Speaker: Bonnie Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living

It has always been my ambition to preach where Christ was not known…  Romans 15:20a

Terry Wedel: This week Guidelines International Ministries celebrates its 55th anniversary and today, we welcome Guidelines president, Bonnie Sala. Bonnie, for much of its history, Guidelines has, for the most part, aimed its programming at a few major countries but now, Guidelines is also involved in what you are calling “Community Radio” – give us an example of what that means.

Bonnie Sala: Well, at our 50th anniversary – so five years ago – we decided to launch the Guidelines Community Radio Initiative.  We did this to bring what we call the “voice of Jesus to deaf areas of the world.” Believe it or not, there are areas of the world where there’s no Christian voice – in fact, where they have very few Christian resources.  We’ve worked with some of our broadcast partners around the world to identify these areas. Several of these areas are in the country of the Philippines, where we’ve worked for many years. And so, when we identify a community that has no Christian voice, but has at least a pastor or a group of pastors in the community, and usually a community partner that’s working in the community – an evangelical partner that maybe is working in healthcare or education or doing livelihood training – we bring in a small, low-powered FM radio station in two suitcases. Believe it or not, in 30-minutes, a low-powered FM radio station can be set up for that community and the pastors and the community partner – people in the community – get together to create content that is Bible-based and that meets the exact needs of that little community in the heart-language of the people. And, we also distribute solar-powered radios to the people in the community that only receive that one community radio station, but also contain an audio Bible.   Our most recent community initiative that we have just completed has been in the Philippines – it’s been in the city of Tacloban. Listeners might remember four years ago, the worst typhoon in history devastated an island in the Philippines killing seven thousand people. And it just so happened that some of our community radio equipment was in Manila at the time, waiting to go to another location.  Our broadcast partner there was able to fly down with the suitcases, set up a little radio station, and broadcast emergency information and messages of hope to the people who were devastated there. At the time, there were no radio or TV stations on air and there was just death and destruction all around.  That was a powerful source of comfort and support for that community. Fast forward, four years after the storm and God has allowed us to actually plant an FM radio station there. So, we were just there to dedicate that and that station is providing not only Biblical messages of hope, it’s providing programs on livelihood, on relationships, on health. It’s just a huge resource to the community.

TW: So, where do you go next?

BS: We are so excited about our next station plant that will be in the country of Turkey. In the southeastern corner of the country, in a city called Mardin, we’re partnering with a media group to plant a Christian radio station that will be 50-kilometers from ISIS-controlled territory. The station will be broadcasting messages of hope in the following four languages: Kurdish, Arabic, Turkish, and Syriac. And, not only will it reach the millions of people that live in Mardin and the border areas of Syria and Iraq but, it will also reach the hundreds of thousands living in refugee camps around the city. So, we are excited for this opportunity and we’re asking people to pray with us because we know that this work will need prayer.  It really will be bringing the message of Jesus into enemy territory.

TW: Guidelines President Bonnie Sala, thank you for joining us as Guidelines celebrates its 55th Anniversary.

 

Resource reading:  Isaiah 52:6-12