bible study or could answer their spiritual questions. And we see churches planted as a result of radio station planting.”
Kealy says radio ministry is opening doors for church planting. “So now we have a partner in a restricted country who has in the past year and a half, put in 14 stations and the specific purpose of putting in a radio station in a new city is for church planting. So the radio station, building an audience, and building a relationship with the audience, and responding to their questions–their programming is done in a way that the people respond with questions–and churches are being planted, hand in hand, with a radio station.”
As a result of the radio station and church planting movement taking place in this restricted country, Kealy says they’ve received reports that each day four people per station are coming to know Christ. He says that the reports are “confirmed because they’re in the churches and they’re being baptized, they’re growing, times 365. I mean, God is at work, drawing people to Himself; we’re just thrilled to be a part of it.”
The work is exciting, but Kealy requests your prayers, “All of this happens because of prayer. And God is at work out there throughout Asia, people are coming to know Him and it’s just exciting to help them to help their people come to know Jesus.”
HCJB’s training is helping the Christian stations do what they do, meeting the needs of the people and impact lives for the Gospel. But they also need help. The school is scholarship-based. The cost is $2500 (USD) per student (radio station leader). If you’d like to help sponsor a scholarship, contact HCJB through their information listed below.
