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Co-founders, GOD TV, which broadcasts 24 hours daily direct via satellite from Jerusalem on 12 satellites to 212 nations and 200 million viewers
Founders, Alec-Gene Productions, commercial production house, South Africa
The vision of Rory and Wendy Alec and GOD TV is for every television household around the world to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Today GOD TV broadcasts from Jerusalem on twelve satellites to 212 nations with 200 million viewers. However, Rory and Wendy Alec say the U.K. is still the homebase, from which they broadcast across Europe. There are five channels: two 24-hour channels in England (God 1 and God 2); one in Africa; one in India; and one for webcast to reach more people. The Alecs have found a spiritual breakthrough by airing on Direct TV in France, considering the dry spiritual climate. In the Middle East, GOD TV reaches the countries of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria. The Alecs have seen significant results in the growth of new believers in the last two years, especially in Jordan. GOD TV has an office in Germany that broadcasts to Scandanavia. In Africa the head office is in Cape Town. They reach Uganda, Kenya, and Nigeria by two satellites. Uganda Terrestrial is airing GOD TV six hours a day. Since 2003 GOD TV has been broadcasting in India. It is headquartered in Chennai and reaches 15.5 million homes.
Via the Internet GOD TV goes to Turkey, Korea, and Thailand. GOD TV has also expanded to help local ministries, especially in Africa, with water wells and orphanages, helping HIV- and AIDS-infected children.
In 2004 GOD TV started broadcasting on the largest cable network in Hong Kong. The Alecs believe it was important to establish broadcast facilities in China while there was still a window of opportunity to spread the Gospel through the airwaves. They are also setting up a U.S. headquarters in Washington, D.C., and are hoping to have it running by Spring 2005. They chose D.C. after getting a prophetic call from God. The Alecs attended a recent presidential prayer breakfast, and they felt that they could not leave.
They have also published a book of prophecies called Journal of the Unknown Prophet.
GOD'S CALL
Rory grew up in South Africa and was passionate about his musical talents - playing the drums and piano. As a teen he clashed with his step-father and was led to salvation through the influence of an exchange student.
Rory and Wendy met several years later when she was invited to sing at his church where he led praise & worship. Wendy had emigrated at age 8 with her parents from England to South Africa. After rebellious teen years, she surrendered to God after she had a dramatic encounter with Jesus. The Alecs married in 1987 with an enormous vision to reach the nations through creative evangelism.
Working for ad agencies, they developed national campaigns for Pizza Hut and Panasonic. Next they launched their own TV commercial production house, Alec-Gene Productions, quickly moving into the top ten with very creative, high-profile ads. But the political situation changed in South Africa, creating a highly volatile business climate. Their business failed and they lost everything. Their dream was shattered.
They ended up on the doorstep of Wendy's parents in England with their three-week-old
daughter and £800 ($450) to their name. Rory was lured into the glitzy
world of music promotion; he raised the capital from Christians and put together
a tour for a South African jazz fusion group that got rave reviews but failed
financially. Rory realized his faith had been superficial. He repented and
was delivered from generational curses, especially that of Freemasonry.
TRIALS OF TRUTH
Rory worked on staff with a church and looked for outlets for the TV shows the church was producing. There was no daily Christian TV in Europe, and many believers with great financing had been trying for years. The Alecs and some Christian businessmen decided to raise funds to finance Christian TV. They learned of a deal to sell gold from Ghana in Europe, which turned out to be a fraud. However, the good news is that when Rory went to Ghana to check it out, he was transformed spiritually by an encounter with a Ghanaian pastor. He returned to England with an anointing to preach the Gospel.
In July 1994 at a conference, the speaker from Malaysia who had never met Rory and Wendy and knew nothing of their desire for Christian TV, stopped in the middle of his sermon, called them out of the congregation, and prophesied that their network would "turn the destiny of the Church." It was great encouragement. Things were worse than when they first arrived in England, and for a time they were on income support (welfare).
THE BEGINNINGS OF CHRISTIAN CHANNEL EUROPE
In January 1995 Rory felt the Lord wanted them to go after the Astra satellite, which in the natural was completely impossible. The Astra satellite carries every significant TV channel and beams into 48 million European homes. Many Christian groups had tried for years to gain access to no avail. By God's favor, within a short time the notoriously slow moving ITC granted them a license for 10 years!
Rory and Wendy came to the United States, hoping to raise funds through Christian media ministries, but that idea failed. Despite lip service to God being their source, their eyes had shifted to men. God provided in other ways. For a substantial discount, one American TV minister paid for a year's programming upfront. The Alecs rented studio space from the Family Channel's location near London (rent free for the first four months).
The Christian Channel Europe went on the air at 5:00 a.m. Sunday, October 1, 1995, on the Sky Channel as soon as the Sci-Fi Channel signed off. Thus began the fulfillment of God's command to Rory and Wendy: to broadcast the uncompromised Word of God and God's move of the Holy Spirit , and in return they had God's assurance that the Christian Channel Europe would spearhead revival through Europe.
Moving to the North of England in 1997, Christian Channel Europe soon found state-of-the art studios that had been built 10 years before to train staff for the BBC but were in liquidation. Rory and Wendy had a flagship 15-minute program, Good Morning Europe, which was broadcast from their living room when they first went on the air. While they air numerous British and European ministry programs, among the American produced shows are The 700 Club, Benny Hinn, Marilyn Hickey, T.D. Jakes, Jack Hayford, Joyce Meyer, and Brownsville Assembly. They hoped to broadcast 24 hours a day on the Sirius European satellite.
Because they were not permitted by the government to fundraise on the air (£3 million a year), in 2002 Rory and Wendy took a bold step to move the broadcast and uplink facilities of GOD TV to Jerusalem, a prophetic fulfilment that God's Word shall go forth from Jerusalem (Micah 4:2).
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