Rated PG Celebrates Two Years On The Air

Rated PG, a family oriented radio program of the Church of the Nazarene is now two years on the air, broadcast on 1188 DZXO AM every Saturday at 3PM in Cabanatuan City. Pastors and members from Nueva Ecija Zone came together to celebrate the 2^nd anniversary of the program, beginning with a lunch fellowship with the station owners, Mr. and Mrs. Edzel Dominado and their station manager.

The group then moved to the radio station for an hour of live broadcast to witness how our program is done. Emily Bolinas, the host of the program, led the group of pastors in discussing the topic "The Secrets of Effective Parenting." Ate Emz asked the listeners to SMS their greetings and appreciation to their parents with the promise that they will receive a VCD and a gift item. Grace Tia of "Kayang-Kaya" segment read the greetings on air. After the program there was more time for food and picture taking with the station personnel.

But the real challenge happened after the anniversary celebration. Pastor Cryz Colorado responded to all the text messages of those who sent their greetings from different places in the province. Some of them are members of our churches but some of them are not.  Pastor Cryz reported, "One texter asked for my counsel that very night. She told me that she is an avid listener of the program. Another texter from Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija said that her whole family is listening to the program every Saturday. She asked me to greet her, thinking that our program is a live broadcast every episode. There are two listeners, Joy and Joice from Laur, Nueva Ecija also texted me. Instead of asking them to come and get their gifts, I made an appointment with them that my wife and I will go there instead so that we could meet them personally."

When the pastor and his wife, Nerizza, went to their place in Sitio Camias, Laur, Nueva Ecija they discovered a community of Visayan people who migrated to the place a couple of decades ago. The original texter, Joy, along with her sister and other youth met Cryz and Nerizza at the foot of the mountain where they discovered it was at least an hour hike up the mountain to reach the place!  

Rev. Colorado relates: "The place is beautiful with a view of the Sierra Madre Mountain ranges.  We crossed a swamp and hiked on roads that no vehicle could pass. We finally reached the place sweating and gasping for air. We discovered about thirty families/households residing in the community where there is no power supply. In spite of this lack of power, many houses have their own TV sets and transistor radios using car batteries.  We also learned that there are no active evangelical churches in this area."

"We met the parents of Joy and her other siblings and relatives who are all listening to our program. We cooked the food that we purchased at the only store of the community and had fellowship with them. Before we left the place, we asked the whole family and friends of Joy to pray with us, and thanked them for such a warm welcome they have shown us. They told us that they really appreciated our visit because we are the first pastor to visit them in the past several years. For that reason we believe that it was not an accident that we went there. We promised them that we will return."

"As we returned to Cabanatuan, my wife Nerizza and I were praying that God would indeed open doors for us to minister in that community. We returned to our church and shared our testimony in our prayer meeting and worship service. The congregation responded with enthusiasm to reach out to that community. Our group of young people and some adults will go back to Laur for evangelism and community service.

by: Cryz Colorado

this post was filed under Around The Region on Nov 12, 2007