(January 28, 2011 - by Marla Bender) Investing in young technologists who will help develop new means for the propagation of the gospel is a core purpose of the HCJB Global Technology Center in Elkhart, Ind. One of the ways the center accomplishes that goal is through its internship program.

John Moore, a computer science major at Taylor University, recently completed an internship at the center and was excited about the opportunity to work on a project that truly could be called a "family affair."

Cutting-edge technology called Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) is being developed. It has many innovations that will make it superior to traditional radio. One of those features will allow a single station to send out one signal with multiple streams of information.

A new style of radio receiver will separate the streams, enabling individual listeners to hear the gospel programs in the language of their choosing. This technology will be most useful in the many places around the world where multiple languages are spoken.

Some of the computer software involved for the DRM project was developed by John's father, Bob Moore, who served at the Technology Center for many years. John's older brother, Josh Moore, also contributed to the project during his time at the center, and brothers David and Daniel have helped with other projects at the HCJB Global Technology Center.

Most recently, John was able to add some desired functionality to the DRM software. It's actually the ability to transmit multiple audio programs simultaneously on a single channel that John has been working on.

Since the information that goes onto the DRM signal is generated by a computer, John said this project is well suited to a computer science major.

"The computer coding was deeper than anything I have ever done," he said, admitting that his background gave him confidence to tackle the challenge.

"I've had computers in my house for my entire life," John related. "We had access to the Internet before most of my friends, and my brothers and I knew how to take apart a computer and put it back together at age 8 or 9."

In addition to a love of technology, John inherited from his father a desire to serve others. Bob left a position as director of research at a successful company in order to serve at the Technology Center. "Dad worked here more years than I know," John reported with obvious admiration.

He also received valuable training for service when attending Word of Life Bible Institute in Argentina for nine months, and he has served on short-term mission trips to Canada and Costa Rica.

As to future work or ministry, John is uncertain. His interests are varied. In addition to technology, they include music, athletics and Spanish. While at Word of Life he became conversational in Spanish and hopes to spend at least some time serving in a country where he could use all of his skills.

When asked about a dream job, he said it would be fun to write computer code for video games. But his immediate plans following graduation are much more practical: "I need to get a normal computer science job and pay off my school debt!" he said.

Source: HCJB Global