Congo Radio Station to Repower

July 30, 2013

By Jay and Beverly Bellamy, serving in the Republic of the Congo

The Bellamys are engaged in leadership training, church development, media ministries, and Christian education in Pointe Noire, Congo; the following is an adapted excerpt from their recent update.

During its 12 years on the air in Pointe Noire, Radio Sangu ya Mboté (RSM) has established a following. A number of neighborhoods in this city of more than 700,000 have formed RSM fan clubs. Many taxi drivers and local stores broadcast the station.

Every New Year’s Day listeners call in to share how this ministry has touched their lives. Many speak of receiving healing during the Daily Morning Prayer program. Others explain how listening to music and Scripture in their language has helped them through difficult days.

Ministry Challenges

In recent years the station has encountered significant challenges, including frequent, prolonged power cuts that have diminished its reach.

Two years ago, an inverter system was installed to supplement an expensive generator that’s needed to keep the station on the air when the electricity is cut. RSM is now heard a few hours each day, but it continues to experience programming disruptions that have resulted in decreased advertising revenues.

Currently, a radio station with a similar frequency overpowers RSM’s signal in several sections of Pointe Noire. Although Christians claim to own the station, they have allowed false teachers to air programming that’s been attributed to RSM, resulting in more lost advertising.

Silenced

Then in February 2009 an electric company donated two unused electric towers to RSM. Over two years’ time, friends in Congo and North America donated enough funds to hire a contractor to build a radio tower. Work was completed in March of 2011. However, a faulty cable has caused ongoing technical difficulties.

We had planned to replace the cable this year. Then several weeks ago we received an e-mail from Nicaise, RSM’s station director—the transmitter had failed and the radio had gone silent.

A radio technician made some repairs but the signal has remained weak.

Listener’s Pleas

RMS listeners daily call the station to ask when it will air again. Women whose husbands are not believers and who cannot attend church say they’ve lost their “church.” Many feel the loss of the Daily Morning Prayer program.

Although RSM’s staff is sharing the financial need with local churches, they’ve been unable to raise the $9,200 required to replace the transmitter and cable. (The average Congolese family makes little more than $6 a day.) This month we borrowed from one of our ministry funds to purchase the transmitter, cable, and connectors.

Nicaise just informed us that these materials have arrived—in good condition and with no accompanying customs fees!

Please pray that the station will secure a technician to install the equipment correctly. Also, pray that God will continue to use RSM to bring light and hope to many who desperately need to hear the good news—in Pointe Noire and in the surrounding villages where there is no access to His Word in their native language.