This update comes from Tom and Michelle Sanchez and explains how their Christmas project gifts have been used in Burundi:

In early June we met with Gregoire, an old friend from our Congo days, to plan and strategize for the radio programs we’ll produce. He will return at the end of June to help us create at least the first few of our programs. Greg has been working as a journalist, Bible teacher/preacher, and announcer in radio for 25 plus years, and at our invitation, he traveled to Bujumbura to meet with Tom and other helpers. They discussed potential formats, content, and the priority language to use. We met with station directors, Etienne and Zabon, from Radio Voix d’Espoir and Destiny FM respectively, which are Christian radio stations in Bujumbura to talk about production, themes for the show, and costs for air time. Tom has already recorded several ten-minute Bible messages for Destiny FM and this is good practice for getting a message down to a specific amount of time. When we get our first programs set up and finalized, we will offer them to these and other stations with a view to stay ahead on production. As beginners, we see the value of pre-recording over live shows. There are some key things to put and keep in place for these first shows:

1. A highly attention-getting musical and verbal introduction of less than a minute which will serve, Lord willing, for years as the sound that alerts listeners that our show is about to start.
2. The name of the show which is short, memorable, and gets at the enduring theme of the show. We are playing around with titles and catch-phrases such as “Health for your body and soul….”.  We will gladly receive suggestions around the broad themes of Grace and health with a scriptural application.
3. We have pretty much decided on going with Congo Swahili as our language of production since both station directors said there are few programs in this language and it is believed that Swahili will attract Muslim listeners. What about the much larger audience of Kirundi speakers?
4. Who will be the main ongoing show personalities? It would be good to have two or three main people who become familiar, trusted voices to the audience right from the very first shows.

Pray for Tom and Michelle and the team they choose to work with in this ministry that has the potential to reach many people with the gospel.