Phoenix airwaves are filled with the gospel message, telecast live from the Phoenix Spanish Central church. Each week thousands of viewers tune in to hear Pastor Antonio Estrada and his staff preach Christ-centered messages on channel 22, Almavision. The services are also available 24 hours a day at adventistasphoenix.org.
Nisim Estrada, the pastor's son, is assistant director for the multimedia department of the church. "When I began four years ago, there were only two people working the department," he says. "Now we have 30 people working four days a week. We have trained our own members to be a part of the ministry. They do such jobs as cameras, audio, graphics, Internet, lighting, hosting, etc."
The Sabbath worship service airs live. In addition, weekly programming includes "Nuestra Gente" (Our People), a community service program; "A Tu Salud" (To Your Health), a health program; and "Nutricion al Blanco y Negro" (Nutrition in Black and White) where the health message is presented through principles of nutrition. For the youth, "Enterate" (Learn About) addresses topics of interest for youthful ears. "Nuestra Familia" (Our Family) deals with family-related topics and each Friday, "La Biblia Responde" (Bible Answers) allows different pastors from the Arizona Conference to answer biblical questions the audience sends in.
The telecasts began last October, and people are responding to the offers for Bible study.
"We are currently visiting 120 people who have called in requesting the different materials, including books and CDs offered from our television programs," says Estrada. "We have already baptized one person who grew up in an Adventist home back in Mexico."
Church members are involved in this soul-winning adventure. At one home, the visitation team met a young man who was excited to learn that they were Seventh-day Adventists. He told them about a television program he had been watching on channel 22 which he loved. He was learning so much about the Bible and a saving relationship with Christ. The visitation team assured the young man that this program was from their own church. Since that first visit, the young man and his family started attending church regularly and have now been baptized.
During a recent mid-week prayer service, two visitors walked through the doors of the church. They said they found the church by watching the services on channel 22. One was a young adult from Panama who wanted to find a genuine Seventh-day Adventist church instead of a reformation church like he had encountered before.
Another couple came to church and wanted to know if this was a Seventh-day Adventist church ministry. They had Adventist neighbors in their country and they wanted to follow their recommendation to attend the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
A lady from El Salvador is now attending the church after watching the programs on channel 22. She had known wonderful Adventist people in El Salvador and decided to attend their church.
Recently, there was a health rally for children coordinated by Cinthya Riffel. Four physicians lectured at different seminars. Four families responded to the invitation to attend and are now interested in learning more about the truths taught from the Bible.
In October, a huge city-wide "Net" program will be conducted at the Celebrity Theatre, the same venue where Shawn Boonstra and the It Is Written team met for Net 2006. During this series, Pastor Alejandro Bullón, an internationally renowned Spanish-speaking evangelist, will meet many of the contacts made through the channel 22 telecast. The Central church continues to plant seeds they hope will be ripe for harvest when Bullón arrives.
