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2011 – 2020

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Training of thousands of pastors and leaders in six leadership training events were held in Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Attendance: 4,000 Christian leaders.

IRR/TV held intense training seminars for Central Asia’s media workers in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The Gospel received a positive response amongst these predominantly Islamic populations.

Central Asia

Mega city media outreach together with local churches, GCMM was able to reach 22 million people in Central Asia between 2006 and 2009. The cities targeted were Almaty, Bishkek, Osh, Dzhalal-Abad, Kyzyl-Kiya and the Fergana Valley. This would not have been possible without mass media.

Consequently, thousands of Muslims received the gospel message. Kazakhstan was long been known for its tolerant position on religious freedom in Central Asia. However, a major shift in policy was announced in 2011 by the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Freedom to practice their religion would be restricted to two groups, the Islamic Society, and the Orthodox Church. Soon only Islam was to be tolerated.

Again, the timing of the Central Asian media campaigns was divinely God-given.

Al Qaida Enemy Number 1

Egyptian-born Priest Zakaria’s TV programs were watched regularly by several hundred million Arabs across North Africa and the Middle East.

Great Commission Media Ministries was committed to assisting and co-working with Zakaria on his new satellite channel, with 600 TV programs in Arabic.

One almost unbelievable, yet true story shared by Priest Zakaria left no doubt in viewers’ minds, about how God can bring a family to faith…

The wife of a Saudi Sheikh watched Zakaria satellite TV programs whenever her husband left for the mosque. This went on for a month and the wife was convinced to accept the teaching she was hearing. She contacted Zakaria who prayed for her salvation. She had a burning desire to tell her husband of her faith in Jesus but was afraid to tell him. She could be stoned to death, imprisoned, or even be divorced from her husband.

One day she confessed to her husband that she had been listening to a Shia Muslim Sheikh on television who spoke very logically about interesting issues, though contrary to Islam and Muhammad.

They started to watch the TV programs together. The husband wondered why the “Islamic speaker” (Zakaria) wore a cross and his wife responded by saying that it made no difference whether the speaker was a Sheikh or a pastor because he spoke the truth. The husband then asked his wife if she truly believed the words of this man. She could no longer stay silent and was prepared to die, if necessary, for her faith. She confessed she not only believed the pastor but that she had put her faith in Jesus Christ.

Upon hearing his wife’s confession, the husband also revealed that he too had become a believer one year earlier but that he had not had the courage to tell her of his faith. He had prayed for the conversion of his wife all the while!

God’s truth was revealed.

Palestine

The “Battle” of Jericho

GCMM conducted a mini campaign, in the Biblical city of Jericho, under Palestinian control with a population of 50,000 people. During the month-long media campaign, Israeli Arabs responded to the gospel message. The Palestinian campaign manager in Jericho reported that they had received 1,000 responses asking for the DVD and the campaign book. The campaign ended just as unrest was sweeping across much of the Middle East and North Africa.

The Blind, Lame, Deaf and Poor of Israel

GCMM visited the Israeli city of Kiryat Yam on the coast, north of Haifa. The Mayor of Kiryat Yam was visibly moved upon hearing plans to launch food distribution to help feed and clothe the poorest of the poor.

The rate of returning Jewish families to Israel was greater than the government subsidies available. Kiryat Yam, one of hundreds of similar low-income towns in Israel had 4,000 people living far below the poverty line.

Jeremiah (31:8) (KJV)

For I will bring them from the north and from earth’s farthest ends, not forgetting their blind and lame, young mothers with their little ones, those ready to give birth. It will be a great company who comes.

Today, almost 1.5 million Russian-speaking children of Israel have returned “home” from the land of the north, the former Soviet Union. With them, as Jeremiah said, have come the blind, the deaf, the lame, the poor.

Hannu Haukka reports: “We visited a home just as the Sabbath was about to begin. There were two loaves of bread on the table. Nothing else. Rafik, the father of the family of four, opened the fridge and it was empty. When we offered to buy food from the store down the street his eyes lit up. Then he hesitated and quietly said: “Thank you, but even if you buy the food, we have nothing to prepare the food with.” The propane line had been cut because Rafik had no money to pay the gas bill.

They had no words to express their thanks. The mother was stunned. The Father wiped tears from his eyes.

For thousands of families, the poverty was real.

The Ural Mountains

One Million Exposures to the Gospel in the Russian Urals

A month-long campaign was held in the Ural Mountains. The GCMM campaign office recorded over 5,000 responses from residents in the northern city of Perm. This was significant taking into account the fierce opposition that the churches in Russia were facing.

Edward Grabovenko, the Bishop of Russia’s largest evangelical denomination stated: “This campaign will not leave anyone indifferent. There are those, who receive the message with joy and are saved. Others are angry and reject it. I believe that this campaign should take place not only in our city but in every population centre from the smallest town to the biggest city in Russia. Do not stop, keep on going. Our prayer and plea is that there be no cessation to these campaigns! These campaigns are investments that we will never regret. I therefore warmly thank you for conducting these campaigns.”

Together with the churches one million people were reached. The churches in Perm along with GCMM then planned special evangelistic outreach events in 19 smaller villages in the outlying area. GCMM supplied them with the literature they needed for the campaigns.

Moscow

Slowly but surely, the Church in Russia began facing persecution similar to the Soviet era. All signs indicated that Russia was returning to the days of disruptions organized by the State.

During the summer of 2011, several Pentecostal churches joined together for an outdoor baptismal service on the shores of Lake Beloje Ozero, just east of Moscow.

Even though proper procedures were followed, and officials were given notice, it was disallowed, and every effort was made to stop the service from taking place.

Just before the service was about to begin, conservation officers arrived at the scene and began to issue fines and soon the police, eco-management experts and minister’s representatives also arrived on the scene to give their support.

Then suddenly, they stood down and stopped issuing fines.

Russia: Outdoor baptismal service banned in Moscow

Police presence was very noticeable as they kept an eye on proceedings at a recent outdoor baptismal service in Moscow. According to Russian officials baptisms are to be conducted only by the Orthodox church.

The reason for the abrupt end to their efforts was that one of their own police officers, a new Christian, was among the group of people to be baptized! The other officers gathered around the police officer and asked why he was dressed in a white gown and among those who were to be baptized.

He told his colleagues courageously about the great change that God had given his life. Praise be unto God. What a witness he was!

On that day 50 new-born Christians were baptized. The police revealed that their orders to disrupt the baptismal service came from high up the political ladder in Moscow.

Mega City Campaign in Chennai

“Look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” John 4:35 (NKJV)

Bishop Mohan of the 8,000 Assemblies of God churches realized the impact of the media in today’s India:

“This is a new way to evangelize and reach the people of India. There have been many campaigns that have spent a lot of money to gather people for one event. But in this campaign, people were reached where they are.

I personally and strongly believe that the time for traditional outdoor evangelistic crusades is over in India. The threat of terrorist attacks has caused the authorities to be cautious in granting permits for mass gatherings. The media campaign reached more people than any stadium could have held.

This kind of evangelism touches great numbers of people and they easily come to church because they don’t feel intimidated. Now is a time for India and God is at work.”

April in Chennai, India where the ministry call centre logged 94,000 telephone calls and 800,000 hits on the website in just five weeks! The response was overwhelming. Chennai leaders gather for praise and worship. 45,000 response forms were a valuable resource for a mega harvest in the city.

Extremist Hindus attempted to disrupt the campaign

The sheer volume of 5,000 calls a day caught the attention of Hindu activists. The call centre phone lines were cut on two occasions by extremists. The lines were repaired within days but still, thousands of calls were lost. Daily newspapers however continued to carry “Power To Change” messages and major TV channels continued with prime-time programs. Many suicidal people called in, talked to a counsellor, received messages of hope and consequently were saved from an untimely death. Hindus and Muslims found faith!

Mega City billboards at the bus station in Chennai. Billboards were untouched by the activists, which allowed the Gospel to be proclaimed throughout the city of Chennai for the duration of the month-long multimedia outreach.

Mega City Campaign in Helsinki

The first Mega City Campaign held in Finland was in the capital city of Helsinki. The month-long campaign became a catalyst for 5 additional province-wide campaigns.

Pastors were elated when they saw the turnout of volunteers! It seemed like a revival had already begun before the campaign even started, as two churches booked for training counsellors and book couriers were filled to the brim. As well, requests were coming in from other major cities in Finland for a similar city campaign even before the event in Helsinki had even begun!

A pastor from one of the training churches had said, “I haven’t seen such enthusiasm for the past few decades!” The campaign for Helsinki expanded into both Finnish and Swedish, as the two languages are spoken in the Helsinki area.

Finland’s evangelicals represent only 12 percent of the country’s 5 million people, and less than one out of 10 people attend church at all.

Secular television and daily newspapers took the message of the campaign to the nation. Life-changing stories from the campaign were downloaded on YouTube 63,000 times. More than 185,000 contacts were made during the first 30 days and over 112,000 unique visits to the website were recorded.

CBN News reported on the Helsinki campaign:

“A month-long media campaign in Finland has sparked a nationwide discussion on God and His power. Finland is a Protestant nation where the Christian faith has long been on the decline. But church leaders said they see signs that the downward trend could be reversing. In downtown Helsinki, streetcars and buses carried the church-sponsored ads from Sept. 15 – Oct. 15. The ads, which encourage onlookers to call a hotline to learn more about Christ, even had the secular media talking.”

74 city buses and 45 trams prominently displayed life-changing campaign ads for 30 days. The largest billboard ad (on the right) was about 8 stories high and was located right next to the Helsinki train station, where the majority of commuters passed by each day.

“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow…”this is my hope,” says triple murderer, Lauri “Late” Johansson

These were the words of born again, founder and ex-President of “Natural Born Killers” Late Johansson. His voice was trembling as he looked directly into the camera. Late Johansson is currently serving a life sentence for triple murders.

Late’s words and images flashed through the TV camera lens to countless TV sets from Helsinki, Finland and beyond to Rovaniemi, a city located on the Arctic Circle.

Local media outlets

Two of the largest daily newspapers in Finland, Helsingin Sanomat (similar to The Globe and Mail) and the largest daily tabloid, Iltalehti, each devoted a whole page to Late’s story. Online editions linked the stories to the campaign website. The online versions drew 1.3 million unique visits each day. The tabloid, Iltalehti linked their story to the campaign YouTube site where thousands online watched the testimony of Johansson.

Channel 4, one of the national TV networks interviewed IRR-TV (GCMM) campaign representatives. The “Jay Leno” of Finland, a female host, was amazed and said she had never seen such a media campaign anywhere. Numerous talk shows commented on the outreach as something the country had never seen.

The Telecommunications Commission of Finland granted IRR-TV an exceptional three-month broadcast license just prior to the start of the campaign. The programs continued to air until Christmas every evening from 10 pm to 12 midnight, nationwide.

 

Back to timeline

 

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2012

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Hannu Haukka was appointed chairman of the NRB International Committee at the world’s largest Christian media convention, National Religious Broadcasters (NRB).

It was the first time in their 70-year history that NRB had appointed a non-American citizen as chairman of any committee. The appointment reflected trust and high regard for Hannu and Laura’s lifelong service in ministry.

The tide began to turn in Russia

It was an unprecedented time of harvesting souls for the kingdom of God, from 2003-2012, with 40 mega city campaigns held in Russia.

David Wilkerson, pastor and author from Times Square Church in New York had forewarned 4,000 Russian pastors in Moscow that a great time of harvest would not last.

Many in Russia however, believed that this new freedom would be permanent. Wilkerson’s prophetic word was however a stark warning to the contrary.

By 2012 the Russian Federal Bureau of State Security, known as the FSB, threatened all secular media that worked together with churches in Russia to terminate their activity. Violators would be mercilessly shut down. In European Russia, evangelists were prosecuted and faced prison, and houses of prayer were bulldozed.

However, despite tight government restrictions on media in Russia, GCMM continued its outreach by partnering with mission teams travelling to villages and towns where, because of their size, normally conducted Mega City Campaigns weren’t possible.

Bishop Grabovenko reported that as the Gospel was being preached from village to village, door to door across Russia as a cooperative effort over 2 years, they had seen over one million people make decisions for Jesus when they received the campaign book and spoke with church volunteers.

The Power of the Printed Page Emerges

The churches requested an additional 5 million books to be printed to continue the effective outreach before it became extremely difficult to do so. GCMM embarked upon printing 5 million copies of the campaign book, “Experience the Power To Change” for distribution across Russia in mass. Reports of up to 3 million people having received Jesus as Lord and over 2,000 new churches and house churches were planted.

SIBERIA

Sharing the Gospel, door to door in Siberia and eastern Russia was still welcomed and received without repercussions by the state.

Two church outreach volunteers shared: “Most residents of the remote village Prutskoy opened their homes to us and received the Gospel message with keen interest. They were given the evangelistic book and those who wanted to read the Bible were given a New Testament.”

They remember praying the prayer of salvation right then and there for two of the village residents. “It was such a blessing to see the change on their faces after the prayer!”

During another day of outreach, they learned that a mother had prayed to God all her life with no answers to her prayers. She had an insurmountable tragedy within her family and as a result, did not believe in God or anything else… her son had been convicted of murdering his wife. The son was with her when Vera shared the gospel message and they both listened intently. Vera prayed the prayer of salvation with them, and they asked her to visit again.

GCMM Leads Hundreds in Russia’s Prisons to Jesus

A door of opportunity opened for GCMM to partner in ministering to inmates at the infamous Black Dolphin maximum-security prison in Russia. This was a powerful testament that God can make the impossible, possible.

Vitaly, who had served time behind bars in his teenage years, was a Chaplain at the prison and shared how God had led him there:

“I build houses to earn a living and was building a house for a woman who was the wife of the Deputy Governor. I asked if her husband could help me gain access to the Black Dolphin prison. The Deputy Governor had been shocked at what he saw at the prison every time he went there on business. At the prison, cages had been built ‘inside’ the cell walls, further restricting movement by the inmates.

Upon seeing the awful conditions on numerous occasions, he agreed to help us. After much discussion and many meetings with the prison warden, we were given access to the Black Dolphin and all the prisons in the Orenburg region.”

50 Inmates baptized, handcuffed behind their back

Vitaly and Vladimir Kiselev ministered at the Black Dolphin Prison once a month, along with volunteer workers from the Orenburg church.

Vitaly continued: “We recently held our ninth baptismal service there. All told, 55 prisoners serving life sentences have been baptized. These hardened men have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus as Saviour and Lord.

We brought our inflatable plastic pool and filled it up to knee level with water. The prisoners were handcuffed and led into the pool. The handcuffs were kept on during the baptismal service.”

“After the baptismal service, there was communion (in handcuffs) followed by a very moving occurrence whereby the inmates, following Jesus’ example, washed each other’s feet. This was an important moment for them. When an inmate washed another inmate’s feet, he would never again be disrespectful toward them.  In this way, he is showing that the other inmate is held in high esteem and above himself. The washing of each other’s feet was a turning point for them.”

Calloused inmates on death row

Vitaly went to visit another prison called Pyatak where many of the inmates were waiting for their execution on death row. One inmate, Vladimir, had murdered seven people and was behind bars from the early age of fourteen. His crimes grew in intensity and ended up on death row. While there, he murdered his cellmate.

Another inmate, Sergei was twenty-seven years old and was an elite soldier serving in the special forces of Russia (Special Ops). He was trained to fight and to kill with his bare hands. Special forces soldiers swear by oath not to use their skills outside military conflict.

One evening however he was out dancing with his girlfriend and ended up in a fight trying to protect her. In the process, he killed three men with his bare hands. He had been drinking and had lost his self-control.

These men had made devastating choices in their lives, which ultimately put them on death row.

“As I beheld them, I was filled with sorrow. Yet, I was happy because they all had found purpose in their life through their new-found faith in Christ! As we were about to leave with our assigned prison escort officer, the baptized inmates knelt on the floor, handcuffed and bound, and prayed for us our church and our children.”

The prison escort officer weeps…

As they prayed, the escorting officer abruptly stepped out of the room. Vitaly followed him and began to apologize: “Did we break the rules of the prison?” As he turned his face toward him, Vitaly noticed tears flowing down his cheeks and told him that knew the life these men had led and said they had never knelt or bowed down in front of anyone. But now they were on their knees praying on Vitaly’s behalf and his children.

Through his tears, the officer explained that for the longest time, he had searched for God in churches and monasteries.

“But God is to be found here in the cells of my prison. I can see what he has done to these men.” The officer walked down the hall with Vitaly and the church volunteers and asked: “What do I need to do to find God?” They answered: “Repent of your sins…”

Salvation at the gates

“We left the prison at seven that evening. When we were at the main gate the officer removed his hat and indicated he wanted to receive Jesus Christ as his saviour right then and there. And so he did!”

Ministry to adults and children

GCMM partnered with Vitaly and Vladimir ministering in adult prisons and continued to deliver aid and minister to children in several of Russia’s children’s prison camps, detention centers and orphanages. Outreach was crucial in reaching Russia’s forgotten and rejected children in prison. We had seen hundreds of them make decisions for Jesus.

Mega City Campaign follow-up event

Thousands Hear Testimonies of God’s Power to Change in Helsinki

The Mega City Campaign in Helsinki during the fall of 2011 impacted and changed the lives of many people. Thousands of residents in Helsinki, Finland turned out for a special outreach event held at the Helsinki hockey arena on March 16^th.

People who came to the special live event wanted to hear more about how God had changed the lives of people who had been an integral part of the Mega City Campaign the previous year. Hundreds who wanted to experience “change” for themselves, responded to the altar call at the end of the event and made their way to the stage seeking a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Thousands more watched the testimonies on YouTube and the secular press carried the stories on popular media websites. The event, as was the Mega City Campaign, was a truly wonderful work of God.

Lauri Johansson, the former founder of an infamous gang called the “Natural Born Killers,” currently serving a life sentence in prison for three murders he committed, attended the outreach event. He had found faith in Christ while in prison. The outreach at the hockey arena was his first brief outing from prison, albeit under heavy surveillance.

With tears trickling down his cheek Lauri spoke of how he had encountered the mercy and grace of God that had changed his life. He shared with the audience words from his favourite song: “Just one drop of Jesus’ blood was enough to wash all my sin away.”

The Mega City Campaign had profoundly impacted southern Finland and was indeed a time of massive sowing of the seed of the good news of Jesus. The campaign testimonies had been viewed on YouTube alone over 100,000 times. A secular online video in Finland, on average, would get between 1,000 to 2,000 views and downloads.

To date, the campaign website recorded over 250,000 unique visitors. Website hits were in the millions. The 100-page campaign book, containing dramatic life-changing stories and the four spiritual laws continued to go out to those ordering it online. The churches most active in the campaign were reaping the most results. Hannu had encountered many at the arena who told him they had just made their decision to follow Jesus. Seeing the crowd responding to the altar call, filled hearts with thanksgiving and praise.

Massive Media Campaign in Jesus’ Home City of Nazareth

Arabs and Jews working together

The enthusiasm of the people was inspiring. Vladimir Karttunen of IRR-TV Finland visited the Russian-Jewish congregations in the area. “We received a lot of suggestions and questions alike. Everyone was so enthused and ready to make this campaign happen. It is clear to everyone that this was very special for the Arab and Jewish congregations preparing for the launch date and beyond.”

The time is right

As preparations were underway, Hani Henein shared they were all aware of the political upheavals and threat of war that Israel was facing. “If we are to do something significant, we need to do it very soon because we do not know what tomorrow will bring. The war between Iran and Israel may be imminent. We need your prayers for this is a difficult region to work in and the people here are afraid of what’s in store for their future.” The campaign coordinator in Nazareth, Alex Faibi stated: “Thank you for standing with us and helping Israel. This campaign is very challenging.”

Jesus’ hometown responds to the gospel message

The GCMM media saturation campaign was conducted in Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. During the month-long campaign, proclaiming the Gospel had been greatly aided by several secular news programs that aired the life-changing stories from the campaign.

The campaign was fruitful despite attempts by Ultra-Orthodox Jews to shut it down.

The day after the outdoor ads went up, outraged Orthodox Jews bombarded city hall and the media agency with calls demanding that the ads be taken down immediately.

Due to the pressure to conform to their demand, most of the ads were taken down.

There was however a silver lining to this intense opposition!

Campaign message spreads throughout Israel

The commotion caught the attention of local TV news teams. After the evening news aired the story on the campaign, the call centre phone lines lit up. People from all over Israel called asking for more information and to order the campaign book.

Given that many of the billboards were removed from Nazareth, the advertising agency offered alternative billboard sites throughout northern and central areas of Israel. As a result, more phone lines were installed to assist with the resulting higher volume of calls.

A section of Nazareth known as the “New” Nazareth, held 70% of its Russian-Jewish population and after two weeks the campaign message had reached all the Russian-speaking Jews of Israel—thanks to secular news reports of the campaign.

Calls and requests for books were coming in from all over Israel: Jerusalem, Beersheba, Ashdod, Tel Aviv, and elsewhere. At the time on the campaign website, 2,500 unique visitors made over 200 requests for the campaign book containing the four spiritual laws and life-changing testimonies. As the books and DVDs were delivered, the all-important follow-up ministry was to begin.

Campaign surpasses expectation

Arabic Palestinians in the city of Nazareth, made up 80% of its population. The Arabic campaign outreach produced amazing results.

Some days into the campaign, George, manager of the GCMM campaign in Nazareth reported:

“Thank God for this campaign! Facebook and the internet have allowed us to reach 133,000 young people to date. More than 300 Muslims have ordered the Power to Change campaign book and the DVD. Hundreds of Arabs have asked for help so they can learn more about God.

So far, the testimonies on YouTube have been watched 3,100 times. I can see how God is working among the people of Nazareth through this campaign, I have never seen this sort of thing in this city. Some people called and asked for help for relatives addicted to drugs. And the calls keep coming. One lady called about her brother, a drug addict. She asked for someone to come and talk with him. He has three girls to support, but his salary goes instead to buy drugs.

Hundreds of Arabs asked for help so they could learn more about God. It is so encouraging to know how many people are visiting the website, downloading the book, and viewing the video testimonies. There have been over 4,500 new visitors to the website since the beginning of the campaign.”

INDIA

Mega City Campaign in Hyderabad

GCMM launched their second high-impact media saturation campaign in India in May, partnering with over 100 churches in the city. The churches provided volunteers for the call centre and to deliver the 132-page evangelistic books to those requesting them.

Hyderabad, a city of 8.5 million witnessed unprecedented amounts of calls to the ministry call centre. Sixty phones were not enough! Over 110,000 contacts were made with both Muslims and Hindus alike who responded to the message of the power to change through Jesus Christ.

From day one, the flood of incoming calls sent the call centre staff scrambling to cope with the deluge. On the first day, 3,551 calls were logged and 538 Facebook contacts. In addition to the calls, there were over 650,000 visits to the website, over 13,000 downloads of the campaign book, and thousands of contacts via Facebook and social media.

Jesus was “the Talk of the Town”

Pastor Shelton shared, “When the campaign launched, we saw the media, the trains, the billboards, the newspapers. We saw millions of people in the city wake up to the campaign message that God gives you the power to change!”

Hyderabad was known to be the Silicon Valley of South Asia. People talked about the campaign message all over the city. Hyderabad had a strong Muslim population of about 2.5 million. Many of them called in asking for more information about Jesus Christ saying: “We had a certain perception of who Jesus is but now we have been given another picture of him, and it isn’t what we were taught to believe. We want to know more about this Jesus.”

The campaign led to an unusual increase in dialogue with the Muslims. Ashvin, the local campaign manager shared: “Amazing things are happening in Hyderabad. Muslims are calling and they want the evangelistic book… some are suffering from addictions, others are from broken homes, and many are calling who are spiritually hungry.”

Every day the call centre received some calls from people about to commit suicide. Immediate, fervent prayer on the phone turned back the darkness and hopelessness. Their lives were saved. One such caller was in daily contact with the call centre, and texted, “You are my source of strength to want to live day by day!”

In one case a young Hindu lady accompanied a Christian friend to the call centre just to help out with office work. On her third day, she surrendered her life to the Lord and said, “This is what I am missing and need in my own life!”

Movie Star turned ambassador for Jesus

One of the more dynamic life-changing stories of the campaign was Raja’s story. Raja was a Tollywood movie star whom everyone in the city knew. Tollywood and Bollywood were the Hollywood equivalents in central India. Raja’s testimony was highly visible during the campaign.

On a TV program, Raja told of his rise to fame from oblivion. He spoke of his life of faith in Christ. He talked about his life as a movie star: “I have decided to be an ambassador for Christ to the movie industry and to the world. You know my public life, but you don’t know about my private life. Read my whole story. Call to get the book with the whole story!”

This generated great interest and politicians called Raja directly to ask him about his personal faith and life in Christ. Some other people highlighted in the campaign were businessmen, musicians, a rickshaw driver and a doctor, giving their testimonies on television on the most popular channels in the city.

Raja’s story:

Raja’s parents had died when he was a boy and he and his sister ended up staying with their abusive uncle. Raja got his big break as an adult. He was hired out of 3,500 other actors vying for the same part in a movie. That was something of a miracle.

The temptations that came with success threw the young star off his intended path in life. After surviving a particularly bad situation involving alcohol abuse Raja turned to Jesus to help fix his broken life.

Raja got his life under control and continued to act as one of the most famous celebrities in Hyderabad. He is an example of God’s love and saving grace.

Feedback from the Hyderabad campaign stories

Various callers shared:

The movie star Raja’s story challenged me. If God was able to get Raja’s attention when he was not yet a Christian and was able to use him for His glory, why couldn’t he save me and help me to live my life for Him?

The story of the ex-alcoholic Peter Samuel spoke to me: God has liberated Peter from a life of alcoholism, and he can do the same for me and my drinking addiction.

I was touched by the testimony from Balla Mallesh. Nobody I know has survived after drinking nitric acid as he did to kill himself. I was so encouraged to see he has experienced a change in his life, which made me think why couldn’t I change?

As an architect, I was not successful but when I saw the TV program about a businessman who overcame illness and setbacks in business by turning to God for strength and help, hope ignited within me.

The businessman Bhaskar Reddy’s story gave me hope to live on.

 

MOSCOW

Militia Supported Destruction of Holy Trinity Pentecostal Church

Unknown workers backed by the militia (police) and the druzhinniki (civil volunteers) of the police, used heavy-duty excavating equipment and destroyed the Holy Trinity Pentecostal Church situated on the eastern edge of Moscow.

Pastor Vasily Romanyuk of the Holy Trinity Pentecostal Church had been woken up and he rushed to the site to try to halt the destruction, but he was too late.  Vasily shared:  “The workers didn’t say who they were or who had sent them. They showed no documents.” Vasily had called the militia to help him but when they arrived, they did nothing to stop the destruction. They shrugged their shoulders and said it didn’t concern them. “They did all this with the protection of the militia, so some state body must have ordered this,” Vasily said.

Night-time destruction

Workers accompanied by the police arrived at the church building soon after midnight on September 6^th, broke into the building, cut all the telephone lines, and seized the mobile phone of the female caretaker. She was taken to the police station, where she was held for three hours while the destruction was taking place. She was not allowed to contact other church members.

While the caretaker was with the police, all the church valuables were removed, including service books and chalices for the eucharist. Two heavy-duty excavators then began demolishing the building and by morning the entire three-storey building had been destroyed.

While the destruction was underway, about 50 men in plain clothes calling themselves the druzhinniki (civil volunteers), circled the site. As church members began to arrive to try to salvage what they could from the wreckage of the building, the men in plain clothes were highly aggressive and refused access.

Druzhinniki stoned church members

The druzhinniki were often used by the militia to help control violence and unruly crowds. Vasily Romanyuk said that this time it was the druzhinniki who were unruly and some of them had been drinking. They were verbally and physically abusing church members who had come to salvage what they could from the ruins. Eyewitnesses reported: “Some of the church members who took photos of the destruction were stoned by the druzhinniki.”

Church looted and destroyed

The church building sustained at least $440,000 USD in damages. Also, a car was destroyed and a generator, soundboard and microphones, musical instruments, safe, and other valuable items including service books and chalices for the eucharist were taken away, amounting to $62,000 USD in losses.

The main sanctuary of the church, the pastor’s office, and the youth room had been destroyed completely. Only part of the roof and a room on the top level remained undamaged.

Once the workers had gone, church members spent several hours digging in the ruins to salvage what they could. Some church books and furniture were still usable.

Church service held in the ruins

Sunday worship was held at 11 am on September 9 in the ruins of the Holy Trinity Pentecostal Church and a warm invitation was sent to everyone who was able to attend. The congregation stood in the rain and prayed for their safety, the militia, and city officials.

Pastor Romanyuk arrested

Police officials arrested Pastor Vasily Romanyuk because the religious service held on the ruins of the demolished church was considered an “unsanctioned demonstration”, by the police.

“We simply gathered in the place where we always did and held a service because, after the demolition of the church, there wasn’t anywhere else for us to have it.”

Vasily asked the police captain why this meeting was unsanctioned and the previous ones the day before, and the day before that, and the meetings the previous week and month, and years past, were not!

The captain thought for a long moment and looking straight at Vasily he finally said: “I understand your point. The command to act has been handed down to me from “above”. I must comply.”

After signing a statement explaining it was a religious gathering of the church, rather than an unsanctioned meeting or political rally, he was free to go. On Sept 27th, the authorities, despite the protests of church members, had the church building demolished. Three hundred members of the Holy Trinity Pentecostal Church had battled hard to save their house of worship.

Bishop Eduard Grabovenko told GCMM: “As the political situation has tightened up in Russia, we may have to revisit the way we do ministry in Russia. The possibilities for major evangelism efforts have been diminishing.”

 

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2013

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GCMM starts a massive printing operation in Novosibirsk, Siberia.

Mega City Media Saturation Campaigns expanded to Iraq and Lebanon with miracles of God in the Islamic world.

IRR/TV held intense training seminars for Central Asia’s media workers in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The Gospel received a positive response amongst these predominantly Islamic populations.

Printing house in Novosibirsk, Siberia

Over 5 million copies of evangelistic books, St. John’s Gospel, and over 100 thousand Bibles were printed between 2013-2015 in Russia to continue helping volunteers from local churches reach their nation with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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2014

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Ukraine. The Black Sea port city of Odesa gets a Mega City Campaign amidst a Russian military invasion in the region.

Mega City Campaign in Odessa

Ukraine and Russia were at war. Amidst the tension, anxiety and apprehension, together with 100 churches a Mega City Campaign was launched.

Hundreds of outdoor campaign ads were placed around the city: “God destroyed the curse in my family; Repentance saved my life; God gave my life purpose.”

The message of the campaign was: “God gives every man and woman and child the power to change.” Fifteen beautiful transformation stories were used and availed all avenues of the media for the campaign and highlighted the wonderful and “radical” message of change.

Thousands of Odessans called the ministry hotline and 15,000 people had been reached with one-on-one evangelism using the campaign book.

The 30-day massive media campaign started slowly but came to life during the last 10 days. There was a visible surge in response to the campaign. The churches requested a second printing of the Power to Change campaign books, as the first 15,000 had been depleted. There was a rush of new churches in Odessa seeking to sign up for the campaign and engage its people in evangelism for the city.

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2015

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The Lebanon miracle

The impossible happened. Millions of Lebanese watch 3 special evangelistic evening events on Lebanon State TV. Technicians followed the events in tears. God had intervened and opened an unprecedented door of opportunity.

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2016

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Laura Haukka receives the International Television Ministry Award from National Religious Broadcasters in the USA for 40 years of uninterrupted media ministry to Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, and Finland.

NRB News Release Feb 16, 2016

“The NRB International Television Ministry Award is presented to an organization based outside of the United States that excels in television or video ministry, exercising integrity and faithfulness to the cause of Christ, while demonstrating unusual effectiveness in impacting the target culture of the Gospel.

Laura Haukka is the Co-Founder and Vice-President of Great Commission Media Ministries, also known as IRR-TV. This organization is having worldwide impact for the Gospel in Russia, Asia, and the Middle East. For more than 30 years, Laura – together with her husband Hannu – has ministered to millions throughout the Soviet Union. During the last decade, they have used a comprehensive strategy of major media to saturate major cities of the world with the Gospel and to introduce hundreds of thousands to the hope found in Christ. Laura Haukka is also Co-Founder and Programming Director for ALFA TV, a nationwide television channel in Finland, proclaiming the Gospel to every home.”

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2017

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2018

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Each transformation story was a 25-minute interview, about the power of God that transformed his/her life. Reconciliation with God was key. God gave them the power to forgive after they had experienced the forgiveness of God themselves.

Paul was very clear on this in 2 Cor. 5: 18-20:

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed us to the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”

The President endorses the campaign

A special event celebrating the recently signed peace agreement took place in South Sudan one day before the launch of the “Power to Forgive” campaign.

The President spoke to a live audience of 500,000 people. Joining the South Sudanese President on the stage were the Presidents of five African nations: Uganda, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, (upper) Sudan, and the Prime Minister of Egypt.

In his speech, the President called on his nation to forgive each other for the atrocities committed! Then the president read directly from the campaign text that we had submitted to him some days earlier, stressing forgiveness and God’s roadmap to reconciliation. Added to this, the President’s speech was broadcast “Live” by state television and radio to six million people in South Sudan.

Call centre overload!

To handle the flood of incoming calls, one thousand phones would have been needed! The flood of calls was a clear indication of the spiritual need for forgiveness, reconciliation, and a new start in the nation.

Despite our best efforts and estimates in planning the call centre, we had drastically underestimated what was to happen. We missed 100,000 calls within the first couple of weeks of the month-long campaign. Fortunately, most of the phone numbers of the missed calls were saved on the service provider’s server, for callback. At the request of the chairman of the Council of Churches of South Sudan, the campaign was extended to accommodate “the harvest”!

There were no street addresses in South Sudan. People presented their cell phone numbers to prove that they had called the call centre to order the campaign book or digital audio player. Distribution centres were set up at several predetermined locations in the city became quite chaotic at times.

Combating illiteracy

According to UNESCO, 70% of South Sudan’s population is illiterate. There were 3,000 villages with no schools, no teachers, no books.

This meant that millions of people in the country could not use the evangelism book with South Sudanese transformation stories, and the road map to new life in Jesus. They could not pray the prayer of salvation.

This was a challenge we had not encountered before.

DAP unit distribution

Understanding the need, GCMM had pre-ordered 20,000 Digital Audio Players for the media campaign. These Mega Voice solar-powered players were distributed to over 2,000 villages as well as in the capital city of Juba.

With the digital audio players and a push of a button, villagers were able to hear the 15 powerful South Sudanese transformation stories, hear the Gospel of John being spoken, along with Arabic gospel songs, and Bible stories for children. They were instructed on how to receive Jesus and become his followers. The DAP units were pre-recorded in four languages: South Sudanese Arabic which was spoken throughout the country, the Dinka language, Nuer, and Bari tribe languages.

Tragedy

The delivery of the units was a challenging task, and took about a year, all told. Although it was a simple unit, a brief lesson in its use was needed.

There were real dangers as well. The organization that was delivering these units to the villages in partnership with GCMM lost two of their members, as they were approaching a village. The “welcoming committee” opened fire on the vehicle they were travelling in sadly resulting in their deaths.

Food aid administered

As the campaign was coming to an end, GCMM provided food and aid to South Sudan families and children who had suffered the most due to the ongoing tribal wars with rice, corn, vegetable oil, flour, salt, and sugar. The South Sudan Council of Churches partnered with GCMM in the capital city of Juba with the delivery.

Two other organizations, the River Nile Centre managed by Nassar, an Egyptian living in South Sudan, and Mari also from Egypt of the True Light Ministry in South Sudan, assisted GCMM with the food distribution.

Africa’s Mother Teresa

Mari, a nurse, was referred to as the “Mother Teresa of South Sudan.” She cared for 1,000 children who had been orphaned because of the fighting. The children were fed, clothed, and provided proper hygiene and medical care. She also established medical clinics, saving the lives of many children.

Increased interest in God

In the aftermath of the campaign several months later, various pastors and leaders shared that their church attendance and people searching for God had increased because of the campaign. In their words, “The move toward God has been massive.”

The impact of the Gospel

Not only did hundreds of thousands of people respond to the campaign message but even the Chief of South Sudan’s Internal Security Service commented on the impact and amazing results the Gospel had in the capital city, Juba.

Statistics from the General Hospital and the police showed that the number of people being treated in the hospital had decreased by 40%. Likewise, the number of violent crimes registered by the police authorities dropped by 40% including murder, rape, or armed robbery.

Walter Duku, the GCMM representative in South Sudan shared:

“As we distribute these digital audio units from village to village, we see how people’s lives have been changed. Peace has come to tribes and cattle rustlers have repented. Violence has dropped.”

We prayed and ministered intensively that 2019 would be a year of many blessings for South Sudan and a rewarding year for you knowing that the dollars you have sown have yielded a great harvest of souls.

Without your support, we could never have done what has been done. We are so thankful to serve with you in South Sudan in reaching those who are hopelessly lost.”

This is a witness to the power of the Gospel that transforms lives and can influence all of society.

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2019

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2020

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