Daniel Eka and family
Dusin Mission Station, Highlands, Papua New Guinea: On a recent trip to the Melanesia-South Pacific Field, I had the opportunity to travel and work closely with Daniel Eka, the National Communications Coordinator for Papua New Guinea (PNG).
Flying into Dusin Mission Station
We were blessed with the opportunity to visit several areas of ministry, including the Dusin Mission Station, located deep in the Highlands of PNG, an area reachable only by a multiple day hike or mission aircraft. Fortunately, we were allowed to use the aircraft and were spared the beautiful but grueling hike through the rain forest.
Dusin Mission Station
Upon arrival, one of the first questions I asked was whether or not our Nazarene World Mission Broadcast radio programs that are currently broadcast throughout PNG were able to reach the deep mountain canyons where many of our churches are located. This area is so remote that electricity, telephone, TV, Internet, and roads, are known by most people here, only through the stories told by those who have ventured outside of these mountain highlands.
The first morning following our afternoon arrival to Dusin, Daniel and I sat on the porch of the mission station and began to strategize as to how we would survey whether or not radio ministries could have an impact here. My personal conviction since becoming Regional Communications Coordinator has been to prayerfully seek out where God is working and then join Him! So many times we dream, strategize, plan, act, and then ask for blessings of our plans, instead of first seeking His direction and guidance.
I told Daniel, “I have seen many people transiting the station and have yet to see or hear a radio. If this is where God would have us working with radio, we need to find out if radios are even part of life here.”
Literally, I had no more than finished that statement when we looked up from the porch, and walking down the trail were three men, and what were they carrying…but a radio! We were absolutely astounded. God had orchestrated the answer to our prayers at exactly the moment that we said, God…if radio is here we need to know about it!
We found that indeed, some radio stations could be faintly heard and that at certain points, our Nazarene World Mission Broadcast programs were penetrating deep into these remote Highlands. But we found something even more exciting. As we spoke with this young man, he turned his radio and showed us a SD memory card slot. He asked us if we would be able to take his SD card and put programming on it so that he could take quality programs to the remote areas where the radio signal would not reach.
God had answered our prayer and showed us how audio programming could make a significant difference in reaching, teaching, and encouraging our Nazarene Church members along with those who had yet to hear the message of the Gospel.
Daniel Eka recording programs in the local language at our radio studio located on the campus of Melanesia Nazarene Bible College
There are hurdles yet to be overcome in the area of obtaining solar powered radios (batteries are difficult or almost impossible to obtain) and in thinking through the process of producing SD memory card programs and getting them distributed in these remote areas, but with God, nothing is impossible.
Nazarene World Mission Broadcast is truly a worthy investment. In Papua New Guinea alone, we are producing three radio programs, which are broadcast weekly on 13 separate radio stations. The programs target adult, youth, and children with age/gender appropriate content, and are produced in the local language at our radio studio located on the campus of Melanesia Nazarene Bible College.
