(Jan. 13, 2012 - by Ralph Kurtenbach) What can be accomplished in a radio program that lasts just two minutes?
Juan Bendezu believes that if advertisers can sell automobiles or toothpaste in a one- or two-minute commercial, a life-changing message can also be introduced in the same amount of time.
Bendezu directs Radio Inti Andina (Andean Sun Radio), a Christian station in Ayacucho province in southern Peru. The station broadcasts in Spanish and Quechua, a language spoken by the indigenous people in the area.
"We've downloaded the Corrientes Misioneras (Currents in Missions) program from the web," Bendezu wrote. "Upon hearing our listeners' suggestions, we're now broadcasting the program Monday through Friday at key times in the morning and the evening."
A listener wrote of his limited understanding of missions beforehand, but now says, "listening to these programs, I have understood what we're expected to do-what we have to do-without fear."
Diodoro, another listener, had reached rock bottom in his life. "I was at my lowest, like someone with no money, no friends, without anyone," he wrote from a province that neighbors Ayacucho. "In fact, my own father and brother didn't want me around because I had tried to rob both of them."
Amid these strained family relations, a friend of Diodoro began stopping by daily to talk with him and tell about the programs on Radio Inti Andina. "People's stories of their own lives have helped me. Little by little I am finding Christ and His immense love," Diodoro said.
Some programs of special interest to listeners have covered topics such as "The Great Commandment" and "Called to Holiness." Bendezu also noted other listener favorites: one profiling the Old Testament character of Abraham and others that focused on "God as Missionary" and "God and His Church."
Produced in Quito, Ecuador, Corrientes Misioneras airs on the ALAS-HCJB Spanish satellite radio network with some 100 affiliates, primarily in Latin America but also in North America. Bendezu, however, elected to download the programs from the Internet.
Release of the new Corrientes Misioneras programs, both via satellite and on the Internet, grafts a missions mobilization initiative onto HCJB Global's 80 years of gospel broadcasting.
The programs are co-produced by Corrientes and ALAS-HCJB, a Spanish satellite radio network comprising some 100 affiliates primarily in Latin America. Launched in 2009 in Ecuador by HCJB Global and other mission agencies, Corrientes has already mobilized several Latinos who are doing cross-cultural Christian work in different places around the world.
Source: HCJB Global
Colorado Springs, CO 80949-9800
800.873.4859