In a flurry of activity, Latin American Christian media and church leaders are linking to blanket their continent with the gospel by the century’s end.
Dubbed “the Thousand-Day Plan,” the campaign involves mobilizing Christians to pray and fast, saturating the airwaves with programs and commercials pointing audiences to Christ, conducting evangelistic campaigns, and training disciples. The plan blends mass media with personal contact.
In September, media and church leaders from across Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking North and South America convened in San Jose, Costa Rica, for COICOM ’98, the confederation of Iberoamerican communicators. COICOM president Raul Justiniano, a Bolivian broadcaster and also the Thousand-Day Plan president, challenged coworkers to combine holy lives, evangelistic passion, and technological expertise to finish the task.
Justiniano says Iberoamerica has 600 million people in 300 cities in 26 nations. Latin America has 600 Christian-formatted radio stations, about 100 television stations, nearly 15 satellite radio networks, at least one satellite television network, 500 publications, and nearly 5,000 independent producers. COICOM believes the stage has been set for massive outreach (CT, Nov. 17, 1997, p. 82). Efforts to date have included a “World Cup” edition of the Jesus film featuring testimonies of Brazilian soccer players, prolonged citywide evangelism in Monterrey, Mexico, and stadium rallies in the Dominican Republic.
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