From the January-April 2011 Issue
A new venue for testimony
Jose and Virtudes Moreno
One of the features of the work of the Gospel in “The Heart of La Mancha” has been the abundance of opportunities for testimony in the public arena that we have enjoyed throughout the years. Right from the beginning of our time here in Alcázar de San Juan we had access to the radio. We had a fifteen-minute weekly radio programme on Canfali Onda Mancha called “Nueva Vida” (New Life). This was a radio station that belonged to the Town Hall. After some years the station was sold. The new owners of Canfali Onda Mancha decided not to have our programme any more. They would only have musical programmes. Apart from other things, from those days there remains a friendship with the presenter who is one of the most respected in our area, now working for the main radio station in town, Onda Cero. This has given me opportunities to go on being interviewed on the radio from time to time on various topics.
An opportunity that has never been discontinued has been my contribution to a weekly paper now called El Semanal de la Mancha. Again, this has enabled me to explain the Gospel by way of articles at certain times of the year, or on particular occasions. The last one was on the death of Miguel Delibes, a famous Spanish writer who had written a novel on the Protestants that were burned in Spain in the sixteenth century.
A television programme
Now a new avenue for testimony has been granted to us. We are involved in producing a television programme every fortnight. This was an offer that came from our friends at the head of the Town Hall as they were starting a new digital TV station called AlcázarDigital. Even before we took up the challenge represented by such an enterprise we were conscious of the fact that it would involve a lot of work. Yet that could not deter us from entering the new door of opportunity the Lord was opening before us and we accepted the offer.
It so happened that I had been invited last year to speak on two TV programmes for our national channel TV2 (the equivalent of the British BBC2), within the weekly programme by Evangelicals, “Buenas Noticias TV” (Good News TV). This gave me a taste for what was coming! Mind you, there is no comparison whatsoever between the means at the disposal of the brethren making programmes for TV2 and those employed by our more humble TV station. Nevertheless, we proceeded to record and mount some programmes for the local station. We have been on the air now since last November.
To produce a programme takes more time than people think (you have got to do it in order to see that!). It is not just writing a script. There is the actual recording to be done. Then the mounting of the programme… And, of course, there is always something that seems to be going wrong somehow, somewhere! That consumes time. The programme is called “Tiempo de Esperanza” (Times of Hope). It has a duration of 30 minutes and is on every fortnight three times: twice on Saturday at 16.00 hours and 21.00 hours, and on Sunday at 10.00 hours. The Catholic Church is on the other fortnight. We are the only “religious” groups doing TV programmes, both of us having exactly the same time.
The format
We are deeply conscious of the medium we employ. We are not telepredicadores, TV preachers of the worst American type, charlatans that deceive people asking for money. The format is usually, though not always, a kind of interview. We have tackled films like Changeling, or The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; books like El Hereje, a book written by Miguel Delibes, the author I mentioned earlier on. Also causes like the abolition of slavery and the evangelical contribution to that, both in England and in Spain! Taking subjects of interest like the recent earthquake in Haiti, we sought to answer the oft repeated question: “Why does God allow…?” We have also used subjects like atheism or postmodernism and have made special programmes at Christmas and Easter.
Apart from ourselves, we have had people speaking, or even a programme prepared by the young people from the church in Ciudad Real. We are right now preparing two programmes on the impact of the Gospel on people and there will be a testimony from a man in the church here who formerly was hooked on drugs.
Our presenter is a young Christian student at Toledo University, who is very zealous and has a keen interest in the work of the Gospel. He is a great help to us here and has also taken young people’s meetings. He has developed as a presenter and we think he is doing a very good job. He is even beginning to ask questions that were not in the script!
The TV station started just like our local TV, Alcázardigital, but now it has grown to include other local stations from nearby towns like Campo de Criptana and Herencia. The new name of the station is ManchaCentro TV and it can now be seen by a much greater audience than before, not only from the aforementioned towns, but also further afield. It really covers more or less the same population as the hospital in front of us – 100,000 people.
The results, as with so many other things we do, will be in the long term. However, we have become better known in town and in other places too as a result of the programmes. They have opened fresh opportunities for conversing with neighbours, friends and relatives. It is not strange now for people to stop and say “Oh, I have seen you on the TV!” As our cameraman says, everybody watches the local TV! We have even seen a man coming along to a number of Sunday services as a result of the first programme.
As happened with the radio programme, this new avenue for testimony may unexpectedly cease, as we depend on the favour of the authorities in power. We therefore try to be conscious of the fact that every programme is a precious opportunity for testimony. We know we are in the hands of One who is greater than all and who has a plan. In Him we rest and try to use this new avenue of testimony for his glory.