Place: Kremlin, Moscow
Date: Anniversary, October revolution
Time: 00:00
It is quiet, eerie and cold. Together with fellow Canadians, Zack Davidson and Dennis Curley of Huntley Street, we find ourselves walking in Red Square in the early hours. Lenin’s tomb is on the right, diagonally behind us is a beautiful church. This church which was meant to be a museum piece for the curious. A mere memento of a time when people were still foolish enough to believe in God, a time before the glories of communism which would one day rule the world. Well, that was the theory of the man buried in the mausoleum. It does not escape me that the “museum” is a vibrant church alive where worshipers come to meet a God very much alive, in view of a man who is and remains very much dead. I cannot help but smile at this irony and rejoice that our God is a living God and the peoples of Russia are turning to Him in increasing numbers. It’s getting really cold, so we retreat in the early hours to the McDonald’s nearby…courtesy of another Canadian.
We had come from near and far to attend a historic media missions conference orchestrated by a former BC fisherman who still calls Vancouver home, Hannu Haukka of IRRTV, who already has an impressive record in reaching the former Soviet Union via the airwaves. He now stands before a new and in some ways greater challenge than the one chronicled in the book, “Only Believe”.
It was one thing to reach the Soviet Union with a common language, it is a different story entirely to reach a linguistically, ethnically and religiously diverse area. Once there were only atheists now there are Muslims, Animists, Buddhists, all stained by nationalistic fervor…..
How do you reach all these people in an effective way? In their heart language, in a culturally sensitive way in a way they can respond and accept the Gospel message. In practice, this means hundreds of local programs, many more hundreds of people making these programs, finding the resources to produce and air these programs, informing the church universal of the challenge and opportunity that stands before us.
Imagine, having the opportunity to buy not only airtime, but being asked by radio and TV stations for these programs. There are literally dozens of TV and radio stations on the market at fire sale prices. What an opportunity for Christian broadcasting! We may not see these opportunities again until He returns!
It is the Russian Christian Broadcasters seminar week, we are there to help, to inspire, to encourage, to pray with, to bless and to create for the first time an association of Christian broadcasters in Russia. It is awesome to be a part of something that would have been impossible only a few short years earlier.
Since this event took place, there has been a serious setback in the ministry of IRRTV. The enemy does not sleep when God’s people are on the march. But rest assured, we serve a victorious God. The Good news will be on air and will not return void. You will do well to remember Hannu and his Russian born wife Laura and the team at IRRTV in your prayers.
IRRTV is now Great Commission Media Ministries