Poland (MNN/HCJB) — HCJB Global is looking at potentially reaching four million listeners with the Gospel in Poland. Radio CCM, a Christian Polish radio network recently added a new, more powerful transmitter from the HCJB Global Technology Center in Elkhart, Ind., more than doubling the coverage area of its Chorzów outlet.
More than 4 million people in the area now have access to local Christian broadcasts, and the six-station network can potentially reach the entire Silesia region of southern Poland. "We just celebrated the opening of their latest facility in Chorzow," says Mike Dworak, HCJB's sub-regional director for Central Europe. "That completes the network to blanket this area in the south/southwestern part of Poland. It gives us great coverage and great opportunity to reach that pocket or that corner of Poland, even bleeding a little bit over into the Czech Republic."
It's good news for the believers there, estimated that less than 2 percent of the population in Poland. But that also means the new range of broadcasts are falling on a not-yet fully developed audience.
The listeners have responded to the programming since the network began with a single transmitter in Oswiecim (Auschwitz) in 1998. "Your evening programs are deeply moving," wrote one listener recently. "The testimonies of changed lives remind me that God is in control. May Radio CCM lead many more people to an encounter with Jesus!"
Dworak says the team needs funding to keep this moving. "They really struggle at times to get up to speed as far as having the resources of the commercial station, for example, to be able to grow and maintain their vision to even reach more of Poland."
There's a sense of urgency to Dworak's tone. There's still so much left to do. He explains, "Communism had its way. Satan has really gotten a stronghold in this part of the world. We've seen these strongholds in the hearts and minds of people. It is a very difficult part of the world. In fact, it's been called the most Gospel-resistant mega population and the least reached in the world, and that includes the Middle East."
When asked about specific needs for the ministry, Dworak replied, "Please pray for the continued health of the Radio CCM staff as they strive to help the network become self-supporting and for the ability to better publicize the stations and spread God's Word."
Radio CCM is owned and operated by DEOrecordings, a Christian nonprofit organization founded in 1975 with the primary goal of spreading the gospel through music and the mass media.
