HCJB
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HCJB is the flagship station of one of the most popular and far-reaching international radio ministries in the world - HCJB Global. Its official title is World Radio Missionary Fellowship, Inc. Together with local partners worldwide, broadcasts emanate in more than 100 countries in more than 120 languages via shortwave, and in Ecuador via medium wave as well as FM, satellite and the Internet.
Mission Statement: To empower dynamic media and healthcare ministries that declare and demonstrate Jesus Christ.
Key Ministries: HCJB Global works through its two key ministries - HCJB Global Voice (media) and HCJB Global Hands (healthcare).
Key Distinctive: The dynamic integration of media and healthcare around the world to impact lives for Christ.
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[edit] History
HCJB Global began in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, on Christmas Day, 1931, and was founded by Clarence W. Jones [1], a graduate of the Moody Bible Institute, and Reuben Larson along with other American evangelical Christian missionaries.
[edit] What do the call letters mean?
HCJB, which the broadcaster interprets as Heralding Christ Jesus' Blessings, is the actual call sign of the original station. In Spanish the call letters stand for Hoy Cristo Jesús Bendice, and in German it is Höre Christi Jesu Botschaft.
[edit] Broadcasting milestones and achievements
The HCJB Global Technology Center (formerly the HCJB World Radio Engineering Center) began in an effort to design and build specialized, cost-effective shortwave transmitters. The first time a group of HCJB Global engineers accepted an offer from the Moore family to work in Elkhart, Indiana, they were tasked to build a 500,000-watt shortwave transmitter capable of overcoming any Russian jamming effort.
A special relationship existed between HCJB Global and Crown International via its founder, Clarence Moore, who had served at Radio Station HCJB in Ecuador as chief engineer during its early days.
- "Project Outreach" began in 1975 and was completed in 1980 with the installation of the HC500 (500 kw) transmitter in Ecuador.
The Moore family (with Clarence's son, Clyde) again extended the invitation to HCJB Global to take up residence at Crown International, this time at the Engineering Center. The goal was to build 100,000-watt shortwave transmitters for HCJB Global and its ministry partners in the World by 2000 challenge.
World by 2000 was a joint effort of HCJB Global, Trans World Radio, Far East Broadcasting Company, FEBA Radio, SIM, Words of Hope and other evangelical broadcasters to make Christian broadcasts available in all of the world's major languages by the year 2000. It was later renamed World by Radio.
- In 1986 the Engineering Center was officially established under the direction of David Pasechnik.
Staff members have been involved in research, development, training and technical support for AM, FM and shortwave radio stations as well as satellite distribution and satellite-based Internet services. In recent years they developed a fixed-tuned, solar-powered SonSet radio that can be pre-tuned to pick up a specific Christian radio station. They have also been pioneers in the development of equipment for a form of digital radio broadcasting called DRM.
In the 1940s Clarence Moore obtained a patent for the development of the cubical quad antenna. This antenna is frequently used by amateur radio operators around the world. He developed this after problems developed with his beam antenna due to the thin mountain air, the type of antenna and the power of his transmitter. The tips of the beam antenna developed strong coronal discharge which caused his antenna to melt.
[edit] Non-radio ministries
Although HCJB Global began solely as a radio ministry, in recent decades the range of it ministries has increased substantially.
HCJB Global operates a variety of education ministries. Three of these ministries are Apoyo, the Christian Academy of the Air (formerly known as the Bible Institute of the Air) and the Christian Center of Communications. Apoyo, which means "support" in English, is a ministry that focuses on evangelism, developing the local church, and equipping Latin American church leaders to be pastors. This ministry, which began in 1992, is a cooperative effort between HCJB Global and a U.S.-based group called Leadership Resources International. Christian Academy of the Air is a ministry that has been functioning for more than 50 years and focuses on teaching a wide range of classes centered on the Bible, theology, and Christian ministry. The Christian Center of Communications is a three-year higher education program that teachers Spanish-speaking students about radio, television, and the print media. It is an accredited branch campus of Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota and is also accredited by Ecuadorian authorities.
Besides radio, HCJB Global Voice has become involved in a media mediums such as television and the Internet. The television outreach, called Televozandes, produces and distributes TV programs across Latin America. The Internet ministry makes a variety of audio programs available in more than 10 languages.
HCJB Global Voice is directly involved in many engineering activities such as hydroelectric facilities in the small Ecuadorian town of Papallacta and an international transmitter site in Pifo, a town 18 miles west of the nation's capital, Quito. Various other communication systems and equipment are part of the engineering efforts of this mission.
HCJB Global Hands, the mission's health care outreach, also operates a wide variety of medical ministries. Hospital Vozandes-Quito, founded in 1955, is a modern urban hospital in Ecuador's capital city, providing a full range of medical services to local residents and expatriates. As of 2007 this hospital currently has 76 beds. Another hospital called Hospital Vozandes-Shell in the jungle town of Shell-Mera has provided medical services to the people of Ecuadorian Amazon since 1958. This hospital works in close association with a mission called Mission Aviation Fellowship which often flies patients to the hospital from the surrounding, otherwise inaccessible, communities. HCJB Global Hands is also responsible for a variety of community development projects around Ecuador. These include clean water projects which aim at ensuring rural communities have access to pure water supplies, mobile medical clinics that travel to remote communities about once a month to provide dental and medical services, and community clinics in a variety of poor neighborhoods in and near Quito that provide affordable medical aid to local residents. All of these ministries attempt to provide medical aid to those who need it while presenting a clear Christian gospel message. In 2005, it is estimated that more than 300,000 Ecuadorians received some form of health care from HCJB Global Hands.
HCJB Global Hands is now branching out beyond Ecuador and Latin America, joining with medical partners in countries such as Malawi, the Republic of Congo and South Africa. In recent years the mission also has sent short-term emergency medical teams to Indonesia, Pakistan and Lebanon to help in relief efforts following various disasters.
