Day Forty Two through Forty Four -- Sharathon 2008

Tuesday through Thursday of last week, we held our first major, local Sharathon for the purpose of raising funds to complete the construction of our new studio addition. The total cost of the building is slightly over $700,000. We had raised almost $40,000 prior to the Sharathon, and God helped us to raise $25,000 additional during the three day event. We obviously still have a long way to go, but the words of support and encouragement we received from those who became partners with us provided a great boost to our faith.

During the Sharathon we raised up the vision for more relevant local Christian programming which the studio will make possible. It will also provide another means of generating revenue by allowing us to produce commercials and programs for outside businesses and ministries. Finally, and also of great importance, is to provide a facility for Global Vision Video Institute. We feel called to provide training in video production to the next generation of communicators of the Gospel. This facility, when fully equipped, will provide state-of-the-art equipment to serve as a laboratory in which to study the art and practice of visual communication.

Doing three nights of studio production without a completed studio proved to be a bit of a challenge, but one that our ministry family tackled with great enthusiasm. The studio space was under roof with metal studs in place but no drywall installed. We had the electricians provide some temporary power and we hung five studio light fixtures directly from the roof trusses. Our three portable cameras were set up on tripods and we were ready for three nights of adventure.

Pastor John Antonucci from Faith Fellowship was one of several local pastors who ministered to our viewers and encouraged their participation by prayer and financial support.

Our makeshift control room, manned by director Rick Moreno, was powered by a remarkable device known as a Tri-Caster. It is the small square box with cables connected to it sitting on top of the speaker. It weighs five pounds and contains all the functions that a room full of equipment costing hundreds of thousands of dollars would have provided just a few years ago. One of Rick's favorite sayings, "Teamwork makes the dream work!" was very evident as all of our staff united to make this effort a success. Since the Sharathon, a lot of construction activity has resumed, and our next blog post will show you what is taking place now.