How Christianity’s First Broadcast Continues Today

BY GEORGE MAKEEN

It was a time before satellites, screens, or studios. Cameras and cables did not yet exist; continental communication was still hundreds of years in the future.

And yet, in Jerusalem – where the disciples had gathered after the Ascension – a broadcast of extraordinary magnitude was about to take place…

With “a sound like the blowing of a violent wind” and “what seemed to be tongues of fire,” the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus’ followers (Acts 2:2-3).

Suddenly, the disciples found themselves able to declare the wonders of God in numerous languages. And the people of many nations, gathered in Jerusalem for the Jewish festival of Shavuot, were able to hear the message in their very own tongues.

It was Pentecost: Christianity’s first ever broadcast.

In Their Own Language

Around 2,000 years later, SAT-7 began broadcasting. And this year, on May 31, the Eastern Christian festival of Pentecost falls on the very same day SAT-7 celebrates its 30th anniversary.

Two millennia ago, the message of Pentecost reached people from many parts of what is now the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) (Acts 2:9-11). Today, SAT-7 continues the same work, sharing the Good News with millions of viewers there each year.

“Praise the Lord for those who have translated God’s Word into our language so that we may worship Him in our mother tongue,” says Danial, from Türkiye.

For many believers across the MENA, being able to hear the Gospel in their own language – and within their own culture and context – is life-changing.

Alongside its main Arabic, Persian, and Turkish broadcasts, SAT‑7 produces programming in regional and minority languages including Dari, Tajik, Azerbaijani, Kabyle and other Amazigh languages spoken across North Africa.

In Algeria, Kabyle-language programs support believers following the closure of all but one of the country’s Protestant churches. In Afghanistan, SAT-7 broadcasts educational and devotional programs in Dari. In Tajikistan, isolated Christian women are being reached through SAT-7 PARS’ Tajik-language productions. And across North Africa, SAT-7 is increasingly investing in locally-made programs created by people telling stories in their own languages and dialects.

For many Isolated Believers, this means more than translation. It means being found.

“I feel like a spiritual foreigner here in Iran and I have no Christian friends,” says Beita. “But then I received your audio message which contained the answer to my prayers. The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart.”

A Launchpad

The Pentecost parallel goes further.

When the first disciples in Jerusalem received the Holy Spirit, they could not contain it. Peter immediately stood up and preached to the crowd, beginning a mission that would extend from Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria, and eventually to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

Pentecost was a launchpad. A broadcast that reached thousands, as the Holy Spirit broke the disciples’ previous silence and empowered them to declare God’s mighty deeds.

That transformation – from silence to sharing – also happens for viewers of SAT-7.

“I used to have so much doubt and a lack of confidence in speaking,” says Cyrus from Iran. “But when I read the words you send to me, I feel that they are speaking to me. Thank you for helping me come to know Christ and for putting God’s Word at my disposal.”

Long before satellites and studios existed, Pentecost marked a message that refused to remain confined to one place, one people, or one language.

Nearly 2,000 years later, SAT-7 continues that work: sharing the Word of God with viewers in the MENA and those from the region scattered in countries around the world.

It is a message that is heard in people’s own tongue, their own heart language. A message that reaches into villages, classrooms, and communities.

The broadcast that began at Pentecost has never stopped.

George Makeen | Ministry Content Advisor

George is from Cairo, Egypt. His education includes a BA in Theology and an MA in Biblical Theology from The Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo. His previous work experience extends from script writing and translating to publishing and advertising. George joined SAT-7 in 2003, working as an assistant to the head of programs. As SAT-7 grew to a network of four channels, George played a major role in the development and growth of that expansion. Now, he is responsible for overseeing the ministry’s content for the channels. In April 2026, George took on the additional role of European Representative for SAT-7 Europe, alongside his role as Ministry Content Advisor.