wfn.org | Adventists to Launch Largest-Ever Global Satellite Outreach

["Christian B. Schäffler" <APD_Info_Schweiz@compuserve.com>]

September 26, 1998
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland
98/SEPT/07

ADVENTIST CHURCH TO LAUNCH LARGEST-EVER GLOBAL 
SATELLITE OUTREACH 

Silver Spring, Maryland/USA, 27.09.1998  [ANN/APD] Net '98, 
the largest-ever global satellite outreach program of the 
Seventh-day Adventist Church, launches October 9. The series 
of broadcasts will be down-linked to over 4,600 locations 
around the world, with an additional 3,000 participating on a 
delayed basis using video tapes.

"We estimate between 100 - 200 persons attending per 
location," says Brad Thorp, director for the Adventist Global 
Communication Network, which is co-ordinating the 
broadcasts world-wide. "That means with 7,600 locations we 
would have between 750,000 to 1.5 million per session 
attending, and I would not be surprised that it will go higher 
than this."

Net '98 is unquestionably the largest such outreach program 
ever attempted by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and in 
terms of total sites, duration, and numbers world-wide, may 
be the largest ever undertaken by a religious organisation.

"Overall, with the total series and adding all the people every 
night who attend, we could have between 35-40 million 
people as a cumulative total who see and hear these 
messages of the gospel," Thorp continues. "This does not 
count the many people who  will be blessed through the 
repetition of the program through future broadcasts or VHS  
tapes being reused. This is a thrilling and really awesome 
possibility."

More than 200 countries are expected to participate, and the 
live transmissions of evangelist Dwight Nelson from 
Michigan/USA will feature simultaneous translation into more 
than 40 languages. 98/SEPT/07