Rescue by Radio Global Partnership, Trans World Radio and ron h
by Rick Whitmer
A Chinese mom and dad had a baby girl they could not keep.
If caught, the Chinese government would impose harsh penalties for violating their one-child policy. So the parents did the only thing they knew to do: leave the baby on a very public street, and hope for the best.
This baby girl was found, and brought to an orphanage…one year later, there was an adoption, and a one-way plane ride to the United States.
Today, my wife and I have a beautiful, Jesus-loving, Chinese teenager living in our house.
But we often wonder, and pray, about our daughter's birthparents. There is no way to know who they are. Our prayer is that somehow they can hear about the life-changing news of Jesus and His cross, and to spend eternity in heaven.
There are over 1.3 billion Chinese people, most of whom do not know Jesus. They are lost. They need Jesus.
How can they hear the Good News? Who will tell them about the love of Christ?
Hutchraft Ministries and Trans World Radio (TWR) are partnering together, to send the Gospel every day into China. The Mandarin translation of "A Word With You"® is making an incredible impact.
Samuel Tan, the TWR International Ministry Director for Northeast Asia, shared with me recently, “We need messages like 'A Word With You' to help our young people understand what is Biblical teaching, and help them walk close to God. A message like Ron's is very timely and effective!”
Samuel and his team take the English transcripts, transcribe, edit, and then produce the Mandarin version of "'A Word With You'®." The program is then broadcast from TWR's Guam transmitter, via shortwave radio into mainland China.
The powerful messages written by Ron Hutchcraft are impacting countless lives. One young listener of the Mandarin A Word With You® said, “I think 'A Word with You' is very good because it gives us correct direction and advice to the practical problems that we face daily.”
Andrew Sundar, TWR International Ministry Director for South Asia, leads the team that produces "A Word With You"® in the Hindi language, and reaches the highly populated country of India! Andrew explains how around the world, "'stories' are a big deal: What I admire about this ministry is (Ron) brings it in a story format. Most of our audience are oral learners, and they are not literate. So the story method is one of the best methods to reach them.”
Over 30 years ago, Ron Hutchcraft started telling stories on the radio. He would tie every story directly to a passage of Scripture, and give a practical application for how this truth can impact our lives.
At that time, Ron had little idea how God would use a humble radio broadcast to impact the world with the Gospel.
One listener to "Ek Baat Aapke Saath" ("A Word With You"®, Hindi) shared, "One evening, I tuned in to listen to radio programs and this program was on at the moment. The illustrations spoke to me clearly. I repented of my sin and now I make sure to do everything I can to share the Gospel with others."
"A Word With You"® also broadcasts into the Spanish language across Latin America. Annabel Torrealba Muscarella, TWR Director of Global Media Services, Latin America, says, “It is interesting how we can reach our listeners that speak Spanish with this program -- especially because Ron helps real people with real problems."
"A Word With You"® now broadcasts daily in the four most spoken languages in the world: Chinese, English, Spanish, and Hindi. This represents the potential to reach a huge percentage of the world population.
In addition to distributing these broadcasts through radio airwaves, "A Word With You"® is being heard daily by listeners in all four languages on TWR360.org - the world's largest, multi-language digital platform for Christian content.
But now we want to get to many more. When I asked the TWR directors which languages they would like to see "A Word With You"® expand into, they immediately had their wish list ready, including Japanese, Korean (North Korea), Arabic, Russian, and many more.
Lauren Libby is the International president of TWR. He shares, "We have the privilege of co-laboring with Hutchcraft Ministries around the world. I'd hate to guess how many hundreds and thousands of people are affected each and every week as a result of our partnership between these two ministries. Thank you so much for your investment!"
When Hutchcraft Ministries broadcasts the Gospel into China every day, it is a birth mom and dad that I envision in my mind. My prayer is that a radio broadcast would reach their ears, and their hearts, and that someday, we would see them in heaven.
Rick Whitmer is the Senior Director of Mobilization at Hutchcraft Ministries.