The voice of the people

I recently had the opportunity to visit the port city of Rijeka, Croatia. There is, tucked away just inside the old gate of this ancient city, a marble, rectangular stone with the Latin words engraved upon it “Vox Populi,” meaning “Voice of the People”. I got to stand on that box recently.

In this same city, I met Pastor Milan Spoljaric, who has been ministering in that city for 20 years. In the midst of persecution and prejudice, Pastor Milan has been faithful to share God’s Word, “Vox Dei,” with his people. God has blessed those efforts over the years and today they have a small but vibrant church meeting in a building that is completely paid for and property on which they can build. They need that property too, because their little sanctuary can only hold a maximum of 90 people. They currently have 70-80 regular attendees.

Just over a year ago, God put in the heart of Pastor Milan the desire to begin a radio broadcast for the people of his city. He approached a local rock music station and asked if he could buy time on their station to share a message of hope. God granted favor and Pastor Milan was able to secure a 15-minute, weekly program.

When I arrived in Rijeka, just a few weeks ago, Pastor Spojaric and his son, Ivan, showed us their simple but effective little studio where they record the “Voice of Hope” program every Wednesday. Ivan is an incredibly smart and resourceful young man with a passion to use media for God’s purposes. The program plays on Sunday mornings about the same time that their church meetings begin. The radio manager told me that, while pastor Milan is preaching to 70-80 people in his building, his voice is being heard by 10,000-15,000 people all around that city!

We went to Rijeka because they now want to see how God might open doors for them to put programs on local television. With the help of IMM, this next month Ivan, Pastor Milan and others are working to translate and record our programs for local use. It is exciting to know the city of Rijeka will be able to view, on local television, segments of our program “The Path of Jesus: The Christmas Story” in Croatian. They hope to follow up with more of these programs provided by IMM and translated with Croatian hosts.

It is because of your faithful support that we can provide these materials and guidance. Let’s stand together to bring His voice (Word) to this world.