Special to ASSIST News Service
SOUTH PACIFIC ISLANDS (ANS) -- I cracked the door and quietly peeked in. But she saw me and smiled, moving her eyes but not turning her head away from the microphone she was talking into. Like a professional radio host, but she is only seven years old.
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Seven year old Amanda reads Bible stories over the radio |
Amanda is one of my favorite radio hosts and she lives in the South Pacific Islands. I’m old enough to be her grandfather, and she and I have a special relationship built around serving God and eating ice cream together when I visit her country.
Her weekly radio show for children is on Sunday mornings. I happened to be on her Island this particular Sunday, so I went to the studio to peek in on her as she presented it.
I wish you could have been with me to see and hear her. Amanda was sitting on her father’s knee at the radio panel. Partly to gain his reassurance and partly for the extra height she needed to reach the microphone! I cracked the door and peeked in hoping she would not notice me. But she heard me, twisted her eyes and gave her big warm smile.
That was two years ago. Amanda is now nine years old and still doing her weekly radio program. And she no longer needs her father’s knee to sit on.
Amanda’s radio career started when she was given an illustrated, children’s story Bible. It’s rare for children in the Islands to have a Bible or any Christian story book (a great pity because most children in Amanda’s country learn to read English at school, but few families can afford to buy books). Anyway, Amanda got her Bible and read it every night with her Dad. One day she and her Dad were at our radio station when she told Willy (our station manager) that she was sad because none of her friends had a Bible like hers. Willy suggested she might read a story to the children over the radio next Sunday, and Amanda was excited about the idea.
She chose a story and practiced reading it to her Dad for a week. They also discussed what the story meant and how to apply its lessons. Then, the following Sunday, she arrived at the station to read it on air and tell the children what could be learned from it. She finished out her time at the microphone by praying for her young listeners and their families.
Amanda got a huge response from her school friends the following week. And so did our adult radio hosts from their listeners! (It seems our adult listeners enjoyed Amanda’s program just as much as their children did!)
And so a new radio host was born, and a seven year old girl discovered the joys of serving the Lord. This illustrates a principle that has become foundational to our ministry in the South Pacific Islands – The life transforming Gospel becomes infectious through the transparency of changed lives that are just like ours!
I guess this sounds obvious, but sometimes we (sophisticated Westerners (1) risk smothering this simplicity with professionalism, education, and modern media presentations. And by our desire to protect God from the immature mistakes of new believers (like those a seven year old inevitably makes when allowed to share her journey with Jesus over the radio).
So, a question. Would you trust a seven year old with an open microphone to speak to her peers about Jesus? Are we being irresponsible?
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Young listeners, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands |
While Amanda’s program is not prerecorded, our station manager is always nearby, ready to have appropriate input if needed. But no adult expert gets to preview Amanda’s program for crossed theological t’s, and dotted doctrinal i’s. Risky! What will she say next? (Which of us with children has never cringed at embarrassment over things they’ve said or done?)
We see our job is to ensure that Amanda comes from a place of sincere intimacy with Jesus when she turns on the microphone to read her story, and share her questions and discoveries as a follower of Jesus. Our job is to trust that her Lord is fully able to guide her and use her as He wills. Surely, that’s the main responsibility of anyone who would disciple others.
And what about professionalism? A seven year old sometimes makes mistakes with what she says and with the mixer board, so her program doesn’t sound very slick and professional. (In fact, I doubt any of our hosts could ever work on a top 40 station in your city!).
But in a way, this is the point.
The Gospel isn’t meant to be slick and professional in its presentation (the Apostle Paul said that in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5). The Good News is about the power of God, taking root in my ordinary (messy and unprofessional) life and changing me in supernatural ways, through my relationship with Jesus Christ. God uses the lives of ordinary people (like fishermen in the New Testament) to demonstrate His extra-ordinary love and power. Foolish things to shame the wise; weak things to shame the mighty (see 1 Corinthians 1:27). And Jesus said, “Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. For he who is least among you all will be great.”(Luke 9:48 NKJV)
D. T. Niles has rightly said, “Christianity is one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread.” This way, there is no danger of local people seeing our radio ministry as an imported and strange voice, speaking from a distance with information about what good a Christian should be like.
When I first came to the Islands to plant a Christian radio ministry, I found there was no local expertise to run radio, or to provide biblical ministry over the radio. So we had to use the only resources available. Seekers. Beggars willing to tell other beggars! So our radio ministry has always reflected the maturity level of the community it is broadcasting to. And the ministry over and around the radio grows in maturity as our community of seeking listeners mature! That has proven to be our major strength in these religious and traditional communities.
But we do have to be responsible. We don’t want more bad theology taking root in the Islands, so we mitigate that risk by training our enthusiastic volunteer hosts to keep their listeners focused on the authority of God’s Word. For example when people call in for prayer (also live over the radio, whenever appropriate) and to share a question or testimony, our hosts will say things like “I don’t know the answer to that either, let’s see if a listener will phone in with a Bible verses to help us.” And sometimes “That’s an interesting idea, but is it what God wants for our lives? Let’s look into the Bible together to find His view of this.” And “I will contact our people in New Zealand for some Scriptures about that and we can study it properly next week.”
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16 year old Beni with his high school Bible study students |
Benisimani (Benjamin) is another young example of this. Beni is a 16 year old member of a youth radio team (small teams from our school Bible classes present weekly one hour radio programs).
Beni also teaches a weekly Bible class of about 30 boys his own age, at his own high school.(2)
Like Amanda, I tried to sneak up on Beni at school one day. (I didn’t want the sudden appearance of this ‘Palangi’3 to make Beni nervous or distract his students.) I tried to sneak up, but his students must have seen me outside the window, so I went to the class room door, tapped, and signaled Beni “Can I come in?” Beni invited me in, introduced me to the class, and I sat at the back with my camera.
I could hardly believe this young man. Always so quiet when I’m around but here he is, teaching his fellow students with skill and confidence. This is Beni's second year teaching a class by himself, and I watched him hold the full attention of those boys as he explained and applied the Word of God for the rest of that hour. Amazing!
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Tonga school children are taught the Bible each week by radio station staff |
Just as I had recognized Willy’s potential and helped him develop it to serve the Lord, so Willy had noticed Beni’s faithfulness and skill with the Bible, and had invited him to take part in a youth radio team.
Sometime after that, Willy also handed on his Bible class to Beni. And now Beni not only teaches the class, but he also looks for faithfulness and potential among his students, to get them involved with youth ministry through our radio. 2 Timothy 2: 2 in action!
People like Amanda and Beni represent so much hope for these Pacific nations. God is bringing the Light of Christ to communities where there is much religion and spiritual darkness, and He is doing it through the “least among us . . !”
1 A Westerner is a person with a culture and world view based on the Judeo Christian heritage, and who originates from Western Europe, North America, Australia or New Zealand.
2 Our community radio hosts must also be involved in face-to-face ministry – discipling new believers; praying for the sick; prison visitation; taking vegetables to needy families; visiting people who contact the station wanting to find out more about Jesus; conducting foundational Bible studies in village homes; teaching weekly Bible classes at local schools; etc. This helps keep our workers' hearts compassionate and our message relevant to the community.
3 Palangi – Foreigner, a common word in Polynesia.
2 Our community radio hosts must also be involved in face-to-face ministry – discipling new believers; praying for the sick; prison visitation; taking vegetables to needy families; visiting people who contact the station wanting to find out more about Jesus; conducting foundational Bible studies in village homes; teaching weekly Bible classes at local schools; etc. This helps keep our workers' hearts compassionate and our message relevant to the community.
3 Palangi – Foreigner, a common word in Polynesia.
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