Jeanne DamasioJakarta, IndonesiaAug 24, 2026, 8:15 PM
About 40 Hope Channel leaders from South and Southeast Asia met in Jakarta, Indonesia, from August 4 to 8, 2026, to begin a leadership program that continues online for six months and closes in late February 2027.
The week opened the LeadLab Growth Series, built by the Global Leadership Institute at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. The institute asks each partner to "grow growing leaders who grow growing leaders," and the program is structured to make that possible. Every group that finishes is expected to train the group that follows.
Hope Channel came to LeadLab as a partner. The program belongs to the institute, and Hope Channel added its own material to the framework. LeadLab reached Jakarta through the Southern Asia-Pacific Division, one of the 13 administrative regions of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, covering South and Southeast Asia. This is one of several LeadLabs the division runs across its own territory.
According to Ramiro Quero, Hope Channel International's director of network strategy, development, and training, the push behind this edition came from Michael Palar, who coordinates Hope Channel across the division.
Palar spent years running a single channel before the whole territory became his responsibility, Quero said, and has used the wider role to carry strategy and leadership training to every station in the territory. Quero added that Palar has been most insistent about the smallest channels, the ones still working toward a broadcast license.
Robbie Berghan, Hope Channel International's vice president for global media and engagement, led the sessions in Jakarta with Quero.
"When leaders learn together inside their own region, something deeper happens than training. They build trust, share what works, and carry each other's convictions home. Every leader we strengthen becomes another door opening for the gospel of Jesus to reach people who have never heard it," Berghan said.
"Investing in developing leaders is essential for mission impact," Quero said. "The more we can help our leaders shift to an audience-based mindset, the more effective our reach will be."
"One of the purposes of LeadLab is to develop capable leaders who can make each Hope Channel station more relevant and impactful," Palar adds.
LeadLab runs in stages. It opens with a consultation, which sets the topics and the schedule.
A launch event of two or three days starts the work, with short online modules to follow, across six to 12 months depending on the field.
The participants then return in person for three days, in a closing called LeadLab Forward, to take stock of what has changed in them and to say where they believe God is leading them next.
Hope Channel Indonesia also inaugurated its new studio at the Gedung Pertemuan Advent in Jakarta on August 4, and a live-streamed concert with 18 choirs closed the week.
The online modules begin in the weeks after the launch. When the group gathers again in late February, the next round of training will fall to the leaders trained in this one.
