Christian Television that Builds Churches

I once heard a brilliant statement which I find to be more and more true in my life and ministry. “A man does not shape a vision… a vision shapes a man.”

As the vision which God is unfolding for us at ICCJ comes more into focus, I am amazed and I understand why God could not have revealed the entire vision to me in the beginning but is revealing more with every step.

Our Church has been planned by God to be a “Resource Church.” For a long time, I questioned Him about this because I had a wrong impression that Churches had to be big to be influential. I now understand that not only do they not have to be big to be influential, but often times, when a Church becomes big; it sacrifices much of its real influence. I would rather run with a few hundred soldiers then walk with a few thousand… though running with many thousand is possible and is something I’m looking forward to.

In order for not only Indonesia, but every nation of the world to become filled with Christ-followers, we must embrace Television as a necessary tool for evangelism and discipleship. ICCJ has now been on the air in Indonesia for a little more than a year. We have been broadcasting “Alive at the Connection” which is our English speaking service broadcast on Cable TV… a limited and mostly upscale market. We have experienced wonderful results in Church growth, in testimonies of many people blessed in other Churches and in exposure of our Church vision to those who are interested in TV ministry who are committed to Churches which do not operate with that specific vision.

For those who have been following our Church progress… you know that we recently separated Missions from Multi-Media Missions. Our Missions Department is powerful and reaches out through Orphanage Work, Disaster Relief, Church Planting and more… If we had to choose one emphasis, it would be Church Planting which we understand historically and currently yields the greatest Kingdom results. With this separation, we have developed a way to fund Multi-Media Missions not only from within but also from outside of ICCJ so that more people and institutions can partner with us. The separation has also allowed me to establish this vision: “To Plant 1,000 Churches (through Missions) and to Help 100,000 Churches (through Multi-Media Missions).”

Our greater vision and what is already being developed is to put Television programming on a National Platform in the Indonesian language. The programs reach out to Youth, Business People, Moms, Health, Young Professionals and more in a non-threatening way in which the communities that they air in appreciate because of the public service value. In our partnership with MTC Productions, a ministry run by veteran missionaries Pat and Linda Cochenour, this is not a new concept. They have been running radio programming with the same basic concept of Public Service Programming leading to Christian influence for more than 10 years, now being aired in 80+ cities with stellar results. Television ministry is the natural progression of this… and of course the radio programming will continue.

There is no effective ministry without Follow-Up. Our counseling ministry has developed a successful SMS (text message) ministry and is developing a Hot-Line ministry to handle the follow up of the Radio Broadcasts and for the National Public Television Broadcasts which are being prepared to launch in the next few months. Think with me for a moment: When people call in to our hot-lines or SMS us, we offer them practical advice and unashamedly pray with them. People are touched, people are saved and people are identified. Identification means we now have the information of people who want to be assimilated into Churches or to form the founding membership of a new Church.

ICCJ is an Assemblies of God (GSJA) Church, but we have a vision to help all Churches. In any given City or Town, we will feed the information of the people we have served by our ministry to the local Pastor that we have found to the be the best, most proactive, most responsive, most effective match for that person or family we have been in contact with. And in areas where there are no effective Churches, we will be able to target those locations as potential Church planting sites and will assist those initial disciples of Christ until such a time that a Church is planted.

I believe that what I have described is a unique model of ministry that God is going to use in a tremendous way which actually utilizes Television to build the local Church. Powerful! Can you believe it? Television ministry not building a Television empire but building local Churches?!? God has entrusted us with much and we need your partnership in prayer, in becoming one of our advocates and in finances.

There are currently 3 Pastors on our staff who are working this vision. Pastor Rishi Anandani who oversees our Missions Department, Pastor Sammy Roslim who oversees our Counseling Department and Pastor Pat Cochenour who oversees our Television Department. All three of these men and their teams are performing their responsibilities wonderfully and I am very proud to be working with them in this Church and in this nationally impacting vision and venture!

I believe that in the coming months, the major Church groups in Indonesia will benefit from this ministry and will endorse what we are doing in partnership with them for the sake of God’s Kingdom as we unify to accomplish even greater things for His glory in this time!

There is one more point that I would like to share. What makes this vision different then seemingly similar visions that many Churches have attempted and presented is that we are not interested in building any particular denomination and we are not trying to promote our Church. ICCJ is a Church with a very specific kind of person we are reaching for. God will build our small Church anyway… as we strive to build all Churches. On our Indonesian language programs, we do not mention our Church. What of the 1,000 Churches that we plan to plant and the many Churches we have already planted? We do not control them. They are all accountable directly to their respective denomination and we do nothing but offer them the help that they need to succeed. Yes, that is very different from the controlling way that many Churches try to expand their influence. We aren’t building our kingdom, but God’s Kingdom. I know somebody just said amen!

Thank you friends, for your prayers and encouragement as we continue to move forward together in effective partnership!