A
ll kinds of numbers have been on the rise at Hope Channel since 2010. For example, we began in 2003 with just one channel; in 2010 we had 12; and in 2015 we have 35. Through each new channel millions of potential new viewers receive the Seventh-day Adventist message in their own language.
But this report is not about numbers. It is about how God has blessed Hope Channel and what the channel has been doing these past five years to take God’s message of hope to non-Christians. It is about such people as Natasha. Even though Natasha was brought up in an atheistic home, she always felt a hole inside of her that longed to be filled with something. Only she didn’t know what that something was.
One day while browsing the Internet, Natasha found a live stream of Hope Channel. Intrigued, she watched an entire episode. The next day she watched some more. And the hole began to fill up with something unexplainably wondrous. Natasha is now a faith-walking, Sabbathkeeping Christian—but she does all this in secret. Her husband is still an atheist and objects to her having anything to do with Christianity. So she prays in the bathroom and, whenever she can, shuts herself in the closet with her laptop to watch Hope Channel.
From the day Hope Channel was launched in 2003, every step toward taking Hope Channel into every home in the world has been framed within its mission to share God’s good news for a better life today and for eternity. Managers across the network have been deliberate in adopting shared strategies crucial to the success of the network’s mission and vision. Together we produce and share relevant programs, connect viewers to nearby Seventh-day Adventist churches, and expand distribution at every opportunity.
To visually solidify this strategic plan, Hope Channel refreshed its logo to reflect its unified and global presence. It intends to deliver programming that makes viewers feel closer to God, go through a life-changing experience, engage comfortably with us to find answers to their questions, and find hope in the Seventh-day Adventist message.
Hope Channel has been strategically expanding its network to establish a presence in places where there is no freedom of worship, where Christians are the minority, or where secularism takes precedence over spirituality. As a result, we have new channels in the Middle East, China, India, Indonesia, and a number of other countries. Every day we hear amazing, miraculous stories of people discovering a new life in Jesus. In places without a Seventh-day Adventist church or office, people receive our message through Hope Channel. While other Christian channels have been taken off the air, Hope Channel often miraculously stays on.
Where we already have a presence, we are focusing on greater distribution that takes us into both rural and urban areas. For example, in North America Hope Channel is distributed nationwide on DirecTV. However, it is also on free-to-air television in major cities, including New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Tampa, and Los Angeles. New stations and networks have been purchased or contracted in Brazil, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and other countries. This additional broadcast distribution makes Hope Channel available to millions more who do not subscribe to satellite television services.
As we continue to add more programs and more channels, we have become acutely aware that our viewers need not only God’s Word but also to connect with a community of believers. To meet this need, we have begun several initiatives:
In our future we see continued growth in channels and distribution, and more quality programs that will make Hope Channel the premier global Christian television network. More importantly, we see at every step creative opportunities to connect our viewers to Jesus Christ and the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
