News

In June 2008, It Is Written featured a special Father's Day program on its weekly telecast. In last month’s Mother's Day program, Pastor Shawn Boonstra interviewed his wife, Jean, about being a mom in today's busy world. In this show, the tables were turned as Jean interviewed Shawn about his role as a father. Click here to learn about the importance of family worship, discipline, and the most significant role a father can play.

This Sunday (May 11) It Is Written will feature a special Mother's Day program on its weekly telecast. During this show, Shawn and Jean Boonstra will speak candidly about the challenges of motherhood in a busy world. This program will then be followed up by a Father's Day telecast on June 15.

From Feb. 1 - March 1, 2008, thousands attended Revelation Speaks Peace in Portland. This month-long series was a joint effort between It Is Written and the Oregon Conference. Although the Pacific Northwest is known for having an overall lower rate of church attendance, people from surrounding areas packed the Oregon Convention Center to listen as Pastor Shawn Boonstra opened the Bible.

From March 15-22, Pastor Robert Costa and the Está Escrito team traveled to La Paz, Bolivia, to hold a series of meetings in conjunction with 2,500 churches around the world. During this time, two satellite networks—the Nuevo Tiempo Network and the Hope Network—shared the meetings with millions of Spanish-speaking people in scores of countries. The nightly messages reached churches in North and South America, the Caribbean Islands, Western Europe, North Africa, the Philippines and other Asian nations where Hispanics are living and working.

This month, Pastor Shawn Boonstra is conducting series of meetings at the Oregon Convention Center. The event is being held Feb. 1 - March 1 and more information is available at www.revelationspeakspeace.com If you have friends living in the Portland area, please encourage them to attend!

Your support of this ministry stretches incredibly far! Here are just a few examples of the projects your donations support: The Telecast The It Is Written television program reaches people in 143 nations of the world in 11 languages. It regularly ranks in Nielsen’s listing of the top religious television programs…

"Out of Thin Air" begins Friday night, Sept. 28, at 7 p.m. in churches around the United States and Canada. Attendees may register to attend on-site during the event, by calling 1-877-527-7327 or by visiting www.thinairevent.com.

Some people get their morning pick-me-up from a cup of coffee, but eventually the caffeine kick fades and leaves little benefit behind. But what if a more meaningful form of morning sustenance was available? It Is Written Television has set out to change the way people start their mornings by offering viewers a three-minute online spiritual boost. Beginning Monday, Sept. 3, this new daily devotional program, called "A Better Way to Live," will be available Monday – Friday through the It Is Written website and iTunes.

Throughout the first part of 2007, churches all across the Bolivian Union worked in concert to produce something spectacular for God: The Hope Is Jesus. All across the nation, laypeople linked arms with the clergy to bring the gospel of Christ to their neighborhoods. As a result, more than 2,240 evangelistic meetings were held across the country. The effort came to a peak in April, when It Is Written participated in a weeklong series of reaping meetings. For eight nights, I had the privilege of preaching to thousands of people who had gathered in hundreds of auditoriums to watch The Hope Is Jesus as it was broadcast live from the auditorium at the Adventist University of Cochabamba. For eight nights, we explained the essentials of the Christian faith and called people to make decisions for Christ.

We would like to introduce you to the two newest members of our team. Bob Daum recently accepted the directorship of the It Is Written Planned Giving & Trust Services department, and in April, Peter Rampton joined him as associate director. Both of these capable leaders have a wealth of experience…

Over the years, It Is Written has discovered time and again that evangelism still works in North America. In addition to television, online, satellite, and resource outreach efforts, the ministry believes strongly in the impact a full-message evangelistic campaign can have on a city. Incredible results have recently emerged from It Is Written meetings in places like San Diego, Denver and Phoenix, and in the next two years, the ministry is dreaming big and tackling two of the largest cities in North America.

In late 2006, at the request of the Spanish Union, Pastor Robert Costa--who serves as speaker for Está Escrito--traveled to Spain to conduct two series in the Canary Islands and Seville.

From June 17-30, Pastor Shawn Boonstra, Pastor Robert Costa and the It Is Written team will conduct a caravan series in the major cities of Peru. All of these efforts will culminate on Sabbath, June 30, during a massive rally in Lima's 45,000-seat National Stadium.

When It Is Written Oceania, the ministry's new regional telecast in the South Pacific, debuted on Australia's largest television network in April 2007, it became the country's highest rated religious broadcast within its first week. This marked another milestone in the history of the It Is Written ministry, which now has seven regional telecasts that feature speakers who tailor messages to the culture?and in many cases, language?of their region.

The It Is Written team has just returned from one of the most forbidding climates on earth—the Arctic—a vast desert of white that was named, strangely enough, by the Greeks. They called it Arktikos, which is not a reference to the cold, but rather to its position on the globe. To the ancient Greeks, it was the land to the north, directly under the constellation of Ursa Major, the great bear. It was the North Star, Polaris, that tied the massive cosmic bear to the lands that occupied the top of the globe. Arktikos was the land of the great bear.

Last year the It Is Written team—led by the ministry's remote tribes coordinator, Sebastian Tirtirau—delivered 750 solar-powered audio Bibles to the San people of the Kalahari Desert. These special units, roughly the size of a garage door opener, contain the full text of the Bible in the "clicking" language of the San. Another order for 2,400 solar-powered MP3 players has just been completed. These new units include the Bible, Steps to Christ, and 21 simple Bible studies—all in the San language. This summer, a team will deliver these remarkable devices to 185 villages in Botswana and Namibia.  

Fifteen years ago, a 10-year-old girl named Simfora Ostriceonu gave a Bible and a set of lessons to her atheist history teacher, Sebastian Tirtirau. As a result of that kind gesture, Tirtirau accepted Jesus, became a Christian and went on to establish a ministry that is reaching the remote tribes of the world with the gospel. Had it not been for Ostriceonu's courage during a time when a person could be thrown into prison for sharing the Bible, the events of January 2007 may never have taken place. Instead, thanks to her simple act of faith, more than 200 people gathered in Vama, Romania, on Jan. 21 to dedicate a "Remote Tribe Training Center" that will be used to proclaim hope in Jesus to the far corners of the world.

Please note that the It Is Written direct office phone numbers have changed. Please update your records with this information, as the old numbers will soon be disconnected. The toll-free numbers have not changed.

Exciting events are in store for you at an upcoming 2007 Partnership weekend. This year has already witnessed the unfolding of many unusual and thrilling opportunities for the worldwide impact of the It Is Written ministry, and you can join us on the front lines.

In April 2007, the Excellence in Media organization presented It Is Written with two silver Angel Awards.