Covid-19 actually provides a special opportunity of making connection with Chinese around the world because every person, while on lock down, searched for information on the internet about things related to the pandemic. The opportunity may not be here long, so we are seizing this window as much as we can.
In our programming, we looked at Covid-19 as a shared common experience. All nations are struggling to deal with challenges through it. Not much background explanation is needed. One’s story is an inspiration to all others. For example, Lee is a young man from Ireland, a hospitalized Covid-19 patient. No visitor is allowed, and he was lonely. Not knowing whether he could make it, he prayed for someone to come praying for him. His prayer was answered. God sent him a cleaner working for the hospital. The cleaner not only prayed for his recovery, but brought him a can of Coke which answered his second prayer. Lee’s prayers encouraged two Chinese Christian ladies in their efforts of prayer daily. We encourage our listeners to pray and experience the faithfulness of God who promises to listen to our petitions.
Another story we shared was broadcast by British Broadcasting Company to encourage listeners to sing, to love, to look for the blessings. We not only shared the story, we sang for our listeners, witnessing the fact that we have a Creator God whose authority over death and whose forgiving love set the stage for hope.
Another effort we made in May was to look into the plagues in the Bible. Each time God clearly indicated the cause of the plague was sin committed either by an individual or collectively done by the Israelites. During the epidemics in the Bible, God always asked the Israelites to seek him and to repent of their sins by obeying his law and by loving one another. Plagues and other disasters, God pointed out, were simply tools in his hand for bringing his people back to the right relationship with him and the godly life expected.
As we reviewed tragedies occurred around the world in the past few years, we asked the listeners if they think God’s message to the Israelites in the Bible is relevant to the world today. As we closed, we invited listeners to seek God by believing in Jesus, to repent, to be baptized, and to live life according to what God has taught us through Jesus.
Masks
The outbreak of Covid-19 in the United States not only makes people work from home, but also makes masks a part of daily lives during the epidemic. As the shortage of masks grew worse during the beginning of the pandemic, the Chinese language service joined the local Chinese church to send masks to China. Now churches in the Far East have sent masks to us. In addition, many Americans started to make masks themselves from home, including some of our own staff of the Chinese language service. We shared masks with our World Christian Broadcasting colleagues, our own families, our neighbors, and with our Church members. The pandemic causes death throughout the world, but in the kingdom of God it is simply another opportunity to serve and to love.
Bible Project Progress
Our recording of the entire Bible was completed late April. Preparation and communication occupied a lot of May. We hope to present the audio Bible to the Chinese listeners worldwide as soon as possible. Please join us in prayers for this effort that God who communicated his word with us wholeheartedly, will bless numerous people and generations on down with this Bible reading. Please pray that our Lord will bring people to assist this project and to spread the availability of this tool with others so more and more Chinese will learn about its existence, listen to God’s word daily through the tool we provide, and pursue God’s will in their lives. Many people have encouraged this project, including Andy Baker, Gayle Crowe, Charles Caudill, Shumei Lee, Kok Hai Tan, Tony Tadros, and Salina Ho.
Studios renovated
The renovation of our studio gives our recording booth a fresh new look. The cleaning, painting, and carpeting work were well done and the studios really look nice. Before the carpenters and carpeting crews arrived, the studios had to be emptied, including the sound-proofing foams hanging on the walls. Then of course everything had to be put back in after the renovation was finished. But staff members worked together, and it was fun. We are thankful to God who provided the resource through donors for renovating our studios, which actually is the first complete studio renovation since the Operation Center was built in 1989. We thank all the donors who made the daily ministry of World Christian Broadcasting a reality.
