An Eye for Ministry (Ep. 295)

On a recent trip to Southeast Asia, two videographers joined the FEBC team to capture the sights and sounds of what the ministry of FEBC looks like. In this episode you’ll get to hear the perspective of John and Jared as they tell what they saw as they looked through their camera lenses. Find out how they were welcomed, worshiped and worked alongside our FEBC staff serving the Lord in difficult place…Until All Have Heard

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:02

This is Until All Have Heard from the Far East Broadcasting Company. I'm Wayne Shepherd with Ed Cannon, president of FEBC. We're going to bring sort of an on-the-scenes report today, Ed.

SPEAKER_03 0:13

Very different than our normal podcast, but we had two videographers traveling with some of our staff in Thailand visiting the ethnic minority language ministry of FEBC. And so Jonathan took the opportunity while they were driving through the mountainous region of the A.

SPEAKER_04 0:30

Yeah, you'll hear the traffic noise in the background.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

Right, right. He took the opportunity to ask them their opinion. So this is sort of like a third-party look into the ministry. So it's not FEBC staff as such. And so it's just like if you were on a trip with the FEBC staff and you're just making some observations. So we ask these videographers, tell us what you see and tell us how you understand the ministry differently now, that you're looking at it from the inside. And so I hope it's a perspective that you value and you think is uh is interesting.

SPEAKER_04 1:06

I think this would be very helpful, actually. And Jonathan Mortiz is, of course, on our staff. He's responsible for these minority language groups uh that we have around the uh around the world. Uh we're gonna hear two of these reports, two of these conversations. The first is with a man named Jared, and uh as you said, Ed, they're on the go someplace in Thailand, and Jonathan's just talking to him about what he's seen and heard and what he's feeling.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

I know you've you've traveled also in other countries, but this is your first time in Thailand, right? Kind of uh so what's um what's the the new things here that you saw?

SPEAKER_02 1:41

Well, Thailand's amazing. I've I've enjoyed it. I've never been here before. I've done some travel in other parts of of Asia, but yeah, the people are wonderful, the people that we got to experience uh in both in Qiang Mai and then in Lung Peng. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

What what can you say to our American listeners, you know, in this podcast, and you know, just just continue to encourage them that God is doing so marvelous things also in in other countries and encourage them to pray for for the ministry.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

You know, there there's other parts of the world that I think it's important for us to realize still have some issues receiving the message of Christ, and that they're uh obviously pray for FEBC. That's a it's a great ministry. They're doing amazing things in places where people might not have regular access to the message of Christ. And so I think that's a great message. Pray for the people like um like Perat who are trying to grow a ministry in a place like that. He's trying to reach more people, he's doing a lot on Facebook, and he's you know having a massive impact. So from the, you know, in the environment that they're in, I think that's that in and of itself is worthy, worthy of prayer. He's got he's training people to go out and you know carry the message into other parts of the country and other parts of the world.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

In the ethnic ministry, we have 22 languages that we minister to just in that particular field ministry, and uh you got a taste of the Hmong and uh also Mien, because uh Nop is Mien. Now, how do you see the importance of really focusing on the heart language as you as you saw how it affects the the Hmong people?

SPEAKER_02 3:30

Yeah, the you know it's it's very uh it's my first ex time being exposed to the Hmong people to that to that culture and that ethnicity. I mean, anybody in their you know, in their native tongue and their native language, hearing the gospel in that respect, so the more languages you can have access to or that you can deliver the gospel in, the more people you're obviously able to reach. But having people uh you know hear it in their heart language as as you all you know call it. That is that's much more personal than hearing it from another language or having it translated or having it uh subtitled or or whatever it happens to be. Hear it from the people that are part of your culture, that are part of your ethnicity, and it speaks directly to your heart because that's like hearing your father say it or your mother say it or your brother or sister say it. So that's yeah, I think it's incredibly important. And it through all the interviews that we were shooting, that was something that resonated with everybody. Yes. The heart language, hearing it from people that are native speakers just like us, that speak the same language. These are our brothers and sisters, that's powerful, and that's ultimately the most personal way that you can you can deliver the gospel.

unknown 4:35

Great.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Thank you, Matt.

SPEAKER_04 4:37

Well, Jared was there to capture on video the ministry of FEBC, but I thought it was very interesting and insightful for what he uh felt and experienced uh being there for the first time, Ed. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_03 4:47

Yeah, you know, we often speak about the fact that FEBC's strategic pillar on our broadcasts are that we speak with native voices in the heart language. And it's really encouraging for me to see someone from the outside who doesn't necessarily understand that the way you and I do, Wayne, and and understand the importance of the Aaron. And he sees, wow, that's really powerful that that people hear this in the language that they grew up with, the language that they understand the best. And it's encouraging for us to see that someone who's, you know, not biased like we might be, seeing that this is really a valuable asset.

SPEAKER_04 5:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

I know it, I see it, I believe it. But now you've got a perspective from somebody else who was just there for the first time, and he's like, wow, I get it now. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_04 5:41

Yeah. Kind of validates the whole thing, doesn't it? It's interesting to deep. All right, we're gonna hear another one in a moment. But one more thing that they talked about there was the minority language ministry. Uh we've talked about that before in this podcast, but just explain what's going on there.

SPEAKER_03 5:54

Aaron Ross Powell Well, um many, many years ago, uh in our Thai ministry, FEBC Thailand, uh, the primary ministry was in the Thai language. And we're it's the national language of the country. We've got a number of FM radio stations across Thailand where we're broadcasting Christian content, uh teaching and preaching and gospel presentations. But there's many people living in that country that were listening in Thai, but they speak minority languages. So to emphasize our heart language uh broadcasts, we started developing programs in these minority languages. Now, some of them are very old in that they've been on shortwave radio. Shortwave was broadcasting to the Hamung people, the Mian people, the Lao people for many, many years. Just recently, we experienced the growth of social media. So Facebook Live and YouTube and Instagram and these platforms allowing us to extend the broadcast in the minority language, and we saw this huge explosion in responses. We had no idea that there were so many people in these minority languages uh listening to the broadcasts and responding now through these social media platforms. So we created our own separate ministry called the Ethnic Languages Ministry of FEBC. It was the first time in our 80-year history that we created a ministry field not defined by geographical boundaries. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_04 7:28

It's such a strategic move, it really is. Aaron Powell Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:30

It's designed by function, and the function is to reach out to the minority groups, and so that ministry has just exploded. And that's what you heard about from Jonathan. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_04 7:39

But it requires uh leaders to be trained, right? Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_03 7:42

Yeah. And it's really difficult because it's all these, as you heard Jonathan say, you know, twenty-some languages, and I've been with that group of people, and there's about we had a hundred people at our ethnic minority gathering, and some people are talking through two translators. So a person that's speaking Hmong will speak through a Mian person who's talking to a Camus person, and it's fascinating to see. They're pulled together with their common commitment to bring Christ to these minority languages. But gathering this group together that understand the difficulty of broadcasting the gospel in the minority language, and there's so many different languages, but it's a beautiful thing to see. And it's one of my favorite examples of how FEBC is being nimble and agile, innovative, exploring different ways. There was one other thing actually that uh Jonathan mentioned. It was just a kind of a little byline. He said that not only uh does Pyrat do the broadcasting, so he's our Hmong broadcaster. He does radio programs every day, he does Zoom Bible studies into Laos in the Hmong language so that people can actually have a Bible study, which is what they asked for. But beyond that, he's recognized that there are not very many really trained leaders in that language, the Hmong language. So he's built his own little seminary. I've been there. It's a very humble building. There's some dormitories where the students stay, and a shower facility outside, and a classroom. And he's teaching seminary-level training to these young people who have a passion to share Christ with their humong listeners. And so, you know, this is typical. Uh Pirat's broadcasting, he's doing Bible studies on Zoom, and he's created his own little Bible training session.

SPEAKER_04 9:40

He's preparing the next generation of leaders there in those languages. It's very exciting. We heard from one uh member of the video crew, there are actually two members of that crew. Uh we're going to hear now from a man named John who was there and experiencing this for the first time.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

As an as an American, as an English speaker, I only speak one language. And so for me, it's even hard to comprehend someone who, you know, has a uh primary language, then learns a secondary language, but then not to be able to hear the gospel in like if I had to learn another language in order to hear the gospel, to me, I I I can only imagine that that would be just very difficult. And so then by the very nature of that, being able to hear someone speak English and me be able to hear that, I would think would be profound. And so it kind of reminds me of how like you know, Jesus, when he ministered to people, he really met them where they were. You know, he would eat and he would, you know, the the Pharisees would, you know, condemn him for you know eating with tax collectors and sinners. And um, but you know, Jesus went to where they were, but he didn't allow them to stay the same. You know, he said he called them away from that, right, you know, into their environment and then called them, you know, that's pretty much the nature of the gospel. And so then to see a ministry that's enabling and empowering people to not um not just going into an area and you know and doing things, but to actually go in and partner with people and say, you know, we want to help those people to um, you know, it's really discipleship, it's making disciples, leading them, training them, and bringing them up, and then enabling them to then go forward and minister and you know and teach the word and spread the gospel.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

That's uh one of the values of F E B C close to the listener, right? Yeah, and uh in with Christ, you know, in theological term, it's the incarnation of Jesus Christ to uh coming in to to where the people are, right? So is this your first time uh visiting Thailand?

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Uh yes, this is my first uh time in in Thailand. It's a very beautiful country. Um the people are very kind and very uh just you know welcoming. Um even in the we were in church uh this morning.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

I was about to ask you, what's your experience with the church?

SPEAKER_00 12:04

Um it was very beautiful, uh, though we were filming, so it was you know, part of that was concentrating on you know doing that role. But even in doing that, you know, there was moments where you know I don't understand the language, I don't know what, but I hear the voice, I hear the singing, and I know that like even though I my mind doesn't understand the words, but my spirit did. And so it's like I felt a commonality. I felt, you know, like I could feel worship, and it's like, and I worshiped in that moment too. Right. Like even fulfilling my role, I felt the you know, you know, the the the beauty of that, of being able to worship with someone and just love to see that variety of music and and voice and you know those things.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

You've seen what God is doing, you got a glimpse of what God is doing in Thailand and also with the ethnic peoples here. So how can you encourage the the people there in the US uh to continue to pray and to be involved in this kind of ministry?

SPEAKER_00 13:07

Um I think one of the things that um what I would I would encourage people definitely to to pray for FEBC and to know that like that the work that they're doing is um equipping and discipling and enabling people of many languages to go out and to spread the gospel, you know, through shortwave, through multimedia, through social media, you know, to see um there at the Hmong Bible School, to see, you know, um them streaming on Facebook and just to see like the availability of technology going out even into the remote areas and being able to take the gospel to people in their own language is just very beautiful. And um, and I think that's uh very unique. In I've not seen other ministries doing that on that level of partnering with the local person and in enabling them and empowering them to you know to share the gospel in that way.

SPEAKER_03 14:08

Jonathan mentioned the phrase close to the listener. I want you to understand that that is at the core of who FABC is. I like this young man who was just telling you the stories about being in a church uh in a foreign country. The one of the most encouraging opportunities I've had is visiting churches in places like Pakistan, in India, in Vietnam, in Philippines, in Thailand, where you don't understand the language, but as this young man said, you can feel the spirit. The spirit of the Lord is present in these churches as people are worshipful, sincere, in some cases, tears running down their cheeks, singing these Bible songs and partnering with FEBC so many places after the church service, wanting to talk to our broadcasters, wanting to share a meal with our broadcasters, feeling that they're really close, integrated into the community, a trusted friend. And that's what it means to be close to the listener. You know, many places around the world where FEBC is doing broadcasts, people can't trust the government. They can't trust the local newspapers or the local programs that are available on media platforms because they know there's propaganda. They know people are trying to convince them of things that aren't true. That's why it's so important that the FEBC broadcaster is integrated in that community, a trusted friend, close to the listener, so that when that broadcaster hears the gospel on our radio programs, on our social media programs, they believe it, they have faith, and they come to faith in Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_04 15:59

Well, our thanks to our own Jonathan Ortiz for capturing those conversations to share with us today. We try to make this podcast sort of a behind-the-scenes look at the ministry of the Far East Broadcasting Company. It doesn't get any more behind the scenes than somebody who's shooting video, right?

SPEAKER_03 16:13

Right.

SPEAKER_04 16:14

And we all enjoy the video reports that we see on the website so very much. As a matter of fact, there's one that we want to bring your attention to uh that focuses on our 80th anniversary celebration this year.

SPEAKER_03 16:27

Yeah, the 80th anniversary video that we've just recently shot is available on the website. You can go there and find that video. It talks about the fact that FEBC 80 years ago had a big idea, and that was shortwave radio. And using shortwave radio, which we learned about because uh one of our founders was a radio engineer during World War II in the Pacific Ocean and realized that it was a great tool. And our big idea was that shortwave radio can penetrate the bamboo curtain and take the gospel into China. And now it's over 50 countries that were using media to reach in as a missionary, a portable missionary, which was Bob Bowman's phrase. And and now we've got the gospel on radios, on the internet, on cell phones, and on social media platforms, and it's still working that very way. So 80 years, Wayne, we're celebrating.

SPEAKER_04 17:22

If you haven't seen the video, go to febc.org and you'll find it there. It's very exciting to see the history and a glimpse into uh maybe a little bit of a vision for the future as well for the Far East Broadcasting Company, which is very exciting as Christarries. All right, that'll conclude this week's report. Until all have heard. Ed, thank you so much. It's always a pleasure, Wayne. And our thanks to our producer, Joe Carlson, and to Jonathan Mortiz. So thank you for listening to Until All Have Heard from the Far East Broadcasting Company.