Volunteer Engineer Adair Park of Chattanooga, TN

Announcer at Radio Berea

Baptists in Tabasco Back On the Air

Mexican Pastor Eleazar Leyva who was unjustly subjected to threats of imprisonment because of charges against his community station last year is on the air again with his radio program “Cristo es la Respuesta.” It's on 910 AM and 104.5 FM in nearby Cárdenas, Tabasco in southeast Mexico.

For about 13 years, his program was on XEXV 570AM “La Grande de Tabasco” in Comalcalco. Then, in July, 2009, he launched Radio Reflexión 89.7 FM, a duly-licensed non-profit 1KW community radio station. After Radio Reflexión's 14 months of incredible success on the air, Leyva was slapped with criminal charges by XEVX's owner, charging that Radio Reflexión was airing commercials and violating its charter.

Leyva dedicated his new program on Sunday, Feb. 5 to the memory of the late Paul Finkinbinder, revered religious broadcast pioneer known as Hermano Pablo. His five-minute radio program—started in 1960--is heard on more than 600 radio stations in Latin America. He died Jan. 27 at the age of 90. The program will continue to be produced and distributed by Carlos Rey who began hosting the program several years ago.

Recently 50 prisoners accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior after Leyva preached in the Villahermosa prison to more than 200 inmates. Baptists prepared a light meal for the prisoners, visited with them, had a great experience of camaraderie and gave away 60 New Testaments and Christian literature.

“We continue waiting for the judicial process in our case to advance,” says Leyva. “The court has not notified us of any future trial date.” Leyva's lawyers have obtained a temporary injunction against the XEXV owner. But this man already has confiscated Radio Reflexión's frequency. If Leyva is declared guilty, he will file an appeal. Let's continue to pray for the brother and for future efforts to obtain another frequency.

Technical Problems Delay Launch of RK2 Radio in Suriname

Because the Suriname government changed the frequency allocation for RK2 Radio's studio to transmitter link (STL) at the last moment, the station's launch in January has been delayed until another STL set at the new frequency can be purchased.

Unlike FM transmitters, whose frequencies can be changed easily by punching in new numbers, to change an STL's frequency requires different length coils in the piece of equipment.

The sponsoring PUAS Baptist Church in Paramaribo is awaiting the purchase of a new STL (transmitter, receiver and sending and receiving antennas appropriate to the assigned frequency). The new STL frequency allocation is 220.8 mHz. The original STL was set at the factory for 950 mHz. The 200 MHz range normally is reserved for TV audio.

Another obstacle to meeting the January launch was a topographical obstruction—a small hill with tall trees--between the studio in Paramaribo and the transmitter/tower site 8 miles away in Commaweijne. Please pray for us as we seek a solution.

Volunteer Engineer to Install FM Operation at Radio Luz in Guatemala

Volunteer communications engineer Joe Christian of Eldorado, Texas has agreed to install the new FM operation at Radio Luz 840AM in San Pedro Carchá, Alta Verapaz in the K'ekchi' region of north-central Guatemala.

Christian and David Daniell will be in Guatemala May 7-16 for the project. The FM antenna will be placed atop the existing 311-foot high AM tower on a mountain about five miles north of San Pedro Carchá.

Because the tower also is the antenna in AM broadcasting, an isolating coil will be required to eliminate interference in the FM signal. The work to be done includes installing the new 1KW stereo FM transmitter and tuning the antenna to the station's new FM frequency. He'll also trouble-shoot problems in the 2.5KW AM transmitter as well as install a mechanism to transmit cell phone calls from listeners with broadcast-quality audio.

Local K'ekchi' brethren will attach the antenna to the apex of the AM tower and secure the coaxial cable to the tower.

For Christian, who has an electrical engineering degree and has worked in electronics most of his life, working in a foreign country will be new to him. He has operated computer systems that monitored drilling parameters on oil rigs. His hobby is ham radio. “We are extremely blessed to have Joe's partipation in this project,” says Daniell, who will accompany Christian to Guatemala to coordinate, translate and drive.

Daniell and his wife, Lorna, lived in Guatemala for 12 months in 1987-88 while he helped the K'ekchi' Baptist brethren launch Radio K'ekchi' and has traveled extensively in Guatemala consulting with the eight locally-owned and operated Baptist missionary radio stations there.

Radio Luz Needs Help With Licensing Fee

Radio Luz in Guatemala is between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, they have a new 1KW FM transmitter, antenna and coaxial cable, but once it's installed they can't go on the air for lack of funds to cover the licensing fee--$550. It would be licensed as a non-profit community radio station. Can you partner with Radio Luz to meet this need? Send your check made out to Missionary Broadcasting, Inc. or simply MBI to MBI, 7401 Wesley Ct., Mobile, AL 36695. All donations are tax-deductible.

MBI Consults With Palmer Ministries About Station in Honduras

MBI and its engineers have offered advice to Jim Palmer Ministries regarding the reduction of power in the 500-watt FM transmitter of Radio Bautista 103.1 FM in Puerto Lempira, Gracias a Dios, Honduras. MBI purchased the station's equipment and coordinated its installation in 2003. It serves the Miskito area of Honduras, bordering Nicaragua.

MBI's engineers offered opinions on how to solve the problem with PM's Fully Williammson, and we urged Palmer Ministries to establish a partnership with HCJB Global Radio whereby HCJB's engineers would lend technical assistance on the scene if the participating partner covers the travel expenses of its engineers.

Pray that this problem is solved so that the station's signal will reach the outlying villages of its original coverage area. To read more about Baptist work among the Miskito people group, visit www.miskitomissions.com

Visit our blogspot at www.missionarybroadcasting.blogsot.com/

Partnering with Missionary Broadcasting

We give thanks for the incredible participation by our partners during 2011. MBI received donations ranging from $10 to $5,000 from a total of 34 donors. We were organized in 2004 by the IRS as a duly-recognized 501 c3 non-profit organization, and we take seriously the Apostle Paul's admonition to us in I Cor 4:2 “It is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.”

Furthermore, the missionary radio stations which we help are sustained by local donors who bring their Quetzales, Lempiras, pesos, Cordovas and other currencies to the stations to keep them on the air. Some sponsor special First Fruits offerings at the close of the harvest season in November.

At Radio Amistad in San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala, a poor rural woman brought a live chicken to the station as her offering. A couple who was on the verge of divorce heard Pastor Isaac Batz's message on the station. As a result they reconciled and brought him a basket of corn, giving thanks that his comments had encouraged them to work out their differences.

When Radio K'ekchi' went on the air, farmers brought piles and piles of corn to finance the station's operation. They raised $3,000 that way.

Please send your donations to:

Missionary Broadcasting, Inc.
7401 Wesley Ct.
Mobile, AL 36695

We will mail you a donation receipt by return mail. May the Lord continue to bless you and your family.

Baptists in Mexico and Central America use a variety of methods and ministries: personal evangelism and discipleship, home Bible studies, cell groups, mass evangelism, mass media as well as inexpensive tactical media, Christian education, student work, Christian literature and book stores, appropriate agriculture, water well drilling, medicine and other forms of social work and theological education.
Radio broadcasting is seen as one of several powerful tools to evangelize and educate. Its strengths lie in inspiring and educating, reinforcing and amplifying existing personal moral values, projecting a pleasing public image of Baptist Christians, promoting events and moving the listener to higher levels of communication such as personal visits, group dynamics or personal study guides.
MBI believes much can be accomplished by combining the resources of locally-owned and operated Baptist radio stations with those of local Christians and volunteers from the United States when indigenousness and local initiative are respected.
The effectiveness of Baptist-owned and operated radio stations is enhanced when their programming promotes and participates in community service, social work projects, puppet shows, music concerts and other ministries that authenticate the proclamation of the Gospel. The use of national and North American Christian volunteers can facilitate the execution of these projects.
MBI provides quality radio programming materials in Spanish--such as spots, Bible dramas, contemporary Christian radio drama, lay training and discipleship programs-- to Baptist radio stations in Central America.
MBI also recruits volunteer broadcast engineers, construction workers, educators, lawyers, computer graphic artists, musicians and others to collaborate with Baptist radio stations in Mexico and Central America in short-term mission projects.
Most of the 20 locally-owned and operated Baptist radio stations in Middle America minister to indigenous people groups in their own languages—such as the K'ekchi', Quiché, Cakchiquel, and Tzutujil—all in Guatemala—and the Miskito and Garífuna en Honduras. Only seven broadcast exclusively in Spanish.
In Guatemala, several of the Baptist radio stations have formed the Association of Indigenous Baptist Community Radio Stations. Representatives of these stations meet monthly to discuss matters pertaining to programming, management, engineering and legal needs.