A Lifetime Experience

I love broadcasting and I love working with SAT-7 because of my background in media. I have two degrees in broadcasting and started my career on a gourmet cooking show with Julia Child. When I started a family, I began to volunteer in the media ministry of my church, starting radio and tv programs, and creating Christmas Eve specials for most of thirty years.

I am now in my 70’s and I believe God led me to volunteer with SAT-7. Living in the United States, it is difficult for me to practically help the people in the Middle East and North Africa, or to share God’s love with them. However, I can help create the monthly prayer calendars that are sent out to SAT-7’s supporters. Prayer is a vital part of this ministry and it is a joy for me to be part of this prayer support. Volunteering with SAT-7 has been a blessing to me and hopefully to SAT-7.

My experience in media is the reason I became curious about what SAT-7 does in the Middle East and North Africa. When I first heard about SAT-7 over a decade ago, I began researching what kind of programs were being broadcast on state sponsored stations in the region. What I found was chilling.

On the internet, I found a kindergarten graduation ceremony in Syria. Five-year-old children were dressed in camouflage suits and hoods with eye holes. They were carrying wooden guns and were practicing killing people. They even practiced being killed, and they were taught that this was all for the glory of God.

When I turned over to another channel being broadcast out of Gaza, there was a program with an engaging life-sized mouse character and a 12-year-old girl in a pink head scarf. Little children called into the show to share their poems and songs, and the more they talked about torture and killing, the more the mouse would start clapping, jump up and down, and cheer for them. When the girl presenting the program asked one little caller about what she would do in a certain scenario, she answered, “I would commit martyrdom”.

The frightening messages these programs were giving children were available to any child with access to the internet or a satellite dish, and that is most of the Arab speaking children. I thought, “Somebody needs to tell these children that Jesus loves them. They need to tell them early and often, and they need to tell them this on TV”.

That’s exactly what SAT-7 does in the region. I am wowed by the impact SAT-7 is having in the Middle East and North Africa. Satellite TV continues to be the best way to reach millions of people. I love how God is using SAT-7 programs to change hearts one person at a time. There is so much emphasis on children’s programs, Bedtime Stories is a prime example, and these have the potential to have a long-term impact by changing entire societies.