Ron Harris

Ministry Needs, Prayer Opportunities

Middle East

I mentioned earlier a country in the Middle East where followers of Christ are  asking for training for Christian radio stations operating in this mostly Muslim land. While religious and ethnic conflict has been part of their DNA for centuries, evangelical believers are presenting the claims of Christ, the Prince of Peace to their land. Because of the sensitivity of their work, we won’t mention the country here, but know that it is a place where God is at work in spite of the opposition. Prominent leaders and everyday people are putting their hope in Christ as they hear of God’s love and salvation through His Son, Jesus.

Pray for Christian broadcasters and evangelical believers who are boldly presenting the Gospel. And pray for our discernment and wisdom to know the Lord’s will for MEDIAlliance in providing training for these broadcasters.

Turkey

Our time at the NRB Convention in Nashville gave me opportunity to sit down with several ministries we have been connected with through the years. Radio Shema in Ankara, Turkey is led by Soner Tufan. We visited with him and with his American assistant, Sarah Wibberly in Nashville, to learn of the current needs for this ministry. Radio Shema is in a significant location in the capital city, with studios in downtown Ankara. Some security issues are causing them to look for a better location for their Christian radio station.

Radio Shema also continues to look for Christian radio programs to enhance their schedule, needing creative programs that translate well into the Turkish culture. Soner wants to grow the influence of the station by expanding into producing a newspaper, which are quite popular among legislators and those in leadership in that country. It will also help promote the radio, pointing readers to the daily input of Christian programs.

France

Radio Gospel, part of the ministry France For Christ, continues to seek an FM frequency for Paris. About 20% of the population of France live in Paris, so a station there would have great impact in that country. This has been an enormous challenge, but Paul and Laura Harrigan continue their efforts. A recent newsletter pointed out some facts about France, showing why they continue the effort:

• Only 4 ½ % of the French people regularly attend a church service- whether it is in a Catholic or Protestant church.
• France has the highest population in Europe of followers of Islam and Judaism? Between 8 - 10 % of the French population claims they are Muslim.
• According to an article in 2011 in the Economist, the suicide rate in France is 14.6/100; in other words, more than two times greater than the rate in Great Britain and 40 % higher than in Germany and the U.S.

Paul Harrigan believes that when revival of the Christian faith comes to France, the impact will be felt world-wide due to its influence in the European Union and in the 29 countries where French is the official language.

Gospel Radio continues to upgrade their programming online even as they explore new avenues to secure a radio frequency in Paris. Pray for this ongoing effort.

Bolivia

Radio Mosoj Chaski in Cochabamba, Bolivia, continues to impact hundreds of thousands of lives among the Quechua Indians in the Andes Mountains and the cities and villages of this South American country. We visited with Ann Wheeler with Mosoj Chaski, and learned that the ministry is taking steps to position the station in such a way as to help ensure its continuation, even in the face of political and cultural pressure.

Mosoj Chaski is also starting to produce DVD’s of Bible studies and other programs. Often the little one or two room homes high in the mountains will have a small color TV and DVD player. Television signals don’t reach into the area, so the DVD’s provide entertainment, education, and insight for these who live simple but difficult lives.

Pray for needed equipment and training to produce these television programs. Pray for wisdom and direction for Radio Mosoj Chaski as they upgrade and replace aging broadcast equipment, including their transmitter.

Haiti

Radio 4VEH in Cap Haitian, Haiti, continues their history of making an impact for the Gospel since its start in 1961. Storley Michel is the director of Radio 4VEH, and is being used by the Lord to make this long-standing ministry more effective and more financially stable. The ministry operates several frequencies from the northern part of the island nation into the central region. It is a much needed lighthouse in the midst of spiritual darkness.

MEDIAlliance International is talking with this ministry and looking at a possible radio training conference in Haiti in 2014.

India

Building upon the foundation of our first experience last September, MEDIAlliance will partner with Good News Television and other groups to hold another media training conference. This year's event will be held in Delhi, and is expected to draw over 200 media professionals for a series of workshops in television, radio, Internet/social media, and management. As in previous conferences, we will have top Christian media professionals serve as our faculty. Pray for these plans, for the prosepctive instructors, and for those in India who need to attend.

In addition, we'll be in India in May to assist those in that country as they work to form a Christian media association. Their desire is to have a unified voice for evangelical broadcasters as they speak to legislators and regulators in India. Pray for God's wisdom and direction in this effort.

Romania

One of the joys of this ministry is getting to know God’s great servants in other parts of the world. Now, working together through the years, the Lord has forged great friendships and partnerships with His leaders in Christian media. The investment of our work in the Balkans has yielded such relationships. In Romania we work with Lucian Despa of Radio Voice of the Gospel (RVE) headquartered in Bucharest. With nine stations scattered across Romania, RVE is taking God’s Word to many listeners, growing stronger disciples in this former Communist country. Lucian is looking at new strategies for distributing the programming, even as he seeks to grow the number of stations. Pray for these initiatives for Radio Voice of the Gospel.

Tudor and Mirela Petan lead Alfa Omega Television, based in Timisoara, Romania. From their three-story broadcast center, Alfa Omega uses satellite, cable, and the internet to distribute many Christian programs to the Romanian people, both inside the country and beyond. In addition, because the ministry is uniquely positioned in the center of the Balkans, Alfa Omega desires to add additional channels for the many other languages spoken in the neighboring countries. The prayer need for them is for funding to meet the equipment needs to accomplish this, and for other broadcast ministries to use these new channels to reach many people throughout the Balkans.

As we met with Tudor and Mirela at the NRB convention, one of their main desires was to pray for our new MEDIAlliance International ministry, and to see how they might help us. This same spirit was expressed by many of our international partners. I can tell you it is very moving to have such support from those we serve around the world!

Albania and Kosovo

We have detailed in previous newsletter some of the struggles encountered by Radio 7 as they established a radio station in the Kosovar capital of Pristina. But the Lord is working in amazing ways, opening the heart of even Muslims in media to put Christian programming on television in Kosovo. Though they are Muslim, they recognize that Christian teaching builds moral foundations, not found in other religions, that will help their children and young people in their daily lives.

Pray for Enkelejda Kumaraku of Radio 7, and their staff, as they continue to minister in both Kosovo and Albania, seizing every opportunity available to proclaim God’s Truth in these spiritually needy regions.

by Ron Harris

A Cry...A Challenge...A Blessing

The recent National Religious Broadcasters convention brought many international Christian broadcasters to Nashville. A group of more than thirty Christian media leaders from around the world met three times during the four-day conference to discuss recent challenges to Christian media. Our desire is to determine ways to work together for the cause of Christ.

Jan-Eric Nyman, who serves with IBRA in East Africa, gave an impassioned plea…a cry for help…for training nationals all over Africa. Several of our major ministries such as HCJB Global, TWR, and Far East Broadcasting are active in Africa, and together formed Africa by Radio a number of years ago for that specific purpose. They are doing a good job, but Africa is huge, the opportunities are growing, and the need is great. As Jan-Eric put it, “We need you to come to Africa, to come again and again. Not just once, but again and again. Come to Africa and help us!”

Though our ministry is relatively new and small, I am praying how we might answer this call, this cry, from Africa.

This is not the only call for training. We met with Ashvin Dhyriam from India and furthered our plans for another media training conference in India in September. This enormous country desperately needs the Gospel. Broadcasting and the electronic media are the tools to reach the masses…the 1.2 billion people of India…with the Good News that Jesus saves. More on that later.

We are also hearing from a country in the Middle East (nameless due to the sensitivity of their culture) about Christian broadcasters in that country, and their need for training. We will likely go there in the near future to see the need and determine how we can help.

As I weigh these opportunities, I often wonder how God will meet our financial needs in order to assist these who cry for help. Yet I know God is faithful to supply our needs to do His will. And He is already doing just that.

The Blessing

Recently I opened a letter and received a huge blessing…and a challenge. A faithful donor has offered us a $50,000 matching gift! Wanting to encourage others to also support MEDIAlliance International, he is willing to match all donations up to $50,000 total. What an amazing blessing! I rarely use this newsletter to talk about our financial needs because the needs of our many ministry partners are so great. My heart and my focus is on their ministries and their opportunities to spread God’s message of Hope to their country and their culture.

In real sense, that still is my focus, because securing this $50,000 matching gift will help us train, mentor, facilitate, and encourage these dedicated servants to a much greater degree than otherwise possible. We do not charge these international ministries for what we do. We even ask our instructors, who help us teach and train, to pay their own travel expenses. We depend on God’s people, whom He has blessed, to support this work.

The Bottom Line

As we began this new phase of our work, and as we established MEDIAlliance International in January, I sought a verse from the Lord that expressed the bottom line of ministry for us. In the opening of the Apostle Paul’s second letter to young Timothy, he explained his own calling…his reason for serving…as an example for Timothy, and for us all.

“From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

to further the promise of life in Christ Jesus….”

II Timothy 1:1 NET

There it is. The bottom line. To further the promise of life in Christ Jesus. Apart from Christ, we are dead. Living in darkness. He is the Light. He is our Hope.

In most of the countries I visit, evangelical Christians are a very small minority. The message of hope found only in Jesus needs to reach the masses, but the laborers are few. Our work strengthens committed Christian media professionals who use these strong tools to take God’s message to souls living in darkness. To further the promise of life in Christ Jesus.

If God moves you to contribute, you will not just be giving to a ministry called MEDIAlliance International, but to directly “…further the promise of life in Christ Jesus.” I pray God will put that calling on your heart, and that you will respond as He directs. Our world needs that hope…that life. Help me help others share that hope...that promise of life in Christ Jesus.

by Ron Harris

Prayer and Praise

Middle East
We continue to connect with individuals, who are working in certain Middle East countries, about training for Christian broadcasters. While the effort seems slow (see “patient endurance” above), I believe God is going to open doors soon. Pray for God’s direction for us as we seek to help those in Islamic countries who are boldly proclaiming hope found only in Jesus.

Albania
Korçë, Albania, is in the southeastern part of this country in the Balkans. Radio Emanuel is a strong, effective Christian broadcast ministry that is reaching into Muslim villages and across borders into Macedonia and Greece. Tani and Efti Baraku lead a talented and dedicated team that works hard to engage many different people groups and ages with the Gospel. Programming for children, youth, adults, Albanians, Macedonians, and Greeks are produced from the modest studios of Radio Emanuel.

Radio Emanuel is now identifying potential locations to have adequate space for the many programs they produce in various languages. Pray for them to find the right facilities at an affordable price for the ministry.

In addition, Radio Emanuel has applied for a broadcast license for a station in the southern part of Albania where there is no Christian broadcasting. Pray for favor with the media authorities in Albania for the awarding of this license. As always, funds are needed to put this station on the air. God may be already moving on that front, with a ministry in Europe offering a matching gift for a portion of the need.

MEDIAlliance International
Our ministry has been blessed with a generous matching challenge gift of $50,000. As of this writing we are about 45% of the way to the needed funds to secure the full amount. A gift of any size to our ministry will actually be a double blessing for us as we lay the foundation for this ministry that brings assistance, training, and encouragement to front-line ministries in challenges places.

Our website, www.medialliance.cc, has more information on our ministry, our team of instructors and ministry partners. To go to the page to donate, you may click here.

by Ron Harris

Patient Endurance

Patience is a virtue…they tell me. It is not one of my most sterling attributes. I can sometimes be found drumming my fingers on the counter while waiting “patiently” for my coffee to be reheated. On a better day you might find me multitasking while waiting for that coffee to be “nuked.”

So it is a bit humorous that my ministry work puts me on airplanes for 18 or more hours to get from home base to the ministry location. On top of that, you can add up to 10 hours of waiting in airports…even without those inevitable flight delays. I have had to learn patience in those settings, reading, writing, or…my most favorite sport…people watching.

There was a point several years ago where God prepared me for patient endurance in a very interesting way. The Lord knew I was about to face a time of great challenge, great testing, and great frustration. Just before that all transpired, His Spirit led me to memorize a verse or two from Hebrews. To this day I don’t recall how I arrived at those verses, or even why I decided to memorize them. It became obvious to me rather quickly, though, that it was the hand of God directing me in advance to His message that He knew I needed.

So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.
                                                                             Hebrews 10:35-36 (NLT)

Patient endurance. Confident trust. Not easy in our world today. Not easy…but easy-er if you have seen the amazing work of a faithful God as He provided and protected in personal and powerful ways. Confident trust.

I share those verses often, most recently with a dear friend who is working his way back from a stroke a few months ago. When I see him at church I can see the progress he is making. I’m sure that to him it seems painfully slow, but from my perspective I can see the results of his faithful rehab work and daily efforts to regain skills in the areas affected by the stroke. Patient endurance. Remember the great reward.

There are days where I don’t see progress in our ministry work. I have trouble connecting with people half way around the world. There seems to be a delay in some of the steps needed for MEDIAlliance to function effectively. Projects and funding seem slow in coming. Patient endurance. On those days, I need it, too.

Life in our fallen world has a way of frustrating us. Blocking us. Diverting us. Patient endurance…waiting on God’s promises…is a challenge. It takes daily “rehab” to get us to the point where we live our lives with confident trust in God. Not just in what we say, but in our actions…and in our patience. Ask the Lord for the patient endurance you need today in order to receive all that He has promised.

by Ron Harris

Ministry Prayer and Praise

Romania

While in Romania Judy and I took the opportunity to visit Alfa Omega Television and our dear friends Tudor and Mirela Petan. It has been our privilege to know these humble servants that God is using in mighty ways to take His message of hope through Christ to their world. This is Alfa Omega’s 20th anniversary in ministry and their 8th year on the air.

Tudor and Mirela have built this ministry from the ground up, and are continuing to build and add to their Alfa Omega Communications Center in Timisoara.  God continues to give them a big vision of reaching people throughout the region through today’s technology and creative and meaningful programming.

Pray for Alfa Omega, for the continued growth of their opportunities to impact that region with God’s Good News, and for Tudor, Mirela and the whole ministry team.

Serbia

You have been such a great encouragement to the Bogeski family, Sasko, Ira, and their daughter Abigail. For over a year Sasko has been under the cloud of a potential murder charge for defending his family and his home. Throughout the year Satan has sought to discourage Sasko and diminish his ministry work. Yet over and over Sasko and Ira have commented how they have felt the prayers of so many around the world, and have been strengthened by God’s hand through those praying and helping.

As of this writing, there is no resolution to the case. It may possibly go to trial, causing much more in the way of expenses for this humble family, not to mention the ordeal of the trial itself. I hope you will join me in praying for this case to be dismissed so that Sasko and his family can continue their ministry work without these heavy burdens.

Judy and I had the joy of spending several days with the Bogeski family, worshiping, fellowshipping, speaking to church groups and Bible students. We spent time talking through and planning ministry projects to help those in Serbia hear the truth of God’s love and grace for all who trust in God’s Son, Jesus. In addition, Sasko has headed up a team of volunteers to help people devastated by the worst flooding in history in Serbia. These Christian workers have helped clean homes and have been there to bring hope and encouragement in the midst of disaster.

Continue to pray for ELION Media Ministry in Belgrade. Pray for Sasko, Ira, and Abigail, that they will be protected physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And pray for continuing opportunities for this ministry and family to be the shining lighthouse in that country.

Albania/Kosovo

Many of you have been a part of helping Radio 7 minister throughout Albania and Kosovo. God is blessing your prayers and support. Radio stations in Tirana and Shkodra, Albania, as well as in Pristina, Kosovo, continue to proclaim God’s Truth in a mostly Muslim world. Not only are they sharing God’s hope to nonbelievers, they are providing spiritual depth to Christ-followers who are primarily first-generation Christians.

It is not without challenges, difficulties, and costs. Radio 7 (also known as Media 7) has been putting television programs on secular TV stations in Albania and Kosovo. Recently they were asked to give up their established broadcast times, so Muslim programs could be run in their place, especially during Ramadan. Radio 7 is holding to the contracts they have signed and staying with the times their programs have run for several years. Station managers are receiving a lot of pressure to move the Christian programs. Please pray for these station leaders to honor the contracts and allow the Christian programs to continue airing.

Radio 7 in Kosovo is also taking steps to secure their broadcast studios, to give the best protection they can to the Christian staff. Threats and even physical attacks continue to be a possibility.  Pray for the resources and for God’s wisdom for Radio 7 to take the proper steps to protect programming and people.

India

The teaching team is just about complete and the schedules are coming together as the Indian Christian Media Association presents the 5th Kingdom Media Conference, in association with MEDIAlliance International and other ministries. This conference will be held in Mumbai, India, September 3-5. Over 200 attendees are expected to participate in several tracks of media training…television, both intermediate and advanced, radio, church media, and social media/Internet.

The Christian broadcasters and communicators who serve as faculty provide their own travel expenses to India, and MEDIAlliance covers their expenses while in the country. It is a wonderful partnership arrangement that provides top quality training as well as outstanding spiritual insight.

Pray for the many details that still remain for the ICMA team in India, and for our teaching team that will be travelling to Mumbai for this conference. I believe God is preparing India for challenging days ahead for Christians and for the Gospel. Thanks to you who have prayed with us and provided specific financial support for this in past years. It is paying eternal dividends.

Turkey

Judy and I were delighted to host Soner Tufan in our home in late May. He heads up Radio Shema in Ankara, Turkey. This ministry is a lighthouse in a land that can identify only a few thousand evangelical Christ-followers among the almost 80 million people who are mostly Muslim.

Soner shared with some in our home of his hope to add more stations in Turkey as God opens the door. Pray for Soner and Radio Shema, a strategic ministry for Christ.

Ukraine/GCM

Scanning the headlines or most broadcast news sources, you might think things in Ukraine are OK now. However, there is still much tension in that country. Yet with the tension comes opportunity for the Gospel. Many in that country are searching for peace. What a great time to tell them of the Prince of Peace.

Our dear friend Dr. Hannu Haukka of Great Commission Media (GCM) in Finland is leading out in a major effort to share the Good News in Eastern Ukraine…Odessa, to be exact. His Mega City Campaigns mobilize the evangelical churches and utilize all types of media in a month-long blitz to offer millions the “Power to Change.”

Pray for Hannu Haukka and the GCM staff and the thousands of volunteers who will interact with those seeking hope in the midst of a volatile and often violent world.

NovaMedia in Kiev, Ukraine, has extended an invitation for me to come to speak to Christian media professionals in November. It is my hope that I will be able to go and encourage those who have access to such powerful tools like radio, TV, Internet, and print, to provide a path toward peace with God.

Ministry Partner Galcom International

What if you could put a million missionaries on the field that could share the hope of Christ with scores of people all day, every day? That is what Galcom International has accomplished through the years. This organization, based in Canada, produces solar powered radios that are set to the frequency of the local Christian radio station in ministry locations all over the world. Whole families…sometimes whole villages…are impacted by the teaching they receive from these little electronic missionaries. Glacom has just surpassed the one million mark for production and distribution of these amazing radios.

I have had the joy of helping with the distribution, most recently in Haiti, as these radios were given to villagers, even to witch doctors, in remote areas of northern Haiti.

Congratulations to our friends Tim Whitehead, Executive Director, and Allen McGuirl, one of the Galcom founders, for this God-honoring milestone.

MEDIAlliance International Team

Our MEDIAlliance ministry team continues to grow. We are blessed to have many who volunteer to teach at regional training seminars, like the one in India in September. We could not provide such outstanding training without them.

Along with the volunteers, MEDIAlliance is honored to two who serve on a part time basis to keep the ministry running smoothly. Let me introduce these folks.

D’Lynn Moxon joined MEDIAlliance about a year ago as Bookkeeper/Financial Coordinator. She has been a great help to me in making sure all our financial records are in order and that we can track God’s material blessings through those who give to the ministry. D’Lynn serves fulltime as Financial Assistant at Lake Arlington Baptist Church, where she and her family attend.

D’Lynn and her husband Ted Moxon have been married 27 years, and have two daughters, Amelia, who attends Texas Tech, and Abby, a junior in high school. D’Lynn has done accounting in both the public and private sector, and now is able to use her expertise in ministry. She says, “I love my life as a wife, mother and accountant, and know that it has all come from God's hand.  My life verse is Philippians 4:6-7.  It has never failed me, because He is faithful to keep His promises.”
Newest to the MEDIAlliance team is Heidi Mizell. Heidi joined the MEDIAlliance International team in May as the Database/Donor Coordinator.  She has over 15 years of administrative experience with 10 years of working directly with database software.

Heidi is from Jacksonville, Florida where she met and married her husband Stephen in 1999.  In August of 2000, they answered God’s call to full time vocational service and left Florida to start seminary in North Carolina.  Heidi worked in various administrative capacities, during Stephen’s studies.  In August 2008, they moved to Texas where she worked full time at Southwestern in the Institutional Advancement department while Stephen completed doctoral work.

Heidi and Stephen have three daughters, Chloe , age 5, Brooke, age 2 ½,  and Kathryn, nine months.  She enjoys singing in the Resounding Praise choir at Birchman Baptist Church, working as the Lead Coordinator/Volunteer of the Brother’s Keeper ministry at Southwestern Seminary, and cooking.

Both of these MEDIAlliance team members are a great help and a blessing for the ministry.

by Ron Harris

Never More United

Moldova Noua, Romania. Seven pastors seated around the table with us.  “We’ve never been more united since the revolution to overthrow the Communist regime.” What could unite these evangelical pastors from the communities along the Danube River and the Serbian border? A Christian radio station!

Judy and I recently returned from a 10-day trip to Romania and Serbia to be with some of the Christian broadcasters we have known and worked with for several years. We were in this small community to learn more about the Radio Voice of the Gospel (RVE) station that MEDIAlliance helped get on the air just before Easter.

This meeting with evangelical pastors was amazing. There was such a spirit of excitement and unity among all of these men. They were seeking ways to reach not only the Romanian listeners, but also other language groups. Across the Danube river is Serbia. In the area is a Czech community. These pastors wanted to be sure the Gospel reached these people in their own languages.

I felt like you were there with us at that table…with those pastors. It is your heart…your prayers, interest, encouragement, and financial support…that allows us to grow evangelical radio and television ministries through MEDIAlliance. All of us, working as a team…a mighty army…accomplishing God’s purpose for the Gospel.

MEDIAlliance is blessed to be friends and partners with many Christian broadcasters in many lands. As the Romanian pastors talked of Czech programming, I immediately contacted our friend Pavel Steiger in Prague, who is with Reach Beyond (formerly HCJB Global). We quickly learned of hundreds of hours of Czech radio programming, and we have connected Pavel with the RVE team to see what might be available and effective in touching the Czech listeners in Romania.

MEDIAlliance has a ministry partner in Serbia, Sasko Bogeski of ELION Media Ministry, who has already secured Serbian programming for the Moldova Noua station, and is working with station manager Cristina Olariu to develop specific daily programs to reach the Serbian listeners.

Another request from these Romanian pastors was for radios to give to people in the area. Our friend Tim Whitehead, head of Galcom International quickly responded to our emails and is ready to supply solar powered radios tuned only to the RVE-Moldova Noua station frequency at very affordable costs. Most of these ministry needs were in progress within just a few hours of our time with the pastors.

It is obvious that God is blessing the dedication of pastors, community leaders, radio ministry leadership, MEDIAlliance partners, and international friends to bring a strong witness for Christ to this region. Thank you for the part you have played, both in giving to MEDIAlliance and in praying for opportunities like this.

As I told the Romanian pastors in that amazing meeting, “Expect great things from God, and work to see them happen.”

by Ron Harris