When a project has large potential to glorify the Lord, the spiritual warfare is often equally large. “Radio Integrity,” a new ministry in Lima, Peru, has been an exhilarating rollercoaster of obstacles for Stan and Ruth Templeton, but it is glorifying God in incalculable ways.
When Stan, a veteran missionary, arrived in Peru with his new wife Ruth, they set their sights on Lima, home to nine million people. A radio station with the transmitting power to reach into all of Lima’s homes would help tremendously in establishing new churches. Because Peru’s cultural and political climate is currently very favorable to church planting, now is the time to seek maximum spread of the gospel.
Stan and Ruth knew the project would be an enormous undertaking. Stan and his late wife, Marilyn, had started a smaller station in the city of Trujillo years earlier, but the Lima station would have nine times the potential listening audience. The new station, planned as a 10-year project, would start with purchasing a license; securing property for housing and the station; and buying a transmitter, tower, transformers, and studio equipment. The Templetons also knew that cultural and governmental challenges would increase the project’s complexity beyond what a similar project in the US would entail.
Initial Hurdles
The Templetons and their Peruvian coworkers, Edward and Margarita Zacarías, had begun the pursuit of a radio license in 2005, concurrently looking for property for the station and tower. Many times it appeared that deals had been secured, but sellers withdrew offers, and bureaucratic issues added delays. Finally, by December 18, 2009, the Templetons received their license. The next day, using a borrowed studio and tower, Radio Integrity “The Voice that Glorifes God,” began broadcasting on AM 700. The station gives the gospel through messages, songs, testimonies, and even in its announcements and news. Its frequency lies directly in the middle of two of Lima’s most popular stations, giving excellent listener exposure. Listeners immediately began contacting the station, overjoyed that God’s Word was being proclaimed in their city.
His Grace Under Pressure
The station was on the air, but the greatest obstacles were yet to come. Stan and Ruth found property and a tower but later had to tear down the tower and put up a new one. In April 2010, the Templetons sent out a prayer letter detailing 12 individual points of challenge, including legal tangles, theft, intimidation by local teamsters, bureaucratic headaches, problems with the electric company, unexpected expenses, equipment delays, and workers who abandoned their jobs. Stan described it as the greatest resistance he’d faced in his 25 years in Peru.
The challenges drove Stan and Ruth to their knees in dependence on the Lord. They chose to respond with patience and grace. They spoke kindly and humbly to authorities, suppliers, and workers. They didn’t pay bribes (an accepted practice in Peru) but prayed with their contacts. This stance won them many friends along the way and opportunities to talk about the Lord. When the station was forced to go off the air during the switch to the new tower, one listener cried because she could no longer hear God’s Word. Listeners voluntarily gave offerings to help the station stay on the air. Since Stan and Ruth had no funds to make advertising fliers, listeners made their own to pass out to friends. A dentist who is a listener is now letting the station use a room in his business complex for free as an office.
Growing for the Future
The station’s sensitive electronic equipment prevents broadcasting at night when Lima’s electricity is unstable. Stan and Ruth will install a power stabilizer that will make night broadcasts possible. The station reaches one-third of Lima, but they hope to increase power to reach all of Lima by 2011 and to make the station self-supporting in five years—a goal that could be realized in one year at the current rate of progress.
Radio Integrity reaches an audience of listeners who are religious but not necessarily born-again. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will touch hearts across Lima so that its people accept God’s salvation that comes by faith alone.