Covenant News

Quick Response Keeps Christian Radio on Air in Russia

MOSCOW, RUSSIA (November 20, 2001) - A Christian radio station with Covenant support, New Life Radio, recently averted a crisis thanks to quick thinking by station director Dan Johnson that kept the radio station from going off the air.

New Life Radio, which is supported primarily by a new organization called Christian Radio For Russia (CRFR), had been operating out of Red Square in Moscow. The mayor of the city unexpectedly expropriated the space occupied by the studios with the staff given just one week to find a new site to house their operations, according to CRFR board member Robert C. Larson.

"After two years of being a good paying client, we have been booted out of our beautiful studios on the corner of Red Square," Johnson said in an email to board members. "We have a week to clear out."

Johnson immediately went to work to find new quarters. "I spent yesterday furiously working out a strategy to move the station while keeping broadcasts uninterrupted," Johnson reported. "I figured out how to get a studio transmitter link set up, but it will cost . . . at least $8,000 for new digital modems . . . to connect a new broadcast studio at the Christian Center (where our office is) to the NIER Earth station. Another $2,000 will be needed for installation of a telecom line, tearing out the old studio, buying building materials and redoing our air conditioners. What a headache!"

Christian Radio For Russia (CRFR) was formed to provide accountability and support for Johnson and New Life Radio. The board of directors of CRFR includes Raymond L. Dahlberg, retired executive director of the Department of World Mission of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), and Larson, retired executive secretary of the ECC's Department of Church Growth and Evangelism.

For more information about CRFR and its ministries, call Larson at 847-394-2686 or email him at robertclarson@CS.com. Johnson can be reached by email at crfr@juno.com or letters can be sent to him in care of First Covenant Church, 520 Spring Street, Jamestown, NY, 14701. CRFR's website is www.christianradiorussia.org.

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