Friday, October 03, 2003
Wishing to reach a large audience who will hear the pure and true gospel of God and Jesus Christ in the bible, the Church started to air its preaching through the radio in the early '80s which at the onset has slowly drawn avid listeners, believers, converts and adversaries. But it was only in the mid-'80s that the Church tried television with the flagship program, “Ang Dating Daan.” As it turn out, the Church's use of new media spurred growth in membership and hereafter become popular and well-known in this 7,107-island country as the most awarded and controversial religious television program. Contrary to most religious programs existing in our times, “Ang Dating Daan” has Bro. Eli Soriano, who happens to be the Church's Presiding Minister and is well-known for his unmistakable conviction and mastery of biblical doctrines.
The program's popularity soared because it thread a path most feared and shied away by its other religious counterparts--that is, to expose unscrupulous and greedy pastors of other organized religion and their scams and grimy tactics to fool unsuspecting believers. Beside this, another factor that earned Bro. Eli the title as one of the most critical and sensible of all religious leader-evangelist in our midst is the fact that he promises to answer any question asked, and tries to make his answers irrefutable through constant reference to passages in the Bible.
“Ang Dating Daan” first started in IBC 13 in the late '80s but was booted out because of religious politics, forcing Bro. Eli to find another channel to air the program, in RJTV 29. The Church's detractors followed it there and were able to take over the station, forcing once more Bro Eli’s group to transfer to another home in the late ‘90s, the UHF channel SBN 21.
Today, an average of 3,500 new members is baptized every month. Although not keeping a formal register, it is estimated that membership of the congregation now stands to be in the hundreds of thousands. There are over 744 chapters all over the country, and 19 abroad. The Church now have 26 television programs,16 of which are on cable TV, and seven radio programs. And beyond technological mainstreaming, the Church now integrates the cordless Internet technology to touch the four corners of the globe, one of the key solution to spreading throughout the world the Christian gospel written in the bible and to send the message preached by the early Apostles and Prophets 2,000 years ago. The wave of the future is unwavering and shall continue to expand, and sending the message unceasingly across the globe, to propagate the true Christian doctrines of Christ in the Bible, is now but a click away with the use of the Internet.
Friday, August 22, 2003
