"I was a broadcaster for many years and radio was a thing I enjoyed. We had a program on Bonaire called Caribbean Night Call that came on at midnight (soft, easy, laidback conversation), and I asked who would be listening, but I had to craft programs for people who I would never meet and never know what they are like because there are hundreds of islands. I used to draw a composite (an image of someone I would talk to), for the series of programs, and a letter came in from a woman. Her first words were 'how did you know? Every word you said was for me and I needed to hear it.' This woman from Jamaica was encouraged to return to church. - McDaniel Phillips

"Carl Seyffert had arranged for Paul Freed to come in and speak to some of us. And we were just going to have some Kentucky Fried Chicken. It was 5:00 and we sat down to eat and he was due to speak at 6:00. Paul would not eat and said to me, “I get nervous when I have to speak to others' There are eight of us in the room. Here's a man whose voice and impact have gone around the world, and yet he was so self-effacing and so humble of spirit that he didn't want to eat before he spoke, in case that would impact what he had to say to us. He spoke for maybe 20 minutes about the mission and vision of TWR. I was thinking if Paul were sitting in the office today (2023) in London, giving that speech and sharing his heart and vision, I think it would totally resonate with exactly what's happening today. I also think he would be completely comfortable with what TWR has done with the radio, and now other media." - Steve Wise

"My dream, vision and prayer for TWR is that they would continue to reach the nations with the gospel, and assist the church. I hope that everyone at TWR Canada continues to use their gifts to help reach the nations with the gospel." - Ross Campbell

"In 1991, Steve Shantz mentioned in a newsletter that he was being put in charge of the computer systems at the TWR office and transmitter location in Monte Carlo. My husband Rick, who worked as an IT technician for AT&T, had been praying for God's direction. Rick spoke with Steve when Steve and Barbara were on furlough that year. Steve explained that TWR was switching to the Unix computer operating system developed by AT&T. Rick had all the necessary training with this system as he worked with it on a daily basis. We put in our application and, after interviews, were accepted by TWR." - Carol Hawkins

It has been great to have TWR Canada supporting our ministry in Eswatini. With the close ties that TWR Canada has had with Africa over the years, from the many Canadian missionaries who have served here, TWR Canada has been a great partner in sponsoring programs, funding projects, and supporting missionaries." - Greg Clarke

"When I first joined TWR Canada, our office was in a cramped condo with a couple of staff. Since then, we've moved twice and expanded the ministry opportunities. Despite our growth, TWR Canada still has the desire to continue to reach people for Christ using mass media. There is still an opportunity for high-powered radio broadcasting, but with the digital era, we have many impactful ways of getting the gospel to various people in various languages." - Jeremy Mullin

"When I joined in 1999, the office was located in a modest 3-room office condo on Queens Avenue in downtown London. We also had three regional directors located in Ontario, Alberta and BC to represent the ministry in those regions and to raise funds to support the work. At that time, our main ministry focus was on producing radio programs in Persian or Farsi, buying airtime in Europe to broadcast those programs into the Persian-speaking world and following up on responses to those broadcasts.

"We still seek to mobilize workers from Canada to serve at TWR international sites across the world and to provide funding for various ministry projects there. We began to expand the ministry by adding TWR Women of Hope, the French and Chinese programs, but basically using radio (shortwave, medium wave or FM) to broadcast the message as well as on TV and in Quebec. Of course, today, many additional technologies such as SD cards, media players, web radio, internet, and social media are being used with great effect, so much so that it makes my head spin!

"I took early retirement in 1996 to study at Briercrest Biblical Seminary in preparation for some unknown role in global missions. We just felt that God was calling us to serve the next number of years of our lives in a missions context, but we had no idea what it looked like, until June of 1998 when Dennis Ford, who was TWR Canada's regional director for the prairies, came to Briercrest looking for people to help in the ministry. Until that point, I had not heard of TWR.

"Well, on his second visit, Dennis explained that my predecessor, Dr. Carl Seyffert had just informed the board of directors that he wished to retire the following year at the age of 64, and Dennis asked, 'can I send your resume to Carl as a potential candidate to succeed him here in London?' And I said, 'fine that would be great.'

"Carl then invited me for an initial meeting with him, Mr. Bill Poley who was the board chair at the time, and that lead to a further invitation for me to return to be interviewed by the full board, on November 3, 1998, which happened to be my wife’s birthday. Gloria and I began to pray earnestly for God to show us his will in the matter. At that time I was using Henry Blackaby’s devotional book, entitled Experiencing God Day by Day. The devotional for the day that I would be interviewed by the board on November 3 seemed to have been written specifically for me. It was based on First Timothy 1:12, 'and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry' (NKJV).

"Before meeting the board that day, I wrote in my journal, 'today in 1998, I will be interviewed by the TWR Canada board of directors to be potentially selected and appointed as director of TWR Canada. After praying about this since June, and receiving confirmation and peace about this possibility from the Lord, I expect the board will approve me for this role. I am convinced that God will lead both Gloria and I and the board to the same conclusion.'

"Shortly after the interview, the board called me back into the meeting to invite me to come and succeed Carl. I accepted this as God’s will. We flew back to Saskatchewan to wrap up our commitments there, sell our house, and prepare to move to London.

"So, when you ask what attracted me to join TWR Canada, it was the unmistakable call of God. It was not the scope, the type, the impact, or the history of the ministry, but it was God’s call upon me.

"We arrived in London on the very day, March 31, 1999, that Carl’s doctor informed him that he had pancreatic cancer and had only a few months to live. In fact, Carl and I only had two weeks together for transition, which was unreal. As a former pastor, Carl had never transitioned out of a role, and I had never served in vocational Christian ministry before so he hardly knew what to tell me and I hardly knew what to ask him. I had managed organizations in the past, but I always had a boss to give overall direction or guidance. I can still recall at lunchtime going out for a walk, wondering what I should do next and I finally concluded that if God wanted me to follow the same strategic direction as Carl, he would have given us more time for transition. From that point on, God opened my eyes to build on the foundation that Carl had been establishing and then to discover that new direction which included launching new ministries into Quebec and China." - Gerald Hayes

"For TWR Women of Hope, our priorities were creating awareness for the plight of women and speaking the hope and truth that Jesus offered, because that is something that can make a difference and transform someone's life. We also wanted to focus on providing ground support by creating a community, especially with the Women of Hope prayer groups in different countries. I believe community is how the Lord created us to be and we need that. Women are wired that way but generally, it's for all of us." - Colleen Shoemaker, former women's ministry coordinator

"One ministry highlight would be the launch of Radio l’Espoir. For more than 10 years before retiring, I worked in Quebec and developed a sincere affection for both my English- and French-speaking staff. So in a board meeting when Jake Daccord who was vice chairman, asked me when we were going to start a ministry to Quebec, my heart was stirred. Within weeks, Jake had arranged for me to meet some key ministry leaders there in Montreal, including Marcel Parron who was leading Aujoud'hui l’Espoir which spanned many cities and towns and communities across Quebec. Marcel and I soon developed a vital partnership which resulted in translating, producing, and broadcasting programs on commercial radio stations first, and then on TV a little later." - Gerald Hayes

"In my time with the ministry, TWR Canada contributed to the global ministry by pushing boundaries and exploring new technologies outside of radio. Under Ray Alary's leadership, there was a huge push to get technology like media players and USB drives into people's hands. Another key priority was improving our on-the-ground ministry so that if we had a radio ministry in a country, we also had to have people on the ground leading, helping, and serving the people." - Colleen Shoemaker

"Ross Campbell (the chairman of the board), Jake, myself and our wives took an exploratory trip into China. We were guided by the staff from the Hong Kong office. We were in Datong, a city that I had never heard of, but was about 3 million people in population at the time, and attended a youth meeting there. There were approximately 200 youth in that meeting. We asked Joan Daccord, Jake's wife to share her testimony there. Following the meeting, we met two sisters from a nearby community, where Joan’s grandparents had served as missionaries many years earlier. These two sisters shared with great passion how appreciative they were for Joan’s grandparents, bringing the gospel to their community. These sisters and the church youth group that we met, who were already TWR listeners from the Hong Kong office's work, showed us that the radio broadcasts were critical in sustaining the largely underground church across China. We soon joined hands and hearts with a Chinese diaspora ministry already existing in Toronto, to produce and broadcast the gospel and biblical teaching into China." - Gerald Hayes

"Many of you will recall the economic pain of that period as people and companies could not fulfill the financial commitments they had made earlier. In broadcasting, organizations or ministries must make commitments to and sign contracts with the owners of broadcasting facilities they want to use to reach their target audiences. To reach the Persian-speaking world, we were buying time on high-powered stations in Cyprus and Armenia that TWR did not own, but I praise the Lord that he always provided sufficient funds to ensure that all our programs were covered, none had to be cancelled. God's people continue their faithful giving and we were able to honour all of our commitments. Praise the Lord!" - Gerald Hayes

"Throughout my time with TWR Canada, I believe that our strategic priority really hasn't changed. The Great Commission tells us to take God’s Word to the world and to share the Word of God with people. Radio doesn't change a single person's life. It's God speaking into the person's heart that changes their life. And so our real responsibility is just to deliver that message. So, I don't think that that priority has changed. What has changed is the way we deliver that product over time." - Ray Alary

"I think the most personally impactful parts of my ministry are the students of SOTA. The second one would be the staff, but the first one is the students. When I visited China, I knew that there is a tremendous need for training, especially in the village churches. The pastors do not have any education. They cannot go to seminary, and they do not have any systematic training. I came to know SOTA and then when I finally had the chance in 2012, I started to get involved with SOTA in China. I visited the church in China and I found that SOTA could really help them. And when I meet those students in China, when I hear from them, I'm more and more certain that I'm doing the right thing in joining TWR Canada and serving with SOTA.

"And I have had many touching experiences when I visit church leaders in China. One lady told me, 'We really need that and we really hope that you can help us. But if you can not, then do not promise anything.' That was in 2012 and it has been 11 years. I still remember what she said to me. So from then on, I devoted myself to my team to provide what they need whenever they need it, like textbooks, MP3 players, tablets, CD players, USBs, anything. When I look into their eyes, they are so thankful.  In many of the graduations of these students there are a lot of tears. They don't want us to go after graduation and they want us to stay in contact with them. And that is very touching." - William Tsui

"When I was president of TWR Canada, God opened the door for us to do Discipleship Essentials. I met with a man, and I had a media player in my pocket, and he asked me what it was. It was out of that conversation that Discipleship Essentials was created." - Ray Alary

"I went to meet with the lady that created those programs and asked her a very simple question, I said, 'Why have you only ever done this in English and not in other languages?' And she said, 'Because nobody's ever asked me to.' So I said, 'Well, I'm asking you to!' And that's how Bible Stories Alive happened.  So there is no real explanation for how things have worked out, only that God put me in the right place at the right time and got me to ask the right questions. And so it has just been thrilling to see how God has worked!" - Ray Alary

"By 2017, we wanted to buy a building in Markham. In March, the board finally decided to let us try to buy a building, and said if we could raise so much, then we could start to look for a building. At that time, there were no units available in Markham. I looked around, I asked the real estate agent to look for us. None. Right after the board approved this, about the second week, a unit opposite to our rented unit went up for sale and  I was so shocked by that. And then I started to share the news with some churches and friends. We bought the unit in December 2017, and we don’t have a mortgage. Again, it just proved that we got the support we needed because we were serving the church well." - William Tsui

"What attracted me to join the ministry was God's calling first and foremost. It was a very clear sense of God calling me to the ministry. It wasn't something I was looking for, it wasn't something I aspired to. I didn't have to figure out if it was a good quality organization, because I already knew of TWR Canada. I just had to figure out if God was calling me in, and he was. So what I love about TWR is that we have the opportunity and the privilege and, I think, the responsibility of using technology to share the message of hope and Christ and to encourage people to be discipled and to provide tools for them to be discipled. Discipleship is a really big and really important part of who we are. We focus on building the body of Christ, strengthening it and equipping it, so that's what I love. I love that we have the tools, we have the content and we get to use technology to distribute God's Word.

"TWR international started off 70 years ago using the most cutting edge technology of the day which was radio and I feel that God has called us to continue to use technology and use radio where it's most effective. Paul Freed in his book, Towers to Eternity wrote:

"Christian broadcasting is not the only answer. It is only a small part of the total outreach–radio, literature, audio-visuals, missionary aviation, translation, programmed instruction are all new ways in which we can move out in geometric proportions. We need a continually renewed vision of ways to reach others. Compared to the rest of the world's progress, Christendom is dragging at a snail’s pace. I must make it very clear though, that winning people to Christ will require both methods, the personal touch and the mass media" (p. 102).

"So, when I read that, what struck me was that he didn't see radio broadcasting as the only way to reach people. My opinion is that he would be very open to new technologies and using more cutting-edge technologies like the apps on our phones, streamed content from our computers and cell phones and have it available to us at a time that we need it. It is also important that people have a radio to listen and so we want to make sure that people have the ability to hear it." - Dan Reese

"2020 is the year that the pandemic started to break out in Canada. I think it was Dan who asked what I'm going to do. How are we going to handle it as a ministry? I said I really don't know. And by the end of the year, we had a large surplus. People keep calling in like foundations, and churches, they said, 'I think you need the money; I said fine. Just send it to us. And even more than we need. And we did not stop. And in 2020, even up to now, we still don't have any deficits. I still remember the very first time when I talked to Ray and if I remember correctly, he said that the board had approved an emergency fund for me to use in my first year leading the ministry. And that I should feel free to use it, because you should expect to have a deficit in the first year. I remember I told Ray, 'No, don't worry, the Chinese church will take care of the China ministry.' And at the end of the year, we had a surplus. Money has never been an issue, It's just the providence from God and the acceptance of the church. And that is why  I think we are doing the right thing." - William Tsui

"In China, we had a SOTA student who had a very rare illness. He was fine when he was born. But since junior high, he started having problems and finally he was paralyzed so that only parts of his hands and head can move a bit. But one day, he heard about the podcasting and the gospel channels and heard about Jesus and after a few months he converted, accepted Jesus and became Christian and at that point he was moved to serve God.

"But of course, you ask what can someone like him do in his situation? How can they serve God, right? But he heard about SOTA. So, he enrolled in the program. He just used his cell phone. He listened to the lectures and then he used his cell phone with the limited mobility of his hand, he typed in the answers for the exam, and he sent in the exam. And he finished eighteen courses. We're talking about New Testament theology, Old Testament theology, and systematic theology, and he finished them all!

"After he finished the program, he asked himself, 'how can I serve God?' And he started seeing people with the same needs and challenges who could not move, and could not do anything. He wanted to share the gospel with these people, telling them that, hey, we are all valuable in the eyes of God. We are all being loved by God. He wanted to spread this good news. So, he set up a church on the air. Using his phone, he organized programs with people in the same situation. Now they have around like 200 people attending, with around 13 SOTA students who have some physical challenges helping to organize the program. They are willing to help and they are willing to be the channel of blessings from God. So I think what impacts me is that God uses everyone if we are willing to be used, and I thank God that he used a soldier." - Ruth Chan