Several years ago, Words of Hope Albania began a new radio program project called, “The Truth I Hold.” The goal of the project was to record 365 testimonies from Albanian Christians, and then produce them as life stories for radio.
This ambitious goal was achieved, and the programs proved popular. From there, the team decided to try a new form of delivery. They began recording more life testimony stories, but this time, producing them as videos for television and YouTube.
“It is a great production,” director Erion Prendi explains. “We not only see the success of how many people view it on YouTube—it really is a popular program—but we have seen it be very important for ministry and outreach as well.”
The first season of 30 interviews has been completed, and filming for season two is currently underway.
A church in Zurich, Switzerland recently contacted the team in Albania about the program. The church has a large outreach to a settlement of Kosovar Albanians in their country, and they had been watching “The Truth I Hold” programs together on YouTube.
“We get together and listen to the 30 minute testimonies,” wrote the church ministry coordinator. “These are authentic. We can tell that these are real stories because the Albanians relate to the stories. They go back to communism and so on, and explore persecution and other faith struggles.”
Erion explains what he sees as the appeal of the programs. “This was not a program that would focus on the pastors, but would instead tell the stories of people with mainstream careers that still allow them to minister to others. We interview people whose friends might not even know that they are Christians, and help the viewer understand why the person believes what they believe. We have interviewed doctors, lawyers, kindergarten teachers, and more.”
The videos on YouTube get thousands of views, and the responses from individual viewers are very encouraging.
One person commented, “After watching a couple of stories in these videos I am indeed encouraged. I congratulate you for the colossal work that you have done in this important mission of spreading words of hope.”
Please pray with us that more people will be able and willing to listen to these programs online or watch them on television. Also pray that God will use these testimonies to reach more people for his kingdom.
