Hope Channel

It was Friday evening in a small town about 18 miles west of Atlanta, Georgia. June was restless. After putting her dinner dishes away, she sighed and went to the living room of her apartment. She shut the blinds as the sun sunk behind the horizon.

June turned a small lamp on, sat in an easy chair, and grabbed her Bible from the end table. She wanted to be prepared for a Bible study the next day. Her worn hands expertly leafed through the Bible as she looked up several verses. Then June sighed again and closed the Bible. She reached for the remote, turned on the television, and flipped through channels.

June wished she could watch Charles Stanley, a Baptist preacher whose TV show she enjoyed, but she now had DirecTV and Stanley was not on DirecTV. Longing for religious programming, she decided to check the news on channel 360. Before she could enter the numbers, June heard a voice say, “Go to channel 368.”

June shrugged it off. She’d never heard of those numbers before, nor did she know what those numbers meant. That’s not a channel I have, she thought. What’s that all about?

She heard the voice again: “Go to channel 368! 3-6-8.” After hearing this message a second time, June could not ignore it. She punched the numbers in: 3-6-8. Amazed, she stared at the screen as the interactive Bible study program Hope Sabbath School appeared!

Smiling, June thought, God, you lead me right to this station. You are something else.

As she watched, June grew more excited. She quickly retrieved a pen and paper, opened her Bible, and started to take notes. A lifetime of attending Sunday School had prepared her well. She quickly wrote down thoughts and verses—all the while thanking God. June had been praying about finding a religious program to watch. Shaking her head as the program drew to a close she thought, God, You are something else. You gave me everything; this is a miracle only You could perform.

June was a member of a local Baptist church and attended church regularly on Sundays. Several years ago when a friend invited her to attend a Bible study class on Saturday at a Seventh-day Adventist Church, June began a practice of attending her friend’s church on Saturdays for Bible studies and her church on Sunday for a full church service! She felt doubly blessed every weekend! And now she was thrilled to join yet another Bible study on television on Friday nights.

The next morning, as usual, she joined her friends in the Adventist Church for a Bible study. She happily shared her story of having found a third Bible study group.

When June tuned to channel 368 the following Friday, she saw the Hope Channel phone number flash across the screen. With no hesitation, June dialed the number to request a program schedule. During the conversation, June shook her head in disbelief when she learned that her new favorite channel was from the Seventh-day Adventist Church—the church she had been attending for so many years! June eagerly gave the operator her mailing address. A few days later she received the schedule and studied it, looking for Hope Sabbath School and other programs of interest.

June continues to regularly watch Hope Channel and worships with two church communities every weekend. And with everyone she meets, she shares her story of how God led her to Hope Channel.