Eagle TV launches its new flagship children’s program, Eternal Land, on Monday, September 6th. Characters Flying Boy and Flower Power lead children on Bible-oriented adventures with three new programs each week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Can you guess which one I am?

Thanks for your support of Eagle TV.

Remember the survey that I wrote about last week? We had Press Institute break down the answers into different religious groups to get a better understanding of the religious culture and how individuals use Eagle TV. There is some startling new information. Here’s what Buddhists and Christians had to say about terminology. Keep in mind that “Burhan” and “Tenger” are traditionally Buddhist and/or shamanist words. “Yurtuntsiin Ezen” was originally developed by Christians for the Christians community.

• 79% of Buddhists associate the word “Burhan” with Buddhism, and only 10% associate it with Christianity
• 59% of Buddhists associate the title “Yurtuntsiin Ezen” with Christianity, and only 0.3% associate it with Buddhism
• 78% of Christians associate the words “Burhan” and “Tenger” with Buddhism, and 89% associate “Yurtuntsiin Ezen” with Christianity
• Only 8% of Christians associate the word “Burhan” with Christianity (this would seem to fly in the face of real-world practice, but I’ll touch on that later)

When asked what they believe Christianity is about:

• 10% of Buddhists said Christianity was about becoming prosperous (prosperity gospel), whereas (and here’s the shocker) 44% of Christians said the same thing
• 20% of Buddhists think Christianity is about societal development (social gospel?), whereas 17% of Christians think the same
• When combining categories we see that 60% of Mongolian Christians think Christianity is about prosperity gospel and social gospel.

That last statistic is significant and alarming. While there is certainly a role that material blessing and society play within the Gospel (such as with the Old Testament covenants and their application in modern times), primarily placing these values as “the” or “a” driving force in Christian expression is, at the very least, problematic for spiritual growth and community witness. May this also undercut the church’s chances of growing theologically and properly into the next generation? Theologically, I think this says dire things about the role that believers think God plays in their lives. If this were an election, prosperity/social gospel categories would win by a landslide. It seems clear to me from my own observations combined with these survey results that the sovereignty of God is not much taught or adhered to here.

On questions of compatibility:

• 53% of Christians think Christianity and Buddhism are compatible or share some things in common. This is also highly alarming. Could it be that this statistic lends credence to the idea that key scriptural concepts are not being carefully unpackaged to both the believing and non-believing audiences? This is an area where better discipleship and community education can make a real difference—and how TV can augment this should be strongly considered
• 33% of Buddhist say Christianity and Buddhism have some things in common, but 36% say they have nothing in common

Where do they get their information:

• 38% of Buddhists get their information about Christianity from Eagle TV
• 36% of atheists get their information about Christianity from Eagle TV
• 31% of shamanist people get their information about Christianity from Eagle TV
• The three stats cited above are staggering. But the big turn comes here: 53% of Christians report that they get their information about Christianity from church and only 11% from Eagle TV.

When considering the problems already mentioned above we should consider, and perhaps do a formal study on what churches are specifically teaching Mongol believers. One thing that might be considered in this vein is that if Mongol believers are primarily prosperity/social gospel oriented, and they are therefore getting that education through their churches, it might shed light on the low number for Eagle in this report, because, Eagle TV does not allow prosperity/social gospel programming on air. Thus, we might be able to say that since we don’t meet that desire in the believing audience, that believing audience goes elsewhere for that kind of information. The challenge for us may be to find a way to tactfully address these issues (non-supportively) and hopefully help correct the problem (over time).

In all four cases above, these were the overwhelming large numbers for the questions asked. But after this it gets kind of freaky. The survey was broken down by multiple religious groups, including shamans and atheists. When it comes to terminology usage, look at what those identifying themselves as shamanists had to say. When it comes to terms:

• 82% of shamanism adherents say they associate “Burhan” with Christianity, whereas they associate “Yurtuntsiin Ezen” with Buddhism by 49% (I cannot help but think that there is a problem in the survey data on this question. However, our in-country missionary friends might have some light to shed on this
• 52% of atheists associate “Burhan” with Buddhism, and only 3% associate it with Christianity
• 60% of atheists associate “Yurtuntsiin Ezen” with Christianity and none associates it to Buddhism

I think that the terminology associations are significant. If this survey is accurate, it would seem to indicate that most Mongol believers know that the most popular word-choice (Burhan) is Buddhist in meaning/origin, but in practice, they don’t care how it’s used. Clearly, only 8% of respondents associate it with Christianity (in this survey), but it still remains the most popular word choice in the vernacular. What does this say, theological and socially, about the Mongol church? That would make a very interesting study.

In light of this survey, we should be asking ourselves questions about the relationships between terminology usage, prosperity/social gospel, and information sourcing.

Perhaps more thoughts from me at a later date. There’s certainly enough here to stew over for some time.

We recently produced a new video about Eagle TV’s work in Mongolia. Enjoy, and please share it with others.

UPDATE: Congratulations to Eagle TV’s news team. The latest ratings report shows a 9.3 share for our main evening newscast, putting us in the number three position against 15 measured competitors. Congrats also to Skip Heitzig on Connection. The translation of his weekly program on Eagle TV garnished a 10.1 making his Bible teaching program the number two program in its time slot against 15 competitors. Great job!

I’m working on developing a plan for Eagle TV and Steppe-by-Steppe that will, hopefully, take us through the next three to five years of ministry. Part of that process has been to survey and listen to Mongolian church leaders and foreign missionaries about the impact Eagle TV has right now, and what they believe the most important needs of the church community are. Where, in their views, are we succeeding and where are we failing?

Of the many people we’ve resourced so far the number one most important need, hands down, is leadership development. Many of the Mongolian pastors have related that many in leadership today, especially in the countryside, don’t really have a biblical view or approach to leadership. In fact, of all the needs surveyed so far, leadership, discipleship, and materials seem to be the most widely stated needs. Our challenge will be to readjust our ministry operations to come along side and find ways to use our television and field ministry to help meet these critical needs.

One of the local pastors also mentioned, briefly, the problems that happen when ministries focus too strongly on so called “miracle and healing” ministries. He noted, “Mongolians believe in magic and chanting. If we focus only on miracles, healing, etc, it will [result in] superstition for today’s Mongolians.”

It’s very encouraging to see how much the leaders taking part in our surveys have focused on leadership and discipleship issues. It’s always been my belief that strong discipleship is what makes the most important difference when working for spiritual transformation. Witness Jesus’ words to the disciples in Matthew 28 when he said, “Go and make disciples.” Jesus never portrayed the work of ministry as making converts, or social action only. His view was, and is, ongoing transformation that results in people becoming like Christ—that’s discipleship.

As I continue to go through the responses we’re receiving I’m sure that my own views of what makes for transformative television ministry will also go through a process of change. I’m looking forward to seeing what God will do through this process, not only in me, but in the work of Eagle TV.

This morning I met with a young American man who is in Mongolia doing a research project for a policy foundation he works for in the States. We discussed the July 1st riots, a small bit of Mongolian politics (which I only pay minimal attention to these days), and the current state of media freedoms in Mongolia. During our discussion I was reminded of a post I wrote in 2005 about Free and Fair Media. I drew a comparison of free and fair media using Natan Sharansky’s book, The Case for Democracy (a must read). My guest asked me, “In five years do you think the condition of Mongolian media will be significantly improved?” I thought about it for a moment and gave a resounding yes.

In the Sates conservatives complain about the liberal slants on the big three networks, CNN, and MSNBC. The left complains about the conservative slant on FOX News. In some ways there are similar things happening here. For instance, many people complain about the MPRP slant of TV9 and TV5. Others complain about the Democratic Party slant of C1 or NTV. In many ways, comparatively speaking, the Mongolian situation is similar to the U.S. Regardless of the bickering between sides it is a legitimate exercise of media freedom to slant stories however a station may wish. If MSNBC wants to slant left, that’s their right. If TV9 wants to slant toward the MPRP, that’s their right. The principles of press freedom are not violated. Such practices may not necessarily be good journalism, but that’s a different issue. Each station has a right to report the news from a perspective and in the manner it sees fit. That’s part of what press freedom is about. It’s also why Eagle TV tries to remain as neutral as humanly possible. That is also the the legitimate exercise of press freedom.

So many positive things have happened in Mongolia regarding freedom of speech and press. The state of media here today is much better than it was seven years ago when I moved to Mongolia. As I explained to my guest, there is no legal censorship or pressure on news organizations, but certainly there is some political and cultural pressure from time to time—though not nearly as bad as it was seven years ago. Significant strides in media freedom have been made. There are still some problems regarding transparency of operations and political ownership issues, but overall the improvement has been great. And I believe it will continue to improve as more and more Mongolian journalists exercise their legal rights and forge ahead to take risks covering the truly important stories.

As I already noted, the discussion I had today reminded me of a post I wrote in 2005 on this subject. You can catch that post by clicking here.

I met today with the manager of a TV station operating in the Mongolian countryside. He came to UB to meet with us and ask if we would provide their station with Christian programming. The man is apparently a believer and wants to use his TV station to win people to Christ and help disciple them. As you can imagine, we agreed to provide them with as much ministry programming as they are prepared to take. Our next job is for me to sit down with our ministry department director and plan how and specifically what we will distribute to the station.

I’m very grateful for this opportunity to distribute our ministry programming in this manner. This is an opportunity to reach completely new people who don’t know the Gospel. That means we will probably provide entry level programs like Christianity 101, Together Through The Bible, Colors of Life (a testimony program), and some basic discipleship. A good dose of our Bible reading program, What Does The Bible Say, should also go a long way to introducing the Bible and its context to these new viewers.

It’s estimated that 99 percent of Mongolia’s population is literate. However, in the countryside Mongols tend not to be big readers. Therefore reaching them through audio and video projects is very successful. Our Steppe-by-Steppe field ministry has demonstrated this to be true. Therefore, we believe our Bible reading program, What Does The Bible Say, can be highly effective in reaching countryside Mongols. On Eagle TV, which primarily reaches city Mongols that tend to be more urban, the program is rated number one in its time slot against all other TV stations. Mongolians are hungry for the simplicity of God’s word! So I expect the program to perform just as well, if not better, in the countryside.

As I was thinking about this opportunity to spread the Gospel through this new TV opportunity my mind immediately turned to Luke 16:10,

“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much.”

May God count us and our new programming partner faithful with this latest opportunity to bring Christ to areas where his name and work is yet to be fully heard.

Here are two new videos about Eagle TV’s work on Christian programming and news. Eagle TV is helping to change lives. Thanks for your prayers and support of Eagle TV. The first video profiles our ministry programming.

The second video profiles our work with news programming.

Here’s a great video piece about Eagle TV’s Steppe-by-Steppe program.

You can contribute to our work in Mongolia by visiting www.thomasterry.com/gift.

Five new episodes of Together Through the Bible have been uploaded to the Vimeo server and are available for viewing. These episodes include:

• Effective Change
• Biblical Unity
• The Attributes of a Spiritually Mature Church
• The Superiority of Jesus Christ: Jesus Personhood, and
• The Superiority of Jesus Christ: Jesus’ Character

You can access all of the videos on my Vimeo page here, or click the above links for each episode. All episodes are in English. Mongolian versions of these programs will go online this fall.

Together Through the Bible airs weekly on Eagle TV. Season 2 begins in September. A sample of episode 2 is below. The subject is Effective Change.

Effective Change from Tom Terry on Vimeo.

My weekly teaching program, Together Through The Bible returns to air in September, but the production on next season’s programs goes on now through the end of summer.

Yesterday I was given the first cut of episode one for the second season. We built a new set and added new localized elements to the program to spruce it up a bit.

During the first season of TTTB the program was often one of our most watched shows on Eagle TV. We’re hoping for a repeat of that when season two goes on the air this fall. Meanwhile, we’ll be posting each program as it’s completed, for Internet viewing before the on air release. Take a peak at episode one, below. Comments welcome.

Together Through The Bible 2×01 from Tom Terry on Vimeo.