Building on their experience to produce “radio programs for every Peruvian,” Seventh-day Adventists in Peru have embarked on adding another medium to their communication offerings for the country—television.

Last week the church in Peru took a step toward establishing a comprehensive media center, including audio and television production studios, in the capital of Peru aiming at a Spanish language TV production for a satellite channel operated by ADSAT, a Brazil-based Adventist satellite television ministry. ADSAT operates under the auspices of the global Adventist Television Network, and broadcasts in Portuguese and Spanish.

On June 30, a contract was signed between the Peruvian Union Mission and the Adventist Peruvian Union University to establish a joint media venture, which is to include a recording and training facility, as well as a building studio set at the university. According to Dr. Leonor Bustinza, president of the university, the venture is set up to be a winning option for both her school and the church. The university is to offer a more comprehensive curriculum in broadcast communication in response to interest from the current and prospective students.

“We are very happy to make our educational facilities move in this direction. It’s important to our university and to the mission of our church,” Bustinza remarked during the contract signing ceremony. The event included unveiling four professional studio cameras, donated to the Peruvian Media Center by ATN.

Speaking at the event, Melchor Ferreyra, president of the Adventist Church in Peru, referred to the radio experience the church has had in the last years as an “air strike” with seeds of Christian message reaching the people. “We have been planting for a harvest,” he said.

The language of the media is not an Adventist language, Ferreyra said. “We are producing programs in the language of the people. We are trying to raise the quality of life of Peruvians. We are talking about issues that effect their lives—health, the dangers of smoking, family issues. Interest is being arisen and we need to finish the work now,” he added.

Ferreyra refers to the television venture as building on the good experience with radio. “Our orientation with television is to reach out to the higher strata of our society. People will appreciate these programs,” he asserted. The church has done some production of religious shows but leaders feel that the programs must receive the “needed professional attention. We need more and better programs. We cannot rely on repeating the programs again and again,” Ferreyra said.

“Today the church is mature and growing,” he added. He and the communication leaders of the church are focusing on the particular segments of society and express a need to become more intentional about the messages for the wide range of listeners and viewers. “After all, we are to reach everyone in Peru, and this means being careful about what we say and to whom we are talking,” one communication leader explained.

Ferreyra also explained that some of the productions will be made available to other Spanish-speaking countries in South America. “It will be a challenge to do it right, given particular needs of different countries, but we are ready to do our part,” he added.

Currently, the Adventist communication ministry operates 16 radio stations, including one in Lima. The church’s media operation became possible because of financial support of Milton Afonso, a Brazilian Adventist entrepreneur, as well as the regional South American church office in Brasilia, Brazil. It is expected that construction of the new media center will begin by the end of the summer.