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Press Room
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Welcome to the HCJB Global Press Room. Please bookmark this section as a key resource on all news updates and information on our organization and our global efforts.
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(Dec. 23, 2011 - by Beth Patton) As HCJB Global radio engineer Ty Stakes readied for his trip to set up a station in Nepal, he felt prompted to “throw in” a second coaxial cable extension with the normal radio installation equipment he was packing. He knows now it was the Lord providing for the need that would come in the next week.
 From Nov. 27 through Dec. 5, two HCJB Global staff members worked alongside Nepalese partners to launch Radio Rasuwa, the first local radio station in a rural district of Nepal. Broadcasts can be heard throughout the district headquarters and in villages in nearby valleys and mountainous areas.
“When we arrived, we realized we would need to do some improvising to get this station launched on time,” related Stakes, director of the Asia Pacific Region. First, he and new HCJB Global missionary Toffer King discovered that the studio had been placed in the bottom of the building instead of in the top floor where they had expected it to be. That meant they would need an additional 16-foot coaxial cable extension or they would not be able to finish the installation. “God knew,” smiled Stakes and found the “extra” he had packed before leaving on his trip.
“Then the tower on which the antenna would be installed arrived late, and when it did, it was a different design than the ones we had used before,” Stakes continued. “Using translators and lots of picture-drawing with the ‘tower guys,’ we came up with an elegant, simple solution and design. And it worked!”
Then there wasn’t enough pipe material. But they found a man in town who was a welder and was able to fashion efficient brackets [to mount the antenna] out of what was available. “And the installation came out great!” Stakes exclaimed.
Despite the initial obstacles, Radio Rasuwa began broadcasting on Thursday, Dec. 1, using an FM transmitter from the HCJB Global Technology Center in Elkhart, Ind. Programming in the local language is continuing 17 hours daily from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The day after the initial transmission began, a “turning on” ceremony, complete with speeches and tea drinking, took place with local officials, including the head of the police department.
Area residents are primarily agricultural workers, often living on picturesque terraced farms along the mountainsides. Part of the programming on Radio Rasuwa will be focused on educational topics to help local communities with agricultural development.
Since the new station is in an area close to Nepal’s northern border with Tibet, the 14,000 potential listeners are mostly Tibetan Buddhists, unlike much of the rest of Nepal which is predominately Hindu. The area is dotted with Buddhist stupas (mound-like structures containing Buddhist relics) and prayer flags.
There are only about 300 Christians in the area, and just six fellowship groups spread through the villages of the district.
The video, “Humble Beginnings,” talks about the survey trip HCJB Global engineers took in March 2011 as they prepared for the installation of Radio Rasuwa. In it, HCJB Global’s local partner shares his vision, “We want to serve our community with this gospel radio and reach out to these people through radio. I believe God will help us.”
Stakes prays that from these humble beginnings, Radio Rasuwa will become a “beacon of transforming light that will shine in a dark place for the glory of Jesus Christ.”
Radio Rasuwa is the fifth station that HCJB Global has helped national believers launch in Nepal since June 2009. The five are scattered throughout the country in both rural and urban areas. Three additional stations with other partners are expected to be on-air by the end of 2012.
To view the video, visit http://www.hcjb.org/index.php?option=com_seyret&Itemid=116&task=videodirectlink&id=51.
Source: HCJB Global |
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(Dec. 16, 2011 - by Harold Goerzen) Establishing esprit de corps was critical for a 13-member group that worked in Haiti recently and a situation that might have deteriorated into discord instead turned out to be a template for success.
 “The team was very diverse—really three separate groups of people—and for the most part we didn’t know each other before the trip,” said David Rhodes, project coordinator at the HCJB Global Technology Center in Elkhart, Ind. He led the ministry’s second team in six months to work on an orphanage of a partner ministry, Kids Alive International (KAI).
Team members from the HCJB Global Ministry Service Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., and the Technology Center along were joined by three friends of new missionaries Jeff and Jackie Benedict. Together they worked at KAI’s orphanage in Cap Haitien from Nov. 25 to Dec. 3. The team’s stated purpose was to help with a major construction project to build eight family-style homes at the organization’s Cap Haitien facilities in northern Haiti. But building relationships took high priority too.
“I was really pleased at how well the team bonded,” said Rhodes who had overseen some 60 work teams while serving as a KAI missionary with his wife, Connie, in Peru for eight years before joining HCJB Global in 2009. “The team members all had good hearts and just loved the children. It’s not always how much we accomplish that’s important, but other things too, like the effect the trip has on their personal Christian lives.”
Using funds that HCJB Global raised for relief after the devastating earthquake in January 2010 that killed more than 200,000 people in Port-au-Prince, the ministry took in 50 additional orphans soon after the quake, effectively tripling the orphanage’s enrollment. Most of the orphans are living with families in rented homes, but will move to the permanent structures as they become available.
“The work now is to create the facilities to house these children and to be able to provide for them,” explained Jeff VanDerMolen, regional director for KAI. “That’s what HCJB Global has been helping with….. The physical work that’s been accomplished is a huge blessing. Another really cool part of the teams is the way God can use a week to change somebody’s heart.”
Team members did everything from digging a pit for a septic tank to wiring, installing fixtures, sanding/painting, doing prep work for a concrete slab foundation, and holding a vacation Bible school (VBS).
“Because of the influence of Kids Alive, the local people welcomed us into their humble homes,” said Nate Dell, HCJB Global’s work team coordinator. “It was an eye-opening experience for us to see the Kids Alive program at work. The interaction with those kids was a lot of fun. Some of the homes we visited will be replaced by the ones that we helped to build.”
Preparing the hole for the septic tank was especially challenging. “There was no backhoe, and we had to chuck the dirt 15 feet into the air. [Before the trip] I must have been shoveling snow to get ready!” chuckled Dell who lives with his wife, Rachelle, in Kremmling, Colo.
A touching moment came when Dell encouraged the team’s youngest member, 14-year-old Kyle Larson, to help some Haitian laborers mix and pour concrete. “Later that day Kyle shared that at first he felt intimidated helping the Haitians. He said, ‘I’d never done anything like that before! But by the end of the day I didn’t see them as Haitians, but as part of the crew.’ Then he added, ‘I’m a little bit more color blind now!’”
Another opportunity opened when KAI’s compactor, used to pack the ground for the cement slab foundation, broke down. “This was a very important piece of equipment,” explained IT worker Ron With who served on the team with his wife, Theresa, from Colorado Springs. But he just “happened” to have a background as an automotive mechanic, and Dell had experience in small-engine repair.
“We took the compactor to the shop and figured out what was wrong,” With said. “We repaired some gaskets and were able to get it working. We also ordered parts for the next team to bring down. It was critical to get this compactor working because the next team would pour cement.”
Rhodes added that with eight of the 13 team members being women, it was an ideal opportunity to offer VBS, with translation, to the orphans. “We taught songs and Scriptures in Creole,” related Theresa With. “The kids loved the songs and even wrote the lyrics down on their hands. They memorized the Scriptures and songs by the end of class time, and Jackie Benedict presented the stories. I can’t say enough about her amazing gift and passion for child evangelism.”
“On the last day we did a drama that [HCJB Global appointee] Kendra Larson wrote,” added Jessica TenBrink from Colorado Springs. The VBS also included arts and crafts projects that the team brought down, including socks to make hand puppets and yarn to make crosses. “They had so much fun, and the teachers were excited too.”
In addition, team members had the opportunity to visit another partner, Radio 4VEH, a ministry of One Mission Society in Cap Haitien. HCJB Global engineers have helped with various technical projects at the partner station throughout its 60-year history.
David Russell, director of the Technology Center, said the work with KAI is well worth the effort. “The investment in the lives of Haitian children is an important step toward developing well-rounded, Christ-anchored adults who will one day be able to lead their nation toward a prosperous future.”
Source: HCJB Global, Kids Alive International
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(Dec. 2, 2011 - by Ralph Kurtenbach) It’s official: Janine Rembas and Spotlight English Clubs have been assigned to reach out with Christ’s love in the virtual realm.
The announcement in November came from Curt Cole, an HCJB Global vice president who spearheads the ministry’s social media efforts and oversees the Sub-Saharan Africa Region. But what does it mean for Rembas and the Spotlight team who have offered English audio, scripts and other learning resources via the Internet in recent years?
The number of English-language learners receiving weekly electronic mailings of Spotlight program scripts, for instance, has swelled. There are 5,000 subscribers in Latin America alone.
Since 2000 Radio Station HCJB has aired “Spotlight” in Ecuador, later adding it to ALAS, the mission’s Spanish satellite radio network in Latin America. Spotlight has since been adopted for use by stations in Spain, the U.S., Burkina Faso and possibly elsewhere in the world. Some of these stations are operated by HCJB Global ministry partners.
Last month the Spotlight team (with members from ReFrame Media, Words of Hope and HCJB Global-UK along with representatives from the mission’s Asia Pacific and Latin America regions) gathered in Ecuador. For several days, team members sat in the same conference room—people otherwise separated by distance but united in the purpose of sharing Christ via English-language learning. During the rest of the year, Internet usage keeps them all on the same page strategically. Tasks are carried out online.
Audio program segments for example, are voiced in different locations, then exchanged via file transfer protocol (FTP) sites. While Spotlight is now increasing its Internet presence, the team has for years run its off-microphone activity on the Web. Since taking the Spotlight English Club learning model from just one Quito club to several dozen that have sprung up elsewhere in the world, Rembas has adopted various Internet tools: initially email mass mailings, webpages and digital file caches.
In doing this, she has complemented Spotlight audio programs that seek to deal with subjects of interest to a young adult audience. Based on a Christian worldview, the programs include explicit Christian content, using phrases such as, “Christians believe ...” or “the Bible says….” Both the program and the clubs are intended to offer people an English-speaking opportunity and the chance to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Through the English clubs, people have opportunities to discuss program content more deeply. Club volunteers have led people to relationships with Christ in these settings.
For Rembas, her setting first changed a few years ago when she transferred from Ecuador to HCJB Global’s Asia Pacific Region. In Thailand, she has started 10 traditional Spotlight English Clubs, even while heading discussions with other language learners via video conferencing. Assigned to the virtual realm, she will work across various regions.
English learners from around the globe have joined Rembas at prearranged times to converse in English on such Internet sites as Skype or Google.
So it could be argued that the November announcement about Rembas’ new assignment reflects a shift to virtual realm ministry already being used. Even as Rembas continues a learning model that seats people face to face for conversations, these chats are increasingly occurring via video connections over the Internet. Casual contacts become friends in far-flung locations.
Throughout the course of the past year, Spotlight’s website has attracted nearly 1 million visits from more than 400,000 visitors in 215 countries speaking 160 languages, according to Spotlight Productions. In the digital age where new information and another website experience are just a click away, these visitors stayed for an average of nine minutes, a veritable eternity in cyberspace. The language learners are both staying on the site to listen to programs and/or downloading them to their computers or mobile devices such as cell phones, iPods and MP3 players.
In Quito the Spotlight team discussed Spotlight’s Facebook accounts, also addressing media themes such as search engine optimization and mobile applications. They also met with some of the program’s listeners to better learn how to adapt the program to their language learning needs. Those conversations occurred in what has long been a more conventional way—they chatted together face to face.
Source: HCJB Global
Photo credit: Katy Blake |
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(Dec. 16, 2011 - by Ralph Kurtenbach) As Norma Pederson, the wife of HCJB Global’s president, pitched in to dismantle tents in Quito, Ecuador, it was apparent that she grasped just how much work goes into staging a successful radio sharathon.
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Wayne and Norma Pederson on Radio
Station HCJB's campus in Quito. |
Norma and her husband, Wayne Pederson, helped Radio Station HCJB in Quito and HCJB-2 (La Conexión) in Guayaquil with sharathons that concluded last weekend. Wayne told of being “totally impressed and pleased with the team here ... and so honored to be part of what God is doing in Latin America.”
“It’s not just a fundraising event but a major community happening with a children’s tent, health screenings, games, a food tent and [promotional] gift items,” Pederson said of Misión Compartida, which means “shared mission.” At Radio Station HCJB in north Quito, a dozen or so tents dotted the parking lot and lawn. Live programming with talk and laughter, music in Quichua and Spanish and more emanated from the Larson Conference Center on the station’s campus.
 From a studio adjacent to the conference center earlier that day, Quichua language program hosts had invited listeners to the gala event. The Pedersons, who both grew up in rural Minnesota, were impressed by Ecuador’s Quichua people who donated items such as chickens, goats and guinea pigs. At an open bazaar in conjunction with Misión Compartida, these animals were sold along with other in-kind donations.
The Dec. 9-11 event in Quito saw station staff hosting more than 6,000 visitors as the mission celebrated the 80th anniversary of its founding in 1931. “Sometimes 40 or 50 people would arrive at once,” said Anabella Cabezas, director of media for the Latin America Region. To hear listeners tell of the stations’ impact in their lives brought joy to members of the staff.
 Offering something for everybody, the event drew folks from around Ecuador even as others tuned in via radio or the Internet. “The on-air event included live music with hundreds gathered in Larson Center, noisily praising God,” Wayne Pederson said.”The on-air hosts were energetic, professional and passionate.”
Many Ecuadorians stopped by to give what they could, even as on-air personalities announced the climb toward the stated fundraising goal of US$280,000. Others arrived to pray for the stations with members of local churches who staffed a prayer room. In a large room nearby, visitors quietly shared either joys or pains of their lives, and then staff members prayed with them. Some 72 people at the event in Quito gave their lives to Jesus Christ.
 Others crowded into the conference center to join an ever-changing group that made up the live studio audience throughout the three-day event. On the second day, Geoff Kooistra, media services director for HCJB-AM and HCJB-FM in Quito reported a “steady stream of calls” from listeners to make pledges. On the same day in Guayaquil, partner station HCJB-2 was finishing up its own sharathon event.
From the Guayaquil station, Radio Training Director Allen Graham posted to Facebook, “Thank you, Jesus! Guayaquil just completed 100 percent of our goal for Misión Compartida! We are now in a special campaign to raise the funds to replace the tower for our main frequency.” A year ago La Conexión surpassed its fundraising goal, and listeners also pledged some $4,000 for a different broadcast tower.
 On Sunday evening when a local musician, Vico Rodríguez, led the Quito crowd in singing a Spanish version of “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” large video screens in Larson Center displayed a total of $263,000—gifts and pledges to help meet the operating budget of the Quito stations. “This was 90 percent of our goal,” Cabezas said. “Usually [each] year, we get 120 percent of what was pledged.”
Cabezas said afterward that she sees the fundraising successes in Ecuador as indicative of a maturing church. “One thing that God is doing in our midst is that my people (Ecuadorians) are learning to give because the time of receiving has passed.”
 The first Misión Compartida was held in January 2000, a radical departure from the mission’s funding procedures in previous decades. Historically, the stations’ costs had been covered by the mission. Reflecting upon strategic changes in the funding streams, Pederson said, “People said it couldn’t be done—that Latinos would never donate to support their station. This year HCJB-AM, HCJB-FM and HCJB-2 raised a total of $400,000 for the ministry!”
Source: HCJB Global
Photo credit: Graham Bulmer |
(Dec. 9, 2011 - by Dan Anderson and Marla Bender) The HCJB Global Technology Center will be highlighting a ministry milestone when it celebrates its 25th anniversary on Thursday, Dec. 15, in Elkhart, Ind. The center is the technical arm of HCJB Global, a mission dedicated to partnering with Christians in media and healthcare to bring the voice and hands of Jesus to the unreached peoples of the world.
 In the past 25 years, the center has provided media equipment, technical training and support to Christian media ministries in more than 100 countries.
With a handful of skilled engineers and Dave Pasechnik directing its operations, the center was established in 1986 as part of HCJB Global’s “World by 2000” initiative. The goal of this campaign (later renamed “World by Radio”) was to provide every man, woman, and child on earth the opportunity to turn on their radios and hear the gospel of Jesus Christ in languages they can understand so they can become responsible members of His church. Partner ministries such as TWR, Far East Broadcasting Co., SIM and Words of Hope have partnered with HCJB Global in this endeavor.
 The foundations for this cooperative ministry model were laid in early 1975 when Clarence Moore, founder of Crown International in Elkhart, invited HCJB Global to use his manufacturing facilities to design and build a 500,000-watt shortwave transmitter. This mammoth mouthpiece for the gospel would be capable of reaching distant targets, overcoming efforts by some to block radio signals that carried Christian programming. “Project 500” was completed in 1980, and the HC500 transmitter began broadcasting from Quito, Ecuador, in 1981.
When the center was officially established in 1986, it was again through the invitation of the Moore family that HCJB Global was provided with necessary floor space and access to manufacturing resources.
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Part of HC100 (100,000-watt
shortwave transmitter)
construction team (l-r): Larry
McGuire, Herb Jacobson
and George Zensen. |
faith for decades, many by listening to programs aired via shortwave from Radio Station HCJB in Ecuador.
Now, with newfound religious freedom, followers of Christ recognized the potential opportunity to establish local broadcast outlets that would assist them in spreading the gospel to their countrymen. Up to that time, broadcasting equipment was large, expensive and cumbersome.
“What was needed were portable, easy-to-install FM transmitters suitable for local radio stations and easily transported internationally,” said David Russell, director of the Technology Center. To meet this need, engineers developed an FM transmitter large enough to reach a city and its surrounding communities, yet small enough to fit inside a suitcase.
With the development of this transmitter, a ministry thrust known as “radio planting” got its start. Ministries from around the world began contacting the center for help in launching and maintaining their radio stations. More than 50 engineers, technicians and volunteers led by Russell have devoted themselves to providing these services.
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Engineer Mike Axman with the
TB1000 (1,000-watt FM transmitter). |
One of the Technology Center’s newest advancements was the creation of the Jack and June Nikkel Media Center, completed in 2010. This represents the center’s commitment to help HCJB Global harness emerging media technologies for the gospel. The facility is named after the husband-and-wife team that volunteered for many years and gave toward the ministry.
The ministry is also involved in recruiting students for internships and on-campus projects that allow them to apply their skills and knowledge to Christian outreach. In addition, staff members organize local and international work teams, giving more people the opportunity to get involved in the outreach.
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| Jack and June Nikkel Media Center. |
“We’re not just passionate about providing tools to ministry partners,” added Russell. “We’re mobilizing more workers, discovering their potential through work teams and internships. It’s here that we will train and equip others to harness the power of emergent technologies. We won’t stop until everyone hears the gospel, and we’ll use whatever it takes to make that happen.”
Source: HCJB Global |
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