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St Francis Magazine Vol 9, No 4 | August 2013 generally prefers it, yet he has shown sincere appreciation for the value of the dialectical elements in the program and would even attempt to use a little dialect from the country of North Africa where they had lived for a while. 77 Let’s Walk Together was a cooperative effort between RSB, GMU and TWR just as Light upon Light had been during the 1980s. RSB and GMU decided to have a different production schedule now. Each organization would produce all programs during a three-month period, and then rotate. RSB produced from October-December 1990 and from April-June 1991. 78 Sīkālī was not happy with the three-month rotation: I have had to make six half-hour programs a week, and I always feel rushed. I don’t have time to really put something of myself, something deeply personal, into the programs. This makes me sad. 79 In October 1991, RSB and GMU decided to change the rotational system and tried a new system of real co-producing. 80 During the early 1990s there was an ‘increased ownership of the media ministries by North African believers’. The first materials produced by AWM in North Africa, were used in 1993. 81 After more than five years of co-producing Let’s Walk Together, RSB concluded that the complexity of the joint production with GMU exceeded its ability to accomplish what it set out to do. 82 This decision was taken during a period when RSB’s leaders were avidly trying to set RSB on a new course with its media ministries. New Media Strategies RSB had some clearly defined ideas about how radio would develop in the years ahead. They believed that until the year 2000 radio would remain the predominant mass medium in the developing world. Fraser-Smith, Director of RSB from 1988-1993, wrote in Evangelical Missions Quarterly (EMQ) in 1993 that SW broadcasting would decline and MW broadcasting would be relegated to ‘an information only role’. RSB assumed that FM and satellite radio stations would expand to become the main entertainment sources. 83 Those comments about the future role of SW, MW, FM and satellite radio reflected the results of a survey and interviews done in 1992 among 90 Arab Christian leaders and 60 expatriate missionaries in the Arab world. Comments from the central Middle East and North Africa indicated a very low interest and support for the continuation of short wave radio broadcasting. Both Arab nationals and expatriates felt that we need to monitor closely the changes in radio broadcast technology and be ready to exploit new opportunities on medium wave, FM and through radio-bysatellite, when such services begin. 84 The report recommended that it should be ‘a priority that Christian radio broadcasters make increasing use of medium wave, local FM and future radio-by-satellite opportunities to reach the Middle East/North Africa’. 85 The report noted that Arab nationals, in general, appreciated Christian radio as being an effective medium to reach non-Christians, especially in places with no official church. 86 In 1993 RSB decided to add video production to its media work in Marseille. It seemed the role of radio in AWM was decreasing. The first step in RSB’s involvement in video was in 1993 when 77 Steve Vishanoff in an email to author (29 September 2004). 78 ‘Walking Together’, in Contact (February 1991), p. 1. ‘Triple Partnership’, in Contact (February 1991), p. 1. ‘Arab World Media - in Action’, in Contact (April 1991), p. 2. ‘For information & Intercession’, in Contact (September 1991), p. 2. 79 ‘Team Effort’, in Contact (February 1991), pp. 1-2. 80 Keith Fraser-Smith, ‘Media: Reaching the Arab World’, in Frontline (December 1991-January 1992), p. 2. 81 ‘An Eye to the Future’, in Contact (February 1993), p. 1. 82 More about the reason for the breakup of the cooperation is in chapter 17 of the thesis, on GMU. 83 Anonymous, ‘The Mass Media and Church Planting in Restricted Access Countries’, in Evangelical Missions Quarterly (July 1993), pp. 279-280. This anonymous writer was Keith Fraser-Smith. 84 Abu Wasiim (ed), Christian Mission in the Arab World: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Arab World– and Priorities for Christian Witness Today (2 nd edition, Nicosia, 1993), p. 45. 85 Ibid, p. 89. 86 Ibid., p. 45. St Francis Magazine is published by Arab Vision and Interserve 11
St Francis Magazine Vol 9, No 4 | August 2013 John Tender, formerly with FEBA in Beirut, was seconded to work at Middle East Christian Outreach (MECO) that had a video ministry in Larnaka (Cyprus). A taskforce was set up to come with a tentative proposal in January 1994 about what the role of RSB should be in video. 87 As there was also a large expected turnover of personnel, Dave Milligan, then Media Director of RSB, thought that the years ahead were a ‘timely opportunity to review [RSB’s] identity, structure and ministries’. 88 The first decision regarding RSB’s video ministry was taken in May 1994 by AWM’s International Council. It approved the establishment of a Video Unit in Marseille, to complement the other parts of RSB. 89 At the same time, RSB underlined that radio would continue to play an important role. It published that ‘[in] spite of the increasing importance of television and video, radio still proves to be a powerful means of communicating the gospel to limited access countries of the Arab world’. 90 Not long before, Fraser-Smith had defended radio broadcasting, stating that it would remain of eminent importance for North Africa: Even though television and videos are the main source for popular entertainment, listening to foreign radio stations remains the most popular means of obtaining information. During the first three days of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the Saudi Arabian stations in the Arab world gave no news of the action. As a result, the shops were quickly emptied of short-wave transistor radios. People were hungry for unbiased international reports. 91 To its donors, AWM had to also defend why it went into video production. ‘Satellite television, video and the more recent electronic information superhighway are media trends which are finding their way into the mainstream of life in the Arab world.[…] The medium of video [...] has established itself as a significant entertainment medium in modern Arab culture.’ 92 Continuation of Radio Productions RSB’s replacement radio program, after it stopped cooperating with MMC, was called Tarīqat al- Hayāh (Path of Life). From April 1996 that was broadcast on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings on TWR in the same time slot as Let’s Walk Together had been previously. The Sīkālīs continued presenting the programs. 93 In 1998, RSB decided that it would no longer broadcast over TWR’s MW signal, at a time when audience response for radio was decreasing. That step to downgrade its radio ministry was a defining moment in RSB’s radio ministry: If today’s Arabs mostly watch satellite TV and surf the internet, we can hardly expect them to take in the gospel if we only broadcast it over the radio! Inevitably, we need to have our own media revolution in AWM. […] It has become increasingly clear AWM should give video film and TV production top priority. At the same time, we’ll stop using medium wave radio from October this year. But we’ve not finished with radio! We’re going to continue using short-wave radio and look into satellite radio. 94 Jim Geisler, director of RSB from 1996-2003, defended this choice by saying that AWM did ‘pull back from one very expensive medium, in order to devote more resources to other less expensive and potentially more effective media’. 95 RSB continued to broadcast its programs on SW through FEBA, 87 ‘Video Clip’, in Contact (September 1993), p. 2. 88 Dave Milligan, ‘Musings from the Media Director’, in Contact (November 1994), p. 1. 89 ‘The Time-line of the RSB’, in Frontline (September 1994), p. 2. AWM wrote in November 1988 that it had ‘moved into the world of video’ when the literature center of RSB in Marseille began distribution of the Jesus Film in Arabic. To call that the beginning of RSB’s video ministry is stretching it. See ‘Into a New World’, in Contact (November 1988), p. 1. 90 ‘Partners Through Giving’, in Contact (February 1995), p. 2. 91 Fraser-Smith, ‘Media: Reaching the Arab world’, p. 2. 92 ‘Partners Through Giving’, p. 2. 93 ‘Path of Life’, in Contact (April 1996), p. 2. ‘A Modern Nicodemus’, in Contact (February 1997), p. 1. 94 Jacky Brister, ‘Media: What’s the Story’ in Frontline (September 1998), p. 1 95 Ibid. St Francis Magazine is published by Arab Vision and Interserve 12
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