Coastal Ministry

Hi all,

On Wed last week, I took a trip to the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador to visit our FM radio station HCJB-2. Several of us traveled from Quito to celebrate Luis Mora's 25 years of ministry with HCJB-2. Luis is the station manager for HCJB-2, which started in 1972 and which now has a repeater station in Machala, south of Guayaquil. We had a great time of fellowship and celebration with the staff there.

There are several Christian radio stations in this port city, however HCJB-2 is distinctive because of its central doctrinal position and solid Bible teaching. Many listen to the station for the Bible teaching. In a very diverse and divided city doctrinally, HCJB-2's mission is to unite the body of Christ see them work together as the body of Christ.

HCJB-2 is located in the poorer south-end of the city. This gives them a special ability to reach their neighbors with the Gospel. They will soon begin a clinic on their property, once again putting into action HCJB Global's two main ministries of Healthcare and Media. A local Christian doctor has already been enlisted and the rooms for the clinic are being refurbished and readied for the staff.

Mision Compartida (our radio-thon) for HCJB-2 brings in over $60,000 per year from donors who want to get behind the station. Most of these donations are small ($5 or $10 a month), and don't cover the operating costs of the station. However Luis and his staff are working with 2 pastoral associations and several Christian businessmen to improve the financial position of the station. One the ideas these businessmen are interested in is starting a new business, but the profits from the business will support minsitry. This is a new concept in missions today and we hope it proves effective in supporting HCJB-2.

You can check out HCJB-2's web site and even listen to their live stream. Their most popular program is from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (EST) on weekdays when they can receive up to 250 SMS text messages from their listeners. They also use a live chat with listeners during the program.

Doug