Students and staff at the Global Voice Leadership Institute in Nepal.

(June 18, 2013 - by Harold Goerzen) "Visionary" popped up often as faculty members described participants of a radio station management training course held in Nepal for the first time last month.

"I would generally describe these students as visionary," said Barb Cline, who helped lead a session called "Kingdom Building" together with her husband, Ron, who acts as dean of the program. The Clines also serve as global ambassadors for HCJB Global which spearheaded the Global Voice Leadership Institute (GVLI) in Katmandu May 6-9.

"They have great vision to minister to their communities and the nation via radio but have a focus on a holistic approach to reaching their people for Christ," Barb added.

In addition to expressing their desire to spread the gospel message via the airwaves, the participants showed their passion to make a physical difference in their communities.

Ty leads one of the classes.

"This holistic approach includes helping the poor, the rejected and abused, bringing economic development to their emerging nation and teaching and enabling fellow believers as they start radio stations, churches and businesses," Barb explained.

A work team headed by HCJB Global missionary Nate Dell in March, for example, helped build a birthing clinic near the local Christian radio station in a remote Nepali village. When completed, the clinic will meet a key need in the community. Pregnant women will no longer have to travel at least two hours to reach the nearest hospital to give birth.

Twenty-four participants from across Nepal gathered for the first section of the two-part leadership and management course, led mostly by staff from HCJB Global's Asia Pacific Regional Office. Coordinating the event was a graduate of the 2005 Radio School of Mission, the forerunner to the GVLI.

Derek Kickbush

"There is a vision for 30 FM stations to be on-air across Nepal within a few years," added Training Director Derek Kickbush. "Already, discussions are under way to structure a formal association of these stations to provide encouragement, support and an exchange of programs with one another."

Being held in Nepal was just one of many "firsts" for the course, held in a country that is only 2.8 percent evangelical but with a church that continues to flourish amid pressure as a "remarkable indigenous movement," according to Operation World.

"This is the first time training at this level has been offered in Nepal," offered Kickbush. "It's always an interesting time of learning on both sides as knowledge is imparted across different cultures. We do not presume to tell people from another culture what they should do. We provide principles which they adopt as appropriate."

The 24 students break up into groups to brainstorm ideas.

This time the students also included not only managers and staff from the seven stations established in Nepal with HCJB Global's help since 2007, but personnel from other Christian stations and leaders of associated ministries. An eighth station is expected to open in the next few months.

Kickbush said the course provides valuable training for mission partners who are on the "cutting edge of introducing Jesus to their communities. Our desire is to equip them to be as effective as possible."

Local radio station managers taught a subject stream on "The Leader in Media." As Kickbush put it, "They were the best-equipped people to convey information from a local knowledge base."

Global ambassadors Barb and Ron Cline helped with the teaching.

The course sparked many positive comments from participants. "Now I know why my project did not work out as expected," said one student following a session on "Decision-Making."

Commenting on the "Strategic Planning" class, another said, "I learned the principles in a university course but did not understand how to apply them to a ministry situation. This has been most helpful."

Ty, executive director of the Asia Pacific Region, added that the course teaches academic principles from a biblical perspective, applying them to a "practical radio and media environment." He is eager to find out how the managers will apply what they've learned to the day-to-day operations of their local ministries and report back for part 2 of the course in November.

Barb Cline agreed, adding that a requirement for students to return is that "they teach at least three classes from this first session to their radio teams, churches or communities."

"Saying goodbye is always difficult, especially when a group has bonded together as well as the faculty and students have done at this GVLI course," Kickbush concluded. "The good news is that we could say, 'See you in in November.' There is much mutual respect in this group-respect for those who work to bring Jesus into their local culture-and sometimes in spite of it-and respect for the time, effort and travel put in by the faculty and donors who make the training possible."

Source: HCJB Global, Operation World