Lay Involvement Spurs International Growth For 3ABN BY OWEN TROY, a retired communication director for the North American Division and 3ABN boardmember, who writes from Adelphi, Maryland
In its strong commitment to world evangelism, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is blessed with a large number of supporting satellite television ministries such as Loma Linda Broadcasting Network, SafeTV, and Blue Mountain Network. These ministries are established and operated by dedicated lay members. In addition to the above initiatives, the General Conference owns and operates the Adventist Television Network (ATN), which has plans for a
24-hour, seven-day-a-week broadcast schedule.
The following article highlights the international growth of Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN), a supporting ministry with a cooperative agreement with ATN. 3ABN has been a pioneer in sharing the gospel through cable, satellite, and some local television stations.--Editors
here is no Adventist Church in Libya, but through 3ABN many people hear the true gospel, especially my non-Adventist friends and me."
"The report of a single new viewer of 3ABN may not seem very significant, but when it is the first in the Faeroe Islands in the North Atlantic, it is a great joy."
3ABN was canceled after being on a cable system for only a few weeks in Laguna, Philippines. A lay member prayed, took a letter signed by 21 people, and persuaded the company to start 3ABN again.
These are just a few of the letters and e-mails that 3ABN receives from international listeners daily, thanking God and the staff for making it possible for millions to receive the Lord's special messages nearly everywhere in the world by satellite.
3ABN Headquarters in West Frankfort, Illinois
For the past two and a half years transponders on two satellites have been sending the 3ABN broadcast signal to all of North America. A third satellite covers all of Central and South America and portions of Europe; another one reaches all Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa; and the fifth satellite sends a strong signal to Australia and nearly all of Africa and Asia.
The most effective way to enlarge the audience quickly is to erect television and radio stations. With a satellite downlink, a transformer, auxiliary equipment, and a license, it is possible for everyone with a television to view 3ABN 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in that area. Cable systems usually have fewer viewers than conventional television stations; but by placing 3ABN on a cable system channel it is possible to reach large audiences because it can be watched anytime.
Currently, more than 300 cable systems in North America and 183 international cable systems are carrying 3ABN 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition to the television stations, 19 radio stations carry 3ABN radio broadcasts. Internationally, four radio stations carry 3ABN Radio.
Another method of increasing the audience has been to install satellite dishes in homes and institutions around the world. 3ABN has sold more than 25,000 satellite dishes in North America.
The following examples show the impact that lay members have had on 3ABN's broadcast television ministry:
In North America, lay church members have worked with 3ABN to construct 110 television stations that are broadcasting Adventist programs full time.
In Manila, Philippines, a powerful television station sends the 3ABN signal that can be viewed by more than 20 million people. In Nigeria, a private television station covering one half of the country is beginning to broadcast 3ABN several hours a day. Others will be added soon.
3ABN president Danny Shelton and wife Linda
Lay member Virendra Arora introduced 3ABN, through cable, in Patayya, Thailand. Pastor P. C. Lian Sailova arranged for 3ABN to be on several cable systems in Mizoram and Manipur, India. the cities of the cities of Calcutta and Ongole, India, also carry 3ABN.
Lay members Ivor Cartmell in South Africa, Charles Banji in Zambia, and Elisha Mugisa in Uganda have worked overtime to install dishes in homes of both Adventists and non-Adventists.
Union offices in Nigeria and Zambia are connected by cable so that all the houses surrounding the offices can receive 3ABN. The programs are also available in retirement villages in South Africa, making it possible for residents to enjoy the programs in their own rooms.
In Kenya, Enoch Mogusu developed a method to construct satellite dishes locally. Recently he taught the process to others living in Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, India, Lesotho, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Whenever a satellite dish is installed in a home, the occupants invariably persuade others to get dishes. This keeps the installers working overtime.
The East Africa Union in Kenya has installed 3ABN in their office, in the medical and dental clinics, and in the guest facility on their headquarters complex. One woman was seen arriving early and leaving long after her dental appointment in order to watch the programs on 3ABN.
Rosemary and John Malkiewycz first saw 3ABN programming while on a stopover in Bangkok, Thailand on their return from a mission trip to Nepal. They were so impressed with 3ABN that upon returning to their home in Australia they started to spread the word to church members and friends. John and others began installing satellite dishes along the Australian west coast and also in Tasmania in the southeast. At last report nearly 70 homes and one or two villages are now able to view 3ABN.
Hospitals in Bandung, Indonesia; Bangkok, Thailand; Mizoram, India; and soon in Nigeria and Rwanda, are making it possible for patients to view 3ABN in their rooms. Students, faculty, and staff can view 3ABN in several locations on the University College of East Africa, Baraton campus.
Enoch Mogusu
In South Africa, Malcolm Leonie, a departmental director in the Transvaal Conference, developed a tape ministry that reproduces programs from satellite broadcasts to videotape to enlarge the 3ABN audience. He also developed a program where ministers of other denominations can obtain satellite dishes to view 3ABN programs.
Nearly all programs on 3ABN are in English, and while many people understand English, large segments of the world's population that do not. Several translation services are being set up to enlarge the non-English speaking audiences.
Recently a new translation studio has been constructed in Brazil, designed especially to feed the new Spanish/Portuguese channel that 3ABN will soon be operating full time. It will be carried only on the PAS 9 satellite, which covers Central and South America, Portugal, and Spain.
Recently a group has started to develop programs in French to be aired on 3ABN for the large French-speaking audiences in North America, Europe, Africa, and the South Pacific. Gerard Latchman, director of language development for 3ABN, is working with Pastor Johann Thorvaldsson, director for European Development for 3ABN, to develop translation services to reach the French and other European audiences.
In Indonesia, Djoko Soewarso, West Indonesian Union communication director, and the church's English language school are setting up a translation studio in Jakarta to translate 3ABN programs to make it possible for the 200 million Indonesian people to hear and understand God's message.
Several Adventist universities have shown interest in setting up translation studios on their campuses. Terence Coetzee, a Helderberg College student, is working with the college to set up a translation service there.
Soon additional TV and radio stations will be added. New cable channels are opening, and more and more satellite dishes are being installed. Your prayers will be greatly appreciated by the dedicated people around the world who are working to advance the work of God through this satellite ministry.
Iraq Update: Sabbath Services Proceed in Baghdad Although information is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain, the Seventh-day Adventist Church headquarters for the Middle East Union (MEU) in Nicosia, Cyprus, has received reports that the church service did proceed as usual on Sabbath March 29 at the Baghdad Seventh-day Adventist church. It is not clear how many members attended the service since Baghdad's public transportation has been disrupted, reports Alex Elmadjian, MEU communication director .
There is growing apprehension about the safety of some MEU workers' families and friends living in Baghdad since telephone service has ceased in many parts of the city.
One Iraqi worker at the MEU office says, "I was very concerned because I heard on many of the Arabic radio stations that some of the residential areas near our home had been hit on Friday. I desperately wanted to check on my family but couldn't get through on the phone. My only option was to telephone an Iraqi friend in Nicosia and ask him to call his family in Baghdad, an area where the phones are still working. The report came back that the rockets had fallen one kilometer from our neighborhood." --Adventist News Review
ADRA Gears up For Iraqi Relief Effort In other news from Iraq, officials for the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) say the humanitarian organization will begin its response by providing 10,000 refugees with emergency hygiene kits. Each hygiene kit will provide soap, detergent, towels, and other sanitary items.
"ADRA has always played a major role in conflict areas and we will be involved in Iraq as the security situation improves," said Byron Scheuneman, vice-President of ADRA International. "Historically, ADRA's response has included immediate shelter and housing reconstruction, water and sanitation, health care and healthcare reconstruction, basic education and education reconstruction, and food distribution. If such needs exist in Iraq, ADRA will respond accordingly," Scheuneman continued.
The World Food Program estimates that about 13 million people in Iraq, or 60 percent of the population, are completely dependent on handouts. Eventually, the entire population of Iraq, or 27 million people, may need food for approximately six months, according to the World Food Program.
Adventist Community Services Help Georgia Tornado Victims On March 20 a severe weather system swept through the southern United States, spawning several tornados that hit southwest Georgia particularly hard. Six people were killed, some 200 injured, and more than 130 homes destroyed or severely damaged. The small town of Camilla was hit for the second time in three years. (A similar storm tore through the town in February 2000, killing 11 people.)
Just as they did in 2000, residents are turning to Adventist Community Services and the Adventist Disaster Response Team to help the victims of this latest disaster, one that largely went unreported amidst the flood of war-related news.
Working with The Salvation Army, the American Red Cross, the Georgia Baptist Convention, and the United Methodist Committee on Relief, Adventist Community Services executive directors, Hew and Carolyn Lipscomb of Arabi, Georgia, are heading up efforts at a distribution warehouse. As goods come in, they will be separated and prepared for families in need.
Unlike three years ago, however, the latest tornado did not elicit immediate public support. "You could fit all the goods we've received so far into the back of a pickup truck," said Hew Lipscomb.
"Donations will start coming in," he believes, after several broadcast outlets in the region showed pictures of a near-empty warehouse.
"We were welcomed with open arms," Lipscomb says of their return to the area a little more than three years to the day after the 2000 tornado. "The people there wanted us and trust us to help." -–Adventist News Network
NASA Scientists to Launch Model Rocket at Northern Caribbean University Northern Caribbean University (NCU), Mandeville, Jamaica, West Indies, hosted National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) representatives as they launched a model rocket during the school's inaugural Inventors, Researchers and Entrepreneurs Convention and Trade Expo April 5 to 8.
Two representatives of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration--Herman Hines, program manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and Alphonso Stewart, a NASA aerospace engineer–participated in the event.
The NASA team also gave a presentation on aerospace engineering and provided an update on the cause of the February 1 explosion that killed the entire crew of the Columbia space shuttle while re-entering earth's atmosphere over the United States.
The convention and trade expo is organized by the College of Business and Information Science at NCU in collaboration with the Manchester, Jamaica, Chamber of Commerce. Sponsored by more than a dozen corporate and government entities, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), it seeks to bring together inventors, researchers, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists for several seminars. Phillip Paulwell, Jamaica's minister of commerce and technology, delivered the keynote address during the opening ceremony. --Adventist News Network
News Notes
Ten Adventist military chaplains are in active duty, and 10 reserve military chaplains are in or headed for the regions of Iraq. "We are receiving numerous queries from church members asking where they can send letters and packages to support our military troops in Iraq," said Dick Stenbakken, director of Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries. "When the time comes for military personnel to receive mail we will let them know. Right now, as the war progresses and the troops are in constant movement, packages and letters would be more of a burden than a blessing. For now, we ask that you please remember them in your prayers."
www.hesaidgo.net is a newly designed volunteer ministries site for the North American Division. For those interested in volunteer service, the site lists resources, news and events, and listings of current volunteer needs.
In 2002, more than 56,000 Adventists in the North American Division reported participating in volunteer service through short-term mission trips, community service, community outreach, or international missionary volunteer service. "There are countless people who need a location where they can report their volunteer service. We are moving as quickly as possible to formalize the report forms found on www.hesaidgo.net," says José Rojas, Adventist Volunteer Ministries network director.
Mount Vernon Academy was recently selected as the winner of the Adventist Alumni Achievement Award (AAAA) by the AAAA Foundation, a national organization of Adventist alumni who wish to promote value in Adventist education.
The award includes $40,000 in prize money and the opportunity to perform at the AAAA convention in Phoenix, Arizona. To qualify, the school had to submit a video and an in-depth report answering a number of questions about the academy's program and the support of its constituents.
Pacific Press Publishing Association (PPPA), Nampa, Idaho, operates 17 Adventist Book Centers across the United States and Canada as well as a Web site: AdventistBookCenter.com. Total Web site sales for 2002 were $362,820, the highest amount since beginning the site 4 years ago.
Five literature evangelism programs are operated by PPPA under its Home Health Education Services. Currently 300 full and part-time literature evangelists operate within California, Arizona, Idaho, Oregon, and the Mid-America Union; their retail sales for 2002 topped $1.9 million.
Ken Bauer, president of Washington Adventist Hospital, a 332-bed hospital in Takoma Park, Maryland, was recently presented with a Governor's Citation by then Maryland governor, Parris Glendening, for his outstanding service and distinguished career in health care. Bauer has served as president since June 2001 and has more than 25 years of experience in hospital administration.
Loma Linda University Medical Center was named the top company to work for in the Inland Empire, a regional area east of Los Angeles, California. The medical center won the distinction from among 13 nominees in the category of companies with 1,000 or more employees. The panel specifically looked for how it promoted a healthy work environment that considers employee morale and retention; how it fostered growth of individual employees to enhance their future opportunities; how it displayed ethical decision-making with both employees and customers; how it gave back to the community; and why the company should be considered a top employer. Other nominees in the same category included, among others, California State University, San Bernardino; Sprint Corporation; Toys ‘R Us Regional Support Center; and United Parcel Service, Inc.
here is no Adventist Church in Libya, but through 3ABN many people hear the true gospel, especially my non-Adventist friends and me."
