REACH BEYOND USA

In May, Reach Beyond USA welcomed Daniel Enns as its ninth president in 88 years of international ministry. Daniel steps into this position during a time of change and uncertainty for the world, but with a rock-solid confidence that God hasn’t changed His directive of reaching the unreached for His Kingdom.

“We are privileged to announce Daniel Enns as our next president,” says Jack Harrison, Reach Beyond’s Trustee Board Chairman. “This is a complex time in the mission’s history, and Daniel is uniquely gifted to lead us into this new chapter. His experience and aptitude in missional, financial, legal, and logistical considerations is remarkable, while being impassioned to the cause of Christ and the work of our missionaries and partners around the globe.”

It is no secret that international missions work has become more complicated through the years. In 1931, when Clarence Jones set off for Ecuador to begin the radio ministry that would become Reach Beyond, he couldn’t have fathomed how complicated country jurisdiction, licensing, visas, security and taxes would become. But it is this level of complication through which Daniel is well-suited to lead.

Over the years, Daniel has seen God bring him and his family full circle. Daniel and his wife, Evangeline, both TCK's (third culture kids), began their ministry career with Reach Beyond (then HCJB) more than 30 years ago, serving in Ecuador from 1987-1995 as an engineer and nurse.

Coming off the mission field, Daniel gained additional experience in the for-profit world, as General Manager/ Founder of Crown Satellite and ultimately serving as the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Comtech EF Data in Phoenix, AZ.

In 2015, Daniel retired from business and returned to missions, first serving as an IMB missionary reaching out to urban professionals in Madrid, Spain, and then returning to Reach Beyond. A member of Reach Beyond’s Board of Trustees since 2014, Daniel officially joined the Reach Beyond staff in 2018. He has served as an assistant to the president, mobilizing bi-vocational missionaries among Latin America churches to reach unreached people groups, and later as CFO and Vice President of Finance and Business, before now serving as President.

Daniel takes over as President from Steve Harling, who served faithfully as President for the past four years. “Since 2016, Steve worked tirelessly to bring new energy to Reach Beyond. Under his leadership, he focused each of us on disciple-making, engaged with churches, built a pipeline of new missionaries and candidates to minister to unreached people groups, and reaffirmed our commitment to our valued partners and projects,” says Jack Harrison. “Steve’s unrelenting passion has always been to see unreached people come to Christ, and he has left an indelible mark, challenging us in the pursuit of new opportunities to do Great Commission work.”

CENTRAL ASIA

In a closed Central Asian country, a group of taxi drivers became believers a few years ago as a result of listening to our partner's Christian radio programs on their mobile phones. During the COVID-19 lockdown, there was a prohibition for the use of private cars, so these taxi drivers faced the loss of their income.

They asked our media partners for advice, and the team suggested that they offer their services as delivery drivers to local supermarkets! The supermarkets thought this was a great idea and gave the drivers permission to transport and deliver food and supplies to people in their region.

Thanks to the advice of our mission partners, these taxi drivers have a new source of income and are helping families who have no money. They also help local believers who are in need, delivering essential food and medicines to them.

INDIA

Reach Beyond is broadcasting two new programs into India. From Reach Beyond Australia’s transmitters in Kununurra, a new set of radio spots offering COVID-19 health advice has been receiving a great response from listeners. Also, a new devotional called FRESH is proving very popular. 

A member of our team in Bangalore related how he is receiving so many messages from listeners to these new programs. He said, “People keep asking me, ‘how did you know we would be in this terrible situation? We never expected this. The word of God has been a relief.’ I say to them, ‘Yes, but remember, God cares for you totally, whether it’s COVID-19 or something else!’”

The programs are produced in 5 languages: Marathi, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and English.

MIDDLE EAST

Our media partners in the Middle East are seeing a massive response to their broadcasts. During the COVID-19 lockdown, people have been searching for answers about God, about their own mortality, about hope and the future. In lockdown, people are consuming more TV, radio and social media than ever. For example, in February and March, Gospel videos from our Arabic media partner were viewed almost 900,000 times, compared with 96,000 for the same period last year. They are also discipling twice as many Muslim background believers than they did during the Spring of 2019.

One woman from Tunisia wrote to the team: “I wanted to commit suicide to escape my life. I had problems with my family, nobody cared about me. I reached out to your station when I was completely lost. I learned that I am loved and cherished by God and I accepted Jesus’ work for me. It is now impossible for me to feel weak in any situation because I trust the Lord and His work in my life. My purpose with this new life is to help others, even if it is small things.”

GLOBAL

Our English Conversation Project has reached an important milestone: we have passed 100,000 subscribers on YouTube! In fact, at the time of writing, there are now 115,000 individuals who regularly practice their English using our online video resources. Many are aged between 18 and 34 and live in countries where it is not easy to be a Christian, such as Egypt, Indonesia, Lebanon, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey and Vietnam. Please pray that God will open many doors for our workers and volunteers to tell them about Jesus.