On this day in 1952, Trans World Radio was founded by Dr. Paul E. Freed.

Dr. Freed, a graduate of New York University, had received his PhD in mass communication.  He took a job with Youth for Christ, but as he worked with them, he became uncomfortably aware that Spain was being largely ignored by evangelical missionaries.  At this time, Spain was under the tight control of the dictator Francisco Franco and he closed the borders of Spain to the missionaries.  But Freed had an idea.  He knew of something that couldn’t be kept out, that wasn’t bound by governmental regulations.  And he knew how to use it: the radio.

Dr. Freed discovered an open door to establish a missionary radio station in Tangier, Morocco. Spain, which is directly across the Strait of Gibraltar, would be able to pick up the broadcast.  So Freed and his father began the process of installing a radio station in Morocco that would house a 2,500 Watt transmitter.  In 1954, the first “Voice of Tangier” broadcast aired in English and Spanish.  Four years later, the station had grown to over 20 languages broadcasted in 40 countries.  The station was forced to move from Morocco to Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Today, Trans World Radio is broadcasted in more than 200 languages and in 160 countries.

Source:

Dictionary of African Christians

Trans World Radio

On this day in 1831, George Boardman, the man who did so much to reach the Karen people in the Burmese Jungles and mountains, dies.  He had just had his 30th birthday.

For three years, George and his wife, Sarah, had been making tours of several Karen villages.  When George and his Karen co-worker, Ko Tha Byu, first began to preach the gospel, they were suprised to find a people who were ready to receive the Gospel.  In fact, many aspects of their core beliefs, what they called their “Tradition of the Elders”, was in line with the Bible.  There was a belief in an unchangeable, eternal, all-powerful God, creator of heaven and earth, of man, and of woman formed from a rib taken from the man. They believed in humanity’s temptation by a devil, and its fall, and that some day a messiah would come to its rescue.

As George and Ko went from village to village, many would flock to hear the teaching of the Messiah who had died for them.  And many more believed.  George would baptize the believers and form them into a church.  After spending time with the new church, he would go on to the next village and repeat the process.  But the travel, climate, and disease took a toll on George’s health and he soon had to retire to the city to try to recover.

But the Karens would not forget about the one who brought them the news of hope.  They would beg George to come out tp the villages again to baptize the new believers, and George gave in.  To weak to walk, the Karen carried him out to the villages to be present at the Baptisms.  In a letter to his parents, his wife Sarah described the last scenes from the life of this great man:

On Wednesday evening, thirty-four persons were baptized. Mr. Boardman was carried to the waterside, though so weak that he could scarcely breathe without the continual use of the fan and the smelling-bottle. The joyful sight was almost too much for his feeble frame.

When we reached the chapel … all the disciples present, about fifty in number, gathered around him, and he addressed them for a few moments in language like the following: ‘I did hope to stay with you till after Lord’s-day, and administer to you once more the Lord’s-Supper. But God is calling me away from you. I am about to die, and shall soon be inconceivably happy in heaven. When I am gone, remember what I have taught you; and O, be careful to persevere unto the end, that when you die we may meet one another in the presence of God, never more to part. Listen to the word of the new teacher  andthe teacheress as you have done to mine. The teacheress will be very much distressed. Strive to lighten her burdens and comfort her by your good conduct. Do not neglect prayer. The eternal God, to whom you pray, is unchangeable. Earthly teachers sicken and die, but God remains for ever the same. Love Jesus Christ with all your hearts, and you will be for ever safe.’

Mr. Mason, who had just arrived to work with Boardman among the Karens, wrote this final eulogy of the man:

Thus did this indefatigable missionary die, as every missionary would wish to die, about his Master’s business, and surrounded by those in whose conversion from heathenism he had been instrumental.

Source:

Memoir of George Boardman

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On this day in 1779, William Carey attended a prayer meeting that would change his life.

Carey had been born into the Church of England.  He was brought up in that Church, taught in that Church, and was loyal to that church.  In fact, he was so dedicated to it that he once remarked about one of the groups opposing his Church, ‘There was a place of worship and a small body of dissenters in the village but I never attended it and thought myself to have enmity enough in my heart to destroy it.’

But Carey’s opinion was soon to change.  The older he got, the more his sin and guilt burdened upon him.  He did everything in his power to ease the guilt and obtain peace with God.  He writes, “Under these circumstances I resolved to attend regularly three churches in the day and go to a prayer meeting at the dissenting place of worship in the evening not doubting but this would produce ease of mind and make me acceptable to God… but I was at present unacquainted with the wickedness of my heart and the necessity of Saviour.”

When he was caught trying to cheat his boss out of money, the guilt, dishonor, and humiliation was too much for the 18-yr old to bear and he realized that his own attempts to reform could never work.  When he attended the next prayer meeting, the words of the scriptures penetrated his sin-bound heart:

 He insisted much on the necessity of following Christ entirely and enforced his exhortation with that passage Heb xiii “Let us therefore go out unto him without the camp bearing his reproach.” I think I had a desire to follow Christ but an idea occurred to my mind upon hearing those words which broke me off from the church of England. The idea was certainly very crude but useful in bringing me from attending a lifeless carnal ministry to one more evangelical. I concluded that the church of England as established by law was the camp in which all were protected from the scandal of the cross and that I ought to bear the reproach of Christ among the dissenters and accordingly I always afterwards attended divine worship among them.

This meeting was the first step in William Carey leaving the Church of England and seeking the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Source:

Memoir of Doctor Carey

On this day in 1859, Jonathan Goforth, the great missionary to China, was born on a farm in London, Ontario, Canada, the seventh of eleven children.  Born into a strong Christian family, he was challenged by his parents to pray and to love, read and memorize the Scriptures.  And he was also challenged to work hard.

As a boy, he was forced to juggle the challenges of both going to school and working on the farm at the same time.  At the age of fifteen, his father put him in charge of the family’s second farm, located twenty miles from his home.  His father left him on the farm with this charge, “Work hard.  At harvest, I’ll return and inspect.”

In later years, Goforth stirred massive audiences as he told of his labors that summer, of his father’s return in the fall and of how his heart thrilled when his father, after inspecting the fields of beautiful waving grain, turned to him and smiled. “That smile,” he would say, “was all the reward I wanted. I knew my father was pleased. So will it be, dear Christians, if we are faithful to the trust our Heavenly Father has given us. His smile of approval will be our blessed reward.”

Source:

Wholesome Words

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