Broadcasting Love in A War Zone

SAT-7 CEO Terence Ascott writes about the SAT-7 Beirut team

Please Pray for Lebanon and the SAT-7 Beirut Staff

Bombs still rain down on Beirut, destroying infrastructure and lives. Despite the obstacles, our team there continues to be a light shining brightly for Christ. On August 4 we were forced to close our studio because heavily used highways and bridges, even in Christian areas, had been attacked and destroyed preventing many of our staff from reaching the SAT-7 office. But our studio has since re-opened and our Lebanese producers, photographers, editors and on-air presenters are working hard to prepare both regular SAT-7 programmes and reports about how Christians are responding to the crisis in which they live.

Each week since the war began we have been airing live telecasts about the situation, dealing with it from a Christian perspective. A number of Lebanese Christian leaders have come to our studio and been asked on-air to comment, not on the politics of the situation, but on the core reasons behind it. I think their words, translated from Arabic, have wisdom and insight:

Rev. Dr. Paul Haidostian, President of Haigazian University
“People in Lebanon are shocked. We have lived through this before. And we know all these bad things—wars and destruction—are basically the result of sin; because people are away from God. Every day we need to seek to live in God’s grace, in His grace it is possible to have peace even in wartime.”

Father Toni Khadra, Catholic Press Union
“In our country we have to confess that people often don’t treat each other in a human way. We have war not because we do not have peace; we have war because we don’t respect each other. We need to dialogue because everyone is created in the image of God. Refugees have some basic needs but they need a deeper touch. People are feeling ignored and forsaken.”

Rev. Joseph Najm, Pastor and Counsellor,
“These are very difficult times and we need to remember that in God’s Word we are warned that we would face difficulties. But in times like this our faith can be our fortress. We need to remember the heroes of faith like Joseph, Daniel and Job. Their stories are in the Bible to strengthen and encourage us.”

SAT-7 has also broadcast reports on what Christians are doing—showing the aid work being done by Christian groups like World Vision and Caritas, reporting on Christian shelters such as a Baptist school that has taken in more than 500 refugees and other centres that are providing food and medical care to refugees. For the first time ever, as part of these programmes, SAT-7 also carried live calls from viewers. Many called in to say they were praying for the situation and for SAT-7.

Our team asks that you urgently pray for a cease fire and an improvement in the situation for the many civilians across the region caught up in the conflict. We honestly don’t know how long we will be able to continue broadcasting from Lebanon. Fuel is running out, and more staff members are considering fleeing if they can. We are raising emergency funds to temporarily relocate some staff, to pay for the extra satellite time, to purchase security equipment and even to set up our own mobile video uplink system. But our most important need continues to be for prayer. Please continue to pray for:

• Peace for Lebanon and every country in the region
• Safety for the SAT-7 Lebanon staff
• For the SAT-7 Lebanon team to have courage and energy to make hope-filled programmes despite the situation
• That the Lebanon team will be able to continue to ship their television productions to Cyprus-especially the children’s and youth programmes
• For supplies of food, medicine and fuel to be made available to those who so badly need them
  

Thank you for praying for SAT-7, our team in Lebanon, and for peace in the Middle East.

Yours in His Service,

Terence Ascott,
SAT-7 Chief Executive Officer (TerenceAscott@sat7.org)