Radio Ministry
Here in
North America, we are blessed with many things we take for granted.
One
of those things is Christian radio. We can turn it on whenever
we want and we expect it to be there. Anyone associated with radio
(or with any ministry for that matter) knows that the finished
product is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many things that
must happen for the ministry of a radio station to proclaim the Good
News 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Those are things many of us
take for granted. It is more than the sound coming out of the
speakers on the radio. It is a ministry that reaches into places
the church cannot go. That is the importance of the ministry of
Christian radio.
For a moment, imagine that you no longer had the privilege of receiving those Christian radio broadcasts. How would that affect you? Your family? Your church? Your community? Your relationship with God?
Thank God that is not happening here in North America, but it is happening nearby in the Dominican Republic. However, there is something we can do to help.
Christian radio has been free to operate in the Dominican Republic for quite a number of years. Depending on the station, they have had a tremendous impact on this small Caribbean nation. People’s lives are being touched right in their homes.
This ministry may not be happening much longer if some help is not found to keep these stations on the air. Many stations have already gone off the air. And the remaining ones are on the verge of going off the air without some help. Finances, in a roundabout way, are the reason.
The Dominican Republic is a nation of about 9 million people. The economy of the nation has not been good. About 90% of the wealth is controlled by about 10% of the people. A majority of the population is poor. Only about 20% of the population is born-again believers. That has been a result of hard work by missionaries for over 50 years. The nation has also recently been rocked by severe economic problems. There are times when it is hard for the poor to have hope in anything.
There are a number
of excellent Christian ministries working in the Dominican
Republic. There are small numbers of people that are being led to
Christ daily. Solid Rock M
issions has been a part of some of those
ministries. SRM has worked in healthcare and education for the past
15 years. The ministries are effective but there is more to do. It
has been a dream for a long time to start a Christian station in San
Juan de la Maguana (in the west central area where SRM works).
We lacked expertise to start a station and for every step forward,
we ended up taking two steps back. In the past year, we did
organize an ad hoc committee of Dominicans and Americans to see what
we could do. It was still an uphill battle and a one point we
just about gave up on the idea of using radio as a tool to share the
Gospel.
When it looked like this project was going to die a slow death, one of our Dominican members suggested a bold move. That was to create a Christian Radio Network. That was really thinking outside the box and stretching our faith. But if God wanted us to move ahead, we definitely did not want to be in any other place. We were invited to visit a station that was already effectively spreading the Gospel. Little did we know this would be the first piece of creating this network. Little did we expect the Dominican title of this station to be an excellent description of the ministry we are wanting to do. The station’s name is “The Voice of Light”.
You may wonder why we moved from starting a station to helping an existing station.
The Voice of Light is a station that was started by Dominicans in Higuey (on the far east side of the island). It started in 1997 with a 4 watt transmitter and a piece of pipe for an exciter. Since that time, the station has continued to grow in power and ministry. It now reaches over 192,000 people 24 hours a day with Christian music, news and teaching. It is operated by a non-denominational board of directors.
The target audience is young people. When asked about the impact of the station, they shared about the number of phone calls they receive from people wanting to accept Christ, responses to Bible studies, requesting prayer for needs and referrals to local churches. The station does broadcast local crusades. It also helps promote local Christian concerts and events. Some of the more popular promotional events include t-shirt and chicken giveaways. With the large number of young people learning English, they also occasionally play some English contemporary music. There is one other startling statistic available; over 40% of the population in the Higuey area claims to be born-again believers. There is something special happening in Higuey. The radio station cannot take all of the credit but it is a major player in the spiritual growth of the community.
The station currently has 6 paid employees who only make about $8 US month. The rest of the staff is volunteer. During the hurricane that swept over the east side of the country last summer, this was the only station that remained on the air providing information to local residents. It is also the only station in the area on the air 24 hours a day. When insomniacs want to listen to the radio at night, the Voice of Light is their only choice.
They currently
operate out of a rented second floor area that includes a studio,
transmitter room, an office with one desk and a small production
studio. They do have a UPS backup and a generator to keep them
on the air when the power fails (which is a regular event in the
DR). Recently a Christian lady gave them a parcel of land on
the top of a mountain as a place for a permanent building and tower
site. The station has had a few local fund raisers to start
construction of the building. It is al
so
their dream to provide Christian programming for local cable TV
systems. They have designed a portion of their building to
provide space for this.
We shared our desire with them to start a Christian Radio Network. The staff of the Voice of Light was excited about the idea. They would like to be a part of that and they have offered their help and expertise to help other stations as resources become available.
Here is the sad part of the story: The Voice of Light has operated with an educational license since it went on the air. An educational license operates very similar to those educational licensed stations in the US. The license does not allow for commercials to be aired. The government has been lax in enforcing the requirements and this has allowed the Voice of Light and other Christian stations throughout the country to generate a small source of funds to operate. Recently, commercial stations throughout the country along with a non-Christian group have put pressure on the government to enforce the restrictions of the educational license. The government has started and this has forced a number of stations off the air.
The Voice of Light is on the verge of going silent. The director of the station has been seeking God’s will for the station. The director and others who have been praying for the station all understood God’s reply: Do not worry!
This is where we need your help. Christian stations in North America are able to find their own funding to stay on the air. We are aware there are untapped resources that are interested in these types of projects. We are asking Christian stations to consider adopting a station in the Dominican Republic and commit to raising funds for the operation of this sister station. The stations interested in helping can creatively decide how they would like to do that.
We are currently
working with the Voice of Light’s financial reports and projected
budget. Preliminary figures indicate that a station can be fully
funded for about $3,000 US month. We are projecting that this
budget will be the model budget for additional stations. Once one
station is fully funded, we will work on helping another (either to
assist an operating station, reopen a closed station or start a new
station). We are projecting that the network could end up with 8
stations throughout the Dominican Republic. The ownership of the
station will either remain local or part of the radio network. The
network will be a non-denominational, non-profit Dominican
organization with some American representatives on their board.
Another way to help is to provide good used equipment for these stations. The Voice of Light is currently using a control board from the 1970s. Their production equipment also needs to be upgraded. We are certain that there is other equipment that is needed as well (especially as other stations are added). We are hoping that gently-used equipment from North America can be found to upgrade these stations.
Solid Rock Missions partners with national-run ministries. That partnership takes on several roles that are important to contributors to any of our projects. Hopefully it also benefits the ministries we work with. We specialize in partnering with individuals and organizations in providing for needs with the ultimate goal of reaching people for Christ. Currently, the Dominican Republic is the only country we work in. Solid Rock Missions serves as a conduit between interested people in North America and Dominican-run ministries. SRM does fundraising for regular operations and projects of these ministries. We also encourage and organize teams to work along with the nationals on short-term missions trips.
Solid Rock Missions part in this project (and others) is to serve as facilitator, fundraiser and monitor of these ministries. Solid Rock Missions has no intention of telling these ministries (or radio stations) how to operate. They are doing an excellent job already. We do want to assist when and where we can as a partner. SRM does require accountability of these ministries (especially when it comes to finances and other donations). We require the ministries to provide us with monthly financial reports. If we see something out of the ordinary, we will make suggestions to improve the situation. We want to assure our partners in North America that their donations are being used effectively for their intended purposes. Solid Rock Missions also visits the ministries on a regular basis to discuss the needs of that ministry.
Solid Rock Missions does have the capability to receive the gifts for these stations. We are a 501c3 organization and we can issue tax deductible receipts for contributions to projects adopted by Solid Rock Missions.
As a commitment to excellence in ministry, we have set a high bar for ourselves regarding accountability to everyone we work with. Solid Rock Missions has an independent auditing firm examine our bookkeeping and our general operation annually to make sure we are an organization of integrity. We are also a member in good standing with the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).
Solid Rock Missions is interested in your help with this important project. Please feel free to contact us with you may have. For more information on how you can help, please contact Rod Meyer at 419-335-8046 or e-mail him at srm@solidrockmissions.org.
On our front page, you can click to listen to a live stream of the Voice of Light radio.
Solid Rock Missions
P.O. Box 334
Wauseon, OH 43567
Phone: 419-335-8046
Fax: 419-337-7827
E-mail:
srm@solidrockmissions.org