Bullets whizzed by the technicians’ heads in the stifling heat of northern South Sudan. “What’s going on? Who’s shooting at us?” they shouted, diving to the ground. They scanned everywhere trying to understand what was happening. They were simply there to move the remote town’s Christian radio station tower to a higher location with a clearer signal. Then they saw the militia approaching. They considered running, but they were in the middle of nowhere. They had no choice but to surrender.
The militia aimed their guns at them and forced them to huddle on the ground. They threatened them and fired their guns in the air. They punched and pushed our radio partners while accusing them of trying to steal the tower. When our partners realized the misunderstanding, they pleaded with the militia that they weren’t taking away the tower. “We’re here to help you,” they repeated. But nothing swayed their captors.
Our partners began to pray, crying out to the Lord to save them. The militia heard the name of the Lord and became scared. They yelled, “They’re praying to their god!” The armed men loaded them in the back of their truck and drove them to their warlord. The little town had become the warlord’s stronghold, and he didn’t want to lose the radio station. He and the rest of the town depended on it for communication with the rest of the world. Our partners explained to the warlord, as they had to the militia, that they were only trying to relocate the tower to a more desirable spot to give it longer range. Yet the warlord refused to accept it and ordered them, at gunpoint, to return the tower to its original position. He wasn’t risking losing their only radio station.
Alex, who oversees Reach Beyond’s ministries in Sub-Saharan Africa explains, “It just goes to show the significance of local radio in places like this…that it could be so important. But it really is.” Alex added, “and that’s what makes it such a powerful tool for sharing the Gospel.”
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