This month we are working on two continents.  We have two production teams, one in the US and one in Spain working on translations of IMM programs in the Amharic language, for the people of Ethiopia, and the Kabyle dialect, for the Berber people of North Africa.

If you count the quiet hours alone after the sun has gone down, regardless of global time differences, as our international team members devote time to preparing for the next day’s shoot, you could say we are literally working 24 hours a day to get the Good News on screens across the world.

There are days of translating the written text from the scripts before the on-camera interpretation can take place. Once that is finished, there are hours spent with the production team under the studio lights. I remember spending a week holding a boom microphone for a Greek sermon series. Did I understand Greek? No. But someone listening to the recording did!

Then there are unique challenges such as the pacing of the segments and the dramatic interpretations. Not all sentences are the same length in every language. Sometimes there exists a conceptual problem of ideas, or maybe three particular words that must be used to describe just one word in English or vice versa. After all the tension, timing, adjusting and recording is finished, only then can we place the clips into the programs.

This is intense work, with all parties working to smooth out and streamline the process whilst providing the most accurate finished product possible. These polished programs are then broadcast into the homes of the target audience, bringing them messages of hope and unconditional love in their own languages.

At the end of the production day, when all of us are together at a table, sharing food and laughing, the Kingdom of God is evident. Our unity of purpose and devotion overcomes our minor cultural differences or geographical location.

Perhaps you want to work with us, or know someone who can lend a hand. Perhaps you can pray, as all of us do, that this media missions endeavor moves ahead until Jesus is on every screen!