Social Media in Ministry

I thought I would give you a couple of recent examples of how social media is helping us in the ministry.

Remember the volcano in Iceland that closed so many airports in Europe? Well, as we were reporting that story during our newscast, a lady from Belgium wrote a greeting to us on Facebook. She was listening to the radio station via our Live Stream on the internet. Our news staff noticed that she was from Belgium so they read her message on the air and then asked her (on the air) if she could write a note on facebook about how the volcano was affecting Belgium. She complied and the news team again read her message on the air. All this happened very interactively and within minutes.

Another facebook note came in from a listener who listens to one of our radio repeaters in the city of Esmeraldas, Ecuador. She wrote that she was sad that she could not listen to the station right now because the repeater was off the air. Well that was news to us, so I sent the note on to our technical department. Two days later they were in Esmeraldas fixing the repeater. On their way home, a taxi driver in Esmeraldas spotted the HCJB Global logos on the side of their pickup truck. He rolled down his window and shouted, "thanks for getting the transmitter back on the air!"

Doug

Does God Know What We Need, Before We Need It?

Becca is a senior in High School this year. That makes her eligible to go on the "Senior Trip". This is an annual event where the senior class at Alliance Academy skips school for a week to go to the beach. Don't worry.... it's a school sponsored event and a tradition that all seniors look forward to.

The seniors were to leave on Thurs at 1:00 p.m. Becca was pretty excited about the trip, but as she began to pack on Wed night, she had trouble finding all of the pieces to her beach wear. She searched high and low Wed. night. The later it got, the more frustrated she became. She finally decided to call it a night, and Ruth offered to help her do a more thorough search in the morning.

I came to work the next morning. Ruth and Becca commenced the search, but they were having little success. By 10:00 a.m. they had still not found the missing piece even though they had been praying all morning that God would help them find it.

Just about that time, one of my Ecuadorian colleagues walked up to me, out of the blue, and handed me a bag saying, "You left this in Papallacta last month when you spent the night there." Indeed, we had been in Papallacta to celebrate Becca's birthday along with many of her friends. There are hot pools nearby so swim wear is a "must have" for a trip to Papallacta.

As I opened the bag, you guessed it, I found the missing article of clothing. I was amazed! I quickly called Becca and Ruth to confirm that it was indeed the missing piece they had been searching for. We were all excited to see how the Lord had answered their prayers and rejoiced together. Two hours later, they picked it up on their way to the airport.

But wait... This was not just another story about losing a coin in our house and rejoicing because it was found again. (Luke 15: 8 - 10) This is really a story about God knowing what we needed before we knew we needed it! You see, the really amazing thing about this story is that this little article of clothing had to be "en route" to us even before we started praying for it. In fact, it had to leave Papallacta before Becca even started packing on Wed night. Indeed, it most likely started its journey days before we even knew it was missing.

Now you might think, "well, you were just lucky", or "sometimes things just work out that way". But this is not the first time we have seen this happen. It has happened time and time again, especially in the last two years. It makes me remember that I have a very short field of view with regards to my future. But I have a God that sees the future clearly and orders the events of our lives in order to give us His good gifts.

Was this a faith shaking experience? No. Would we have lost our faith in God had we not found it? No. But if God wants to give us even little gifts like finding a swimming suite so we can enjoy a senior trip, then I know that He is also watching out for me when I go through the really tough times in life, and THAT is really encouraging.

Doug

Facebook in Ministry?

I got to work a little early that day. I knew it was going to be a busy day and I wanted to get an early start. I turned on my laptop computer and the radio in my office. I often listen to our radio station throughout the day, but today, listening would be especially important. We were giving away free tickets to a popular Christian concert. We had been giving away tickets all week, but today the tickets would go exclusively to fans of our HCJB La Voz de Los Andes Facebook fan page. If they were not already a fan, they could become one, but they had to write a certain phrase on our "wall" in order to enter the drawing. My job was to keep track of the people who entered the contest and write them a quick reply, confirming receipt of their entry. By the time we selected the winners, 76 people had written the proper phrase on our wall.

This is an example of how we are trying to use the new digital media technologies to touch our audience in new ways. The world is becoming more social in the way it uses technology and we hope to capitalize on that trend. Facebook is an internet based social network in which "fans" can communicate with us interactively. They can now ask questions of our radio hosts, live on the air. They can inquire as to what song we just played on the air. They can send us testimonies of how God has used one of our producers to say just the right thing at just the right time for them. We can also use the network to share news and information about other HCJB Global ministries in Latin America. For instance, we were able to share pictures from our medical team as they ministered in Haiti recently. We can also share videos, have open discussion forums, share links to useful web pages, and many more things.

We now have 5 Facebook pages in Latin America, each one with a specific audience in mind. Three of those have been launched since our return to Ecuador in late January. I am responsible for updating only two of those pages, but I spend a lot of time helping other HCJB Global staff learn about Facebook and think through ways that they might use it to better communicate with their target audience. We are certainly not experts on social media, but we are learning as we explore new ways to reach out to our audience.

You can follow our English regional fan page by clicking on the HCJB Voz Global fan button in the right hand column of this blog. Thanks for praying for us as we seek new ways of reaching out to people in Latin America with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Doug

Back in the Saddle

Hi all,

It has been a while since I updated our blog. A lot has been happening here in recent months so I thought it time to give you a brief update.

We returned to Ecuador on the 20th of January. It is good to be home in Ecuador again. The kids are back in school, Ruth is enjoying her Educational Therapy work at Alliance Academy International and I am settling into his new responsibilities at HCJB Global.

I am working on promoting "new media" opportunities within the mission, things like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. I have been running two Facebook fan pages for HCJB Global in Latin America since last October. One (HCJB la Voz de los Andes) is focused on the local radio audience in Ecuador, while the other (HCJB Voz Global) is focused more on regional and global ministries of HCJB Global. This last week we were giving away tickets to a Christian movie on the HCJB la Voz de los Andes page. A few weeks ago we had an open discussion about whether contemporary christian music is satanic or not. (Don't send me your comments on that please.) Many of our fans are from outside Ecuador. Many are from the USA, yet others are from Belgium, Italy, Spain, Peru, Argentina, and even Korea.

I have also been looking for ways to uses Twitter with our ministries. A week ago, the local HCJB radio station co-sponsored a conference for pastors. I attended the conference and sent out "tweets" every half hour or so about the lessons being learned in the conference. HCJB Global used Twitter very effectively in Jan. when we had a medical team on the ground in Haiti after the devastating earthquake there. I am also hoping to start some Twitter accounts for our ministries in Latin America.

Although these new technologies are pretty popular in western society, they are still pretty new in Latin America. We dedicated a whole hour on La Telaraña to Twitter one day. La Telaraña is tarted toward the generations who use this new media to communicate with their friends. Yet it was amazing how few of our listeners had even heard of Twitter. So part of what we will be doing is educating our audience about these new technologies. Interestingly enough, several of the local TV stations are now entering this new media field, so I am hoping that this will heightened awareness and draw more listeners to our sites as welll.

We will keep you updated on things as we progress. Thanks for praying for us.

Doug

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Greetings to all,

It has been a while since we have updated you on our progress. We have continued to work on the family issues that have caused our extended stay in the US. We have been on a real emotional roller coaster in the last few months, at times feeling as though we were not making much progress, and at others being very encouraged. However, as we look back over the last 6 months, we can see definite progress. The people who have been helping us through this process have also commented that they feel like we are through the worst of things and on the road to recovery. As a result, we feel like we can begin to make plans for our return to Ecuador, sometime around mid-January. Although our family is still not perfect (is any family perfect?), we feel we have made sufficient progress that we can now manage the stresses of daily life together again.

The kids are doing well. They are very excited about the prospects of playing in the snow this Christmas. Neither Daniel nor David have ever been in snow for more than an hour or so. Rebecca has memories of Christmas in Indiana from when she was a little girl, and wants to show the boys how to make snowmen, snow angels, snow balls, etc. Ruth and I just complain about the cold. Can't we have snow without the cold weather??

I have started working on some Facebook fan pages for two of our ministries in Ecuador. The first is named "HCJB Voz Global". This page has information in both Spanish and English about HCJB Global and it's media ministries in Latin America. We include some general information about other regions as well when it is available. The other fan page is "HCJB La Voz de los Andes" (The Voice of the Andes). This page is targeted more for our local radio audience in Ecuador and is all in Spanish. Both sights have videos of the ministry, as well as some photos. These are two examples of the things that I hope to do when we return to Quito in January. If you have a Facebook account and want to check out the pages, feel free. Just click on the fan page logos on the side of this blog and join in the fun.

This coming weekend (Dec 10 - 12) Radio HCJB will host our annual radio-thon fund raiser called "Misión Compartida" (or Shared Mission). Last year we raised over $260,000 from local listeners in Quito and Guayaquil. During Misión Compartida we also host thousands of listeners who visit the stations in order to donate or meet their favorite radio personalities. This is the most significant "touch" we have each year with our listeners. So please be in prayer for the radio teams who will be hosting this great event. You can also check in and listen to one of our live streams at www.radiohcjb.org (Quito) or www.hcjb2.org (Guayaquil).

We hope that you all had a good Thanksgiving and are enjoying this Christmas Season. Merry Christmas!!

Doug