Radios For Africa!

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Go to truthnetwork.com or call 855-573-7351. Let's bring the living water to the world. Hey, this is Mike Zwick from If Not For God Podcast. Our show, Stories of Hopelessness, turned into hope. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it.

Share it. But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network. In Cary, North Carolina, Adam McAllister's Deli sitting next to one of my good friends, and we're going to have a conversation today that's unlike any other because it's going to be loud and crazy, clamorous. Our Truth Network intern is to my left, Colby. Colby, say hello to everybody. How's it going?

John Somerville. Thanks for being a great friend, a partner with Truth Network all these years. Thanks for putting up with me in the studio and on the basketball court, my friend. We have a lot of fun together, Stu. We really do. And there's nobody that can walk into a studio 30 seconds before the show is on the air with the music already playing, ready for you to step into the chair, and you just don't miss a beat.

Well, it's not hard when I have you waiting for me, and you're sweating, and all the crazy people that are there trying to put it together are also kind of sweating. But something, Transreal Radio, just a few blocks away from here, God out of this area, who would have thought out of Cary, North Carolina, the Gospels going out all over the world? In particular, we just got through with a campaign, Bibles, African East Jesus. We got the Word of God going out over radios. We're getting radios to people that can hear that, that we take for granted about it here in America. But what you're doing right from here, does that get you excited?

Talk to me about that. Well, you know, TWR does the same thing Truth Broadcasting is doing, and we do it every single day, but we're doing it on steroids. We're doing it in 300 languages, 300 languages around the world.

That means over 190 countries are responding, and that means 4 billion people can hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But how are they going to hear without a radio? And that is the project that we've been working on together, getting wind-up radios into the hands of people in Africa. Why a wind-up radio? Well, because a wind-up radio makes perfect sense. Many people in Africa don't have electricity, or electricity is hard to come by, or maybe very expensive. Same thing with batteries.

It's very challenging to get batteries. And so, a wind-up radio, they basically wind up like a clock, and you can let it go for an hour or two hours. They can tune in, Transworld Radio, hear great teaching, people like David Jeremiah, Charles Stanley, all the good ones that Truth Broadcasting is playing. TWR is playing those in the different languages that we broadcast in, in Africa.

So cool. And you have these big master blaster signals going out, 200,000 watts, 400,000 watts, AMs, FM, and I always ask them, hey John, where exactly is this reaching? And he smiles real big, because where is it not reaching? But big chunks of Nigeria, and down in West Africa, and all of that whole area. But what's there are these signals, and God's blessed Transworld Radio with these powerful signals. But what people need is a simple radio. And so people listening, if you think radio's dead, you're wrong again.

Because radio is alive and well in Africa, but they need a receiver. They need, it's like if you wanted to call a relative, and you have a phone, but they don't have a phone. Well, how are you going to call them?

Right? So you got to go see them. And sometimes when they're 15,000 miles away, it might be tough. So John, as simple as a radio. So fundamentally, this is what I love most about what you're doing at Transworld Radio. People stateside, who I go places and people hear my voice say, hey Stu, I love your show. Christian Radio has changed my life. We get letters from people all across the Truth Network. Listen to Truth Talk on other wonderful affiliates that carry our program, like Wilkins Radio Network, AFR, that carry this program. And a listener will write us and say, man, your station, your show has changed my life. That interview, I heard a message and God tugged my heart and I got saved. But John Somerville, a beautiful way for a listener who's been touched by any Christian radio to help someone have that same experience on the other side of the world is just getting one of these radios basically, right?

Or getting 10 of them. Well, think about this. Radio has impacted your life. Every day when you turn on that radio, God is using it to bring you closer to Him.

People in Africa need that same challenge, that same encouragement each and every day that you need. Every time when you pick up your radio or turn on your radio, you have that opportunity to be able to put a radio into someone's hands and give them the gospel. Because you're giving them more than a radio. You are giving them Jesus. You're giving them the life saving salvation found through. And radio is a powerful tool, powerful in the hands of the Holy Spirit. When you think about where God's Word goes, it does not return void. It is going to accomplish the purposes for which He sends it.

So this is the Word of God going out. Transmural Radio, again, they do what your great Christian radio networks are doing in America in English. They do it in all these languages of Africa. The people need a radio.

So break it down for us. I know there's a number of people who can call that they can right now order a radio. They can buy a radio for someone.

They can buy 100 radios. No amount is, you know, the widow's mite's great. Whatever God's giving you is not yours anyway. So God's saying, hey, get your grubby hands off my money and bless Transmural Radio. Maybe He's saying that to you. If He is, John, how does it work?

You go through some pretty painstaking details. Your team does logistically to get a radio to a village. So tell us a quick testimony and tell our listeners how they can actually do something to help you to help someone else find the Lord through that. Well, I had the opportunity to be in Malawi and passing out these windup radios personally to people. And as we're returning from one of the radio events where we have passed out these radios and just had some fantastic, fantastic people who are saying how much they appreciate them. We're driving back and our director, his name is Victor. Victor says, hey, let's stop at a random house and give away a radio. Now, this is not something we normally do. And I was a little skeptical because I don't stop at random houses in the United States. It's not something I would normally do.

And so I was a bit on the skeptical side and he says, no, no, no, there'll be okay. So Victor picks out a house. We pull in. The house is made of homemade bricks. They make their own bricks to build their own houses. It's got a thatch roof.

It's got a line of laundry hanging out in the front yard and three kids playing in the dirt. Victor walks up and he says, hi, I'm from Transwell radio and the mom's eyes light up. Oh, Transwell radio. And he says, do you have a radio? And she says, no. Would your husband allow us to give you a radio? And she was delighted.

So I'm sitting there thinking, wait a minute, wait a minute. If she doesn't have a radio, how does she know about Transwell radio? And so we asked her the question and he says, well, every day when we go out in the field, our neighbors bring their radio and we listen to it while we farm together. So now they'll have their own radio to take in their house in that small little homemade brick house and be able to listen with their kids each evening.

You got a team on the ground. They identify a needy family, a needy area. They get the radios to them. The people will hear the word of God. It helps them really construct a systematic theology.

Like it helps them get some sound grounding in the word. Colby, real quick question for John. You know, you're a student junior at Liberty university hearing about people on the other side of the world, hearing the gospel through these windup radios.

Any thoughts for him? Yeah. How is we, we as students as college students, how can we get involved? Even if we're at another part of our country, how can we get involved with Transwell radio to help y'all continue to bring out the mission of God? Well, Colby, the intern, we do internships for college students all over. And in fact, we've got a couple of going to been in Africa in a couple of days. In fact, many of them are arriving today into our carry offices to be trained on where they go.

Some will be going to bone air. Somebody be going to Guam and there'll be a couple of them who will be staying here in Cary, North Carolina, which is where our international headquarters is. And we love working with young people and it's not just a go get your, go get our coffee kind of an internship, but we put them directly to work, giving them specific projects to do.

And many times the internships turned into careers with Transwell Radio. And if we have time, we'll swing by the world headquarters of Transwell real quick after this, I would love him to see that cool tower in the building and meet some of your awesome team. Great team, great studio. Brother Lauren, all the team, they're amazing support staff. John, real quick, the phone number. I know people want to give and support. There's also a website they can go to as well.

All right. We can always go to truthnetwork.com or you can call, do it the old fashioned way. Pick up your smartphone and call us at 888-988-5656.

Again, that's toll free 888-988-5656. Call Pleasure Radio about how much does a radio cost? Everything put together, wind up radio, $50 will get the thing built and shipped and in the hands of a dear African friend who may be Muslim or who may be into animus, you know, the stuff, the witchcraft, witch doctor, whatever, but they will hear the gospel, right John? So, talking about a Muslim, one of our staff members, his name is Rabio.

Rabio is in Benin and that's on the west side of Nigeria. Every day Rabio goes to work. He has to go through a toll booth and at the toll booth his people are Muslim and they would always give Rabio a hard time because they're Muslim, he's Christian and Rabio decided one day he's going to give them one of these wind up radios, teaches them how to find Transwell Radio, tells them what time to listen. Well, now before long they're no longer giving them trouble coming through and a couple days later they want to know, can we get a second radio?

He says, well we want, he says everybody in the toll booths are listening to it and I want to take one home to my family. That's the kind of impact you have when you're making a gift today. And it's important to understand a lot of these folks haven't had the privilege, the luxury of Americans who've grown up in schools learning to read.

So there's a lot, there's a high level of illiteracy. Someone told me Africa is like 40% illiterate or so but they can listen to a radio, right John, and hear a spoken word and you can share the gospel with them that way. You know radio makes the perfect missionary because it can be there every single day and it speaks in their heart language. What a blessing Colby, that encourages you to anybody.

It does. What you just said is an incredible because we can't always go and be there every single day but radio can and being able to have y'all's signals all across the nations is really fulfilling the great commission. And we're actually resembling what you just said right now because I can't go to every deli in America and sit down and tell everyone in here and people are probably listening and giving us, looking at, looking at sideways about how to get involved in reaching souls for Christ. But we can do this little interview on this little recording device here, put it on Truth Talk, go out to 200 plus affiliates, and so now we're inviting everyone else to come in. I think there's someone that's got a phone, they'll call this number and they'll pledge 50 bucks, 100 bucks, 500 bucks, 5,000 bucks.

It's God's money for Pete's sake, it's not ours. That will reach people with the good news of Jesus Christ. They need the gospel, we all need the gospel, okay.

Quit talking about they and them, I need the gospel. But what I want to do is I want to share my time, my talent, my treasure, my interview platform with Truth Talk with friends like John Somerville who are doing something about it. John, give the number one more time. Our phone number's 888-988-5656.

Again, 888-988-5656. And just tell them you heard about it from Stu and the guy with an amazing baseline jump shot, John Somerville, he fills it up. We play basketball together a lot when we can't, when I don't have a broken foot, and we share the gospel through that. It's another tool to just, radio is a tool, basketball is a tool to share the good news of Jesus.

And we know it's just God's favorite sport because we know the shape of the basketball. All right. All right, give us a call. We'd love to hear from you. This is a great project, and the more you dig into it, I think the more you're going to fall in love with what God is doing through TWR and through Truth Network together, holding hands as we go through and bring radios to Africa. 888-988-5656. 888-988-5656. You'll love the TWR website.

It's real simple, twr.org. God bless you, John Somerville. Be a part of giving. If you can't go, give. If you can't give, pray. Let God use all that to reach a world that needs Jesus. That's why we're still here. The King's coming back to take us home. Who you taking with you? This is the Truth Network.