(March 7, 2015 - by Harold Goerzen)  Love was in the air Saturday, Feb. 14, when personnel from an FM radio ministry in southern Spain gathered with mission leaders and local volunteers to dedicate the station’s new state-of-the-art studios.

“Everything is better about the new studios—no comparison,” said the Reach Beyond executive regional director who was on hand for the event at partner station Radio Vida (Life Radio). “The quality of the space and the sound, the microphones, the acoustics—everything, even the ventilation system—is much improved.”

Some 60 volunteers from seven participating churches came to the inauguration, following a celebration the day before when international guests came to preview the new studios and offer prayers of thanks.

“The inauguration was a lively, fun gathering with a lot of Spanish influences,” the director noted. “For lunch we had two large pans of paella (saffron-flavored dish containing rice, meat, seafood and vegetables). Then our president, Wayne Pederson, gave a speech. It was powerful. He really touched hearts. Sheila Leech (vice president of global healthcare) then held the ribbon-cutting ceremony, and the event ended with a cake baked by my wife.”

“Radio Vida went from having totally inadequate and unhealthy studios to fresh, new beautifully designed studios with modern equipment,” added Pederson, pointing out that the studios are free of mold that had affected the old facilities. “What an extraordinary transformation. And to see the involvement of the local community was truly amazing. The volunteers and pastors were so excited about this new facility.”

The director lauded the many work teams that contributed to the seven-month project, serving with local builders to finish on schedule and on budget. “How often do you see that?” he said, smiling. “A great help in all this has been André Patton who directed the construction from ground up to tiled roof.”

“We had painters and carpenters come from Sweden,” the director continued. “A team from Ireland did the foundation and the brickwork. Another team tore down walls and put in new windows and doors, built by a team from Boston. I remember the volunteers looking so clean and fresh each morning, but by evening they were covered in red dust.”

To balance the sound, special acoustical boxes designed by Reach Beyond-Sweden’s Sture Nordquist were mounted on the walls of the three new rooms. “Sture has designed a lot of studios for partner stations in Russia and other areas,” noted the director, who oversaw the boxes’ eye-catching color scheme.

Love was also on the air at Radio Vida which nearly quadrupled its coverage area to more than one million potential listeners last summer by adding a repeater station north of the main station, its signal encompassing the bustling cities of Jerez and Cádiz.

Among the station’s most popular programs is a live call-in show called Lazos Amarillos (Yellow Ribbons) that gives local prisoners and their families the opportunity to send personal greetings to each other via the airwaves.

“It’s just heart-wrenching,” said Reach Beyond’s Beth Patton who visited the station and observed a live program just days before the inauguration of the new studios. “A family called in to be able to say hello to their relative in prison during the show, and their little girl kept repeating, ‘Papito, te amo’ (Daddy, I love you)”

“The program is a ministry not only to the prisoners, but to their families as well,” she added. “Local churches supply volunteer hosts for the live program, visit the prison each week and also get involved with the families—especially if they have special needs—and invite them to become part of the church activities.”

The biweekly prisoners’ program airs from 9 to 11:30 p.m. each Monday and Thursday, but messages from inmates and their families start pouring in more than two hours before the show begins.

When Patton visited the station, the host had invited three people—all related to a young prisoner—in the studio to help read dozens of messages from listeners. “There were 13 pages of greetings awaiting them before the program even began,” she said. “The host gave a short devotional about how Jesus provides the way for changing your life. At one point all three of the guests had tears in their eyes.”

“It’s a two-way communication,” added the director. “A lot of emails and texts come in during the program for the prisoners. Some evenings we don’t have time to read them all! But greetings are also delivered from the prisoners. Those who visit them each week bring back handwritten messages for their families to be read on air. We are touching people’s hearts.”

Also popular is a live women’s program that airs every Wednesday morning, Con Ojos de Mujeres (Through Women’s Eyes). Produced by Radio Vida’s co-directors, Noemi Martin López and her husband, José Luis Castejón Prieto, it features a panel discussion with four to six Spanish-speaking women. “Now that’s a real talk show,” the director noted. “They always have a lot of things to say, and it’s wonderful how they present their ideas.”

While the spiritual impact of the station can be hard to quantify, the director was encouraged during the construction phase when he was having coffee with the pastor of a local Gypsy church.

“The pastor told me, ‘Do you know that we’ve got 15 new members in our church?’ I responded, ‘That’s cool,’ to which he answered, ‘Yes, they all came to Christ through Radio Vida. We recently had a baptism service, and all 15 of them were baptized at the same time.’ People are coming to the Lord [through the broadcasts] all the time.”

Recently a listener visited the station and shared with the staff that his son had died the previous day and the funeral would be held that day—the second time he would bury a son. “It’s was a privilege just to be there and talk with him,” the director said. José Luis and Noemi went to have coffee with him, just telling him, ‘We care about you.’ That’s where we want to be.”

Photo Credit: Dave Pasechnik

Source: Reach Beyond