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Praise the Lord! On October 20th, 2010, after nearly 2 years of planning, negotiations and fundraising, Portland, Oregon's Better Life Broadcasting Channel 36 went on the air. The Good News is now being broadcast throughout Portland, Vancouver and Salem. Amazingly, this new digital missionary is reaching out to a potential audience of 2.2 million every day!


Backstory
As we look back we can see God's fingerprints all over this project. The story actually began about 10 years ago when we began praying for a station to reach the people of Portland with Better Life's programming. Years passed, but still there wasn't any clear break through. Then in November of 2008 we learned of a station available in the Portland area. This was a wonderful opportunity, however, the asking price was a staggering $3 Million. While it was our desire to reach the multitudes in Portland, the steep price made our dream seem almost out of reach. But as has happened time and time again, God had something more economical in mind.

In March of 2009 Ron Davis, general manager for Better Life Broadcasting, received a call from Fiori Media. They had visited our website and liked what they saw. They too had a station for sale and they wanted to offer it to Better Life Broadcasting. Their initial asking price was only $750,000,  a fraction of the cost of the previous station. Suddenly the Portland dream seemed a lot more possible. But God wasn't through providing us discounts! By the end of that initial phone call, the seller had lowered the price to $700,000 and then later ended up donating $100,000 back to the project making the final cost of the station only $600,000!  This was truly a gift from above.

God's Providental Hand

We saw God's hand of providence move again when it came time to purchase an antenna for the broadcast tower. We discovered that this type of antenna would cost about $20,000, a significant expense to say the least. While talking with an engineer in Portland, he informed us that he "happened" to have a brand new, unused antenna that he acquired about ten years ago and it just "happened" to already be tuned to channel 36! You'll recall that it was about 10 years ago we began praying for a channel for Portland! God had started answering our prayer years before we ever found out! The engineer sold this antenna to Fiori Media for $500 and they in turn GAVE it to Better Life! Amazingly, this brand new, custom tuned antenna ended up costing us nothing!

But God wasn't done working miracles in our behalf. As Fiori Media had studied the potential reach of the new station they realized it could easily reach Salem, OR. But there was a problem. There was already a station broadcasting on channel 36 in Salem. Of course, the FCC wouldn't allow us to interfere with their broadcasts. So once again we took the problem to the Lord. The way He chose to solve it was, when the other channel 36 converted to digital they were assigned a different channel number. We were now free to apply to the FCC for permission to broadcast in Salem and it was granted! Once again the Lord had opened the doors for us to obey His command to reach the masses for Him.

Besides the $600,000 needed to purchase the channel, the only other expenses were some equipment and installation fees, which totaled nearly $100,000. So all things considered, the Portland station is on the air for just under $700,000. Praise the Lord!

The money to purchase the new station was funded by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, the North Pacific Union and the Oregon Conference. We are very grateful for their confidence and trust in Better Life Broadcasting Network.

Monthly Operational Costs
Still, the amount needed to run the new channel is significant. It will cost Better Life Broadcasting $8,000 to $10,000 a month to keep this lighthouse of truth shining out to the Portland region. But for 20 years the Lord has provided for the needs of Better Life and we are trusting that He will continue to provide through our faithful supporters as we push forward into more and more unreached areas in the northwest.

Future Plans
There is an additional bonus that comes with broadcasting on a digital channel, and that is it enables the use of subchannels. So, while Better Life is currently seen on Channel 36; In the future we will also be able to broadcast on Subchannel 36.2 and 36.3. We plan to use these additional channels to broadcast the Hope Channel and a Spanish channel. However, before we can begin to utilize these subchannels we must upgrade our master control facility. So we are relying on the Lord to provide $500,000 to upgrade the equipment to be able to handle multiple channels. Please keep this next phase of the project in your prayers.


You Can Help Spread the Word
This station provides an amazing new evangelistic opportunity for the churches in the Portland, Vancouver and Salem areas. This new digital missionary will be tirelessly reaching into homes 24 hours a day, day in and day out. But the only way people will start watching is if they know the station has become available. Here's where you can help. Shortly, we'll have large informational postcards that can be bulk mailed by your local church to the people in your community. These cards will inform your neighbors of the type of programming we offer and how they can view it themselves. The cards will be available for every community that receives Better Life Broadcasting, not just the Portland station. Please contact Marta Davis at (541) 474-3089 for more information.

We're so excited about this new station because we've seen time and time again, when people begin watching and accepting Bible truth, their lives miraculously change. They end up walking into Adventist churches already understanding key Bible truths and they are ready and eager to join our family.

Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support that have made this new miracle station a reality. We believe God has given us the directive to go ye into all of Oregon and further into northern California, to reach as many people as we can as quick as we can with the saving message of Jesus Christ. This new station is a major milestone in accomplishing this mission.
 

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