New-old pictures

New Pictures from Clean Up Day

New Pictures

Glad You Asked!

This is taken from the BTGH.

March 17, 2008

 

Can you believe everything you read in the news? Even our news site?

Pastor Henry Gunnink from Inver Grove Heights, MN read the article “Reaching Millions for Christ-One Person at a Time” (February 25, 200 and found the numbers “staggering.”

Gunnink did some math, and reported: “If I would break it down into hourly and minute contacts, it would be 178,082 persons per day; 7,420 per hour, or 124 per minute, or more than 2 persons per second! I can’t imagine the amount of personnel this would require to process all these requests.”

It’s a fair question, and other readers may have wondered the same thing. How is it possible for The Back to God Hour to respond to more than 6.5 million people who made the effort to contact us in response to our ministry?

“That is the power of media ministry,” replies Rev. Bob Heerspink, BTGH Director. “Radio, television, the Internet, and telephone ministry multiplies the opportunities we have to share the Gospel.”

The numbers reported by our nine language ministry leaders and their staff indicate more than passive listening–people are doing something to search out the Gospel and follow up with our ministries. Some visit our 18 websites, others sign-up to receive our Bible study correspondence materials, make a daily phone call to hear our recorded devotional messages, write emails or letters requesting additional info, or visit one of our 64 international ministry centers for prayer, literature or spiritual advice.

The 6.5 million people who contacted BTGH in 2007 include all those who have been reached by some avenue of our ministries.  The statistics for all nine languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Indonesian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish) break down as follows:

• 23,321 people sent us an email
• 1,078 sent a text-message (See Text-Messaging the Gospel)
• 2,260,007 visited one of our 18 websites for various info
• 32,698 wrote letters to tell us how our ministry changed their lives
• 38,726 placed phone calls requesting prayer or materials
• 3,957,202 phoned in or logged on to a specific website to listen to a daily devotional (The Portuguese ministry in Brazil receives an average of 310,000 calls each month! See Dial Peace)
• 71,439 signed up for the Bible Correspondence course (most of these occurred in French-speaking Africa! See 5,300 New Believers in Africa!)
• 115,341 visited one of our follow-up centers (again–this is most prevalent in Africa, but also includes special events in Japan.)

“Something else that is important to remember,” adds Heerspink, “we don’t do the follow-up just from North America. We work with approximately 123 ministry staff in 23 follow-up offices around the world, plus at least 270 volunteers who work with these staff in an additional 41 volunteer follow-up locations. We also value the partnerships with local churches in the Middle East, China, Africa, Indonesia, Brazil, and Russia.”

So, you see, even though the numbers seem staggering, God has provided volunteers, staff, and resources to respond to reach millions of people for Christ through media! And the fact is, 6.5 million responses to our ministries represent just a small fraction of those who are actually hearing the Gospel, thanks to your faithful prayer and financial support. One radio station in Russia estimates that 15 million people hear our radio messages. A national TV network in Brazil reported that 15 million viewers watched a Christmas special produced by BTGH Portuguese ministries. Now do some more math-BTGH programs are aired on more than 1300 radio stations and 120 TV stations around the world.

“It’s simply amazing!” responded Gunnink when we answered his questions. “I was blown away by the enormity of the response to the Gospel broadcast through the ministries of BTGH.” Gunnink added that he shared this report with members of his congregation. Their response? “We gave thanks for this good news of how God is using this ministry to redeem so many people around the world.”

BTGH Recognized at 2008 NRB Convention

Taken from BTGH 

 

April 08, 2008

 

For the first time in its history, The Back to God Hour hosted a display booth at the NRB (National Religious Broadcasters) Convention from March 10-12, 2008-and it won the award for “Best Themed Booth”. All of this helped raise awareness of BTGH ministry, which built connections with radio stations and other ministry partners who are interested in airing BTGH programs.

 ”People loved our youthful look,” commented David Trout, BTGH Marketing Director. “We received so many positive comments about our ministry as well as the display. NRB is such an established organization-in the past the average age of the NRB attendee was 50+, mostly station managers and ministry directors.”

But as evidenced by this year’s NRB convention, younger media players are tapping the potential for reaching younger audiences through Christian media.

First time attendee Jackie Rodriguez, program director for “The Rock Radio Network”(a Christian radio ministry in Puerto Rico), told staff she was familiar with the long established radio program, The Back to God Hour as well as its newer children’s ministry Kids Corner, both of which air in Puerto Rico. Rodriguez was very excited about BTGH’s new ministry Walk the Way, which was officially launched at NRB. (See BTGH Launches New Cutting Edge Ministry.)

The youthful cutting edge presentation drew many younger people to the BTGH booth: a full-sized Kids Corner racecar, (See Kids Corner Ministry Speeds Forward) as well as the newly-redesigned Kids Corner lizards and a large flat-screen TV playing Walk the Way videos.

 ”Although it was our first time to have a presence of this kind at NRB, it was very successful for building relationships with ministries in North America and around the world,” explained BTGH Director Bob Heerspink. “In fact, we were surprised at the number of international conferees who stopped at our booth and asked us about our international ministries.”

Heerspink met a station manager from Moscow who airs BTGH’s Russian program. His most interesting conversation was with an older gentleman from Finland who runs a Christian TV station. “He immediately recognized the BTGH logo because he had come to the Reformed faith as a young man by listening to Peter Eldersveld’s shortwave radio broadcast. Even today, he told us, his copy of the TODAY devotional arrives safely every other month on his desk in Finland.

“What really struck me,” Heerspink added, “was learning that the impact of BTGH goes far beyond what we imagine. Here is a media leader in Finland, whose inclination for Reformed broadcasting came from the fact that as a young man he listened to The Back to God Hour radio program.”

Heerspink believes BTGH presence at NRB was valuable for the ministry. “The message that we picked up was the appreciation for both BTGH’s established ministry-a solid tradition of excellence in Christian media ministry-and the newer programs we are developing such as Walk the Way, which is really seeking to push some new ground and connect with a younger generation. Comments from those who stopped at the booth showed they respected our history of broadcasting and the new ways we are using the internet in support of evangelism.”

New Pictures March 2008

More Church Pictures

More Pictures

New Church Walls

Dedication Service for the Building Site - July 1, 2007

Breaking Ground….

Breaking Ground… little kid style!

Lots of Good Food!

The New Parking Lot…

Gathering for Worship!