Saturday, September 3, 2005

CROSS IN THE SKY APPEARS OVER THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING AT THE LAUNCH OF NEW CHRISTIAN CHANNEL FOR NEW YORK
Witnesses Believe It Was Sign Of God's Blessing On This New Broadcasting Outreach

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries



(Pictured: Cross in the sky over the Empire State Building)

NEW YORK CITY, NY (ANS) -- It was just before midnight Thursday, August 31, when a glowing cross suddenly appeared in the darkened sky above the towering Empire State Building in New York City.

A group of international broadcasters were gathered on the Observatory platform located on the 86th floor, 1,050 feet (320 meters) above the city's darkened streets looking down at the awe-inspiring skyline of Manhattan, when one of them looked up and saw the cross in the sky above the historic building.

The group was there for the official launch of the Global Christian Network (GCN) with programming airing in the New York market via WEBR -- Channel 17 and reaching over 300 cities and more than 14 million households across the United Sates via La Familia Cosmovision cable network.

(Pictured: Some of the participants in worship service at Empire State Building).

I also witnessed this extraordinary sight and so I asked two of those there what they made of what they were seeing.

Esteban Handal, who spearheads JBN (Jesus Broadcasting Network) TV in Honduras, told me, "I am impacted because we have been in a celebration of the opening of GCN and especially the opening of Channel 17 in New York and now we have seen the miracle and wonder of a cross made, I believe, by light from lightening. It is a supernatural sign in the form of a cross in heaven. I believe that this means that Jesus Christ is with us and with GCN and also with all the people of the world that want to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all the souls that are in need of being saved before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior."

Johnny Kim, the director of Manmin TV in Seoul, Korea, then described the sight as -- "amazing and unbelievable."

He went on to say, "This is a sign from God Almighty to show that He is delighted with the new channel of the Global Christian Network."

After the excitement of seeing the sign of the cross, the group then went down to the GCN broadcast facility on 82nd floor of the Empire State Building to witness, on the stoke of midnight, the first broadcast of GCN's first 24 hour signal via low power television, WEBR, Channel 17, which will reach nearly 12 million people in the greater New York City area with GCN's unique programming lineup.

(Pictured: Nestor Colombo watches launch of WEBR -- Channel 17 -- on portable TV).

They gathered around monitors and some watched on tiny portable TV sets as they went on the air and then huge cries of "Praise the Lord" -- and "Hallelujah" -- rang around the room.

The broadcasters that included Boaz Lee, president of Manmin TV in Seoul, Korea; as well as representatives of the 100,000-member Manmin Joong-Ang Church who have been instrumental in the development of the project, then joined hands and thanked God for the fulfillment of a vision that began sixteen months previously when many of them gathered in Seoul for the inception of GCN.

They then offered up brief "Thanksgiving Worship Service" to "God Trinity" with the singing of "Amazing Grace" and praying together. Then they listened to a short message from Rev. Dr. Sang-Tae Kim after the invocation by Rev. Nestor Colombo, Executive Director of GCN.

Johnny Kim, the director of GCN, who presided the service said, "First of all I give all the glory, honor and praise to God almighty who has blessed us with this wonderful Christian channel and I especially give thanks to the Rev. Dr. Jae-Rock Lee, the chairman of this channel, who has been praying for a lot of time and supporting it both physically and spiritually to achieve the vision by faith in Christ Jesus."

(Pictured: Igor Nikitin).

Afterwards, I spoke with Igor Nikitin, President of the Association of Christians in Russia (ACCR) and Director of an extensive television network across the former Soviet Union who had traveled from St. Petersburg for the event.

He said, "This is very exciting for me to be in the Empire State Building "this historic place" to see the launching of Christian television from here. I believe this is like a blessing of the Lord covering the whole of New York and the New Jersey area.

"There are a million Russian-speaking people living in New York I will do everything in my power to let them know about GCN and how they can watch the programs here."

When asked if he planned to have some of the GCN programs in Russia, he said. "We are right now five satellites spreading the Gospel pretty well all over the world except to New Zealand and Australia. GCN has some very high quality programs and we plan to use them for our television as well."

Johnny Kim then said, "GCN will have a wide variety of programming. It is mainly good quality family oriented programming and I would like to say that we will also have programs that will carry the life-giving message of Jesus Christ and also will also have programs that will show the tangible evidences of the Living God so that viewers may have the faith in Christ Jesus through them. Then through that will have the faith to live a victorious life in this wicked world. It is very important to show this kind of programming which builds up the spiritual faith."

Kim went on to say that the programming will initially be in English, but he hopes soon that they will also have programs in major languages including Spanish, Russian and even Arabic.

Nestor Colombo, who was formerly president of HNRB (Hispanic National Christians Broadcasters), then summarized the vision of the organization in the following way:

"The Global Christian Network is a Georgia-based, not-for-profit, charitable, religious, and educational organization incorporated on June 2, 2004," he began. "Its purpose is to produce, distribute and broadcast high quality, international, Christian and family-value programming to local and regional affiliate stations and networks around the world, first in English and eventually in as many as five different languages. The vision of the network is to directly impact the cultural, social, and spiritual quality of life for viewing families and individuals with the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

GCN Headquarters is located in the northeast area of Metro Atlanta, on the thoroughfare that runs between great football rivals Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia. Atlanta is not only one of the world's most international cities and home to numerous international giants in the television industry -- including CNN, TNT, TBS, Superstation, Cartoon Network, The Weather Channel, and others; but it is also houses the headquarters of many Christian and family-friendly media ministries and corporations.

GCN's offices occupy approximately 10,000 ft. of installations and house both administration and production and broadcast facilities. The building is situated on 2 acres of land which will accommodate a future satellite uplink facility for the Network. In addition, the organization has plans underway for converting the 3,000 ft. warehouse into a full production studio.

Their website can be found at www.gcntv.org.

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Note: A higher resolution of the picture of the cross in the sky is available on request from Dan Wooding at dajuma1@aol.com.
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Dan Wooding is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). Wooding is the co-host of the weekly radio show, "Window on the World" and was, for ten years a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. Wooding is the author of some 42 books, the latest of which is his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, go to www.fromtabloidtotruth.com.
danjuma1@aol.com.



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