*** NEWS RELEASE ***
For Immediate Release
May 8, 2017
CONTACT:
Anna Price, Hamilton Strategies, 610.584.1096, ext. 100,Media@HamiltonStrategies.com, or Deborah Hamilton, 215.815.7716, 610.584.1096, ext. 102
As Unemployment Reaches 90 Percent in Zimbabwe, The Tide® Radio Ministry Provides Hope Through Good News of Jesus Christ
Gospel Radio Programs Recorded in Zimbabweans’ Own Language
HARRISBURG, Pa.—The Zimbabwean reported from Johannesburg last week that according to Zimbabwe’s largest workers’ union, the country’s unemployment rate is now at 90 percent.
In a nation with such severe economic difficulties, The Tide® (www.thetide.org)global radio ministry is working to give hope to Zimbabwe’s people through the truth of the Gospel and the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Another challenge is that Zimbabwe’s aging president, Robert Mugabe, doesn’t acknowledge his peoples’ hardships, stating last week that the country isn’t fragile despite its plunging economy. Mugabe made the comments at the Africa leg of the World Economic Forum, The Washington Post reported.
The Tide ministry has been providing radio programs to remote villages around the globe to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ for over 70 years, including in Zimbabwe since 1983. The ministry also assists in the building of radio studios, provides leader-to-leader training and ensures that villagers have Bibles.
“The people The Tide ministry reaches in Zimbabwe have many needs, and we pray for them fervently, asking God to not only better their lives here on Earth, but to also open their hearts to the Gospel so that they can spend eternity with Christ,” said The Tide Director Don Shenk, who was born in what was onceRhodesia, and served as a missionary teaching and leading the Ekuphileni Bible Institute in Zimbabwe, where he lived for 28 years. “Some of their specific prayer requests include: ‘May you pray for me to get a job?’ and ‘I am facing some hardships in my life and am not married.’ We are blessed to be able to reach these people with Gospel radio programming recorded in their own language—Ndebele—so they can hear about the love of the Savior from a pastor or teacher from their own community.”
Currently, The Tide ministry works to reach people in seven countries on three continents through 24 heart languages, and even though Zimbabwe has been fairly extensively evangelized, there are still many who need to hear the Gospel message. In fact, nearly a quarter of the world’s population lives within the current range of The Tide radio programming. With nearly 7,000 languages spoken in the world today, the opportunities are tremendous.
Later this year, The Tide ministry will offer programming in its 25th heart language—Isaan, spoken by 19 million people in Thailand. That initiative will allow Thailand to join multiple regions of Zimbabwe, India, Nigeria, Nepal, Bhutan, Albania and Kosovo, where The Tide ministry is already active in broadcasting Gospel radio programming.
For more information about The Tide projects, history, radio programs around the world, the “Have You Heard?” Campaign, the weekly Global Update radio features or other news, visit its web site at www.thetide.org or its Facebook page.Read more about The Tide ministry and Don Shenk here.
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To schedule interviews with Don Shenk, director of The Tide global radio ministry, contact Anna Price at 610-584-1096, ext. 100,Media@HamiltonStrategies.com, or Deborah Hamilton at 215-815-7716 or 610-584-1096, ext. 102.