(Oct. 21, 2011 - by Harold Goerzen) Loneliness and despair top the list of concerns as callers respond to a leading commercial station operated by Radio CCM in Poland. "The ministry's commercial station is the fastest growing music-format station in Poland," said Steve Hodgson of HCJB Global which has partnered with CCM for more than a decade. "The people in Poland traditionally listen to the radio in their offices throughout the day, averaging four hours per day of listening."

Left to right: Dave Pasechnik, Wayne Pederson, Steve Hodgson.

Hodgson accompanied three others on a fact-finding trip to visit the mission's partner ministries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia Sept. 24-Oct. 5. They visited some of the least-reached areas of the world. In Poland, for example, more than 90 percent of municipalities have no evangelical church. There are more evangelicals in Saudi Arabia than in Poland.

In September a listener to CCM wrote of having regular suicidal thoughts, expressing a desire to "be close to Jesus because here on earth there is only heartache, evil, jealousy and total indifference towards all that happens in the world."

"Jesus was the best thing that ever happened to mankind," the listener continued. "Life without Him doesn't have any meaning. Please, help me."

Help is available, according to Hodgson, who says the six-station network in southern Poland "is engaging volunteers in reaching their culture through the use of e-coaches and the Jesus.net program. Radio CCM excels in the use of multichannel media with people visiting their 14 different websites via mobile devices, the Internet and social networks."

One of Radio CCM's studios in Poland.

"The trip helped us understand how diverse the ministry outreach is in Europe/Eurasia," said Hodgson, who heads the mission's development department. "There is no set model that will work across the various country lines."

HCJB Global's Europe/Eurasia Regional Director David led the trip, accompanied by Hodgson; one of the mission's vice presidents of international ministries, Dave Pasechnik; and the mission's president, Wayne Pederson. The foursome found their ministry partners using meager resources to creatively engage listeners and spread the gospel in areas with few believers.

Hodgson described the partners as "very strategic and frugal with the resources they receive from supporters. They look for the most significant ways to spend the resources to reach the largest number of people. They strive for excellence in design and equipment without being extravagant."

Henryk Krol of Radio CCM.

David said that Henryk Krol, chief executive officer of CCM, "gave a great example of the methods we use. Say you have a goal to get someone to take off their coat. You can use a strong wind that tugs at their coat and tries to blow it off, but they hold onto it even tighter as the wind blows. Or, you can let the sun warm the person so much that they willingly take their coats off. We want to be the sun with light and warmth to have them listen to the gospel."

In Russia, facing radio license renewal barriers, believers have created an alliance to provide content via the Internet to various broadcast sites. "They are searching for ways to reach cities with smaller populations through Internet feeds to FM frequencies," Hodgson said, adding that program producers are shaping their messages to reach listeners who are young and not necessarily Christian.

A woman named Inna met with the group in Moscow. Originally from Belgrade, Serbia, she was "religious but didn't know Christ as Savior," according to Pederson. "From Belgrade she listened by satellite to our partner ministry, New Life Radio. Her interest was piqued. She wanted to know more."

Wayne Pederson (left) with with New Life Radio Station Manager Dima in Russia.

Moving to Moscow to attend university, she called the station, talked with the program host and accepted an invitation to attend a church service where she gave her life to Christ. Then this past summer she took a radio broadcasting course from HCJB Global.

"When I met her at the studio, she was on the air," Pederson continued. "Now she's a deejay, telling listeners about a personal faith in Jesus!"

In fact, the majority of those they met in Russia who work in radio learned their skills through HCJB Global's radio training events over the years. More such producers are needed, according to Hodgson who saw "a huge need for producers to provide content that is family-focused."

In Central Asia, an area where the percentage of evangelicals ranges from less than 0.1 percent to 0.7 percent, the group met at least two former drug addicts who had been transformed by the gospel and now serve in Christian radio. One was Dima, a talented guitarist. His rock music career drew him into parties and drugs, eventually leading to addiction.

"Hitting bottom emotionally, physically and spiritually, Dima turned to a Teen Challenge center in Central Asia," Pederson said. "While there he gave his life to Christ. His 15-year drug addiction is a thing of the past."

This year the partner installed a state-of-the-art digital recording studio with help from HCJB Global Voice. It will be used to record new Christian music in the language of the people, to be distributed on MP3, CD and the Internet. Dima will be the engineer and producer for these music projects.

The quality of the partner's studio and the individuals who made it happen "are just amazing," Hodgson said. "To see how God redeemed a group of addicts and to see them influence others like themselves to change the world was humbling."

In Croatia, local partners offer recording opportunities to area musicians and others, using the studio to reach out to them. Programs are produced too, as the believers anticipate launching an Internet station soon.

"I like the fact that our partner in Croatia has the studio located in a high school with the potential of developing a communications course or track for students as electives," Hodgson added. "The fact that seven churches are engaged in the project is exciting as well."

"The one general theme that we heard from our partners across Europe/Eurasia is that the people want excellence and quality when recording or listening to programming," Hodgson concluded. "They have had too many experiences with substandard lifestyles and getting caught up in material things."

Source: HCJB Global
Photo Credits: David, Dave Pasechnik