“It is in calamity that the power of radio comes into its own.

“It is in personal tragedy that the saving message of the Gospel can be heard.

“This is the essence of our radio ministry,” says Peter McIntyre, Feba-supported missionary, in the aftermath of Typhoon Ketsana, one of the heaviest tropical storms in 40 years.

The cameras are gone. Typhoon waters are receding. World attention has moved on elsewhere as people in Metro Manila try to get back to normality.

In Manila, a key part of Peter’s job is working with eight regional stations located around the country. The range of stations means that should one suffer a problem, the others can still continue business as usual.

“My work is alongside the various programmers and producers. They have the language; they have the culture. But they need assistance with the programmes’ content. This is where I can help. I help them to contextualise the Gospel.”

In an area lashed by severe tropical storms, and some living with the risk of rivers bursting their banks or dams spilling over, people try to replace the necessities.

Some families have suffered deep tragedies: losing loved ones in addition to losing entire homes.

As people try to help their immediate family, Peter shares the word of God’s love through the radio programmes, and people have found spiritual strength, hope and comfort.

Touching lives
A listener wrote: “Your radio station became my friend when I didn’t have one. Listening to you encouraged me and cheered me up whenever I felt low. Through your station, I was able to gain a lot of friends in the Lord. You made me realise that God really loves me and my family.”

Bringing Jesus’ words’, “Love thy neighbour” to life, and helping with the clear-up in mud-swamped homes and streets, are the students from Faith Academy – a senior school largely comprising children of missionary parents working in the region.

Since the school was closed, and used temporarily as an evacuation centre, the students were organised into work battalions to help locals to shovel mud from homes, clear rubbish from streets and deliver clean water.

Jesus’ caring and sharing example demonstrated by the Christian young people, working hard and compassionately for the local residents, made a noticeable difference - and caused comment in the local community. “Who are these people? Why are they helping people they don’t know?”

Challenges become opportunities
As Peter says: “Most of our community testify that the floods gave an amazing opportunity to demonstrate that God’s love is not dependent on kinship.”

Meanwhile, work on the regional stations continues apace, with each having its own challenges. Currently the station in Cagayan is still under construction, while in Legazpi, a transmitting tower is being moved. Staff at the Cebu station are learning to transfer programmes to the internet.

But despite the greater and lesser hurdles Peter and the team face, the message of Jesus is heard loud and clear in Manila.