Touched by Technology

All of our lives have been touched by technology. The various branches of technology have made vast amounts of information instantly available to us, improved our health, enabled us to travel farther, faster and more safely, and made communications around the world easier and more affordable. In the field of communications, technology has arguably made its greatest advances in recent years and for the vast majority of us use of that technology is an every-day occurrence. FBH International uses hightech communications media to touch people around the world with the truth of God’s word.

FBH International began life in 1951 as the ‘Newfoundland Bible Hour’, with a regular, localized radio broadcast. The influence of FBH has grown exponentially over the years and the emphasis today is on the development of international outreach. The current Executive Director, Ron Hughes, was commended to fulltime service from Edmison Heights Bible Chapel in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.

FBH’s mission is to ‘glorify God by communicating the gospel of the grace of God as expressed in the Bible by any personal or technological means’.

Radio and internet technology have the ability to go where people cannot go, rendering political and social boundaries ineffective. Messages sent by such means go at the speed of light, circling the globe in seconds. They reach many people at once making them efficient. They go privately and quietly which is particularly important in places where the good news of the gospel is not welcome. FBH’s use of technology is not impersonal however – we speak to thousands of people each week on a one- to- one basis through correspondence, email, telephone, online comments and live call-in programmes. We interact with people who speak English, Russian, Ukrainian, Teluga, Portuguese, Albanian, Spanish, and standard Arabic.

Radio broadcasts are delivered from Cairo, Moscow, Mexico City and Nairobi. India is perhaps the most fruitful of all the fields in which we work. Responses to both radio programmes and internet outreach are higher from India than from any other part of the world. Trans World Radio recently incorporated a phone number on the Teluga language programmes which enables listeners to call rather than write – the response has been enthusiastic. One caller records, ‘We are indebted to you for broadcasting this life-changing programme and for making it possible for us to contact you by phone. We do not have a church in the village and no missionaries visit us because we live in such a remote part of the country. It is through your programme that we have been learning about God’.

The most rapidly growing aspect of the ministry is in the Spanish-speaking world. In 2007 we had only a single broadcast each week in Mexico City whereas today we have over sixty broadcasts each week.

The internet outreach attracts a large number of prayer requests. These are posted on our web sites and the individuals who make the requests are contacted to let them know that their requests have been taken seriously and have been communicated to our network of contacts.

The media ministries of FBH International touch people from different cultures, different countries and different faiths around the world every day. Some find us on international radio broadcasts and some on the internet and all who access our web sites are touched by technology. This technology, however, is only a means to an end. In finding us through modern media channels we rejoice that some find God and the salvation provided through the death of Christ.

For more information on FBH International visit the web site at www.fbhinternational.com and to interact with our on-line community visit the outreach web site at www.talkontheway.org