Hope Channel Leaders Call for Gospel Media That Leads to Personal Follow-Up

Hope Channel International leaders called for media outreach that helps people across cultures understand the gospel of Jesus and offers prayer, Bible study, and personal support as they explore faith. Speaking at the Media for Mission conference in Silver Spring, Maryland, on October 8, during the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s 2026 Annual Council, they urged teams to research their audiences’ beliefs and questions before producing content and work with local communities to welcome those who respond. “Real love requires understanding [people] where they are and answering the questions they have,” said HCI President Vyacheslav Demyan.

Before becoming a pastor, Robbie Berghan worked as a software engineer for a company that built bridges. He is now HCI’s vice president for global media and engagement. Drawing on that experience, he described a gap in outreach: media can attract an audience yet leave people without a connection to a community that can support their faith. “If you don’t build the full bridge, you have built a diving board,” he said.

Berghan said the scale of the work kept him awake at night and led him and his family to pray intensely. He outlined a process that starts with understanding people’s needs, then uses relevant content and a clear invitation to connect them with a local congregation.

Robbie Berghan, Hope Channel International’s vice president for global media and engagement, urged media teams to give viewers a clear next step after watching. Those invitations should connect people with local congregations where they can receive support as they explore faith. Photo: Adventist Media Exchange.

In one project he described, plans for a YouTube channel included a 13-part series of 27-minute episodes. Research showed the intended audience spent its time on Instagram and watched in short bursts. The team changed its plan to 90-second videos and reconsidered its subjects, he said, shaping the content around the concerns of its intended viewers.

In Thailand, Hope Channel Southeast Asia found that people scrolled past its biblical content, Demyan said. Research into the concerns of Buddhist audiences identified an interest in prayer, so the team developed five points of contact involving prayer, allowing time for trust to grow. He urged producers to consider how people understand God and truth, what they fear, and what keeps them from approaching Jesus. Communicators should adapt their language, topics, and opening questions, he said, while keeping the biblical message unchanged.

Sam Neves, HCI’s vice president for advancement and communication, used the hat he was wearing indoors to illustrate how cultural expectations affect communication. Some listeners, he said, could see it as a sign of disrespect. Neves linked the willingness to adapt language and behavior to love for people of another culture or generation, pointing to Jesus’ example of entering human life and speaking in a language people could understand. “Do I love you enough to communicate with you?” Neves asked.

Sam Neves, Hope Channel International’s vice president for advancement and communication, described adapting language and behavior for people of another culture or generation as an act of love, following Jesus’ example. Photo: Tor Tjeransen, Adventist Media Exchange.

Abraham Bakari, HCI’s vice president-elect for global integration, described how such a personal response worked during Africa for Christ, broadcast from Lagos, Nigeria, April 26 through May 9. The campaign included English, French, Yoruba, and Hausa among its languages, with broadcasts on Hope Channel Africa, YouTube, and radio. Local teams answered calls, prayed with people, and provided addresses for gatherings, including homes opened for people to watch together.

One person saw a Facebook advertisement and asked for prayer about financial difficulties, Bakari said. A campaign worker facing financial struggles of his own prayed with the person, and the caller later accepted an invitation to attend the meetings. Bakari urged ministries to assign someone to follow up with those who respond and welcome them into a local community. “And at the end, make sure that somebody is ready to listen to them,” he said.

Berghan urged media teams to measure the connections their content creates. The bridge he described ends in a local congregation. There, people who respond to the gospel of Jesus are welcomed and helped to grow in faith. Decisions to follow Jesus, he said, “happen in community.”