“My mother is dying of cancer. Dad died a few years ago. Doctors told me to put my mother in a hospice, but I feel like that would be betraying her….” How would you respond to a phone call like this?
TWR-Europe’s partner in Italy has brought together counselors who follow-up with listeners like Maria*, and the conversations she had with one counselor made an eternal difference in her life.
When her mother died, Maria called to say: “Thank you all, especially the counselor who sustained and comforted me. The words on the radio and from the counselor are a precious help. Today is the funeral and I pray God will sustain me....”
A few weeks later, Maria’s counselor put her in contact with a nearby believer. Their friendship blossomed and the two began a discipleship course together. Maria began attending the local church, and soon she accepted Christ as her Savior and was baptized.
Throughout 2005, TWR-Europe received more than 180,000 listener responses in the form of letters, emails, phone calls, text messages and faxes. Each of TWR-Europe’s 30 partners is responsible for corresponding with listeners to the language(s) in which they produce programs.
Places like TWR-Ukraine keep a file on each known listener. “We need to know exactly who our listeners are, what their problems are, and what their challenges are,” remarks TWR-Ukraine Director Alexandr Chmut. “When people write to us, that means they love us, they want to befriend us, and what we do has a certain value to them.”
Response letters provide an important link between listener and staff. For the producer and the staff, it is the chance to see their work bear fruit. For listeners like Maria, it can be a life-changing experience.
*not her real name
Source: adapted from TWR-Europe’s news journal, InfoServ, Oct./Nov./Dec. 2006
More on this
TWR-Europe's Web site