East Timor is fraught with religious persecution; and with its tumultuous past, bringing change through the gospel has never been easy. Nevertheless, with the dedication of believers like those in East Timor, it is slowly making an impact that is bringing positive change. We are making in-roads that are changing a nation from the inside out. Our aim is to make the Church conscious that being a Christian is not a set of religious habits but rather a relationship with Christ who transforms us from within and causes us to bear fruit. Specifically, to be a blessing and bring change to those around us. Changing people from the inside is to change a nation. This month we can see this occurring through Radio Voz FM Station and a group of dedicated ladies praying for their local authorities.

Established in 2003, Radio Voz FM station in Dili East Timor is the most popular, privately owned radio station in the country (Riani and I had our honeymoon helping to officially open Radio Voz FM). Now through our partnership with United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) we are rebroadcasting Radio Voz in some key regional centres not reachable by Radio Voz FM Dili and seeing even more people reached with the gospel. Together, we are planning to rebroadcast to even more regional centres, train our team to raise revenue locally and increase our broadcasting capacity by building a new antenna tower while adding more antennas to increase our broadcast area. Recently, the President of East Timor awarded RV with a certificate of appreciation for positively impacting the nation. Given the persecution that we faced previously, this award represents some of the positive changes occurring in East Timor and our role in it.

Elienae Moura reports on a group of ladies from the Church of Same, one of the towns in the mountains of Timor Leste, who took an unusual step. They decided to visit the new local authorities who were put in charge a couple of months ago after winning the election. They visited them to pray and explain the principle of authority, which comes from God, and that they are responsible before the Lord having been placed in a position of trust. They also encouraged them by telling them that the Church will always be praying for them. Praise the Lord for the boldness of the women who have been positively received by the leaders. Now they have been asked to come every once in awhile and pray for them at the office.

We continue to emphasise that the church must be a blessing for the country of East Timor to encourage believers that they have an important role to fulfill in the midst of their community. This is another great example of the church understanding the power of the vision to be a blessing.