April 23, 2010

This is a brief update to let you know how we are coming along with the radio ministry here in Lima.

For weeks a crew of 10 to 12 men worked seven days a week to dismantle our old tower. In its day it was effective, massive and impressive. Twenty years later, it became our obligation to dismantle the monster whose pinnacle reaches almost a football field in height. Given the mission to bring the beast to its knees, it became intimidating, imposing and dangerous. But the crew fulfilled their mission with the Lord’s protection.

The last piece of the old radio tower was taken down on Wednesday (April 21).

This corner support was the last beam to come down!

The next day, (April 22) we sold approximately 13 tons of steel from the tower for 11,500 soles ($4,092).

This is only a portion of the big beast as it lay lifeless on the ground. Praise the Lord we were able to sell the steel quickly at a good price!

As you might expect in our situation here, it was all done by hand and with ropes. No one was hurt, there was minimal damage to other surrounding buildings, and the tower is down and sold. This is a big answer to prayer! We still have some copper wiring and the old electronic flashing light system with the light that sits at the top of the tower. The copper will be easy to sell and we are seeking a buyer for the light. All this helps us to recover from the expenses for the removal of the tower.

After the first tower man abandoned the task, we contracted the job out to a gentleman named Manuel Connoc. Through the long process of taking down a mammoth tower by hand, we became friends. This was the best part of the whole operation! I have great respect for the difficult job this man did. He is also a man of integrity and quiet leadership.

With his extensive knowledge, Manuel has become an incredible help to us with our new tower, giving counsel and supervision free of charge.

We are still working to get the new plant operative so we can get back on the air. I think a safe calculation for reaching this goal is two weeks, but we are yet to see what problems and bugs will have to be worked out and then one last inspection by the government. Once we get on the air, we will owe our engineer / technician about $20,000 (depending on some unknown factors).

Please continue to pray for the project. A lot remains to be done to make it effective for the gospel and church planting. The focus now is getting back on the air with the Word and protect our valuable license.

Some have asked why we had to go off the air. The purchase of the radio station did not include the property on which the station was built. It only included the license and equipment. When we saw it was going to cost more to move the old tower than build a new one, we decided to sell the old one. From the beginning, it was necessary for us to purchase our own property outside the city limits and build a new plant there. Hope this helps you understand the reasons for the move and for going off the air.

God willing, we will soon be writing about more exciting things like people getting saved, lives being transformed and churches being started rather than towers being sold. But this is necessary to get to where the Lord has called us – getting the Word to hearts in Lima. Thank you so much for your prayers.