That's a question being addressed on a new SAT-7 TURK program currently being recorded.
While the show's host is demonstrating how viewers can stew up something new,
he also serves up spiritual food-for-thought.

Called Tanri Misafiri, the
show's title translates into "take care of your special guests," an example of
biblical living worked out in Turkish culture. 

Hospitality is one of the cornerstones of the Turkish way
of life. The mentality is that a visitor is "God's Guest" and so deserves to be
welcomed in the best manner.  

It also plays a key role in dovetailing the
biblical encouragement of the Apostle Paul in Hebrews 13:2. "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by
so doing, some people have entertained angels without knowing it."  Pray that viewers would understand the
connection and respond to it.

SAT-7 TURK helps others understand more about the Christian
faith and practices. Turkish believers  need help to show the wider Turkish community
that it is possible to be Turkish and be a follower of Christ.

The team creates and broadcasts Christian programming also designed
to help teach, train and encourage the often isolated Christian community
within Turkey. For details, click here.

Rex Rogers with
SAT-7 says that's why Christian satellite
television was so important. "There's a small Christian community, and when TURK7 was initiated
and began broadcasting in 2003, it was the only Christian broadcast going into
Turkey. It's still only one of a couple, so there's still a great limit in
terms of the Christian broadcast, Christian witness and Christian truth being
shared in the nation of Turkey."

Its purpose is to serve the needs of Christians in Turkey and
to help the wider non-Christian Turkish population understand more about
Christian beliefs and practices. The team produced many of its programs
locally, and they aired on the SAT-7
PARS (Persian) channel. 

For the last six years, the channel has operated as an
independent ministry under the name "TURK-7." The two ministries have always shared
a similar ethos: to be
inter-denominational, affirming, and to be a source of Christian teaching,
training and encouragement through which all viewers can experience God's love.

Eventually, it became clear that they could work more
efficiently together. In early 2009,
TURK-7's leadership sought to become part of the SAT-7 family to expand its
operations.

On January 1, 2010, SAT-7 Turk begins its first broadcasts
as a full member of SAT-7. Rogers explains, "We want to take the four
hours of time to 24 hours per day of programming, which helps build an audience
base, and then within the next year, we wish to take those hours of programming
from SAT-7 PARS and put them out on their own Turkish language satellite
platform so they have their own channel."

The excitement is building over the potential outreach and
growth. David Middleton, SAT-7 TÜRK's
Executive Director, agrees. "Being part
of a larger organization provides us with great support that we didn't have
before. With that support comes added
confidence in what we can do now and what we'll be able to do in the future."

You can help. For more information about SAT-7 TÜRK or
SAT-7, go to www.sat7usa.org.

At its tri-annual meeting in Beirut, Lebanon, the SAT-7
International Board voted to completely merge TURK-7 with their ministry
network by January 2010.

This decision realizes two of the four strategies SAT-7's
Board and Executive Leadership outlined to help them achieve their goal in
ministry. This includes increasing their audience and expanding their network.

TURK-7 started in 2003 as an independent Turkish Christian
television ministry. Located in Istanbul, the station used local Christian and
TV professionals to develop their programming along with the help of 28 partners for
funding. Half of these partners are local churches and ministries.

The relationship between SAT-7 and TURK-7 began years ago,
as SAT-7 was a founding member of TURK-7's partnership. Since then, SAT-7 has
helped them with funding, expertise and four hours of satellite airtime since
February 2006.

"We have great expectations regarding TURK-7's potential to
grow significantly once it becomes a fully-integrated member of our family,"
said SAT-7 CEO Terence Ascott, according to their Web site. He also said this
move is a great decision for both ministries because it will save costs and focus
their energy into one effort.

TURK-7 is also anticipating the merge.

"We at TURK-7 are excited about this merger. We fully
believe that SAT-7, with its similar ethos, its years of experience in
Christian broadcasting, and its significantly larger operational and support
staff, will help raise us up to a higher level of broadcasting," said David
Middleton, TURK-7 Executive Director, according to SAT-7.

Eventually, SAT-7 wants to provide TURK-7 with their own
24-hour channel. This will allow TURK-7 to reach even more in their current communities
and reach out to new ones.

"Over 70 million people live in Turkey," Ascott also said on
the Web site. "We want to help TURK-7 grow and maximize its ability to reach a
much larger audience."

With this stronger partnership and the help of TURK-7's currently
faithful partners, both ministries look forward to growth. However, increasing outreach
also means increasing funds.

Ascott also petitioned individuals to support this
expansion: "We want to help TURK-7 ramp-up its production capabilities, add
more staff and acquire new equipment so they can increase their programming output.
I encourage anyone with a love for Turkish Christians and the cause of Christ
in Turkey to immediately consider supporting this bold commitment to expanding
TURK-7's operations."

Visit SAT-7's Web site if you are interested in supporting Turkish
Christians and expanding the ministry of SAT-7.

"TURK-7 exists to help support the minority Christians who live in Turkey," says David Harder of SAT-7 .

SAT-7 is a Middle Eastern Christian television broadcast that shaped TURK-7 into the program it is today. With the help of this ministry, TURK-7 has been able to take off and reach more people than just Christians in Turkey.

"[TURK-7] is also to let the wider Turkish community as a whole understand more about Christianity," says Harder. "Often they're told things about what Christians believe that simply aren't true." This outreach expands to neighboring countries including Iran, through multiple broadcasts.

TURK-7 has created their own programs, but is also implementing western Christian programs (such as VeggieTales) by using Turkish voicing. "These shows are so encouraging to the Christians who live in Turkey," says Harder. "These broadcasts really help them to stand firm in their faith, to learn more about Jesus and to learn more about the Bible.

This kind of encouragement is certainly necessary in Turkey, as well as neighboring countries that the station reaches. Several Christians have been martyred in Turkey in the past, and less than one percent of the population claim to follow Jesus. "But there is a Christian community there and they've been really struggling to survive for many, many years."

TURK-7 is grateful to be able to serve the kingdom through its encouraging broadcasts and plans to celebrate many more anniversaries along the way.

Pray for the necessary funding to come in to support the TURK-7 ministry. Pray also for the continued strength and boldness of Turkish Christians to share the Gospel of Christ.

SAT-7's David Harder says partner
TURK-7 feels the pressure. "Turkey
is in a very tense time. The ruling political party is on trial right now to
prove that it should exist. It's a very
complicated scenario. Nobody knows how it will play out. That is a big threat
in the background to the stability of the country." 

The Constitutional court's
decision could shut down the Justice and Development Party's government for
alleged Islamism. Doing away with it would
fly in the face of the nationalist thinking that ‘"o be Turkish is to be Muslim,
and to be Muslim is to be Turkish."

Analysts think any changes to the
85-year-old system could trigger months of political upheaval. Already, the rumblings can be felt in the
streets. Add to that the shock of the
terror attacks, and the tensions go up even higher.

Christians are often singled out
in times of sectarian violence. While the Turkish constitution includes freedom
of religion, worship services are only permitted in "buildings created for
this purpose," and officials have restricted the construction of buildings
for minority religions.

The few who dare to profess
Christ face harassment, threats and prison. Evangelism is difficult. According to a 2007 report from I.N. Network, a
ministry working in the country, the number of believers reportedly declined
from 22% to only .2% between 1900 and 2000, and most of these Christians
are non-Turkish.

Even so, the TURK-7 team shares
the hope of Christ through programs produced in Istanbul. 

Harder says no one from their
ministry was hurt in the bombings. He
urges prayer for the team in Turkey because "they are members of the community. They are the ones who can most
effectively train and encourage the Christians who are living near them. SAT-7
is working within the local community, making the program locally, because they
will be the most effective to minister in the region."

With a population of 70 million
people, of whom 99% are Muslim, the evangelical church of the 21^st
century desires to build relationships with their Muslim neighbors.

Court papers released Sunday say “The investigation of the prosecutor has resulted in four being charged with founding a terrorist organization and murder within the framework of the organization.”

SAT-7’s David Harder says the case hit close to home. One of the victims, Necati Aydin, was husband and father of two young children. He was also an amateur actor who “played the role of Jesus Christ in a theater production that TURK-7 broadcast over the Easter holidays. So here is a man who was playing the ultimate sacrifice, who himself was called upon to give his own life and become a martyr because he loved Jesus.”

The Christian community and the staff of TURK-7 (an indigenous Turkish television ministry which broadcasts four hours a day on SAT-7’s Farsi and Turkish channel) is in shock. Christians make up less than one percent of the population of Turkey, and church members as far away as Istanbul knew the three victims.

Harder says there’s concern that persecution could be worsening. Yet there’s an upside. He goes on to say one of the widows appeared on national Turkish television and publicly forgave her husband’s killers. Her faith in action is likely to prompt many questions. “People do question and wonder about what Christians really believe. Is it just a cultural thing or is it
something that really does change their lives? From the broadcast of the widow who was able to forgive these attackers, that alone is a testimony and something that the Lord can use for people who have questions.”

SAT-7 seeks to encourage and support the local Christian community and also to help all viewers come to a better understanding of Christianity. In a statement, Terence Ascott, CEO of SAT-7, says, “We are praying for the families, for the Church and for the nation, that God will bring some good out of this terrible tragedy…. We offer our deepest condolences to his family and all the victims and the Church in Turkey.”