Texas Ministry Partners With TV Broadcaster To Spread The Gospel In Iran

September 1, 2022228 views0

Texas Ministry Partners With TV Broadcaster To Spread The Gospel In Iran

2022-09-01T14:44:00+01:00

By Church News

A Persian-language TV broadcaster from Los Angeles has partnered with a Texas-based ministry to reach Iran with the Gospel.Iran Alive Ministries (IAM) has officially partnered with Channel One/Kanal Yek TV, landing a primetime slot for the broadcaster’s Gospel-centric programming.In addition to distributing more than 200,000 Bibles in Iran since 2001, IAM broadcasts a 24/7 satellite channel with Gospel messaging into the Middle East and Central Asia, all from a home studio located just north of Dallas, Texas.Hormoz Shariat, founder of IAM and host of its daily broadcast said, “With this partnership, we will gain many new secular-minded audiences who have already rejected Islam, so we are reaching a new population that may not have a desire to watch a Christian channel, in one sense, since they have not come to us, we are going to them.“This is what Jesus commands us, to go, and be all things to all people so that we may win some,” he added.Shariat’s heart for Iranians undoubtedly stems from his upbringing in Iran in a Muslim home.He became a follower of Jesus in 1980 after a comparative study of the Bible and Quran and went on to earn his Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Southern California (USC) and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Bible and theology from Jessup University.Under the new partnership with Channel One, IAM holds a primetime Friday afternoon timeslot for programming. Shariat says for Iranians, Friday afternoon is comparable to an American Sunday afternoon, an ideal time for watching television.Channel One is one of the oldest and most-watched channels based in the U.S and attracts a constant viewership from within Iran via satellite, despite the Islamic nation’s tightly controlled media, according to Shariat.Via satellite, Shariat’s channel, Shabakeh7, is the most watched Christian channel in Iran with over 6 million daily viewers — nearly 8% of the population — and a weekly audience of over 20 million.ALSO READ Teaching Kids Hygiene Opens Doors For Gospel In Southeast Asia