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

Moving in the Right Direction

Hi all,

Thanks for your prayers for us. We have been encouraged in the last week by the progress that we are making on our family issues. Ruth and I have seen some good progress over the last few weeks and that has been confirmed by others who know the details of our situation. Please continue to pray for us and that the Lord will continue to provide for our financial needs. Several people have sent in special gifts to help us meet this challenge.

The kids have settled in to classes now and are getting involved in after-school activities. Daniel joined the football team (#22 in the photo). He had never even seen a football game before, but wanted to join the team anyway. He is one of the smaller kids on the team, but that is not discouraging him.

David is running cross country this fall. It is amazing to me that they have cross country activities for 4th graders, but it is something that he enjoys. He has always enjoyed running and has his first meet this week.

Becca has settled in to classes at the high school as well and is taking a French class via correspondence course, as French would not fit into her schedule. She really enjoys her art class and her craft class. She is making a few friends at school which helps with the adjustment. She is anxious to return to Ecuador so that she can graduate in the spring from Alliance Academy International in Quito.

Rachel is doing well in her second year at Huntington University. Another girl from Alliance Academy is attending HU this year and they have a class together. The girls played basketball and soccer together while in Quito, and Rachel enjoys having someone else from Quito at her school. The girls are thinking about how they can get more Alliance students to HU in the next few years.

Ruth is getting involved in a Bible study on Tues nights and helping with the children's ministry on Wed night. She has also joined the choir and enjoys singing on Sunday mornings. She is taking a couple of correspondence classes in order to renew her teaching credential this fall.

I am not directly involved in a lot of things yet, although I have been invited to speak in several classes at Huntington University this fall. Nothing firm yet, but I expect that I will be talking to some of the Radio classes, as well as the missions major classes. I also enjoy the Men's Prayer Breakfast that meets every Monday morning.

Well that is a brief update on us. Thanks again for you prayers. Our plan is still to return to Ecuador in January 2010. Pray that we will continue to make good progress toward that goal.

Thanks,

Doug

Sitting on the Bench

Have you ever played a sport and had your coach suddenly set you on the bench and you weren't sure why? Well we feel a lot like that right now. After sending out our last prayer letter and letting everyone know about our changes in ministry and the new opportunities for us as we returned to Ecuador, suddenly the Lord seemed to sideline us.

We were scheduled to return to Ecuador on Aug 20th. However, just 2 weeks before our departure, it became very obvious to us that we would not be able to return on time. Without going into details on such a public forum, suffice it to say that our delay is directly related to the family issues that caused us to come home this summer in the first place. We did not make the progress that we had hoped to during the last 2 months and have decided to take more time to work on them. HCJB Global has been very supportive of our decision to delay our return and for that we are very grateful.

As a result, we have extended our return date to mid-January, although that could change as well. It was a little crazy having to switch plans again so rapidly and we really had to scramble to get kids registered for school, do something about a vehicle, etc., etc., but we are finally feeling like we are starting to fall into a routine. If we have learned one thing in the last few months, it is flexibility! It is difficult to make plans for our future, as much of that will depend on how the Lord works in our situation. We are trying to leave our options open and let the Lord lead us each step of the way.

On one side, we wonder why God has set us on the bench at just this time when we were anxious to start our new ministries. On the other, we see evidence that God was orchestrating events even months and years ago in order to facilitate this break from the action.

This will be classified as a medical leave and there are on going medical expenses that we will be incurring during this time which our medical insurance will not be covering. So if you would like to help us with some of those expenses, you can make out a check to "HCJB GLOBAL", include "For Account #110295" in the memo line, and send it to HCJB Global, P.O. Box 39800, Colorado Springs, CO 80949. A one time gift would be a great help or you might find this a good time to join our monthly support team by committing to $20, $30, or $50 per month. We can charge the uncovered medical bills to our ministry account if it has a positive balance.

We would also covet your prayers. Pray that the Lord will be working in our family. Pray that He will bring healing and allow us to return to Ecuador in January so that Becca can finish her senior year of High School there. If you want to know more specific reasons for our stay in the US, feel free to call, write, or e-mail us.

Thanks,

Doug