On The Air
Part 1 - An Incredible Journey

The radio program "God Loves You" in the Tem language celebrated its tenth anniversary last fall. The format of the program has always been Chronological Bible Storying, but now we are branching out to include marriage, social problems, etc. We have produced over 500 15-minute segments that are broadcast twice weekly and a 30-minute segment on Sunday morning.

When the first programs were ready for broadcasting, we prayed about which radio station we should use. There was no station in or even near Sokodé, Togo's second largest city. At the very same time that we were ready to begin broadcasting our programs, the Togo government lifted the ban on private radio stations and a Kotokoli man opened a station right next door to our house! He was thrilled to have paying clients and was especially happy that the programs were in his own language. Initially this local radio station only covered a radius of 25-35 miles. But when the owner was able to enter into a partnership with Voice of America two years ago, he received more powerful equipment and a higher tower. Now our broadcasts have a 70-80 mile radius.

Follow-up to radio broadcasts is always a challenge. Thanks to God and technology, a creative solution recently became available: the cell phone! The need for quick communication with members of his church motivated our radio speaker/pastor to buy a cell phone. Soon he also saw its possibilities as a tool in follow-up to the radio broadcasts. Seekers just "beep" him and he calls them back to arrange a meeting time and place.

Because our listening audience has more than doubled, it is impossible for the Christian Kotokolis in Sokodé to follow up in all the towns and villages where the radio programs now reach. But since the majority of the places have a Baptist church, we saw that if we could mobilize the pastors and train them in culturally appropriate methods, they could do the follow-up and reap the harvest. Recently 107 pastors came to a Muslim evangelization training conference. When the conference was over, these participants headed home to apply the principles of how better to share their faith in Christ with their Muslim neighbors.

Pray for a greater number of people to listen to these radio programs and accept Christ as their Savior. Ask God to give interested hearers courage to make contact with believers and be received with open arms into the Christian Kotokoli community. Pray that local Kotokoli believers will intensify their follow-up efforts to the radio broadcasts.

Patsy Eitelman
Kotokoli (ko-toe-KO-lee) Team