AWR News

When AWR Ethiopia producer Gemechis Jafe picked up the phone, he heard “the best call ever made” to the AWR studio in Addis Ababa.

The caller was a representative of 50 people located in a district called Ilfataa, in West Shawwa. This group of listeners, according to the caller, had been following all of AWR’s programs for many years, and members had been listening in groups of families. As they listened to the “unique” message, they came to the decision to contact the AWR studio and request to be recognized as Seventh-day Adventists. An evangelist was sent to their location, and made arrangements for their baptism.

This report is only one of many inspiring stories of discovery by listeners in Ethiopia.

AWR Can Reach the Unreached

“These days, many people are testifying to the great things the Lord is doing through AWR,” Jafe says. “After a recent exciting experience that renewed my strength in radio ministry, I decided to share what I witnessed AWR doing in some of the remotest places in the country. The letters and phone calls we receive each day also tell of the same wonderful work AWR is doing in reaching thousands of lives.

“There is one special phone call I received recently that I would like to share with you. The caller was a district leader from the Ambo area, and he usually calls to give me reports on how AWR is helping him reach people in his territory. But this time he called to share some glad tidings. He informed me that in a place called Meta Robi there were two groups of people ready for baptism: 11 people at one site, and two in another location. He informed me that most of these people came through AWR, and he invited me to join them for the baptismal service.

“Excited to witness this service, I set out to attend it with full energy. I got a bus ride up to the point where I was to meet a group of people traveling to the site of the service. The ride was normal, but not really comfortable. After getting off the bus, I was told that we would have to walk the remaining distance. Since I had no idea about the ‘remaining distance,’ I moved on with the same excitement that brought me all the way to that point.

“There was no paved road, and nobody could think of any kind of modern means of transport. One could not even use horses, the usual means of transport people use where vehicles cannot make it. We walked for more than three and a half hours. As we walked down the hill, though the scenery was spectacular, it didn’t look like a hospitable place where people lived. No road, no modern communication, no sign of modern amenities … the place was remote and completely isolated.

“In spite of this, however, the Lord used AWR to deliver the Word of Hope where nobody could have otherwise reached people in such an isolated place.

“We arrived at the location, and after a very brief rest we joined the service that was being conducted in a rented tent. The tent was arranged by the baptismal candidates themselves, because there was no church in the entire vicinity. There were no seats in the tent, and everybody was ‘comfortably’ seated on the green grass. The people were so attentive listening to God’s Word, and one could easily observe their thirst for the Word.

“The next day, we had a very memorable baptismal service. As those in attendance walked down to the stream for baptism, they were singing, and many people came out from their homes and followed the trek. They were really amazed by the service. Those who knew about Christianity had a very limited knowledge of it, and nobody among them had heard about baptism by immersion, so that attracted a great deal of attention.”

Discovering Truth through the Radio

As Jafe talked to the newly-baptized members, he learned that many of them had been idol worshippers and had not known about God until they heard about Him on the radio. A few of the new members, on the other hand, had been attending another Protestant church.

In one case, a young man who had been listening to AWR obtained a tract that spoke about the Sabbath. After reading it, he wanted his father to receive the truth, but he needed to devise a means of reaching out to him. He put the tract in his father’s Bible. When his father read the tract, he was upset and confused.

As time passed, the father continued his exploration of the truth about the Sabbath until one day he heard a segment about the subject on an AWR program. The son had earlier made the decision to become an Adventist, but now the father asked all of the family members to assemble and discuss the newly-received truth.

After presenting the subject, the father announced that he had received new light that the true day of worship is Saturday. The entire family decided to become Adventists, and today they are all members of the Adventist church.

Jafe concludes, “The other thing I learned after my discussion with some of the new members in this location is that there is no church for them to go to. They said they need a place to meet for worship, and that more people could join them if they could find a suitable place. At the time of writing, there are more than 20 people worshiping at that place, ever though there is no church. As isolated as they are, no other means of evangelism could have reached this group of people if it had not been through Adventist World Radio.”