USA (MNN) — About 6.8 billion cell phones are in use for the 7 billion people on the planet. In other words, it’s a good time to own a phone for communication and entertainment.
(Photo courtesy of Trans World Radio)
But phones can be used for more than communicating with other people. They can also be used to communicate the Gospel, which is exactly what Trans World Radio (TWR) has signed up to do.
TWR’s main emphasis is on spreading the good news by radio, but they recently teamed up with AudioNow to expand to a Spanish-language broadcast program into a Gospel call-to-listen service.
TWR Director of U.S. Hispanic Ministry, Jim Munger, explains that only about one third of phones worldwide actually have access to the internet, which can make it an obstacle to get the Word of God.
Further, Munger explains, “The telephone gives us the opportunity to reach people that might not be able to hear us on a radio transmitter. When you have large extensions of a population over a large area, you simply can’t have radio stations in every town. It’s cost prohibitive.”
Most areas have cell phone lines and towers, however. Via cell phone, any one can simply call and listen to the 5-minute Alimento para el Alma (Food for the Soul), which has a companion 365 daily devotional book. Or anyone can access the half-hour long A Traves de La Biblia (Thru the Bible), which will guide them through the Bible over a 5-year course.
Call-to-listen doesn’t have any additional costs, and voicemail messages can be left for the program hosts.
TWR is making the program accessible at any time of the day in Latin America and the U.S.,and they are asking for feedback from listeners over the starting months. Based on the reaction, they hope this is the rolling start to Gospel call-to-listen services all over the world.
Partnering with AudioNow opens incredible doors to doing just that. It is the world’s largest call-to-listen platform, has over 3,000 broadcasting partners, and helps deliver message content in 97 languages to audiences of more than 130 nationalities and ethnicities.
“We hope to increase the number of languages that we’re offering as well as the variety of programming,” Munger says.
With the development of the program over time, TWR will be able to reach literally billions of people, with or without the Internet. “By using a number on the telephone, we can make Christian programming available to them wherever they are.”
TWR is asking for your help to spread the word about the programs, and even more importantly, they’re asking for your prayers.
“Let’s pray that God would guide people to that program so that they would hear and that they would accept the Word of God, that they would accept Christ as their Savior, and then that they would be built up in the faith.”
Check out the Spanish-Language program A Traves de la Biblia at 605-475-4488 and Alimento para el Alma at 605-475-4499.
