What do recent giant steps of ministry transformation mean to Esther Neufeld, longtime program producer with HCJB Global Voice's German Language Service (GLS)?

Fewer steps to arrive for work.

Not that she commuted great distances before, but the new offices of Vozandes Media are just upstairs from her apartment. She lives less than a block from Radio station HCJB in Quito. For years via international shortwave, the voice of Neufeld (and other producers) has traveled via the airwaves to German-speaking audiences across the Americas and Europe.

Vozandes Media--newly formed and officially recognized within Ecuador--is continuing the ministry to German-speaking listeners who respond from 60 countries. Its administration shifts to HCJB Global's World Office in Germany instead of remaining under the mission's Latin America Region.

For now, shortwave broadcasts from Ecuador are continuing in German and Low German to the Americas while digital shortwave broadcasts on a mere 4,000 watts are sparking positive reports from listeners in Europe and the Americas.

Vozandes Media has added as delivery avenues for the message of salvation through Jesus Christ, shortwave and satellite in Europe, as well as podcasts on the Internet. Radio Station HCJB's shortwave broadcasts are scheduled to end in 2010 as a new international airport near its antenna site east of Quito is set to begin operations.

More recently, the German team added to its repertoire of program delivery an option called Phonecaster in which Europeans can select from a variety of German-language programs by calling a specific telephone number. The Low German program enjoys top popularity with a daily broadcast on Phonecaster.

In early June, Vozandes Media's status as a nongovernmental organization was legally recognized in Ecuador. Does this mean that HCJB Global no longer has a German outreach? "No, of course not!" retorted Horst Rosiak who directed the GLS and now heads Vozandes Media. He likened the change to a ship hoisting a different flag, but sailing as usual. "In the future we will work in partnership!"

Rosiak, Neufeld and Iris Rauscher will continue the ministry under the flag of Vozandes Media, assisted by Martha de Montenegro and Rebekka Schmidt. Axel and Katja Jeroma will split their time between the German radio ministry and HCJB Global's Latin America Region in Quito.

The beginning of Vozandes Media is reminiscent of the start of German programming 56 years ago when Mennonite Brethren Missions/Services established the German Service, constructing the department's offices at the station 13 years later in 1966. "I believe that the GLS is one of the few departments which used the same office space for 43 years," said Rosiak, who heads Vozandes Media.

Rosiak added that Vozandes Media has been, and will continue to be to its German fans, Die Stimme der Anden (Voice of the Andes).