(Aug. 18, 2015 - by Harold Goerzen)  More than 1.5 million residents of one Asian country will have access to local Christian broadcasts for the first time as the result of a campaign in July that combined the efforts of three organizations: Moody Radio, FEBC and Reach Beyond.

“The campaign to establish three new community stations... was a clear, concise message that people could get on board with,” explained Ray Hashley, manager of Moody Radio’s north region. “Hitting the goal was great, but being able to surpass it and also fund the first year of broadcasts was very exciting.”

Hashley, together with co-worker Linda Yeager of Moody station WGNR in Indianapolis, Ind., joined Jon Fugler, Reach Beyond’s vice president of advancement, in Colorado Springs, Colo., for two days of live broadcasts Thursday-Friday, July 30-31. This culminated the month-long campaign.

The Indianapolis station (including repeaters) was among four Moody stations in the Midwest carrying the live broadcasts along with WMBI in Chicago, WDLM in the Quad Cities (Iowa/Illinois) and WGNB in Zeeland, Mich.

Hashley said it was “extremely helpful” to travel to the country in early July (together with June Felix from the WMBI morning team) to visit FEBC’s local partner station near the beginning of the campaign. The station was established with help from Reach Beyond in the capital city in 2001. FEBC has since added seven repeater stations, most of which carry some of their own live content.

“Giving live updates about the effectiveness of the existing stations made it a whole lot easier to tell about the impact that the three future stations will have,” Hashley noted. “Another thing that made it easier to connect with listeners was the fact that they already know the benefits of Christian radio and realize how the stations will impact listeners.”

According to Operation World, this country has the eighth-fastest growing church in the world, but it’s still under-reached as evangelicals only represent only about 1.2 percent of the population of nearly 3 million. Radio could be a key way to reach them with the gospel message as the local partner’s goal is to establish community stations in all of the country’s major cities by 2020.

“We know Christian broadcasts [here] are effective because of the responses that the stations are getting,” Hashley related. “One of the repeater stations I visited last month has been on the air for four years, and already two new churches have been started because of listeners coming to Christ through the broadcasts. The station has also being recognized by the government and journalistic associations, winning prestigious awards for its quality programming.”

While organizers were thrilled with the financial results of the fundraising campaign, they were equally ecstatic with the opportunity to minister to hundreds of people who contacted the temporary call center in Colorado Springs.

Beth Tanksley, director of donor relations at Reach Beyond who coordinated donor logistics for the campaign, described the response as “overwhelming” with 2,300 people making gifts and pledges throughout July.

“The live event went way beyond our expectations,” added Fugler. “We were encouraged not just with the financial results—we went 56 percent over our goal—but with the listeners’ attachment to the project, and some specifically to [the country].” The event raised over $311,000 in gifts and pledges, far exceeding the initial goal of $200,000.

Those answering the phones often prayed and conversed with callers. In at least one case, a staff member spent 45 minutes talking with a respondent.

“One phone call I remember came from a recently retired teacher who said she wanted to give her entire $5,000 bonus toward the campaign,” said Lauri Dennis, Reach Beyond’s executive director of human resources who came into the office as early as 4 a.m. to help man the phones. “The caller realized how much Christian radio had encouraged her and she wanted to provide that same hope and encouragement to the people [there].”

Pledges also came from people such as a young mother who was out of a job and caring for her two sick children, a pensioner living on a fixed income, a recent divorcee getting ready to move out of her house, and a middle-aged man struggling with loneliness and addictions.

“It’s a great example of people needing to be heard,” explained Jeff Ingram, director of staff care at Reach Beyond. “A lot of times we go through life and don’t have anybody to talk to. People wanted to give and get involved, and when you asked them why, it was often because they were going through a struggle or issue themselves and wanted to help others. We could easily spend 10 minutes listening to callers and praying with them.”

Reach Beyond President Wayne Pederson said it’s gratifying to see how the ministry in the country has grown since the days when he was at Moody Broadcasting in Chicago. “Our young [national] partner, then a seminary student, came to my office and said, ‘I have a vision—a burden to start a radio station in [the capital city.]’ Now they have the opportunity to expand and add more stations throughout [the country] in an unreached portion of the world.”

“This is the first time there’s ever been an opportunity to reach the people of [this country] in such a significant way,” concluded Steve Johnson, executive director of communication at Reach Beyond. “But it was especially fun to see how the teams from all three ministries came together to make it happen—a total team effort. God did an amazing thing through people around the world. And now the people of [this country] will have access to the gospel like never before, thanks to the generosity of all who gave and prayed.”

Sources: Reach Beyond, Operation World, MoodyGlobal.org, FEBC