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John's
Career Capsule
I joined TWR in
1988 organizing and carrying out fund raising banquets and special
events for TWR. In 2003, I was asked to spearhead a new department
called Office Representation, where we have a team of people who
phone everyone who makes a donation to TWR. In 2004, I helped
launch another new department called Radio Partnerships.
1.
Personally how do you keep the ministry in the “business”?
One of my key areas of
responsibility is to develop partnerships between great US-based
Christian radio stations and networks with TWR. Our goal is to
motivate people who listen faithfully to local radio to begin to see
beyond their own backyard. So often people see what the Lord is
doing in their own life and in the life of their own church but we
want them to see the utter most parts of the earth.
Radio partnering with
international radio is a hand-in-glove fit. And that’s because
radio is a powerful tool for the gospel and the Lord is using TWR to
mentor pastors, to disciple new believers, to train lay leaders, to
teach Sunday School teachers, and to share Christ with those who
have never heard His name.
2. Tell us about TWR…its
mission, purpose, etc
The purpose of TWR is to assist
the church to fulfill the command of Jesus Christ to make disciples
of all peoples, and to do so by using and making available mass
media to proclaim the gospel of salvation to as many people as
possible, to instruct believers in biblical doctrine and daily
Christlike living, and to model our message through our corporate
and cooperative relationships.
3. Tell us about the global
reach of TWR.
TWR utilizes 2,800 AM, FM,
shortwave, satellite, cable, and the internet outlets to air over
200 languages worldwide. Letters, emails, telephone calls, and
personal visits pour in each year from 160 countries.
4. How has technology changed
or affected TWR?
During the 1990s, radio itself
became much more efficient. What took 30 families to run a radio
station on the island of Bonaire now takes 5 missionary families. In
the current decade, communications advances continue to keep TWR
exploring new methods of delivery. An internet proposal from our
Asian office just crossed my desk, and it is projecting that with
our current growth, by the year 2010, TWR web sites in Asia will be
receiving 24 million hits per month and more than 600,000 audio
files will be downloaded monthly just from China!
5. How can Christian radio
stations get involved with TWR?
Partnering with TWR takes on
many different forms. Running our
TWR Today radio spots is one form. These free PSAs are a
snapshot of what God is doing around the world and can be downloaded
off our TWR ftp site. A second and deeper partnership involves
taking your radio station GM to see one of our TWR locations
firsthand so that the radio station can catch a vision of what God
is doing and eventually adopt TWR as their missions project.
Missions projects have included building an FM network in Malawi,
retrofitting a studio in the Dominican Republic, building a studio
in Mozambique, and installing a transmitter in Bolivia. Our projects
include distributing radios to Gypsies in Eastern Europe, to house
church pastors in China, and to believers in N. Korea and
Indonesia. We have partnered with some of the largest Christian
stations and networks to the small “mom & pop” Christian stations.
The common goal is to serve Christ together and to fulfill His Great
Commission.
6. What do you require for a
station to be associated with TWR?
A love for our Lord Jesus Christ
is the top priority. We are looking for stations whose hearts beat
for reaching men, women, boys and girls with message of hope, truth,
and reconciliation in Christ.
7. What are the benefits for
a station being associated with TWR?
If a station is looking for
accolades or awards, then partnering with TWR will never win them
for you in this world. But if your station wants to impact whole
villages, whole countries, or perhaps even whole continents for
Jesus Christ, a small investment from your listeners can bring the
good news to people who may have never have heard our Savior’s
precious name.
8. In your opinion what are
the biggest obstacles facing TWR today?
TWR has been facing tremendous
spiritual warfare in Africa where we are establishing a new
transmitting site in the country of Benin. Two of our staff members
holding critical leadership roles died of natural causes this
summer, one of our missionary families was car-jacked, kidnapped and
released, and yet another family contracted TB.
9. What are the goals of TWR
in 2008?
We are looking to do a major
redesign of
www.twr.org in 2008, and with our current president announcing
last week that he was stepping down, our board of directors will be
forming a search committee.
10. Where do you see TWR in 5
years?
In China, 10 times more people
use the internet than listen to shortwave. Internet use in the
Middle East is increasing exponentially. Even in Africa, web use is
rising quickly. With these new trends, TWR will expand our
cyber-outreach. As more people get connected to the internet, there
is a huge potential for TWR to provide programming content in our
200 languages.
Shortwave listenership will
continue to decrease but it won’t completely disappear. TWR will
expand localization with AM and FM. Where local radio doesn’t
exist, TWR will distribute pre-loaded devices like the Mega-Voice,
an economical, self-contained content vehicle similar to an MP3
player.
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