Summer Summary 2 – Pressing on through Radio (July 2012)

Our low-power FM Radio 18-watt transmitter and other accessories, including meters for our solar power back-up.

While working on the camps during the summer, another area of ministry that kept us busy was our ongoing radio ministry.

By God’s grace this ministry has continued to expand and improve and is now proving to be reaching a lot more households on our island than we originally thought.

Radio antenna mounted a bit over 70 feet up. Our weather station wind vain and aeromometer can also be seen attached to the bamboo tower.

For over a year now we have been broadcasting for 17 hours per day, hosting 4 daily teaching programs (each repeated once), news twice a day, an evening children’s program, and a ” Verse of the Day” airing each hour.  The Lord has also given some of our youth interns the creativity to produce a number of “spots” — short 30 second – 1 minute “commercials” where we share Bible verses or other important teaching in creative ways.  It’s been a great learning experience for us all.

Hanilyn & Babet editing program “spots.”

As the summer came to a close and the school year began, we took another step of faith to expand the radio ministry further.

Raul and Babet host “Lunchtime, our noon program for students at the local high school.

Challenging our youth interns to really step out, we began a new one-hour program each noontime called “Lunchtime.”  This program is co-DJ’ed by two of our youth interns and is aimed specifically at the high school population during their lunch break.  The program consists of top Christian songs, as well as other songs upon request, jokes, Bible verses explained, trivia, and a daily student tip that I work up to give advice on how to get better grades.

High schoolers playing games during their lunch break at our campsite.

The main focus of the program was to supplement a ministry at our campsite wherein we open the campsite at lunchtime for the students to come up and eat. While they eat, we sit down and get to know them a little, provide games for them to play, and let the radio program play in the background.  Students are given the chance to send greetings to one another over the radio or make song requests.

Campsite lunchtime Bible study

Each Wednesday it all culminates in a lunchtime Bible study which is usually attended by 40-50 students.

“Lunchtime” has proven a much bigger hit than we expected, and we are finding that even adults around the islands are tuning in to listen!

In addition to this, we have also begun a short program called “Karanungan Para sa Buhay” (Wisdom for life) in which I take a Proverb each day and do a short teaching from it.  We play this six times during the course of the day in-between our playlist of songs.  Of course this is in addition to our other four main teaching programs. My primary teaching is called “Parola,” or “Lighthouse,” which is a chapter-by-chapter study now through the book of Acts done in a question/answer format.  I continue as well to do an early morning devotion commentary called, “Simoy ng Pag-asa” or “Breeze of Hope.”

Our Home Weather Station, which helps us monitor and report the weather conditions of our islands.

It’s really a blessing to run the radio ministry. However trying to keep up with all that is quite a challenge. Besides the 4 other programs I have to prepare every day, I have also been recruited to be the radio station’s weather forecaster!

There is no specific or detailed local weather forecasting for our area in the Philippines, and since so much of life here on the islands depends upon the weather, getting accurate forecasts is quite important.  Thus, through a friend who loaned me a book on meteorology, some success in locating some informative websites, the chance to befriend a local weather enthusiast who is always willing to answer questions — and a lot of mistakes at the beginning! — little by little we are by God’s grace improving our accuracy.   In fact, in a couple instances we even shockingly preceded the forecasts aired on the main Manila TV stations by 1-3 days.  That was fun!

Besides being an encouragement to the brethren on the islands, we have found that the radio ministry seems also be opening more doors for sharing the gospel.  In our recent door-to-door visitation around San Miguel, we found a surprising number of people who listen to the station, and as a result it seem to be giving us a greater acceptance by the people than we used to experience. Not everyone we share with prays to receive Christ right away, but nearly everyone is willing to listen with interest when we share.  This is quite different than before.

Preparing the weather forecast using NOAA satellite photos along with our weather station data. What a challenge!

We really praise the Lord for the amazing tool of radio and for the guys in the US, who through prayers, support, technical advice, and donations of equipment have helped us so much in getting this going and keeping it running up to now.

So, please keep praying for Island Breeze Radio!  We need all the prayer we can get, for though it is a great ministry, it is also a very demanding in that it carries unending deadlines, requires constant monitoring, and consumes hours and hours of time putting programs together each day.  Yet by God’s grace we press on, believing that He granted us this ministry for a reason, and we want to be the very best stewards possible.

Pressing On In My Absence (November 2011)

Getting cooled off in the US during furlough

September – December are my furlough months – months of visiting friends and family, sharing in churches, rounding up materials for the ministries in the Philippines, and trying in-between it all to get a little rest (sometimes with moderate success only on the rest part!)

 

It’s also been a time for a few new old experiences, like wearing boots in the snow and sleeping with layers of blankets (both unheard of activities in the Philippines!)  During my months in the US, my furlough is taking me to six states, and so is a bit of a whirlwind of travel as well!

Churches left behind on the island (our last joint fellowship before I left)

 

However, while I am here in the US, the ministry in the Philippines presses on, and I am encouraged by the reports that are filtering in.

Rudy Bueno sharing

While I am gone there all of the ministries are continuing at full blast.  Rudy Bueno and Leo Bolante are heading up the three churches  on our two islands of San Miguel and Cagraray.  At last report all of the services are going well, and even new visitors are showing up.

Youth share a tract with one of the San Miguel Island men

All churches have also engaged upon a project to reach with the gospel every home on San Miguel and the three communities where we ministry on Cagraray while I am in the US.  They are doing this primarily with tract distributions as well as personal sharing the gospel to those who are interested.

 

It’s a big task to reach 10,000 people over 3 months, when the only transportation around the islands is walking, but they seem to be wholehearted about the task.  Meanwhile we are using the radio ministry to help follow-up those contacts who are interested in learning more.

Watching a film as part of the youth outreach, "A Journey Home."

 

Youth ministry is being headed by Jonathan and Sherell Volante as well as Emmylou Hallig, a friend who is working with Tiwala Ministries in Legaspi City, but who also gives her time each weekend to assist with the Sunday youth group in one of the churches.

 

 

On November 1 the youth held an outreach fellowship called “A Journey Home,” which drew 65 youth from the islands, almost half of them youth who had never heard the gospel.  The youth have also been very active in outreach in other ways around the islands in my absence.

Our latest campsite project - a guest house to hold 36 campers. Now workers are focusing on smaller "finishing" projects.

Campsite construction continues under the guidance of Jonathan Volante and in late November the campsite was used by two outside groups. We hare hoping that by next year, when we finally start to make it known to outside groups that we have a campsite, use from other churches will increase.  At present we have beds for 90 campers and floorspace for a lot more! God has been amazing in the way He has provided for the construction of this campsite!

Bebet on the roof tending the Pechay harvest - part of our agricultural test project.

Moms making handmade cards as part of our livelihood initiative.

Agri and livelihood development also presses on.  Not only is planting continuing on both San Miguel and Cagararay, but Christmas card sales this year, estimated to hit near 2000 cards, have kept six people on the islands fully employed for the last two months. This has been a huge help financially to five families as well as a boost to helping support other ministries on the islands.

And finally the radio ministry continues strong, with Hanilyn Boneo, one  of our youth interns continuing to DJ as well as oversee programming, backed up by a group of others.  From the US I continue daily to record and send my programming to the Philippines as well.

 

It’s a great thing to watch the local leaders and Christians pick up the mantel in my absence.  Since the day that I set foot on San Miguel Island some 15 years ago, the clear goal from the Lord was always to see the ministry eventually turned over to local leaders, and this period of my absence is a test to see how close we may be to seeing that goal realized.  So far the results are hopeful.

 

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for this ministry and for God’s work on the islands.  You play a big role in seeing His Kingdom come a little bit more to a group of people desperately in need of the hope that only Jesus can bring!

Mid-Heaven Ministry (August 2011)

“And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people.”  (Revelation 14:6)

This verse from Revelation concerns that last days – the days when “time is basically up,” when God will be pouring out his wrath on the earth, and yet as a last act of grace continue to beckon people to repent and turn to Him before the close of the age.

Those days will be hard indeed, and yet how much better to hear and receive the Lord’s invitation now before such woes come to pass?

Sitting in front of the mic in our Santicon radio room

It is for this reason that we continue to be so encouraged by the opportunity that God has given us this side of the tribulation to also be His angel to share the Good News – and from midheaven as well!  The way He’s doing it is through 18-watts of  FM power  broadcast right from our campsite on Cagrarary Island — 88.5 on your dial (if you happen to live nearby)!

Island Breeze Radio actually ran its debu broadcast during Holy Week 2010.  Unfortunately, soon after that we began to run the station, we also began to run into problems with the transmitter.  First it began shooting out spurious signals that interfered with the few nearby TV’s on the island, thus forcing us to  cut back our broadcasts to off-peak hours.  Then, further problems with the transmitter power limited how far the signal could reach.

Our antenna and solar power set-up. The solar power is needed due to the multiple power-outages that strike us nearly every week.

Through the help of some great brothers in Christ in the US last December, however, the problem was solved, and this year we are now  back on the air stronger than ever. With a new stronger transmitter, a small array of solar panels, a redesigned antenna tower that pushes us up to 72 ft, and an actual somewhat sound-proofed radio room, we have found the radio ministry now able to  cover not only nearly the entire island of San Miguel and much of Cagrarary, but also penetrate three towns on the mainland, and the outskirts of a fourth as well!  We were shocked when we began receiving text messages from listeners in areas we never thought the signal could reach!

Hazel pointing out some key points about Christian radio programming. Three of the nine trainees sit at the left.

As the potential for this type of ministry has become clearer and clearer to us, during the past month we have begun delving a lot more into developing our own programming.  With the help of Hazel Alvarez, a friend and one of the top Christian radio trainers in the Philippines, this past month we were able to send eight persons from the island (including myself) through a one-week training, which included theory behind Christian broadcasting and techniques of developing effective programming.

Conversing over the air with Cecil Amog , FEBC staff and DJ on One-Radio Tabaco City, as part of our July radio training. The girl at the left is Hanilyn, one of our youth interns from the island who is also becoming our key DJ on Island Breeze Radio.

The last event of the training involved taking the whole bunch from the island to a local radio station in Tabaco City to experience the “real thing.”  Cecil Amog, a staff of Far East Broadcasting Company (an international Christian radio ministry) and who also DJ’s on a local commercial station, led this part of the orientation, and gave tips on how to conduct oneself live over the radio.  The trainings were fantastic and really have helped us get a better grasp on how to manage this amazing tool God has given us to get His word out.

With the help of these trainings, some dedicated staff, and perseverance that can only be from the Lord, we have at present been able to maintain a broadcast schedule of 17 hours each day (on a pretty consistent basis), which include 14 programs, the gaps between which are filled with a mixture of Tagalog and English Christian music.

Jonathan, also from San Miguel Island, has been on ministry staff for many years. Now, besides helping run our campsite and the student ministry at one church, he is also our newscaster.

At present I do an early-morning devotion, another devotional commentary (aired twice each morning), and a Bible reading and question/answer program that airs in three sections during each weekday.   The Sunday morning message is also rebroadcast every Sunday evening.

Entrance to our campsite radio room. The tower is located just to the left. Our rooftop garden on top.

Besides this God has also allowed us to work up news broadcasts three times each day, a children’s program each evening, song requests two times each day, a prayer time for those who send in requests, and Bible-verses-of-the-day, broadcast hourly.

We have all discovered that putting out radio programming is a huge task requiring amazing amounts of work on an almost non-stop basis.  The task of producing programming is made even more difficult by having to deal with simultaneous technical problems and power outages that seem to hit us with unrelenting frequency.

Inggo, our campsite foreman and local radio daredevil, hangs silhouetted against the coming rainclouds as he makes adjustments to the top of the radio tower. Inggo has actually clocked quite a few hours in midheaven as we continue to work on getting the kinks out of the tower!

And yet, though a lot of work, the radio ministry is also a great blessing as we repeatedly hear how God is using it, not only to help strengthen the brethren but also touch people who don’t yet know Christ.  Almost every week we hear reports of new people who are listening.  At the same time local island Christians are getting the chance to learn a type of ministry few even in the cities ever get to experience.

God is good, and we thank Him for this midheaven ministry opportunity!  Since you can never see who is actually listening, you never really know what impact is being made, and so truly it’s a ministry of faith!   And yet, if God is going to use midheaven as a platform for proclaiming the gospel in the end, it can’t be too bad of an idea for us to use it now as well.

Typhoon Lanes, Inc. (June 2011)

Typhoon Chedeng barreling down upon us in May. We are the little green spot right in front of it!

They call it the “Typhoon Belt.” That’s where I have the privilege of living – right in the middle of it.  Of course what it means is that we are on the main track of incoming typhoons.  They usually start somewhere east of us and then come barreling in.  Over the years I’ve learned what if must feel like to a bowling pin with big round spiraling balls  thundering down the lane toward us.  We can never be quite so sure where they will hit.  We hope for a glance off the side, or better yet a “gutter ball” which misses the whole country. Direct strikes are hard to take!

Typhoon Reming in 2006. This photo was taken out of my bedroom window.

Being able to predict where these balls of wind will impact is very important in an area where many houses are only bamboo and nipa, and where a good percentage of the residents live near the seashore.  A slight mis-calculation of the path of Typhoon Durian (Remeng) in 2006 had many people confident that they wouldn’t get hit, only to be blasted the next day by the worse typhoon in living history here.  We were among them.  Perhaps ¼ of the homes on the islands were destroyed, and we spent 5 months in relief work helping rebuild some 150 of those houses.

Sister Mercy's house -- or what used to be her house -- after Typhoon Reming in November 2006

A cow grazing at our campsite after Reming. A downed coconut tree (a common sight after the storm) serves as the backdrop.

Plotting Typhoon Chedeng this past May. The pen is pointing at its closest approach - 180 miles - as it thankfully turned north. The initial path, however, was straight for us.

With the importance of needing to predict accurately the route of typhoons, we decided to get involved a little bit this year.  Already equipped with a radio station for disseminating information, as two typhoons approached both in the month of May this year and each initially heading straight for us, I was able to tune into 4 websites carrying information, three from the Philippines and one from Japan.

With the help of these websites, a longitude/ latitude map of the Philippines, as well as a friend from an area of the Philippines affected some number of hours in advance of our location, we were able to get  accurate up-to-date plots on the path and speed of the incoming typhoons, and even do a bit of our own predicting.  In this way we were able to provide information not normally shared on the public radio – information like the exact distance of the typhoons from our islands (not normally featured in national news), and prediction of local wind speeds at those distances.

Broadcasting during the typhoon by solar power. I was also joined by our refugee tomato plants from our roof garden!

It was a lot of work to be hourly plotting the storm, particularly during the critical period just before it turned north to miss us, but it was simultaneously a lot of fun to learn the process, and a joy to know that we were providing an important public service.  Of course in the process there were also a lot of chances to share God’s words of hope over the radio as well.

By God’s grace the typhoons missed us, though they did still buffet us with strong winds.  But now, unlike before, we have a record of exactly how it did so, and have a document of God’s continued grace.

God is good, and I constantly stand amazed at how He continually gives us new ways to serve the people here in Jesus’ name – right here in Typhoon Lanes, Philippines!

We’re on the Air! (April 2010)

        Holy Week is always an eventful time here in the Philippines.  Families re-unite, the Catholic Church begins a lot of extra activities, lots of rosaries and statues of the saints come out, and a group in the northern Philippines even nail themselves to crosses thinking that’s the way to pay for their sins.  So much religion but sometimes not a lot of understanding of what Jesus death was even all about.

How this world needs to know what Jesus did!   Jesus said in John 12:32, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”   Yet, even on a small island like San Miguel and the adjacent island of Cagraray it seems hard to get the word out to everyone and lift up the truth about Jesus before them.

This year, however, God has granted us a fresh new way to lift up Jesus on the islands — Christian radio!  But not

The transmitter in its entirety -- it all fits in a small suitcase. It can also be hooked up to solar panels, a big help in an area where power is very inconsistent.

just any Christian radio.  This is our very own station broadcast right from our campsite in Santicon!    How did that happen?  Well, in a very unexpected blessing, a couple months ago we received a low-power transmitter from a brother in Christ in California for the purpose of helping “spread the word” a bit faster.    Taking some time to work out the kinks and to get proper permits for broadcasting, at long last on Holy Week itself, we were able to hoist the antenna up  65 feet at our campsite using GI pipes and a bamboo pole, and begin broadcasting!

And what a blessing it has been!  Even with the very low 15-watt signal  brethren in the northern areas of San Miguel Island have been able to hear the broadcasts (though quite choppy in some places there).   The transmission has also been able to be picked up at the pier of one of the closest towns on the mainland and nearly

Using a small sight/surface level to create a rought topographical map of the southern portion of San Miguel Island and locate best potential broadcast locations.

to Tabaco City as well (about 7 miles from our campsite).  In fact only a couple of the Christian families on both San Miguel and Cagraray Islands were not able to receive the signal well!

As I mentioned, this new radio ministry began when a brother in Christ in California, Tony Randazzo, learned of our ministry through a mutual friend, David Hinchey, also ministering here in the Philippines.  Having an electrical engineering background and being himself led to Christ through Christian radio, he felt God calling him to use his skills to bless others with the chance to hear the gospel in areas where they might not otherwise hear.  And so, one day, after a few e-mails, the transmitter showed up at our doorstep (well not exactly at our doorstep – at the Tabaco shipping office.  NO ONE delivers to our doorstep!).

The results of our mapping of SW San Miguel Ilsand and a bit of Cagraray (at the bottom)

After this we had to test the transmitter in a number of locations both on Cagraray and San Miguel Islands.  It involved first drawing up an elevation map of the southern part of San Miguel Island using a rather crude sight/surface level and a lot of pacing off between landmarks, then selecting a few potential spots for transmission.  Next it required a little creativity to determine how to get the antenna to the highest elevation possible for the test transmissions.  However, it was also a lot of fun trying – especially since I got to watch others do all the climbing!  We would then send people around the island and out on boats  to check radio reception from different locations.  In the end we settled for our campsite since, though a bit lower than other locations, the convenience of broadcasting here far outweighed the disadvantages.

Preparing to erect antenna on our Santicon campsite

Licensing is still a long and in some ways uncertain process. The rules are such in the Philippines that the congress has to actually vote on whether we can begin a broadcasting franchise even before the licensing process can be started.  However, in the

Jonathan steadying antenna pole from roof while support lines are tied down. (In the background you can see our rooftop test garden)

meantime God’s hand of grace has been evident in that we have been able to attain both a community and mayor’s permit to broadcast while the licensing is in process.

And so Holy Week was our debut.  We began with broadcasting for a few hours at noon and then in the evening, mostly Christian music, but also 2 half-hour teachings I did on the seven last words of Jesus on the cross (appropriate for Holy Week, and an experience which refreshed in my own mind how amazing was the work Jesus did for us when He died and rose again).  Since there is no Christian radio in our entire province, to have such an opportunity is truly a blessing from the Lord.

Broadcasting from our Santicon campsite (the laptop is to help automate the broadcasts)

As of now we don’t yet have anyone who can dedicate the time needed to really get the station up and running full-time. However, little by little we are putting together thoughts and ideas, and hope to be able to expand the broadcast to mornings as well, include a variety of Tagalog teaching – some recorded from our services here, some done specifically for the radio ministry, and some simply read from Tagalog Christian books .  We also have a “Talking Bible” which we plan to use to simply broadcast Scripture.

The radio antenna at full-mast -- another of God's heaven-sent gifts

Please pray for this ministry – both on our local level and nation-wide level.  David Hinchey and I are both very keen on seeing a franchise developed that can cover the entire Philippines and thus open the door for more small rural churches to set up their own broadcasting stations.  Pray for Dave who is spearheading this process.  On the local level we are praying that, besides being an encouragement to brethren on the island, a local island radio station can generate enough interest in the community to attract the attention of non-believers as well, and thus open up the door for more to hear the gospel.

Thanks for your prayers!  God is good and continues to open doors beyond our expectation!

PRAYER REQUESTS FOR RADIO MINISTRY:

1.  Wisdom in setting up the programming and the necessary resources to do so. Also enough time to keep up with it!

2.   God to direct the right people to listen and change lives through the broadcasts.

3.  Favor with all government officials needed to secure the Congressional Franchise and the eventual radio license.