Mision Compartida 2007

Hi all,

What is Mision Compartida you ask? That is the name we have given to our annual Radio-thon and Open House here at HCJB. We have been doing this for about 4 years now and each year the event grows. Mision Compartida means "Shared Mission" in Spanish. This year we held Mision Compartida on the 13th, 14th and 15th of December. (Yes, just 2 weeks after the Quito Day Concerts... December is a busy month for us!)

A big part of Mision Compartida is the open house. During the 3-day event, we have thousands of people come by the station. They can stop by our largest radio studio and watch, listen, and even participate at times in the live radio program. We also do a lot of live Christian and Ecuadorian cultural music during the event. Some of these artists are local, and others we bring in from out of the country. So many people will come by to meet the musicians as well.

We also have a children's tent where a team of mostly volunteers come and do all kinds of activities with the kids. This has become very popular during the last couple of years. In fact, there were times this year when we had more kids on campus than we had adults. The kids tent usually has face painting, puppet shows, skits, videos etc. Because of the kids ministry, Mision Compartida is becoming a family event each year. Families will come and spend several hours with us.

This year we had some special tents set up which presented other ministries of HCJB. One in particular was done by our Bible Institute of the Air. They created a mock-up of the ancient tabernacle of God from the old testament. Students in the Institute manned the tent, giving tours of the tent and the meaning of each of the items in the "Tabernacle". Another popular area is our Prayer Room. Many of the local pastors come and volunteer to be available to pray with people who come to the station with special needs.

Of course our donation areas are open as well. People can call us and pledge their gift or they can come by in person and leave their gift with us during their visit. This year we set a goal of raising $150,000 for the local AM and FM radio stations. That is about half the cost it requires to operate those stations each year. Although our pledges had never surpassed $100,000 in the previous years, the listeners gave nearly $130,000 during each of the previous years. We count the money that comes in during the year and not the pledges anyway, so $150,000 seemed like a reasonable goal. To our surprise, our listeners pledged over $160,000 this year! We were all humbled by the Lord's grace this year since this is almost twice what our listeners pledged last year.

Mision Compartida was a success in several ways, not just financially. Many of our listeners shared with our producers how the Lord had used a particular producer to speak to them, or encourage them just when they needed it. In fact I think we, the staff of HCJB, get as much of a blessing by this interaction with our listeners as they get in giving to the ministry. It is easy to wonder if you are making a difference in people's lives because radio is a one-way medium. Mision Compartida is the listeners opportunity to encourage us, and it does. We are so grateful that we can be a part of this ministry which touches so many lives for Christ.