Inter-America officially launches its three new Adventist television channels

Sep 22, 2016
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Miami, Florida, United States
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Libna Stevens/Inter-American Division

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America officially launched its three new television channels last week during a special program held at the church’s headquarter office in Miami, Florida, United States.

Officials from the Hope Channel and top Inter-American Division (IAD) leaders took part in the special one-hour ceremony that saw Hope Channel Inter-America air its English, Spanish and French channels on satellite, the web and on Roku.

“As we launch Hope Channel Inter-America, we want to let the world know that Jesus is coming soon,” said Israel Leito, president of the church in Inter-America. “We want this message to be proclaimed in every home, every culture, every major language here,” he added.

The channels will aim to inform, teach and effect changes in people’s lives within their own culture and context in the IAD territory, added Pastor Leito.

Derek Morris, president of Hope Channel Inc., was joined by Gabriel Begle, vice president of production and programming, Gideon Mutero, vice president of finances and Kandus Thorp, director of International Development, to congratulate church leaders for their commitment to spreading the Word of God as the historic launch program began.

“The work of building the kingdom of Christ will go forward,” said Morris. “There’s a great deal of work ahead and we must use every available technology to reach people with the gospel message of the soon coming of Jesus.”

Using media to accomplish that mission under the anointing of the Holy Spirit will take the message to cities and everywhere, added Morris. “Jesus challenges each one of us to cry out to the Lord of the harvest.”

That harvest will come with the “seed” already planted and will germinate as Hope Channel Inter-America moves forward to help transform the lives of its viewers, said Abel Márquez, communication director for the church in Inter-America overseeing Hope Channel Inter-America.

The Division has invested large funds to run Hope Channel Inter-America in English, Esperanza TV Interamérica in Spanish and Esperance TV Interamerique, 24 hours a day, seven days a week to reach the more than 280 million people across the territory, added Márquez.

The channels’ master control is at the world headquarters of the denomination in Silver Spring, Maryland, while IAD has set up a remote control location in Miami and Mexico to manage the playlists of the three channels, explained Márquez.

At the moment, the English channel will continue to run the same programming as Adventist Television’s Hope Channel. Esperanza TV Interamérica reflects selected programming from the IAD and other divisions of the world church and Espérance TV Interamérique will be running programming produced by the French Antilles Guiana Union headquartered in Martinique, available on Roku, and on the web.

“Hope Channel Inter-America will rely heavily on content produced by media centers across the territory,” said Márquez. “Our goal is to air programs contextualized for our territory and we are in the process of signing additional collaboration agreements with our largest media centers across the Division to enrich the channels with new programs.”

Plans are underway for a cinematography workshop with a select group of technical film producers from the IAD territory in November, a Hope Channel advisory in 2017, as well as further assessment of media centers for professional-level productions for the new channels.

“That our church in Inter-America can use this television media and have channels fully contextualized for the people and by the people in our countries will be a complete dream come true,” added Márquez. “This is a historic event to fulfill the mission of the church in our territory.”

Hope Channel Inter-America joins the global network of Hope Channel Adventist television channels on Satellite Eutelsat 113W.

You can view live broadcast of Hope Channel Inter-America online by visiting hopetv.org

To view Hope Channel Inter-America’s launch program, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryu9cffPKhA