Moving Forward: ASI Project Update
Your Story Hour Reaches Across Russia
Adrienne Redding
03/30/2008
From the formidable expanse of land west of the Ural Mountains to the sparsely populated tundra rolling endlessly to the east, Chas tvoego rasskaza (Your Story Hour Russia) speaks words of Christ’s love and guidance to Russian children and families seeking direction. Though circumstances often prove challenging, God always makes it possible for YSH to keep the stories on the air.
In 1992, YSH Russia began broadcasting on 2,200 government stations across 11 time zones of the former Soviet Union. The destabilization that followed the break-up of the Soviet system caused a complete shake-up in the way programming was distributed, and as a result YSH’s outreach was considerably reduced.
In June of 2006, a miraculous chain of events began. Just before his death, former Soviet Radio Director Alexander Akhtyrsky called Russia’s leading radio network urging them to broadcast YSH. His enthusiasm convinced them, and by December the YSH team and Russian Director Dick Bayley had revised a series of scripts to bring the program into compliance with new time restrictions, raised the capital necessary to fund the program, hired an office worker in Moscow, and brought on Yury Chervotkin as our Russian Uncle. Yury and Tanya Belov – our Russian Aunt – flew to Berrien Springs to record the new narrations, which were used to create 16 new masters for broadcast, and Tanya then delivered the broadcast masters personally to the program director in Moscow. That December 16th, the first new weekly broadcast aired to a potential listening audience of 25 million people.
Chas tvoego rasskaza was part of the 2007 ASI Convention offering. And at the convention, $20,000 was pledged for YSH Russia. These funds have provided for many needs, including the original revision work done on scripts, the production and post production work on the broadcast masters, the travel and recording contract costs generated by Yury and Tanya, and the cost of weekly air time on the O.R.R. Network.
YSH is working to maximize the effectiveness of this opportunity to share the good news of Jesus’ love and the benefits of good decision-making and successful life principles. Forty-one of the 170 YSH Russian stories are formatted to air once a week over the 40 stations – up from 33 stations in 2006 – supplied by the O.R.R. Network. Also in 2007, the Life of Jesus album was packaged and released for sale on CD in the Russian language.
YSH has been preparing for continued growth by editing 25 new stories and finalizing arrangements for Aunt Tanya and Uncle Yury to come back to Berrien Springs for a recording session. These stories will be released this spring and will include a new Russian email address, giving YSH a new way to capture the reactions of listeners and respond to them personally.
YSH sincerely thanks ASI for responding positively to last year’s request for grant monies. And please pray for YSH’s work in Russia where so many children and families are struggling and searching for the way that will lead to peace and fulfillment.
For more information please visit www.yourstoryhour.org or call 800-987-7879.