UCB International Blog

Hello Friends (or, as Gaz would say, “Hey Rockers”),

We are enjoying a rather wet summer here in Ontario, Canada, and thought perhaps it’s time to post a blog entry to let everyone know how we’re doing. Much to share!

First, for all the prayers that have gone up for the health of our team: THANKS!

As most know, I somehow contracted necrotizing fasciitis (the flesh-eating disease) in January. It came suddenly, and recovery was dodgy at times, but all is well now and I’m practically back to normal. In fact, the surgeons said I’d have a cane the rest of my life - well, according to the latest physio appt, I’m in my last couple of months with it and will soon be cane-free (after only 8 or 9 months!)

In other, more pressing news: in mid-May our COO, James Hunt, was diagnosed with a malignant tumour on his left kidney which has been removed. Doctors report that the cancer has not spread. Further treatment is necessary and we are praying for a solid recovery and this his body will remain cancer-free.

While you’re praying, could you also lift up the needs of our Chatham-Kent station as they look for a new Morning Show Co-host and a Salesperson. In addition to a couple of faithful volunteers, right now the station is being run by just Al & Matt - two very committed, although WAY over-worked saints! Please pray that the right people would learn quickly of the openings and that the process to get them on-board would be quick and successful.

The last thing to share falls under the category, “A Good Time Was Had by All”. In mid-July, staff at our Belleville station took part in a local Waterfront & Ethnic Festival. The opening event was a parade and we decided to feature all the countries that UCB is a part of worldwide. This pic shows the team, along with volunteers, who paraded through the streets, each holding a sign with a UCB Location. Along the route, station guides and information on UCB Canada was passed out. It was a great weekend - and our pleasure to include all of you (albeit vicariously!)

UCB 102.3 at Belleville's Waterfront & Ethnic Festival

The recently released startup www.audiomicro.com is a potential source for sound engineers with its ability to provide a range of sound effects, music and other audiophile creations. Upload your collection and you could be receiving 60% commission on paid downloads sold to other producers.

A recent article on Mashable explained the business model for this broadcasters equivalent of a stock photography site.

http://mashable.com/2008/07/24/audiomicro/ 

I’ve been listening to UCB Gospel (UK) for the past two days.  After the announcement my knee-jerk reaction was to tune in right away.  I’m glad I did.  The audio I hear is a perfect blend to my online “cubicle”.  You see, I own a virtual “cubicle” on the internet.  Able to reach out through my YahooID, my SkypeID & my GTalk account.  Am I wired or am I wired!

Back to my listening time.  I enjoy the music that UCB Gospel (UK) plays, soothing, music rotation is heavenly.  Perfect when I am writing my tech blogs.  You can catch me at my usual spots (gadzooki.com, forevergeek.com, bloggingpro.com, googletutor.com), oh yeah, I pretend to write too. Lol.

Love the way the DJ says… “You are listening to UCB Gospel”… ahhh. 

Well, back to my cubicle… just dropping a note to say you guys at UCB Gospel are doing one great job and are appreciated.

Oh, here’s UCB Gospel’s link… here and/or here.

United Christian Broadcasters has launched UCB Gospel - a 24/7 gospel radio station dedicated to broadcasting the best in UK and international Gospel music.

UCB Gospel is now available on digital satellite at channel 0135, as well as online and features Gospel music from around the world, as well as providing support and airplay for established and up and coming UK artists.

“These are exciting times” said Gary Hoogvliet, UCB’s Director of Broadcasting. “We know there is a demand for a dedicated Gospel radio station in the UK. UCB Gospel is a fresh approach and is a station that supports UK talent, as well as the best of Gospel music from the US, Africa, the Caribbean and also offers plenty of airtime to the all-time favourites”.

For the past 18 months, UCB in the UK has been hosting regular monthly ‘Ministry Partners and Leaders days’ (MPLD); an extension of our ‘open day’ programme but geared specifically toward pastors and leaders of organisations.  

The purpose is to primarily update leaders about updates within one of the UK’s largest Christian media ministries, as well as introduce them to future plans…and of course, to each other. 

Each day starts with worship, followed by a nationally known speaker sharing the Word of God.    Lunch is always provided – which has proved to be a great opportunity for networking and some important relationships have been formed between those attending as well as with UCB. 

In the afternoon, there are different presentations from various UCB departments, as well as the occasional practical workshop on issues such as Media Awareness and Employment Law.  The day concludes with a chance to tour the studios and meet the staff. 

This is something other affiliates may be interested in pursuing.  It’s a great way to build stronger relationships with current partner ministries, as well as connect with new ones.

Breakfast host / creative all-rounder

Got the goods to pull a great breakfast shift?… Vision Radio Network continues to grow and we’re expanding our on-air team – we’re after a creative talent ideally suited to breakfast, and who can make a significant contribution to creating other new program content for radio and the web. Aside from the usual radio skills (good looks; likeable personality; studio, audio editing & writing skills; and a cupboard full of free T-shirts), you’ll also need to have an excellent ability to demonstrate and communicate the essence of what it means to be a Christian and how it applies to everyday life – in keeping with our mission of  “connecting faith to life”. This is a fulltime role based in Brisbane.

Interested?

Send your CV and demo to Phil Edwards.

In the wake of our previous report dated 1 April 2008 we are delighted to announce the following news received from the Omwiwa Yesu Management Committee in Gurue, Mozambique:

• The local community radio station extended an invitation to the committee to increase the broadcasting times of three days per week to six days per week for the renewal of the six-month contract including a reduced rate for airtime.
• Of course, the offer was accepted and Omwiwa Yesu will now be on the air thirty minutes per day for six days of the week. This may be a small step for a full time radio ministry such as Radio Pulpit, but for this ministry it surely is a giant leap ahead.
• The broadcasting of programmes was previously done in Lomwe to reach out to the rural areas. This will now be expanded to include Portuguese to reach out to the urban communities as well.
• The programmes continue to produce letters from listeners asking for more. God is surely blessing this ministry abundantly. To Him alone be all the glory, honour, thanksgiving and worshipping.

This past weekend I was one of the fortunate who was able to attend the Mighty Men conference on the Shalom farm near Greytown. Many have asked me about it, and you may be one of these, or you may be someone who I thought would be interested to hear about the experience.

A few weeks ago my wife (Marguerite) was speaking to a friend of ours who mentioned that her husband was going to attend the conference. At that stage we knew nothing about it, but it seems something inspired her (the Holy Spirit) that I would probably benefit greatly by attending. She started asking people we know if they would be interested in attending, but one by one it turned out that everyone was either occupied or not in a position to attend. It felt to me that she was more eager that I should attend, than I was. Sometimes our wives know better than we what we need, and I thank her for her persistence. Eventually, on the Monday before the conference a friend of mine (Adriaan) who had been contacted by my wife indicated that he, like myself would like to attend, but didn’t want to go alone. So after much deliberation and considering alternative means of getting there (bus etc.) we decided to bite the bullet, register for the conference and drive down. I logged into the site and registered only to find that I was number 37 613 where they had initially only expected 30 000. A few minutes later I had registered Adriaan (number 37 653) and realised the bookings were coming in fast and furious. Camping site allocations were meant to begin that evening.

The next morning the site started taking strain, and sections were closed. The next day the site (hosted in Germany) couldn’t handle the strain and fell over. It then became unclear how many reservations had been made, and the emails to confirm site allocation were never sent. At this stage we realised that leaving at 12h00 as was originally planned was not going to work, and I took the whole day off, so we could leave at 10h00. Packing all my stuff in on Friday, and driving to Adriaan, we left from there with all our goodies in his diesel car at around 10h00. The time passed quickly, and all along the route we passed (or were passed by) groups of men on their way to the same destination. Adriaan and I had some surprisingly deep conversations, and this is when I already began to realise that this was going to be a special weekend. At 16h30 we hit Greytown and come to a sudden stop. There was a huge backlog of traffic, and people slowly trickled into the farm. The distance from Greytown to the farm is about 15km, and this stretch took us about 2 hours. The queues looked like this.

As we slowly rolled down the road we began to get an impression of the magnitude of the event. Here is the first we became aware of the tent that had been erected for the event. The tent is called Tensile 1 and this is only the third or fourth time it has been put up. In 2002 it had an estimated value of R15mil. It was initially built for a GateCrashers party in the UK, and part way through the construction the company ran out of funds. Someone in SA agreed to complete the construction if we could get the tent after the show, and thus it was completed and now stays in SA. It was put up in 2002 for the World Summit. Since then it has remained in storage and is generally considered too expensive to erect for any normal event. It has a seating capacity of close on 30 000 and takes 3 weeks to put up.

The road to the farm took us past some beautiful scenery, including this forest with the sun setting behind it. As we rounded the final bend and got close to the site office we received our first impression of what kind of effort and commitment had gone into the event. The masses of people we being dealt with very efficiently and the people preparing food for the campers, realising that all the cars queuing to come in would miss the supper time, started handing out hotdogs to the cars passing by. If you’re wondering, the event was fully catered for with shower facilities and provision of water and toilets… for all the people… at no cost. When I later explain the number of people you will acknowledge that only God can make something like this happen.

Finally finding our camp site (A 2 1) we parked our car where we could find a gap and get ready for the first session. Walking up to the main tent a brisk walk away there was an electric atmosphere with people blowing trumpets and generally sounding more like an English football match rather than a men’s conference. Fortunately we had decided to carry our chairs with us, because when we got there there were a huge amount of people sitting outside the tent as the interior was already full. I estimate the crowd capacity at that stage at about 45 000 people… and that was just the start. Even sitting on the outskirts of the tent, it was easy to feel part of the event as the tent has open sides, and the screens are easily visible in the night.

Angus Buchan started the even with a bang, and immediately challenged the men to stop their nonsense, break with the wrong things they were doing, recommit themselves to their families, wives and God. He’s a very straight forward person, and as they say in Afrikaans, “plat op die aarde”. He is a farmer, and doesn’t mince his words. He calls a spade a spade, and has conservative values which come straight from the bible. I am generally sceptical of evangelists, and was worried that he would try to use words to whip us into a frenzy. But that is not the man I learned to know at this conference. He has a genuine passion for the Lord and wants people to make right with him and harvest the most from the relationship. I truly believe that God moves through this man.

I estimate that 80% of the people at the conference were Afrikaans speaking, and probably 80% of those were farmers. These guys are hurting, and life is not easy for them. Their wellbeing, culture, masculinity and many other factors are under huge pressure, and I think Angus speaks to their hearts. Below are 2 photos of the inside of the tent. By this time there were over 55,000 people in attendance.

The campsites were really well organised. 4 blocks of land had been left un-planted for the event, and the only money asked for for the event was a camping fee to cover the costs of not producing crops on those stretches (R100). As mentioned, running water was provided via some ingenious use of irrigation taps and piping, and each camp site had a dedicated food tent to provide the campers with coffee and hot food. The picture below is of one of the meals being dished up. A pretty tasty bunny chow made of a full half loaf of fresh Albany bread and stew made of beef, potatoes and carrots. The guys prepared really well by preparing the meals and then freezing them in large plastic bags which were then placed in large drums of boiling water.

The picture below is of our camp site (A - Red Block). I’m guessing about 10-15 000 people camped here. On the horizon you can see the big tent and the food tent is in the top-middle of the camp site. The people worked really well together, and the atmosphere was always positive and happy. Seldom have a seen people shaking hands and laughing together when they have bumped into each other in the bustle of large crowds, yet here I saw it all the time.

This picture is not my own, but comes from the www.mightymen.org.za web page. It shows the tent and part of the Green camping block. 

Here is the daily view we had of the tent walking up to it for the sessions. Below are 2 pictures showing the inside of the tent during the sessions. The atmosphere in the tent was pretty wild, and the noise created by (at this point) over 60 000 men shouting “AMEN” or singing praise and worship was awesome. I don’t think I’ve laughed, cried and got goose bumps quite as much before in my life.  

This is the import point I want to make. The conference was a very personal and meaningful thing for me. No two people had exactly the same experience, and no one will be able to truly do the event justice by explaining it. Pictures and numbers are impressive, but feeling the Holy Spirit move through these men and blow the glowing embers in their hearts into a billowing flame is not something you can describe. All I can say is that it was a life changing event. I don’t think the country will be the same again. I’m sure that Satan has done a fair amount of damage already and made sure that a lot of those red hot coals have been reduced to simmering embers, but I also know that there are still thousands upon thousands of Mighty Men who are going to move out into this country and begin a change that can’t be stopped. As Uncle Angus says… “We aren’t starting a revival… We are in revival!”

Amen and all glory to God. May he bless these men, all the people who worked their butts off to make this happen, and to servants like Angus and his family who opened up their home and hearts to ordinary men, and in obedience to God, changed a nation. If things work out, I hope to see you there next year!

Gurue Radio ministries, Mozambique launched their Christian radio production on air in November 2007. Now there are 3X30 minute Christian programmes on air per week – the first of its kind. Feedback is that their programmes have received the most written reaction of all programmes, in the form of letters to the station manager. The footprint of the station reaches three of the districts around it and listeners as far as 70 km away receive a clear signal.

UCB Africa and some local (SA) financial supporters fund the productions and air time, which amounts to a small amount of approximately R2000 pm (US $300). Producers for the programme are trained at Radio Pulpit in Pretoria. Currently the broadcasts are in Lomwe (local language) but requests have been received for programmes to be translated also into Portuguese.

(Surisa Nel, Communication Manager and Lucky Mbiko, Programme Manager of Radio Pulpit with the PanSALB Award)

Radio Pulpit received the PANSALB (Pan South African Language Board) for multilingualism and nation building of the decade in electronic media this weekend.

PANSALB was established through an Act of parliament mainly to promote multilingualism in South Africa and to develop the country’s 11 official languages. The Act mandates PANSALB to initiate studies and research aimed at promoting and creating conditions for the development of all 11 official languages, as well as the Khoi and San languages and South African sign language.

As part of the organisation’s work, they awarded institutions and individuals that promoted multilingualism and nation building during the past decade, at their gala dinner on 2 February 2008 at Emperor’s Palace.

The award for the category radio and television was scooped up by Radio Pulpit, a Christian radio station that broadcasts in all eleven official languages and produce high quality TV programmes. The runner up for this year’s radio award was Lesedi FM, a national radio station with almost 1 million listeners.

Radio Pulpit is currently broadcasting on mediumwave, AM 657 and through their website: www.radiopulpit.co.za and is awaiting the outcome to their licence application that was presented to Icasa in September 2007.

Ms Surisa Nel, media spokesperson for Radio Pulpit said that is exceptional to be rewarded for two of the issues that are close to Radio Pulpit’s heart and indeed part of their vision - to provide the Gospel of Jesus Christ to each and every man, woman and child in South Africa in the language of their choice and to make a real and lasting difference to the country’s moral fibre. She said that it is proof that the station’s vision is not only one on paper but a real and existing effort.

On April 10, a lot of normal people will converge in one very ordinary building for a conference that will shape culture throughout the Philippines and the world.

How, you ask?

A shift in technology and society occurred in the last few years that took power from major media production houses. That power to influence hundreds and thousands is now in the hands of every person on this planet. You don’t need millions of dollars to make a blockbuster movie anymore. You don’t need to sign a record deal to be played in headphones all throughout the world. You don’t need a publisher to have a score of followers read everything that you write. You do, however, need to understand this new potential to influence and hone the skills to unleash it.

If you’d like to unlock this potential and network with other emerging leaders around the nation, you are invited to join us at Redeem the Airwaves 3: Upload. The conference will run from April 10-12 at Lighthouse Christian Community in Alabang. For information and tickets, visit www.theedgeradio.net.