(June 24, 2014 - by Ruth Pike)  When Nick M. enrolled in a radio training course, he knew it was run by Christians, but he didn’t expect to become one of them. Similarly, when Shely Ganguly attended the two-week course, she didn’t anticipate a life-altering career change that focuses on using radio to reach people for Christ.

Nick M., Ganguly and many others have seen God work in their lives in surprising ways through their decision to enroll in a two-week radio training program in Rothwell, West Yorkshire, U.K. The summer course, now known as “Radio:ACTIVE,” first began in 1994 and is run by Radio Worldwide (RW), a ministry of WEC International, in partnership with Reach Beyond-UK.

In 2011 Ganguly was working for a high-tech company in Reading, U.K. One day while surfing the web, she stumbled across an advertisement for the radio training course.

“What appealed to me was the fact that it was for beginners,” she said. “And also that you got the chance to actually broadcast live to the community.”

She asked her boss for vacation time, not having any intention of quitting her job. “I wasn’t even looking to develop a ministry in the area,” related Ganguly. “I just thought the radio course sounded like great fun, so I just enrolled for two weeks and my life changed.”

Everything was new to Ganguly, but she found it fascinating. “While I was taking this course, I felt God unlocking something in me,” she explained. “And I could see how He could use me in radio ministry.”

Within a few months of completing the course, she had resigned from her job, moved to Leeds and joined WEC. Today she produces programs and creative Christian audio for commercial radio with both RW and Whistling Frog Productions, the radio-production arm of Reach Beyond-UK.

More than a decade earlier, Nick M. volunteered for a project in Bradford to give hope to troubled kids struggling with drug abuse. The young people asked him if he could help them work together on a community radio station. Nick M’s boss, who was a Christian, recommended that he enroll on the course in Rothwell.

“The interesting thing is I wasn’t a Christian when I [took] on the course,” said Nick M. “At first I thought, Who are all these weirdoes?” he confessed. Yet at the same time he was drawn to them.

“It had a profound effect on me. I thought, These people—they’ve got something that I want.”

After completing the class, Nick M. joined Reach Beyond-U.K.’s radio volunteer group, now known as Amplified, and four years later he committed his life to Jesus Christ.

“Through making Christian radio programs I became a Christian,” he said.

Two of Nick M.’s colleagues, Bruce Gulland and Luke Haley, are also “graduates” of the course. A novice to radio at the time, Gulland, who attended the same year as Nick M., went on to volunteer for GRF Christian Radio for seven years before joining Reach Beyond-U.K.’s Whistling Frog Productions team.

Haley had volunteered for Amplified during his high school years, and after completing the training program in 2010, he began serving as a full-time missionary with Reach Beyond-UK the following year.

Next month 12 students will be participating in the radio course, including three Reach Beyond summer interns from the U.S. who will also take additional training in video production, cross-cultural engagement and personal spiritual development. They are part of Reach Beyond’s “Eternal Impact” internship for media students led by David, executive director of the Europe/Eurasia Region.

This year’s radio course, recently rebranded as “Radio:ACTIVE,” reflects the hands-on nature of the class, giving students the opportunity to go on the air, explained RW Director Danny Isenring, who is hosting the training initiative together with his wife, Ann Marie.

During the first week of the course students will have lectures and assignments on a range of topics from scriptwriting, researching and feature production to program presenting, operating station equipment and digital editing. A new addition to this year’s course is a half-day session on social media and engaging with listeners online.

In the second week, students get practical experience operating a live local station, Rothwell Carnival Radio, which has a temporary license for the duration of the course. The station ties in with Rothwell’s annual carnival in Springhead Park, a day of festivities instigated by King Henry IV in 1408.

While the radio station is secular, students will work on creative audio bites known as “seed spots” that challenge listeners to think about the big questions of life from a Christian worldview. Team members also hope the course will prepare participants to witness through media in the future.

“[We hope] that all our students would have their appetites awakened to do more in radio and [other] media,” said Isenring, “and that the course could be a stepping stone for them to work in secular media as Christians.”

Photo Credit: Radio:ACTIVE

Sources: Reach Beyond, Radio Worldwide, Rothwell & District Carnival Committee