The first-ever Seventh-day Adventist satellite event specifically targeting an international French-speaking audience is being broadcast live to more than 20 countries around the world. The 15-night series, which began November 11, is designed to share Adventist beliefs with a secular audience and aims to provide “Un Pont Vers La Vie” (A Bridge to Life).

“This is the first time a French-based Adventist program has used satellite technology to share what we believe, and we are very excited about the possibilities,” says Thierry Lenoir, the series presenter.  Lenoir, who is also youth and communication leader for the Adventist Church in French-speaking Switzerland, adds that, “Most of all we want to reach the more secular-minded people, especially in Europe, who have not heard the good news.”

Some 450 people are attending the nightly programs at the live uplink site on the grounds of the Adventist Church’s university at Collonges, France, close to the border of Geneva, Switzerland. The program is relayed to more than 150 downlink sites in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland—the original target audience. But due to massive interest, the satellite transmissions are now being viewed, with translation as necessary, in Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion, Cameroon, Rwanda, Mozambique, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Argentina, Guadaloupe, and some French-speaking churches in the eastern United States.

The series is focused around 15 “perspectives” of Jesus, based on his life and words. “The person of Jesus explains the truth, not as a doctrinal series, but as a number of facets on the message of salvation he came to bring,” says Lenoir. “We are also conscious of the culture, language, and ideas of those we are trying to communicate with—particularly those living in secular Europe. We are not polemical; rather, we simply want to invite others to see the Jesus we know and love as Savior.”

Program coordinator Fabrice Henriot explains that it was “a very conscious decision” to make the series contemporary and relevant to European culture.

“With the development of satellite technology and its availability now in Europe, the church leadership wanted to take the initiative to produce a satellite series from a European perspective,” says Henriot.    Organizers say that the program has brought wide positive reaction, especially from young people. Lenoir’s two youthful co-presenters, Annie Stammbach and Nicolas Walther, add comments on screen received by e-mail and telephone and contribute to the “modern generation appeal,” says Henriot.

With technical direction and production by Jacques and Olivier Ritlewski, satellite uplinking by Marcelo Vallado of the Adventist Media Center, a team from the German-based “Stimme der Hoffnung” (Voice of Hope), a Belgian-Swiss speaker, and a French uplink site, this is truly an international joint venture, comments local church pastor Henri Van Der Veken.

The program, which finishes on December 1, is an outreach initiative of the Adventist Church leadership in France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland, and the Euro-African region.