Blueprint Outposts

Dear Family and Friends,

I have been terribly delinquent with writing to you and letting you know what is going on here in Grenada. Please accept my apologies!  With many exciting developments taking
place within GFN, I couldn’t wait any longer to give you a brief report of what God is doing and has been doing in preparation to spread His good news to the world in these last days. 

Update: 

Radio: 

• As you may recall, last year I was feeling convicted that the time was at hand for the Lord
  to move.  I prayed and searched God’s word for conformation to go to the US to attend a broadcasting convention and to order the first portion of our broadcasting equipment totaling $20,000 US in expenses.   The only problem was I had absolutely no money.  While praying,
  reading and praying some more, the Lord clearly directed my attention to John 20:21, “…as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.” In that moment, God gave me clear direction to go to the US, trusting that He would provide.  Soon after arriving at the conference, I received word that I had received a $20,000 donation!  God is so good!  Since then the Lord has provided miraculously a second time and as of January this year we have received two shipments of radio station broadcast equipment. Having the radio equipment was a start and now I needed to wait for more answers to prayers. As we speak the radio station in St. Paul’s is 95% complete and we are waiting for a final agreement with the tower owners on Mt. Maitland in order to install our transmitter and broadcast antennas. 
•  
• Please keep this agreement and the final installation of the equipment in your prayers.  Lord willing we will be on the air in April!

  In addition to this, after several years of waiting, on December 5^th, 2008 I signed
  the last of our broadcast licenses necessary to broadcast on 91.3 FM.  God is opening the way.

  If you believe in our mission, please don't forget to include us in your wills, life insurance quotes as beneficiaries.  These can make all the difference.
•  

     

                            Radio Station                                                  Radio Station 

  
  

       Studio to Transmitter Link Antenna
  

                         
   
   

  TV: 

  • We applied for our TV broadcast license in December of 1999.  Following the organization of the
    National Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (NTRC) we reapplied at their request in July of 2004.  After repeated attempts to talk with the responsible minister concerning the approval of our license, we finally secured an audience with the Prime Minister.  He was very positive and wrote a letter to the minister asking him to grant our license.  Still, no license was granted.  I was not worried.  I knew that when the Lord was ready He would open the way.  I am happy to announce that on December 12^th of 2008, after 9 years of waiting, I signed our Channel 4 TV broadcast license!  Now we are waiting on only two items.  The first is a Studio to Transmitter Link license to carry our signal to our main transmitter.  This license is not a big deal and we expect to have it shortly.  The other thing we are waiting for is for the Lord to provide for the equipment.  This we believe is just around the corner.  Watch for a miracle after the radio station is on the air! 
     
  • Thanks for your prayers on this matter and stay tuned.  The Lord will provide just as He
    did for the radio station at just the right moment.

   
   

  Volunteers: 

  • We are sad to report that our last volunteer family returned home in January due to their need
    to attend to their business.  We wish them the best and are thankful for their service here.
  • On a happier note, we have another volunteer family who will be arriving near the end of this month!  We are really looking forward to working with them.  Steve and Samra Shedell have already been helping out with collecting hundreds of CDs for the radio station and when they arrive they will help run the station, produce video for the TV station and provide architectural design work for the project.

   
   

  Larger Vision: 

  • We at GFN and our parent organization Gospel Ministries International (GMI) believe that Jesus’
    coming is fast approaching and that the final time of trouble beginning with a law enforcing Sunday rest/worship is just around the corner.  We also believe that prior to this time, Jesus will have a purified people prepared to proclaim God’s truth with great power on a world wide scale as symbolized by the White Horse of Revelation.  For that reason, by faith (without a penny in our pockets), we are preparing TV and radio networks similar to GFN all around the world in many languages to spread the truth about Jesus, His soon return, and His ability to enable us to follow Him perfectly.  Some of these networks are in the countries of Bolivia, Romania, Spain, Germany, Martinique, the US, Philippines, Thailand, Australia, various countries in Africa and
    more.  But the Lord has informed us that our vision is too small.  How can the Lord conquer the whole world with a small number of $1.5 million dollar TV networks?  Hardly a force strong enough to conquer the world for the Lord…  Our vision is too small.  Our level of faith indicates that we believe that we serve a “weak” God…  After adjusting to God’s vision of our weak faith, we have expanded our vision as a world organization and right here at GFN in Grenada as well.  We still plan to build our small TV station and studio in St. Paul’s for efficiency reasons but our plans are expanding drastically.  We are planning by faith to purchase a large tract of land.  On that land we intend to build a number of buildings and ministries/services to reach the Caribbean region and beyond including the following: a large media center for both TV and radio, a printery to print books
    and tracts, a secondary school with dormitories to educate and train young people in harmony with the Spirit of Prophecy, a school of evangelism to train Bible workers, a bakery to provide healthful baked products and to teach people how to bake healthfully, a wellness center to treat and train people in the principals of natural health remedies, and more.  In addition to this the remaining land will be used for agriculture to provide for the volunteers of GFN and all the people in need around
    us here in Grenada.
     
  • This type of planning and more is happening in many places around the world.  God has told us to plan as BIG as possible to FINISH the work in His strength, and according to our faith He will provide.

   

  
                                               

                                                   Exploring Land for the Project 

   

     There are many expenses and needs during this time as you can probably  imagine. There are small monthly expenses for utilities, tower space rental,
  license fees, legal fees and rent, on the order of thousands of dollars
  and massive expenses for land, buildings, and equipment on the order
  of millions of dollars.  There are also needs for dedicated, skilled
  volunteers who are willing to sacrifice for the Lord and work as volunteers
  without pay.  And there are needs for agreements, contracts, and
  a host of details that need to be carefully planned out and prepared.  

     Please, join with us in prayer THANKING the Lord for His provision for all these
  things He has promised to provide.  In John 11:41, 42, Jesus had
  already talked to His Father and He already knew that He was going to
  raise Lazarus from the grave.  Therefore He didn’t ask for anything,
  He thanked his Father publicly by faith before raising Lazarus. 
  God has already promised to provide for us on a level high enough and
  big enough to send His message to every inhabitant of this world. 
  It is just up to us to step into the Red Sea…thanking Him as we go
  forward conquering in the spirit and power of the White Horse. 
   

  From Bolivia, we are broadcasting our brand new English TV channel via satellite to the Western Hemisphere and Western Europe 24/7.

   

  The map below shows our coverage area:

  

  For details:
  http://www.lyngsat-maps.com/maps/intel805_hemi.html

   

  If you have a C-Band satellite dish you can find our signal here:

   

  FREQUENCY: 3686 MHz
  Polarization: Vertical
  Symbol Rate: 5787 Kbps
  Satellite: Intelsat 805

  
  Following much prayer for space on an already full Intelsat 805 satellite, the satellite company called David Gates and offered space on that very satellite! No roadblock is too big for God! We will continue broadcasting from Bolivia until our station and studio are constructed here in Grenada. Please join us in thanking the Lord for His wonderful provision that has enabled this incredible milestone and may God richly bless every searching soul with the gift of His love and grace via this signal.
   

  May God bless you richly today! 

  Sincerely,

  John, Sue, Steven and Sarah Bartels

  Grenada Family Network 
   

  Contact Information 

  Our contact information in Grenada: 

  John and Sue Bartels

  P.O. Box 2747

  St. Paul’s, St. George

  Grenada, West Indies

  Home/Office: (473) 435-4297

  Cell: (473) 403-9763

  E-mail: gfn@spiceisle.com

  Skype: jnsbartels 

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