Social Media

An Invitation to Make Fishers of Men

6th September 2019 / written by: Melissa Fleck

“I will make you fishers of men” – with these words Jesus called Simon and Andrew to follow Him. Is God calling Kerem, from Turkey, in a similar way today? After an encounter with a priest and repeated dreams, Kerem is looking for answers and has shared his story with SAT-7 TÜRK.

Despite not being a Christian, on a visit to Ephesus, Kerem found himself praying at a church. After finishing his prayers, he went to sit outside with his friends.

A STRANGE PREDICTION

“There was a group of priests sitting near us and we started talking to them,” explains Kerem. After some time, one of the priests addressed Kerem personally:

“He told me that there was something different about me, and that someday, I would be with them and become one of their brothers.”

Surprised, and put on the spot among his friends, Kerem laughed it off, dismissing the comment. “Why on earth would I follow Christ?” he thought.

A DREAM WITH A MESSAGE

Time passed, but Kerem was not able to forget the events in Ephesus, and soon after, he had a dream.

“In my dream, Jesus Christ handed me a fishing rod. He told me to leave the lake I was at and to go to another lake to go fishing with Him. So, I went to the other lake and began fishing with Jesus,” Kerem explains. “I caught a fish, inside the fish were four coins.”

Waking up from the dream, Kerem was surprised by how real it felt, and he kept having similar dreams.

A SEARCH FOR MEANING

Because of these dreams and his encounter with the priest, Kerem started looking for answers. Discovering SAT-7 TÜRK, he began watching the programs and wrote to the channel to ask the questions burning on his heart.

“What do all these dreams mean? Why are these things happening to me?”

“Please pray for me.”

Unable to find an active church in the city Kerem lives in, the SAT-7 TÜRK Audience Relations team put him in touch with a pastor in the area.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Please pray for Kerem, and people like him in Turkey, who are hearing God calling them. Pray that they will respond like Simon and Andrew did when they heard Jesus call “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19).

Summer Programs Captivate Kids with God’s Love

16th August 2019 / written by: Ashley Tilghman

“Summer is the busiest time of year for SAT-7 KIDS,” comments Andrea El-Mounayer, the head of SAT-7’s children’s channel.

As children take a break from school, the channel’s team gives their all to capture young viewers’ attention – while also preparing for the coming year. The production team makes the most of this time by planning out the following year and recording as much as they can.

Their recent filming projects include a new storytelling program Stories in the Attic, along with SAT-7 Academy educational shows Bloom Boom and Puzzle. The channel hopes to draw in viewers with an update to the long-running popular news program As-Sanabel News, calling the re-imagined program SpaceNet. SpaceNet will be presented by young YouTube star Marcos Kashouh, who is the son of Pastor Hikmat Kashouh of Resurrection Church, Beirut.

Boy watches SAT-7 programs on social media from a tent in the refugee community of Zahley, Lebanon.

A DIFFERENT APPROACH

SAT-7 KIDS must make the most of every opportunity to share Jesus with young hearts during the summer. “We have to rework our broadcast schedule in a way that is attractive,” Andrea explains.

Getting this right takes all the team’s creativity and production skills and includes harnessing the power of social media. The popular teaching and worship program A Riddle and a Story and the beloved, long-running game show Bible Heroes have both been going live for the summer on Facebook^® video.

“It’s more casual, less formal,” says Andrea. “The presenters talk to the kids, answer their questions, and give away gifts – all online.”

And the channel’s new social media strategy is working – visits to its Facebook pages are up by 75 percent this year.

Some live episodes are re-edited into shorter repeats that include songs, Bible stories, and drama segments. These programs are aired both on the television channel and on Facebook^®. Andrea explains, “Kids love repeats! They love to feel they have mastered what they are watching. If they know all the words, a child feels like they have conquered the world.” And when those words are the message of God’s love for them, the impact is life changing.

BACK TO SCHOOL

As the month of August progresses, parents in the US prepare to send their kids back to school. Many refugee families in the Middle East do not have the same option. Schools are not always available in the refugee camps. However, one thing that more than 99% of people in the MENA have access to is television. Television is the most used and trusted source of information in the region. SAT-7 aims to help refugees (those living outside their own countries) and displaced persons (those forced from their homes but still in their own countries) continue their education by offering programs such as My School, broadcast on SAT-7 KIDS. Its many episodes, packed with innovative content, are also available online via YouTube^®.

On set of the SAT-7 KIDS program “My School”

What makes My School unique and attractive to young viewers, and adults alike, is that the content is delivered by well-qualified educators in an attractive and brightly colored classroom setting, using songs and animation to engage and encourage viewers to participate. To offer an interactive component, the channel’s social media team sets up live sessions with the My School teachers through YouTube^® and Facebook^®. Viewers online can send in questions on the topics being discussed and a teacher responds live on air with examples, pictures and demonstrations.

A survey carried out in 2018 by leading market research firm IPSOS showed more than 80 percent of parents of young viewers felt SAT-7 KIDS benefited their children. The numbers also revealed 1.5 million children are regularly watching My School, gaining knowledge and skills that will improve their chances in life.

ENCOURAGING RESPONSES

Hearing positive feedback from SAT-7 KIDS viewers makes all the hard work worth it for the staff.

A girl from Algeria shares how My School is making an impact in her life, “I have a problem with forming sentences. I can read very well but I make mistakes when I write. Your channel is very precious to me. Thank you so much for your help.”

“Your program brings me a shower of blessings,” said one viewer of the worship program Family of Jesus. “God always sends me messages and touches my heart through your program.”

For Andrea, the hard work of balancing good financial stewardship with programming excellence is more than worthwhile. “This is what I love to do, and I will keep on doing it,” she says. “Thank God for illuminating our path and providing our team with the strength to continue showing His love to the children in the MENA. We pray He will use us more in the days to come, to have a deeper impact in the lives of kids and their parents.”

Help us continue to broadcast God’s love to children all over the MENA region. Summer giving tends to be lower, so we are especially grateful for your gift today to our ministry. You can provide a child with a full year of programs for just $1!

Thank you for your support in making God’s love visible to these children!

Discipleship on Demand

15th June 2017 / written by: SAT-7 USA

Attention spans are changing. Viewers are moving towards shorter, online, on-demand series as opposed to traditionally scheduled hour-long TV programs. This is especially true among youth and young adults, who are the largest age group in the Middle East and North Africa. On-demand viewing lets them browse episodes based upon their own schedule and interests.

As the leading Christian media broadcast network in the Middle East and North Africa, SAT-7 is responding to these changes in the way people consume information and entertainment. This means staying on the cutting edge of how content is delivered.

According to Juliana Sfeir, Special Project Manager and Executive Producer at SAT-7, web series are increasingly popular because “They are short, easily exchangeable between two parties, straight to the point and visually engaging. They are easily used in closed societies in and around the Middle East and North Africa where the web, the Internet and smartphone applications are their sole windows [to the outside world].”

In order to offer discipleship to a changing audience, we must make the message available where they are. This could mean a smartphone in the back of a cab, a laptop in an office, or a living room television. As part of what SAT-7 CEO & Founder Dr. Terence Ascott has dubbed a TV Everywhere Strategy, SAT-7 programs are now available on YouTube, live web streaming, and smart phone apps, in addition to traditional televisions.

Over the next several weeks, we’ll highlight some of our most popular web series airing (both on TV and online) in Arabic, Farsi and Turkish languages. Stay tuned as we uncover the small episodes that are making a big impression on our audience.

Your prayers and support mean the world to families in the Middle East. For just $10, you can support 10 viewers for 1 year! Click here to give now!

The Power of Words

23rd September 2016 / written by: SAT-7 USA

Books have been burned for centuries – challenged, censored, banned, and destroyed. Some of us have watched as nations faced persecutions for their beliefs or were stripped of the surrounding support they found in words, people, and messages.

Today, that same persecution still exists – only instead of the sole destruction of books; we watch as technology becomes a means for quieting a population or set of ideas.

The times in which we now live are permeated by technology. Smart phones, technological watches, tablets, laptops, televisions and more can be found strewn around American houses, even in the poorest of neighborhoods.

Yet, in some areas of the world, the use of such devices is not encouraged or even permitted. The freedom to watch, message, research, and own is not a freedom they always know. And how can you use the Internet if you cannot read?

REACHING THE HARD TO REACH

So how do we reach a readily available but hard to reach region of people?

In Iran, 100,000 satellite dishes and receivers have recently been destroyed.

In Turkey, the government (following the failed coup attempt) ordered that approximately 102 media organizations be closed down.

In Iran, Facebook and Twitter are banned.

These are all just examples of how the use of technology has changed the landscape of international communication; examples of how geographic location is not the only reason they are hard to reach. SAT-7 bridges this gap through satellite television, apps, websites, and phone.

Throughout the next several weeks, we will be discussing how SAT-7 harnesses modern-day technology to spread the Word of God throughout the MENA region. Next week, we will be discussing how SAT-7 specifically uses technology to impact lives and overcome these road blocks in various countries.

Want to make a difference? Your gift of $10 supports 10 viewers for 1 year! Click here to give now!