September 13, 2003
Editor: Kandus Thorp, Assistant to the Director, Adventist Television Network
Official Launch of the Hope Channel – “Bringing God’s Truth Home”
Adventist history was made on October 10, 2003, during the opening ceremonies of the 91st Annual Council, as delegates warmly welcomed the Adventist church’s official new television channel, the Hope Channel. As chief “director” of the church’s media outreach, Pr Jan Paulsen pushed the switch on the digital video switcher console, bringing to life on screen the Hope Channel logo, and officially launching this latest media venture of the Adventist church. The inaugural program was broadcast live across the Americas and will be broadcast around the world on Adventist Television Network [ATN]. The ceremony included remarks by Pr Ted Wilson, Chairman of the board of ATN, who welcomed ATN Executive Director Pr Brad Thorp and Kandus Thorp, as well as Pr Gary Gibbs, ATN Director for Marketing, and Pr Williams Costa Jr, Director of ATN-Latin America.
A fast-moving video presentation recounted how over the past 150 years the Adventist church has used the newest media of each era to spread the Gospel. Now ATN has taken a giant leap forward as it moves from airing "occasional" broadcasts of special events to launching the Hope Channel, which will be on the air 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The mission of the Hope Channel is to “bring God’s truth home.” Broadcasting directly to homes rather than to churches, as ATN has done previously, the Hope Channel seeks to present God's last-day message in a winsome manner, providing access to millions not yet reached with the gospel.
During the inaugural event, Annual Council delegates saw sneak previews of brand-new programming for the Hope Channel. Creative new programming will be designed to reach the spiritually sensitive. The goal is to inspire, teach, and lead people to find Christ as their Savior and become a part of His remnant people.
Satellite evangelism is a tremendous tool to share the Good News of the Gospel. During the past seven years, an astounding 1 million new members have been added to God's family through satellite NET evangelism. In 1995 the first NET evangelistic meeting was broadcast by the North American Division, produced by Adventist Communication Network (ACN) and It Is Written television. Since that time, Adventist Television Network (ATN), the General Conference's television ministry, has developed the church's global satellite network to include 16,000 downlink sites that circle the globe from Rio de Janeiro to Nairobi to New York City.
The new Hope Channel will carry a wide variety of fresh programming produced by Adventist churches, colleges, hospitals and institutions. Programs from Global Mission, PARL, Outpost Centers Incorporated, Maranatha, Laymen's Ministries, Amazing Facts, It Is Written, and other Adventist entities will find an outlet to share the message of hope. The Hope Channel will also feature the best from classic Adventist preachers. And throughout the 24-hour programming, numerous short innovative spots will show the smiling faces of Adventists from around the world, revealing church members as "normal people" who have discovered peace and hope in the Word of God.
The Hope Channel has a Latin American station for the Portuguese and Spanish languages that broadcasts in South and Inter-America. Hope Channel International, which broadcasts on satellites covering the Pacific Rim, Southeast Asia, India, Africa and Europe, will offer a greater diversity of programming to appeal to an international audience.
Providing an unprecedented opportunity to prepare people for Jesus' return, the Hope Channel offers 24 hour access to people right in their homes. People from both religious and secular backgrounds are searching the airwaves for truth. The Holy Spirit creates a deep longing in every heart that cannot be satisfied by anything other than God's truth. The aim of the Hope Channel is to “Bring God’s truth--home.”