(Photo courtesy SAT-7)
Lebanon (MNN/SAT7) — It’s time to celebrate.
SAT-7, a Christian satellite television ministry to the Middle-East and North Africa, has opened a brand new multi-studio for SAT-7 Lebanon.
On November 15, 2014, almost 500 Church leaders, Parliament members, Government officials, and SAT-7 partners gathered to celebrate the launch.
“Truth, Love, Freedom, and Justice are the four principles that form the basis for peace in the family, in society, in church, and in government. SAT-7 serves all these principles: proclaiming, teaching, educating, and building culture. SAT-7 is a gift from God, from whom every good gift comes,” Bechara Boutros Al-Raii, the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch said.
SAT-7 Lebanon was established in 1996 and was the network’s first production center. Initially, the facility only had 100 square meters of studio space.
Founder and CEO Terence Ascott said, “At that time, I wondered how we would use all the space, but it was not long before we needed to rent more space in the same building, and then in other studios around the city. 18 years ago we were broadcasting only two hours per week. Today, SAT-7 is broadcasting over 800 hours a week, in three languages on five different channels. And now as we move into this beautiful new facility, I am again asking: What will we do with all this space? However, from experience, I am sure that it will all be well utilized in a fairly short time”
The new building, a few hundred meters away from SAT-7’s existing rented and over-crowed facility, has three studio spaces with a total area of almost 1,000 square meters.
For Lebanon-born Rita Elmounayer, who has been with SAT-7 since it began and today is the Executive Director of the network’s three Arabic language channels, it is also a very exciting day.
She said, “I never imagined we would have studios this big. I was always excited when I used to go to Sweden or Denmark to produce some of our children’s shows. I was always wishing that, one day, we would have large studios like that. And, Praise God, after 18 years we do have something like that. It is a great blessing to look back and see from where we started and how God walked with us step by step. I pray that these studios will be a blessing to our millions of viewers and that we will take it as a privilege and an opportunity to reach out to many more in the region with powerful messages of faith and hope.”
Ascott also acknowledged that the new building is not just a building. He is sure it will be used to advance the Vision and Mission of SAT-7. “Our Mission is ‘To provide the churches and Christians of the Middle East and North Africa an opportunity to witness to Jesus Christ through inspirational, informative, and educational television services.’ As we do this, we are especially reaching the children of the region– providing them with positive role-models and helping build character in young lives from Casablanca to Baghdad. Research has shown that almost 10 million under-16-year-olds watch the SAT-7 KIDS channel on a regular basis, and these are the Arab World of tomorrow–our best hope to see positive change in this region.”
Praise God for this gracious provision for SAT-7. Pray that the facility will be used to reach even more people for Christ throughout the region.
