Freedom by radio in Southern Spain

Greetings from Quito, Ecuador - The Middle of the World!

Over the last couple of years, I've had three opportunities to do radio training in Southern Spain at Radio Vida (Radio Life). Radio Vida is a cultural station serving an area known as the Campo de Gibraltar (literally the Gibraltar Countryside), which has a potential audience of 250,000 people. Within the broadcast coverage area of Radio Vida lies the Botafuegos Prison, in the City of Algeciras, home to 1,800 prisoners. I visited this prison when in Algeciras in June of 2008.

John Varela is the station manager at Radio Vida. He is using material that we presented in these training sessions to prepare a group of eight volunteers in the production of a program for the prisoners and their families. John and I worked together in Quito at HCJB FM before he and his wife, Sandra, went to Spain as missionaries.

This group of volunteers, who know well what life is like inside the prison, go into Botafuegos each week to minister to the prisoners. John is currently training them in different aspects of radio communication: announcing, creativity, how to conduct interviews, how to prepare a radio script, etc.

In order to make the training practical and at the same time help the volunteers get rid of the jitters and nervousness, the team is recording different examples for evaluation. They are anxiously awaiting the day when the red light will light up the studio meaning they are finally on the air. (Unlike a traffic light where red means stop, in radio the red light means go because the microphone is open and you're on the air!)

John describes the materials we used in the original trainings as "practical, easy-to-use tools that integrate both the volunteer and the trainer". He goes on to say, "As a radio station, we have a great opportunity to get out of the four walls (of the studio) and go to the prisoner's room by means of our signal, sit with him and talk together".

Thanks for making it possible for me to share these practical radio skills with John and other members of the Radio Vida team. Please pray as John now shares his experience and knowledge with this new specialized team. Praise God for the freedom to take the life-changing message of Jesus Christ to the Botafuegas Prison in person and by radio.

Want to try out your Spanish, please visit the Radio Vida website and listen to them on-line!

Together in the Journey!

Allen.

P.S. Want to know more about Jesus Christ? Then don't click here.
P.P.S. Thanks a lot to John Varela for his help with information to write today's blog.

Training of Trainers

Hello once again from Quito!

In my first blog, I told you about our training partners in Brazil. This time, I'm excited to tell you about another one of our partners, the International Communication Training Institute (ICTI), based in the United Kingdom, but functioning all over the world. One of ICTI's key ministries is Training of Trainers.

I was blessed to be a part of an ICTI Training of Trainers in 2005. Since then, one of our dreams has been to offer this same course in Spanish for my Latin coworkers. Thanks to the help of Dorothea Feder, an HCJB Working Visitor from Germany, most of the ICTI materials were translated from English to Spanish. (¡Gracias Dorothea!)

HCJB Global places a high priority on empowering and mobilizing, and Training of Trainers helps us carry out this priority. We had a great group of coworkers from the production, technical and support sides of HCJB. There was great interaction by all the participants and many commented how they will also be able to use these principles in their church ministries as well as in HCJB training events.

Thanks for praying for our Radio Training ministry in Latin America. If you feel like trying out your Spanish, please visit our Spanish website at hagamosradio.org (In English this would be: Let's do radio.org!)

Are you or someone you know going on a Short Term Missions experience this summer? Take part in an HCJB contest for short term teams and you just might win a donation to your team funds and a video camera to document your ministry! Find out more on our website. But don't delay, the deadline for entries is May 20.

And find out what you can do with just $1? Read about how HCJB Global is now reaching more than 1 million Arab households weekly across the North Africa/Middle East region via radio broadcasts through its strategic media outreach. Households across the U.S. and the world are being challenged to pray for unreached households in this region and to give $1 to reach one household in the Arab world for one year.

Thanks for joining me today. I appreciate your prayers and support. Until next time, blessings your way from The Middle of the World!

Allen.

Our ministry partners in Brazil

In March, I spent 17 days working with a number of indigenous groups in Brazil that are interested in using radio as a means of teaching and serving their own tribes, but more so to reach out and evangelize neighboring tribes.

I'm really excited about two of our ministry partners there and would like to tell you about them!

The first is CONPLEI, the National Council of Evangelical Indigenous Pastors and Leaders. (If you want to try out your Portuguese, check out their website.) Their goal, as indicated in the letters below their name, is "a genuinely indigenous church in every village". Their passion is to see God glorified among the tribes of Brazil. They are actively seeking different ways to reach out to the over 90 unevangelized tribes in their country: radio, education, health care, community development, agriculture, hygiene, etc. It is very challenging, inspiring and encouraging to work with these dear brothers. CONPLEI helps us make contact with a number of tribes interested in using radio.

The second group is the UNIEDAS Indigenous Mission, composed mostly, but not exclusively, of people from the Terena tribe, the first tribe in Brazil to receive the gospel in 1912. Their purpose is so cool! UNIEDAS seeks to evangelize the indigenous and prepare them to evangelize other indigenous. They presently have Terena missionaries serving among a number of tribes throughout Brazil. My colleague, Jasiel Martins (photo below), is Terena and is an active member of the UNIEDAS church in Limão Verde, Mato Grosso do Sul.

Please pray for Jasiel and me as we prepare for future training opportunities in Brazil. Please pray too for both of these national groups - CONPLEI and UNIEDAS - as they reach out to their own people - and beyond.

If you would like a copy of my electronic prayer letter, please just let me know by dropping me an e-mail. And if you dare, you can also look for me on Facebook! By the way, I just posted an album of pictures of some of the children I've seen on my trips in Brazil. Check out the album when you get a chance.

Thanks for joining me today. Have a blessed Easter. Praise God, Jesus is alive!

Allen.