Turkey (MNN)–One of SAT-7’s original goals was to air indigenous television programs with the hope of Christ for the three largest language groups of the greater Middle East: Arabic, Farsi and Turkish.
Now, SAT-7 is partnering with TURK-7, a new media outreach to the Turkish people. According to SAT-7’s website, the effect of the ministry has been encouraging. It’s a big country and the number of Christians is still small.
One Turkish Pastor, a TURK-7’s partner, was quoted as saying, “TURK-7 will be an important tool for the Church in Turkey. Turkey is a big country and the number of Christians is still small. Television is a very effective method for communicating across the entire nation. The most exciting thing is that TURK-7 is helping Turks to proclaim Christian truths to their own people, in their own language.”
The TURK-7 staff is producing their own programs. Their lineup includes: “The Jesus Experience,” a documentary series explaining the basic history of the Christian faith to be dubbed into Turkish; “Two Birds Build the Nest!”, programs aimed at family relationships; and ‘People Who Met Jesus, Series 2’, in which a Turkish pastor explains what it means to encounter Jesus today.
TURK-7 also has hopes for children’s programming and other teaching series. They’re currently working on the pre-production for those ideas, while also looking for other fitting dubbing projects.
However, the cost for keeping the ministry on the air is high. One week of airtime is $2,400 (USD). SAT-7’s CEO, Terence Ascott says there’s a great future for the new project. “We believe that both TURK-7 and Iranian Christian Broadcasting (ICB) will grow to a point where they will need their own satellite frequency.” With the right funding, they could have their own satellite platform by the end of 2006.
